Weekly Update and Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a short week coming up, and then 5 wonderful days to spend with family and friends. Here's what you need to know for next week's short week and the week after...

Thanksgiving Travel:
If your child will be absent next week, and/or leaving early on Tuesday, please kindly notify both the office and me in advance. For absences, you may use the online absence excuse form on the Pinebrook homepage. For early dismissal, you may use the early dismissal form on the Pinebrook homepage.

Thanksgiving Reading Incentive:
I will sending home a Thanksgiving reading incentive with your child on Tuesday, November 26th. Please be sure to check your child's homework folder on Tuesday when they return home for this item. Reading incentives will be due back on Monday, December 2nd. I will not accept any late submissions.

No Homework Packet Next Week:
There will be no homework packet next week due to our short week. PLEASE READ!

Volunteers Needed:
In social studies, we are learning about economics and holiday traditions around the world. In the next week, the 1st graders will spend some time "visiting" other countries to learn about holiday traditions from from many cultures. As a culminating activity to this unit, our 1st grade class will host a "World Market" on Tuesday, December 17th. At the market, each class will "sell" an item representing a particular culture or country. Students will "shop" for items from other classes using play money. They will need to budget and save their dimes, and prioritize their purchases since they will not have enough money to buy everything. At the market, we would like to showcase cultures and cultural artifacts from around the world. Would you like to set up a table at the market to showcase your family's cultural heritage, and speak to student's about your holiday traditions who may visit your table? If so, please return the "Wanted: First Grade Parents" slip that I sent home in yesterday's Thursday folder.

Gingerbread Houses:
Our class will be completing a reading unit about Gingerbread stories the week of December 9th. As part of this unit, our students will have the opportunity to create their own gingerbread house on Tuesday, December 10th. To make this possible, we will need your help. Each student will be receiving a letter about our gingerbread houses with a few items highlighted to donate to our gingerbread house making. If you are unable to send in the items, please let me know, so I can make sure that we have those items for our students. I will also be looking for volunteers to help out!

Focus Areas for the Coming Short Week (11/25, 11/26) AND the Week of 12/2-12/6:

• Reading-We will finish our Word Detectives unit by talking about unusual words, such as contractions. We will practice reading and writing our 1st grade snap words. 
• Writing-We will complete a few fun Thanksgiving writing projects, work on editing writing, and practice writing in a sequence. 
• Phonics-We will use words that we know to help us solve new words. 
• Math-We will finish our fractions unit. We will continue to explore the concepts of halves, thirds, and fourths, and discuss fractions of a whole and fractions of a set. 
• Social Studies-We will talk about Pilgrim life. We will finish learning about economics. We will begin our Holidays Around the World rotations, whereby the first grade teachers rotate through each other's classrooms teaching the students about holiday traditions from other countries and cultures. 

As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and feedback. 

Happy Thanksgiving! And safe travels for those who will be heading somewhere else for the holiday! I have a lot to be thankful for this year including your sweet kiddos and all of your support!