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Dear Parents,

Thank you to those who came in to help with our Hanukkah party! Though it was not the celebration we expected to have, it was still a nice experience for the class. They especially took to the dreidel game.

The reason the party wasn’t as expected was because recess on Friday has been a struggle for the class as a whole. This class is often very good at recess, so there is something about Fridays that makes it tough for the group. We have been actively working together as a class on this for the past several weeks. Before recess this week, I set a clear expectation about their recess manners in relation to the party afterwards. Upon their return, the students acknowledged that, while recess was improved, it was not sufficient enough to meet the standard set. We then had a discussion about what should happen with Hanukkah, and were able to find a middle ground between cancelling the party altogether and having the full-blown Hanukkah experience.

Many students felt disappointed, and perhaps this “pinch” will be one aspect that helps shift things. Sticking to my guns like this also helps remind them that I mean business. This reminder of authority is something that can be needed during the nine year change. This year the class has been able to bring a more mature sense of integrity and honesty to handling conflict. As we know, there is no “perfect” life in which everything is always in harmony. I’m pleased to see the continued development of their ability to deal with difficulty. On the practical side, I have several ideas regarding how to support a healthier Friday recess moving forward, and over the break will be deciding on which plan to put in place.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Winter Spiral / Advent Spiral, Monday, Dec 18, 5:30-6:30pm. Walking the spiral is a beautiful tradition for the students that we also make available to you in the evening. Come any time during that hour.

Festival of Light, Thursday, Dec 21, 2:20-3:30. Gather as a community to celebrate winter, honor solstice, and usher in 2018 with joy. The assembly begins at 2:20 with songs of light and peace. Dismissal officially begins at 3:00, at which point your student can join you in the hall for tea and chatting. Feel free to bring treats to share!

No School Friday – first day of break!

CLASSROOM HIGHLIGHTS

This week, we continued the progression of turning print words into cursive, starting to decrease the size and also focus on the letters that “go over the hill and back again” like lowercase a, g, and o. If your student is practicing at home, help reinforce proper “hill letter” formation, as this is often the trickiest part of learning cursive. The end result may look the same, but students may have taken an unnecessarily laborious path to get there.

I know I often write about morning lesson work, and not always about our other classes. So here is a little Subject Corner update. The garden has been put to bed for the winter, and Ms Kiefer is now inside with the children working on projects. One group prepared a seedling bed to put in the south facing hallway window. A couple students spritz it every day and are hoping for shoots to come eventually. Another group made cordage or twisted rope from leaves. In Practical Arts we have been working on a super secret project that has required long-term planning, dedication, and artistic effort. In Math Games we have extended our place value work from last year into the millions and billions. We’re also playing lots of fun games like Back to Back and Samurai, increasing their math skills ability and also taking the times tables out of order.

And last but not least, this is our goodbye week to our pentatonic flutes! In January we will receive c-flutes, which are very similar to recorder and have the ability to play all the notes in the major or minor scales instead of just the pentatonic scale. Our plan is to clean and polish the pentatonic flutes and gift them to the first grade. We’re also wanting to go out with a bang, and have a performance planned for first grade this coming week in which we will play Land of the Silver Birch with the often added dip, dip and swing. We’re breathing hard after all that playing in our rehearsals, and they are excited about doing a little last performance.