News from the Marvelous Martians

Important Dates and Reminders

Sunday December 13: National Cocoa Day! Enjoy a cup of Hot Cocoa:)

Portfolio Share: December 18 @ 9:00

Winter Holiday Community Celebration: December 18th from 1:00 to 3:00 Come celebrate winter holidays from around the world with us!

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ (DEAR) HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!! PLEASE HELP YOUR CHILD TO REMEMBER TO BRING HIS OR HER DEAR BAG TO AND FROM SCHOOL!

Math: This is such an exciting time of year, with so many things to celebrate! We are taking a break from our regular schedule to learn about some of the many winter holidays celebrated around the world! We had a blast learning about Hanukkah with Evan's family, learning to play dreidel and sampling yummy latkes! Evan has let us borrow his menorah and we will be lighting the candles each day of Hanukkah! Thank you Evan!

What do an ear of corn, a straw mat, 7 candles, a candle holder, a unity cup, a bowl of fruits and vegetables, and gifts have in common? These are the 7 symbols of Kwanzaa! It was really neat learning what each of these items symbolizes for this unique 7 day celebration. Ask your child to share some of this with you!

There was much story sharing when learned about Las Posadas, a holiday that recognizes the journey of Joseph and Mary and their search for a place to stay. Seems we could all relate to what it would feel like to have trouble finding a place to stay! What a fun celebration Las Posadas sounds like...each night for 9 days families journey from house to house "looking for a place to stay". Each night the journey ends in a different house, where they are welcomed to stay...and enjoy a grand fiesta complete with pinatas! We all agreed that 9 nights of partying must be really fun!

The final holiday we learned about was Junkanoo, a holiday that celebrates the freedom of slaves, observed primarily in the Bahamas. Junkanoo is another holiday that sounds like sooo much fun, but we wondered if we might fall asleep amidst all the fun! Junkanoo celebrations involve street parades with elaborate costumes and music lasting from midnight until dawn! WOW!

We have been using a variety of art techniques to create books that represent our explorations of these various holidays. Look for these to be shared during the Portfolio Share!

Language Arts: Our writing workshop pieces continue to focus on the idea of stretching out a small moment of our life into a book. Most of us have completed at least one book, and have had the opportunity to share them in author's chair! There have been books titled...Party Boy, It Was Fun, When I Got My Red Bump, My Thanksgiving, The Park...It is so amazing seeing the students grow as writers!

I found a shell. Kind of boring! While walking on the beach, I found a white, jaggedy, clam shell, covered with sharp, pointy barnacles. A bit more interesting! We've been practicing describing objects from around the room with interesting describing words...this might be something to try at home, too!

December is National Write to a Friend Month! (what will they think of next?!) Soooo, naturally, we wrote letters to our friends! Our letters were either "complimentary" or thank you letters.

Phonics groups this week focused on: short i, th, and st sm sp sk.

Theme: You may think it has been cold and dark in Olympia...well, you should try visiting Uranus!!!! Brrr!!! It is so cold and dark here! Be sure to ask your child why the rings on Uranus "go up and down" (this is kid lingo for vertical)! We've added another page to our planet books, and created Uranus puppets...Father of the sky! To create Uranus for our mobiles we painted with watercolors, sprinkling a coat of salt on the planet while it dried. The result is a blotchy effect, very similar to actual images of Uranus!

Investigations: Kynex, Legos, Art, Magnets, and Dreidel are the top choices this week! We have also used this time to create some special holiday gifts, but mums the word!