The Buzz in Room 103: December 11-22nd: HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD!

Hello Families,

I am super excited for these next 2 weeks in room 103! We have completed our unit 1 of Fundations (our phonics program), Module 8 of Into Math and are ahead of the schedule in Writer's Workshop so this is a perfect time to "take a break" from the regular schedule and apply what we have been learning in a 2 week theme about Holidays Around The World! The students will be practicing phonics skills and doing a LOT of writing in the next few weeks as well as participating in theme related math and science activities. We will "travel" around the world (got to love Google Earth!) and "visit" the beautiful countries where some of these customs began.

This Monday the Mystery Box will be bringing us some fun ideas for activities centered on our 2 week theme: “holidays around the world”. We will focus on Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Santa Lucia, Chinese New Year and the Winter Solstice. We will also participate in many Christmas activities. Although Diwali was already celebrated, and the Chinese New Year is not until February, they have a common theme among the holidays of which we will be learning. Make sure to ask your child what that theme is in 2 weeks! We will be very busy with making projects that represent each holiday. To celebrate Kwanzaa we will be making a special flag and we will make "diyas" for Diwali. For Santa Lucia, we will make crowns/hats and, for Hanukkah, we will write about a character from a beautiful Hanukkah story. We will be making a Chinese dragon puppet when learning about the Chinese New Year and a "yule log" to celebrate (?...not sure if I am happy to "celebrate" this- HA!) the shortest day of sunlight. We will also complete a writing project based on a Gingerbread Friends story and learn a little about the history of the Christmas tree. We will write about each holiday and compile a book about the holidays by the end of the 2 weeks. We will have a special “gingerbread friend snack” on Friday 12/22- the room parents are organizing this. The students will also be little elves themselves and be making a special gift for YOU while learning all about these special customs and holidays. As you can see, we have a fun and very busy 2 weeks ahead of us!

If there is a holiday during this time that you celebrate that I did not mention, please do reach out to me! I am HAPPY to include more!

FYI:

We filled our heart jar! The children voted to have a PJ and Stuffy Day. It will be either Thursday or Friday and I will send you an email early in the week letting you know.
We will need some paper towel tubes for an activity.
Please send in a regular snack on 12/22 for the morning. We will have our special gingerbread friends snack after lunch.

Here are a few pictures from last week!

Building a structure that can survive a "Quake"!

Adding numbers to make them balance!

Making/drawing quantity and writing numbers

"Zany Characters"

Quack Hats- choice time fine motor activity

The Zany Zebra spies kind kids and the students pass the zebra on to someone who is being kind...The zebra will be in room 103 for the next few weeks looking for kind kids!