Newsletter: January 22

Room 4 News

Reminders/Notices:
•Book orders must be submitted online by Sunday January 24th.
•This week we read Patricia Polacco’s “Thunder Cake” and I used the recipe in the book for the children to try. The recipe includes tomatoes, so many were hesitant to try. The response was overwhelmingly positive. I will be making the recipe available for those of you interested in trying it at home 
•Thank you to those of you who donated “good stuff” for our snow people, they are displayed in our back window. Feel free to stop in next week and take a peek.
•Wednesday, January 27th is Blue Day.
•With weather as it has been this week, please remember that layering is the best way to send your child to school. They are asked to take off their jacket, gloves, hat, etc. upon entering the classroom. If they want to bring a change of shoes (if they are wearing boots) please make sure they are independent in changing into them.


This Week:
Citizenship Gathering: Chris was honored at our Citizenship Assembly this morning!
Draw Along Assembly: Tuesday, we enjoyed an interactive assembly where students learned to use lines and shapes to draw a fish and a whale. It was great!
Snow Day: Today was a fun-filled day, we wrote about what we wear when it’s cold, bit tortilla snowflakes, raced our skiers in a snow Olympics, and had a snowball toss with Miss Casellini’s class.
Reader’s Workshop: This week students began bringing home their book bags with paper books that they’ve chosen from their book boxes. Thank you for your support with sending back bags, we had 100% participation this week!!!
Writer’s Workshop: Students used “space sticks” (tongue depressors) to leave spaces between words in their writing.
Word of the Week: We learned and used the word “can” this week. We wrote statements of what we could do to help other people (inspired by Martin Luther King Jr). Ask your child what they wrote, “I can ____________.”
Social Studies: We talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the courageous and kind things that he did for our country. Students completed portraits, wrote about how they could help like MLK Jr.
Science: We talked about snow and ice. We discovered that it is frozen water, and even made our own ice in the freezer. (I snuck food coloring into the ice cube trays and students were given the opportunity to paint with the colored ice afterwards)
Healthy Play: We started Healthy Play this week when Miss Jennifer visited our room on Friday. We reviewed rules and procedures for Healthy Play and played Double Simon Says. Ask your child why we play? (to have fun) What is the most important part of every game? (the people)


Next Week:
*The students will begin bringing home leveled readers in their book bags
*We will discuss fiction and non fiction penguins
*The students will think about ending a story with a statement telling how they felt about what happened