What a great way to end the weekend - snow! The kids were super excited and couldn't wait to go outside to play today :) It is that time of year where the kiddos will be wearing snow pants and boots and gear to school. If you could, would you please put your child's name in their snowpants? It just helps us keep them straight - especially with the black snowpants. Thanks!
Today, we started the 12 days of Christmas. Each day we will learn something new about Christmas and will tie it into our day. Today, we had Christmas Tree day and we learned about Christmas trees then and now. We did a writing activity to go along with our reading and then had a math story problem page. Ask your child what Christmas trees were like long ago and see if they can remember what country the Christmas tree started in (Germany;) Tomorrow it will be Candy Cane day - ask your child what he/she learned about candy canes.
In reading, we are continuing to learn about characters. Our focus has been on noticing things about our characters and watching to see how they change from the beginning of the story to the end and what brought about the change.
In writing this week, we will be talking about what an opinion is and how we can pick an audience to share our opinion with. We will also be learning how we can give reasons to back up our opinion. All of this will be done in the form of a letter.
In math, we are working with representing teen numbers with tens and extra ones as well as adding numbers with a total in the teens. We will also be learning how to add two decade numbers together (30 + 40 = 70). We will be learning strategies to help us with all of these skills.
In social studies this week we will be focusing on goods and services as well as consumers and producers. We took a test today on needs and wants.
A few upcoming things:
* This Wednesday we will be going to the Elf Factory so look for those ornaments to come home in backpacks that day :)
* Tuesday, December 13 is our Christmas concert in the evening.
* Wednesday, December 21 is our class Christmas party starting just after 2:45 - 3:30. I will send an e-mail out shortly for those who volunteered to help out.
* Christmas break is from Thursday, December 22 - Monday, January 2
Last, but certainly not least, here is an update on Project Calvin. Together, we have raised a total of $1183.00 for Calvin!!!!! What a huge blessing! There are no words to express how thankful we are for all of your help and donations. We have been doing this project for a few years already and it has been so great to watch Calvin grow and be able to get a good education. The following is a quote we recieved in regards to Calvin: "This is why we are so thankful for you all. By your generous giving, Calvin is in a GOOD school, that is beating the odds. Calvin is well on his way to NOT being a negative statistic. You are giving him a good foundation.
P6 = Completion of 6th grade
The Ghana 2013 National Education Assessment (NEA) has indicated that for P6, only 9.9% of the pupils reached the NEA definition of proficiency (i.e., achieved greater than or equal to 55% correct) in both maths and English.
~ Ghana 2013 National Education Assessment - Technical Report May 2014 - p. 42"
My heart just breaks for this statistic, but it is joyous to know that Calvin can beat this cycle with all of our help. It cost $750 for Calvin to attend this school. The extra money that was raised will go towards extra school costs for Calvin such as school supplies and his uniform. If there is any extra, the money will go towards costs for him at the orphanage. Again, thank you for blessing Calvin's life!
I hope you all have a good week!