Week of December 6th

Happy Friday Pandas!

General Updates:

1. From the PTO:

   1. Dessert Day for January to May is now available on MTK.  Even if your student is currently participating in dessert day, you need to RENEW for the rest of the school year.  This is a PTO sponsored event.  If you have any questions, please email the PTO.  

      Here is a link to order: https://wgkcpto.membershiptoolkit.com/home

2. Please see the below information regarding Spirit Week!

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3. With the colder weather, we will continue to go outside for recess. Please make sure you send your child to school with appropriate clothes for the outdoor weather.

4. Please check out the specials classes update here!

5.  I would love to extend open arms and welcome families into our classroom! This year we will be welcoming families in to be a "mystery guest"! This is a fifteen minute time slot that you are able to sign up for to either be a mystery reader or to teach us about your beautiful cultures! Please note, there are only two adults over the age of 18 allowed into the building for this volunteer opportunity at a time. 

Some ideas of things you could share related to your culture (but are not limited to) are: photos (holidays, travels, clothing, etc), videos, music, games, stories, puppet show, art project, etc. You are also welcome to bring in any stories and read them to the class for enjoyment! If you are bringing in books, please bring 2-3 books to share during this time.

Cultural connections are totally up to you and what you are comfortable with. We can't wait to welcome you into our classroom this year! If your work schedules are tight and the time slots available do not work for you, please reach out and we are able to plan this over Zoom or you are able to send a video in that we can share with the class!

Please only sign up for one slot per family. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out :)

Click Here For Mystery Guest Sign Up

6. Willow Grove is in the process of creating a MakerSpace library. MakerSpace is a place during play where students can explore, design, and create. Students have the freedom to build and construct during our play. We are so excited to bring MakerSpace to our classroom, but we need your help! In order to have a successful MakerSpace for students to use, we are in need of donations year round. If you are able, we would so appreciate any donation you are willing provide. Below is a list of different items we would love to add to Willow Grove's MakerSpace library.

   
   

   

   
   

This week in literacy...

• Phonics: The pandas learned 3 new heart words: will, did, too. Using our letter-sound knowledge, the pandas are working very hard to decode (read) words by producing one sound at a time and then blending them.

Sound Collection: /m/, /s/, /l/, /n/, /f/, /r/, /v/, /z/, /p/, /g/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /w/, /h/, /kw/, /j/, /y/, /ks/, /z/, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/,

Letter Collection: m, t, p, a, s, c, h, i, d, f, r, o, g, l, n, u, b, k, v, e, j, w, z, q, x, y

Heart Word Collection: the, in, my, a, is, for, I, am, here, and, at, go, it, like, be, to, can, not, you, are, do, will, did, too

• Reading: This week we continued our cycle, learning about each other and the world. We read a new literature text, Max Found Two Sticks. Using this book we discussed the main character, setting, and events. We practiced organizing the events from beginning, middle, and end.

• Writing: This week in writing we continue to focus on opinion writing. An opinion is what we think and how we feel. An opinion cannot be right or wrong as long as you have a reason to support it. This week the pandas worked on the opinion prompt, would you rather go ice skating or sledding? We discussed reasons we would want to go ice skating and reasons we would want to go sledding. First, we spoke our opinion in complete sentences. Then, we wrote our opinion in complete sentences.

This week in math...

• The pandas continued to learn addition equation strategies and we started to learn subtraction equation strategies. Not only are the pandas working to say the correct answer, but they are also working to tell how they solved the equation. These strategies help us solve addition equations and explain how. The strategies we will be working on include:

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  

Reminders

• Please label your child's snack daily and pack this separately from the lunchbox.

• Water bottles stay in the classroom, if you want your child to have a drink for lunch, please send a separate drink.

• If you would like your child to buy a drink at lunch, please make sure there is money in the account for the lunch card.

• Extra clothes and PE shoes should be labeled and stored in your child's cubby.

• Please see Mrs. Smith's Principal's Message for further information about Willow Grove: principal's message

Upcoming Dates

Friday, December 20- Winter Party

Winter Break December 23 - January 3- No School

Monday, January 6th- School Resumes