Bears and gingerbread stories

We started our week off learning a little about bears and hibernation. We made some sleeping bears for our den - we learned that bears eat ALOT of food before they go into their dens for the winter, and they are very hungry when they wake up in the spring! Sometimes baby bears are born during the winter too. We will come back to bears before the end of December. 

We also began reading some "gingerbread men" stories and we will continue this into next week. We made some cute gingerbread boys and girls for our classroom. The children will be exploring things that are the same and different as we read different versions of gingerbread stories. We will also work on retelling gingerbread stories, identifying main characters and the setting. Gingerbread stories are a fun way to learn these story elements. 

Our class has demonstrated real progress in their behavioral growth - this gave us a little extra time to work on a big group project! We cooperated and worked on a winter mural... we painted sky, we made trees and houses, and then we put it all together....we think it looks beautiful! 

We worked hard on being able to name a coping skill, show a coping skill and draw a picture in our journal about a coping skill. We have added "yoga" to our list of coping skills as well! 

This Friday is the end of our first trimester. I will send home a paper copy of your child's report card on December 14 in his/her folder. That copy is yours to keep. 

It is colder out now - please send warm clothes for outdoor recess. 
We are in need of more tubs of Lysol or Clorox type wipes - we try to wipe down our tables daily to help keep germs out of Room 113! 

Our last day of school before Winter Break is Thursday, December 22. On that day, we will serve our students a holiday breakfast. This is our Winter Party. We will have pancakes, sausage, fruit and juice for your children - you can send them in a little hungry that morning!