This week in First Grade...

December 17-20

Reminders:

Monday, December 17^th  Cultural Unit Fair

Wednesday, December 19^th  Winter Parties

Thursday, December 20^th Polar Express Day – PJ Day

Winter Break: December 21^st- January 7^th (Students return on the 7^th)

Reading Workshop:

In Reading Workshop we will continue exploring holiday traditions from around the world.  We will celebrate cultures and countries on Monday during our Cultural Unit Fair!  Thank you to all of our volunteers! 

Writer’s Workshop:

During Writer’s Workshop we will continue writing facts about the holidays and countries that we research.  We will finish our Elf Around the World book.  We will reflect on what we’ve learned and our favorite parts of the unit.

Math:

In math we will work on problem solving this week.  We have may holiday situations that need good problems solvers to fix the issues!    

Social Studies:

We will finish our unit on cultural celebrations this week with The Elf on the Shelf: Holidays around the World.  We’ve enjoyed learning about countries and their holiday traditions.  Our room will be embellished with all of our holiday projects!

**Polar Express Day: Thursday, December 20th**

Every year in First grade we celebrate the end of the semester with Polar Express Day.  We focus all of our learning on The Polar Express.  Please send your child in their pajamas (appropriate for school).  They may bring a blanket, stuffed animal and slippers in their backpack for our movie viewing.  We will read the story of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and admire the beautiful illustrations.  Then we will have our own tickets to hop on The Polar Express.  We will watch the movie as we make Hot Chocolate in our classroom.  After the movie we will compare the book and the movie and talk about the differences between them.  We will also write a “How to make Hot Chocolate”.  This is such a fun day for our students!