Wow, where to begin?? We have been soooo busy! Let’s start with the present:

January is Penguin Month. It’s also the time of year when we learn about the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and talk a lot about diversity and also courage. Today we shared our thoughts and drawings and poetry at the Courage assembly with our PS-LS friends. Each class made a brief presentation. In ours, I explained that the class came to the agreement that courage meant “knowing right from wrong, and choosing to do the right thing, even if it was hard or scary.” The class did a great job!

We are in the middle of our study of penguins, and all are enjoying hearing Mr. Popper’s Penguins read aloud at rest time. On Thursday, photographer Sally Mead came to share her photos of Antarctica. Although I’ve seen these photos for many years now, they never fail to inspire me with their beauty. The children were captivated by them, and by the stories Sally had to tell. At the end, we had a surprise visitor – a real Antarctic explorer (Sally’s husband Dan Mead, dressed in furs, himself another incredible photographer!). The class had lots of questions which Sally patiently answered. We then recited “Emperor Penguins” by Barry Louis Polisar for them, a poem that perfectly encapsulates the life of an Emperor penguin in Antarctica. It was a great morning and we are so grateful to Sally and Dan for their generosity in coming year after year.

The class continues to make great progress learning new sounds and most are beginning to blend those sounds together to read two and there letter words – an amazing accomplishment! In math, the children have been verbalizing, figuring out, and then writing simple addition number sentences. This combine lots of skills, including 1:1 correspondence, accuracy in addition, remembering how to use + and = signs, etc. They’re doing a great job. Next month we’ll be starting a math unit on sorting by attributes using Venn diagrams. This is a very hands-on unit that incorporates lots of manipulative. Stay tuned!

Magnus turned six this month! Jennifer joined us in the classroom to read two of Magnus’ favorites books, and we enjoyed delicious brownies together. Thank you Jennifer, for helping to make Magnus’ day a special one!

In past news:

We finished reading our last chapter book, The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell. An odd little story, it was enjoyed by all.

Along with PS and all of LS, we made fruit salad as the culminating event of our Cooperation Unit. All had fun chopping – and even more fun eating!

Pajama Day was a big hit! Staying cozy all day in PJ’s and slippers was a lot of fun. The class listened to many bedtime stories, and playing with flashlights in the darkened rooms added an nice element. All in all, a fun day!

We celebrated Vivienne’s birthday in early December. As a special surprise gift for Vivienne, the class knotted her a fleece blanket which we then presented to her on the last day before Winter Break. Vivienne and her family seem to be settling in well in their new home in Prague, but the class misses Vivienne deeply. Last week Milana and I finally mastered the technology and were able to set up a FaceTime call so that we could all see Vivienne (and Milana and Julien!) gain. It was great and we’ll do it soon again.

On Wednesdays, we have the opportunity for a wonderful experience for the class. One of our 8th graders, Shayna, has been learning ASL (American Sign Language) and she comes to teach the class for 15 minutes each week. The children are learning the alphabet, different signs for animals, and (soon) songs. It’s great because it combines aural, visual, and kinesthetic learning together.

In December, we had a Lunch Bunch courtesy of Nicolette and her family. There were LOTS of delicious foods to eat, and  everyone enjoyed it. Thank you to Tereza and Chris for providing us with a very wonderful meal!

Here are lots of slides!

Have a great weekend!

Andrea