November has just flown by and it's hard to believe that December is here already. We hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving break and the time you were able to spend with your family. The students really enjoyed our Thanksgiving activities. They looked adorable in their headbands and necklaces. They also had fun making teepees and practicing Indian picture writing. All the Kindergarten classes learned about friendship and sharing during our Friendship Feast. Thank you to everyone who donated food for our feast.

This month in Reading, we will be learning the letters Nn, Bb, Rr and Dd as well as their corresponding sounds. The sight words me, with, she, and, can, in & it will be introduced along with the skills: compare/contrast, identifying plot and cause/effect. Our topics in Math this month will be "Understanding Addition" and "Understanding Subtraction."

During December, we will be learning different holiday customs as we discuss "Christmas Around the World." We plan on doing gingerbread activities and learning Christmas carols to share with our friends and family.

We will also be participating in the Goddard Operation Holiday Mitten Tree. Have a happy
and safe holiday break!

The New Year is here!!!! We still have so much to learn in first grade but look how far your child has come!

We are in our third reader. We have covered all long vowels and short vowels. You might keep reviewing those with your child. Remember to look for their red daily folder and homework story. They should be coming home with something to read each evening. The stories are starting to get a little longer and a little harder. Please keep encouraging them to try even when it is hard!!! And remember if a story is taking a really long time, feel free to share some of the reading. It is always nice for them to hear good reading. Spelling words should also be coming home. Remember the spelling tests are for a grade. The kids also have a dictation sentence as well. This is on the list that
comes home each week.

In Math we are finishing up our addition unit and reviewing subtraction. Sometimes they forget to check the sign and might add instead of subtract. We've gone over three addend problem and missing addend problems. If your child is having trouble, flashcards are a great tool!! We are starting place value, patterning and skip counting.

Please make sure you check your child's backpack daily for any important notes and daily work. They should have a red daily folder to help with this. Just a reminder if you will be picking your child up from school please send a note. It is also getting fairly cold out on our playground, make sure your child has a coat every day. Thanks for all you do to help your child be successful!

The time involved in preparing for the hol-iday parties takes a great deal of time. For that, the teachers and 2nd grade stu-dents would like to say thank you. You're helping to create many wonderful memo-ries for us. We'd also like to say thank you to our wonderful P.T.O. You are appreci-ated for all you are doing for our students at Explorer Elementary! We enjoyed our field trip to the Nutcracker that you so generously funded. Thanks to the 2nd grade students and families for their gen-erosity in giving to our mitten children needs. We were able to raise enough money for 2 mittens! Thanks for your giv-ing spirit in helping others in need. We hope your New Year 2012 starts off won-derfully and continues throughout the year. The following are skills and con-cepts presented and/or reviewed in Janu-ary. The 2nd grade students will be studying Kansas History and Martin Luther King, Jr. in January. We will also be talking about —New Years Resolutions?. Identify-ing some habits and or skills we need work on in the New Year will be a goal for us all.

Upcoming Events/News:

• January 4th – School resumes for students (Wednesday) and Sonic Night 5-9 p.m.
• January 5th - Report Cards Available on Skyward for viewing
• January 16th – Offices Closed – No classes for students or staff
• January 28th—PTO Bowling Night 6:30-8:30 p.m.—West Acres
• January 29th—Kansas Day
  

Math:

• Subtracting two-digit numbers
• Place Value to 1000
• Continued practice with mastery of addition/subtraction facts
• Problem solving

• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
• Reading fluency
• Compare and contrast
• Story structure
• Fact and opinion
• The use of graphic organizers
• Theme and plot
• Summarization

Where did December go? January is already here! In third grade, our holiday activities were a BIG success. Thanks to eve- ryone who contributed to the Goddard Mitten Tree! Through your generous donations we were able to provide a nice Christmas for three children. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and caring!

We would also like to thank all the parents who helped with the classroom parties. Everyone really had a wonderful time! The breakfast treats were terrific!

Third graders will be gearing up the next few months in preparation for state assessments. We will be very busy!! We will be doing a lot of practice formative tests on paper and on the computer. Teachers will be visiting with you about these at our February conferences. We will also conduct DIBELS tests this month to monitor our students' fluency and comprehension.

When the weather permits, we will try to go outside for recess. Please remind your child to wear a coat and gloves to school.

We hope everyone enjoyed their time off for the holiday break. This is a great time of year to get refreshed. Please remember to read and practice multiplication facts!

It's hard to believe we've made it to the halfway mark! As we look back, we realize we've learned so much together this first semester. We've studied multiplication, algebra, and basic math facts. We've explored generalizations, fact and opinion, cause and effect, suffixes, prefixes, nouns, verbs and so much more in reading and language. We've also learned about different regions in our country, the characteristics of invertebrates, and some characteristics of good writing. That's quite the accomplishment in 18 short weeks! Thank you to all of the parents who were able to contribute to, attend, and run the winter parties. We had such a nice time and enjoyed being together in the spirit of the holidays.

Some dates to remember through January are:

• Monday, January 2: Teacher Work Day
• Tuesday, January 3: Teacher Work Day
• Wednesday, January 4: Return to school!
• Friday, January 6: Report Cards are issued to students
• Wednesday, January 11: DIBELS midyear testing
• Monday, January 16: No school
• Saturday, January 28: PTO Bowling Night (rsvp)
• Sunday, January 29: Kansas Day

We hope you enjoy your hard earned break and come back refreshed and ready to learn. Don't forget to contact your child's teacher with any questions or concerns. As we begin our second semester, we will continue exploring and learning….together!