Our last week of 2013!

It's hard to believe that the year 2013 is now behind us! We had so much fun celebrating the end of a terrific year and looking forward to a wonderful winter break from school. 

Here are a few highlights of our last week of 2013!

As our Geometry unit in math came to an end, the children enjoyed sharing authentic objects they found from home for our "Shapes Museum!" Danny noticed that his shoebox is the shape of a rectangular prism.

 Kelly brought in a crayon box and a DVD case- both rectangular prisms!

 Demetra found a cube to add to our musuem!

 Ava brought in a party hat, also know as a cone!

 Nico found a bouncy ball to share- better known as a sphere.

 We also took some time to make a holiday gift for our families. The children made small snowman frames with their class picture inside! It was so much fun watching them wrap their gifts themselves. They put so much care into their wrapping! I hope many of you took advantage at home of the wonderful wrapping skills I witnessed at school!

 We did it! All 20 were completed and wrapped.  We hope you enjoyed the gift!

 I had to take a couple pictures of the "bundling process" that occurs each day at school. I know you get to see it x1, 2, or 3 kids at home, but its really something when its x20! Thank you for labeling the kids' hats, gloves, snowpants, and boots with their names. There are often many of the same, or close look-alikes, so it helps a bunch!

 The children are doing a great job of keeping their hats and gloves in their sleeves, stacking their boots and hanging or storing their snowpants where they belong. We are also lucky to have a very conscientious classroom "custodian" that helps us keep everything in order, too!

 Thank you for also sending your children with an extra pair of dry socks to keep in their backpacks (and gloves if you have them!) It lets the kids have all of their fun in the snow outside, but then they can warm up and be comfortable back in class so we can get back to and focus on our work! :)

 Our little snow people!

 We learned that a custom that comes from England is sharing holiday cards! They have also shared the tradition of carols and caroling with us. We enjoyed creating holiday/new year cards for our families while listening to a variety of popular holiday songs!

 The kids brought home a picture puzzle of 24 holiday songs after first guessing them at school- were you able to figure them out at home?!?

 A special treat that Mrs. Sessler, Mrs. Trendel, and the PTA organized for the children was their first annual "Winter Wonderland!" In their adorable jammies, the children headed to the commons area to complete a craft and have a little sing-along! They loved it!

 Mr. Deptula and the 5th grade carolers popped in to spread even MORE cheer! 

We had a blast singing along!

 It was Nico's week to be our super star student! His mom and dad came in to do an experiment and share a story!

 Nico's experiment got us thinking about our heart and how it works. Nico created home-made stethoscopes using a tube and a funnel.

 The children enjoyed giving their heart a "listen!"

Dr. Laurie also brought actual stethoscopes for the kids to try! The children were so excited to use them and hear their heartbeats even more clearly than before!

 Dr. Laurie showed us a device that more accurately counts our heart beats. After showing the children how to find his heart rate using this device, he asked the kids if they could think of a way to get his heart rate to increase...

The children had him doing push-ups (WITH Nico on his back!) sit ups, and jogging in place. He tested his heart rate again, and sure enough, UP it went!

 Finally, Nico and his dad shared a book with us about how the heart works. We learned SO much during Nico's star presentation!

 Here is an adorable picture of Nico and his parents in front of his star student bulletin board. What a nice afternoon we had with them! We are so lucky to have such a sweet, caring, and friendly boy in our class. 

 Before our week ended, there were two things left to accomplish. The first was reading "Silver Packages" by Cynthia Rylant. The children learned about how random acts of kindness can be contagious- they are a gift that keeps on giving! They then learned about their winter break homework assignment, to complete one (or many!) random act of kindness.

 Last but not least, it was time for the children to "de-bug" the classroom! We tidied the inside of our desks, put crayons and pencils back where they belong, threw out anything we no longer need, and cloroxed the classroom surfaces. We are ready for you, 2014!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season with your families and friends, and most of all are getting plenty of rest and relaxation. I wish you all a wonderful, prosperous 2014!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, and hearing all of the children's wonderful wintertime stories and adventures on Monday!