Week of 12/11

We were excited to participate in Hour of Code last week, and we got to use some familiar activities, as well as some new ones. We used an iPad app called "Kodable," which is also a website (www.kodable.com). You can have your child continue to use this app or website at home by using our classroom code (sent in an email). Children seemed to really enjoy trying to get the little creatures in this app through the various mazes. Another new app we used was Scratch Jr., which we started using last week. We did some offline coding with a board game called Robot Turtles, and children enjoyed coding using Coding Awbie. Finally, we brought out our Bee-Bot once again, which is always a favorite. Not only did we have all-coding centers on STEAM Friday, but we also rotated in one of these activities each day this week, to make it a full week of Computer Science Education. We will continue to bring back these activities throughout the year, as Computer Science Education is critical to developing logical thinking and problem solving. I encourage you to check out some of these apps and items at home-- perhaps even add them to holiday gift ideas!

Language Arts
This week, we will enjoy more stories from The Gingerbread Man series-- we have The Ninjabread Man, The Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Man Loose in the School and many others. We will follow up with many Gingerbread Man writing and art activities. Our Daily Five literacy centers have also been including many fun Gingerbread-themed activities, and will continue to do so this week as well. Our sight word for the week is big.

Math
We are continuing with Module 2 in Eureka Math: Two Dimensional & Three Dimensional Shapes. We will study the attributes of the 2D shapes square, triangle, rectangle, circle, and hexagon. The 3D shapes we will be studying are the cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere. Parent tips for this unit can be found here.

Upcoming

Your child should have received his/her part assignment for the Nutcracker in last week's Wednesday envelope. Please let me know if there are any problems gathering the clothes we've asked them to wear. I do have several leotards that my daughter outgrew from her dance days in the classroom, as well as a few pairs of ballet slippers. We do not intend for you to have to buy anything. We are looking forward to a memorable performance on the 22nd at 10:00!

We have another Cornerstone lesson this Wednesday with Celeste. We will be reading and discussing the book BIG by Coleen Paratore.

This is the last week of parent helpers in the classroom for 2017. I will be working on the helper schedule for 2018 in the upcoming weeks. Please continue emailing me if there is any change to your helping schedule or if you'd like to be added to the schedule. Thank you so much for all the support in 2017!

**Please return your child's Blue Bag on Monday.

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Ying), Daily 5, Centers (Celeste & Lauren)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Camille & Anastasia)
Wednesday: Cornerstone (Celeste), PE with Coach Sierra, Blue Bags Go Home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Emily & Tanya)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Jackie & Daniela), Story time with Grandma Gail

Upcoming Events
Friday 12/22: Kindergarten Nutcracker Performances
12/25-01/07: Winter Break
Monday 01/15: Martin Luther King Holiday
02/19-02/23: President's Week Vacation