General News
We’ll be having our bi-annual movie and PJ day next week on Wednesday, December 18th! This is a Gamma tradition to relax and celebrate all our hard work preparing for POP! It’s hard to believe it’s already the last week before winter break!
ELA Update
We had a fun week with more fiction writing! Early in the week we talked about descriptive language and the key role it plays in helping the reader engage with the story. We also talked about how authors create hooks for the reader by using different styles of leads. A few techniques authors use might be: dialogue, action, descriptive language, sound, and more! We pulled different books off the shelf and read the first line and discussed why the author might have used that particular style. Gammas got together with partners to share their own leads and got feedback. We also got acquainted with the sometimes-challenging-but-always-worth-it art of giving and receiving feedback. Authors get ideas from each other and from hearing each other’s writing! Workshopping our writing with others is a key part of the process in Gammaland. We did modeling about how you might give someone positive and less-positive feedback on their writing in a way that helps and encourages them.
Math Update
This week, the main focus of our math class was getting our quarterly check-ins accomplished. The kids showed great focus and determination. Both classes have been deep into FractionLand, which happens to be one of the tougher skills to tackle. We also worked to finish up our “School Uniform” projects. Kids wrote letters to Ms. Shari “pitching” their ideas for an official AHB Gamma uniform and then set off to create them. First, we “shopped” at Target and found a WIDE variety of items to purchase. Then, we set out to find the total cost (multi-digit multiplication practice for both groups. Year 1 rounded their prices to the whole dollar and Year 2 kids multiplied with decimals.) Next week, we will have little devoted math time as we prep for POP!
Theme Update
On Monday and Tuesday we continued to put in the final touches on our creative cell project. It’s looking great! On Wednesday and Thursday we got into POP committee teams to brainstorm how we will organize, decorate, and display all of our learning to the school community. We reiterated throughout the week that the goal of POP is to show off our learning – to make the invisible visible! Gammas had tons of creative ideas and it’s all coming together very nicely!
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