Everything gingerbread!

Look at my gingerbread house!

What an exciting day we had on Monday! The kids had so much fun making 'gingerbread' houses, sampling the candies on 'candy breaks', and showing off their creations to family members and volunteers. Thank you everyone for supporting this holiday activity by sending in sweets or volunteering to help out. Take a look at all the artistic endeavors!

Even sisters came to help!

Getting started!

A little help from family too!

Slather on the frosting!

Grampa's busy too!

Is it candy break yet?!

Very careful planning!

Thanks sis!

Try a gumdrop!

How's the frosting?!

Moms want to decorate too!

Nana has some creative touches!

Baby sister is interested too!

What do you think of our cards, dad?!

A smile for dad!

Yum!

We make a good team!

Do you love it?!

My masterpiece!

Finishing touches!

What do you think?!

That's a lot of candy!

With a little help form friends!

And that's a wrap!

As you can see, the kids had a blast! So many fun activities this time of year. It's been a busy week, there is snow on the ground, and more fun awaits as vacation begins. 

We wish Alvin a Happy Birthday who will be celebrating over vacation- another exciting event for him! We also had a fantastic time listening to the high school band play holiday tunes on their instruments. 
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a wonderful and healthy New Year. 
See you in 2020!

Mrs. Dagley

The joy in giving

Putting quarters in the coin collection cup

Hat day/quarters day

In a season of getting, it's heartwarming to also give. This week was school spirit week coinciding with giving. Coins were donated each day, food was donated to be given to those in need, and cheerful cards were sent to a little boy in the hospital. The line leaders carried the little coin bucket and food down to the office each week, and we thank everyone who so generously gave!

Crazy sock day/nickels day

Everyday I see examples of how much joy kids receive in giving. Hand drawn pictures that they give to me, their quick response when a friend needs help (crayon spill, water bottle spill, someone hurt), and empathy when a friend is sad are all daily examples of ways they give to others. The school ordered cards for Carlos, a little boy who has been in Children's Hospital since August and who will spend Christmas there. His wish in a TV interview was to receive Christmas cards to decorate his room with. The class (and school) loved drawing their best pictures and writing a note to Carlos. Providing opportunities for kids to give to others is a gift for them, because they do get so much pleasure from it!

Sports day/pennies day

Pajama day/ dollar day

Crazy Hair day/dimes day

Excitement is in the air with our elf making project and with the anticipation of making gingerbread houses on Monday! The desks are all set up for the project, tons of candy is ready to go on the houses (and in mouths), and we will have a great time creating! It will probably go from 9 to 10ish with a simple craft for them to do afterwards during the cleanup. Thank you all for the candy donations- we have plenty at this point!

Only a sampling - we have so much more!

Happy elves!

Our Bear reports were completed and sent home this week. The kids have also read quite a selection of non fiction books about bears- Learning about bears was a great inspiration for their independent reading!

Hallway display for animals in winter

Bear books and reports

Elf making!

Assembling the elves

Almost done

Language arts centers included making a gingerbread cookie on Starfall, finding an elf in the dictionary to record the word and write a sentence with it, and highlighting words in poetry.

Leading the class in a poem

Listening Center

Poetry

Computers with gingerbread people

Vowel BINGO

Sight words BINGO

I found my elf in the dictionary!

Our example in science of communication with sound focused on technology, specifically with the invention of the telephone. The kids read a book about Alexander Graham Bell and then sequenced a series of telephone pictures and were amazed at how they changed over the years!

Wow- we've come a long way!

In math we have been comparing quantities by using colored counters, and using the vocabulary words of more, fewer, and difference. We also solved a very tricky subtraction problem about missing Oreo cookies after seeing a clip of a 'monster' paw grabbing them off a table to munch!

The missing Oreos

Some of our Gingerbread book collection!

We have been doing a lot of comparing and contrasting as we read the many versions of The Gingerbread Man. It's fun to recognize the similar story structure pattern yet discover all the ways the characters, setting, and ending can change!

Have a wonderful weekend and be ready for Gingerbread Houses Monday!
Mrs. Dagley

Bear, Bear, So Many Kinds of Bears

Subtraction with doubles

Here we are making cube trains of even numbers, breaking them in half, and recording a subtraction sentence in our math notebooks. We are learning about the relationship between addition and subtraction, our first step in working with 'fact families'. 

We are also doing a mini unit on bears- bear poems, bear non-fiction and fiction texts, and bear writing which will compare and contrast types of bears. We will continue to learn about using commas in a list when writing features that all bears share or that some bears share. The bear shaped writing booklets will be our focus next week. 

Our bear library display

Learning about bears lends itself to learning about changes that take place with animals in winter. Our new vocabulary words are hibernate, migrate, and adapt. We are choosing an animal to write a fact about and to state if it hibernates, migrates, or adapts. These will go out for a hall display (snow days meant they couldn't be written and displayed in time for conferences!).

As we learn how we use sound and light to communicate in science, the kids had a chance to sort photos under light communication, sound communication or both. 

Items that communicate with light and sound

Working with teen numbers

Sorting vowel sounds

'Glued' sounds - /all/, /an/, /am/ word sort

 Here we are in language arts centers above. And below are some snaps from our 2 1/2 days of school this week.

A snowy recess

Snow fun!

 A note about playing in the snow at recess- snow pants and boots required for going off the hard top into snow. It is a lot to carry back and forth to school so checking temps is important - we don't go out if wind chill makes the temp lower than 29 or 30 degrees.

Also, everyone should wear mittens or gloves! Little fingers are cold out there! Believe me, I am bundled up in mittens, scarf, and a hat when I am on duty!

Has Elsa arrived?!

Nice reading of the Ninjabread Man

She loves the book you gave her!

We sang the tooth song to James R. and Gwen this week, and we wished a Happy Birthday to Scarlett, a cheerful little birthday girl!

It was wonderful meeting or talking with so many of you at conferences - so much to celebrate with our little learners!

A note went home about making gingerbread houses on Monday, December 16. I will need the permission slip for food returned indicating if they can eat the candies, graham crackers, and frosting that come in, or if they will bring a baggie of candies that are just right for their dietary needs. I will be picking up supplies as well and can get special supplies if you contact me. Any family member is welcome to attend and help out. 

 Have a winter wonderland weekend!
Mrs. Dagley