How Does Your Garden Grow?: A few last words for 2008...

While our little plants endure the freezing wind and rain outside, we have been keeping the latke oil sizzling in Room A. We learned about this delicious Hannukkah tradition and the story of the miracle of the Maccabees' victory reclaiming the temple in Jerusalem and the lantern oil that lasted 8 nights. The children also learned from Mrs. Vasquez about winter lights and decorations that are made in the Philippines to commemorate La Posada, or Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay in Bethlehem. The beautiful star they created marked the stable that was finally their resting place. Isabella's mom came and told us the story of the Nativity that Christians celebrate this time of year. This coming Friday, Mrs. Cote will teach the northern European tradition of St. Lucia wreaths of candles.

Below is the text of my most recent newsletter home.

December 10, 2008

Dear Room A Families,

Here’s your December newsletter. Time is flying by…2008 is almost over! We have just marked our 67^th day of school on the calendar.

I really enjoyed the time to meet with each family for conferences a few weeks ago. I know the report cards contain a great deal of information to take in all at once, but I encourage you to look back at the second page listing concepts and skills to think about what to preview or reinforce at home with your child. Practice of math skills can be done in ways that don’t even feel like work – playing board games and card games, sorting or making patterns with toys, counting yellow houses or red cars as you drive, playing with a handful of change. You could even make up oral story problems and embed the number sense in a funny or imaginative context. Practice of language arts skills can be done sharing oral stories, writing a grocery list together, playing rhyming games over a bowl of cereal, doing a word hunt in a favorite book, writing a letter together to a relative or Santa, going to the library (West End branch has Tuesday afternoon story time at 3:30!) and picking out some new books to borrow.

Speaking of sharing the joy of reading, I am happy to tell you that we still love meeting weekly with Room 3 reading buddies. We visit with the third graders each week on Wednesdays after lunch to hear them read aloud to us. Sometimes we will choose the books and sometimes they will choose the books. The pine cone turkeys made in honor of Thanksgiving were thanks to our buddies and Ms. Kielty’s cooperation.

The holidays are here and anyone who would like to come to the classroom to present special winter traditions to the group is welcome. You could share music, food, stories, or family treasures. Please let me know as soon as possible what you would like to do and when you can visit. Or your child can simply bring in an object that represents a favorite tradition you observe. We will be reading a few stories and doing a few projects to broaden the children’s awareness of diverse winter celebrations. As you may have noticed, we have done minimal Halloween and Thanksgiving arts and crafts. Though it is worthwhile to channel the children’s enthusiasm about popular celebrations, Paden teachers agree not to spend much valuable learning time on consumer culture that may or may not reflect everyone’s home values. We do appreciate genuine opportunities to teach respect and curiosity about our community of multiple languages, nationalities, and religions. Speaking of community awareness, please remember that our school is doing a canned food drive to contribute to the Alameda Food Bank for families in need at this time of year. Finally, the first graders are practicing a short play on the universal theme of giving that they will perform for the kindergarteners and other classes.

This play, based on Shel Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree, also ties in to our year-long theme, “How Does Your Garden Grow” and wraps up our science study of trees. Though the weather is turning chilly and the harvest time has passed, we have not forgotten about the garden! We have planted carrots, beets, and radish seeds in the large communal garden and in pots behind Room A. We are watching for changes and drawing and writing what we observe in garden journals. The roots will be ready to pick and examine as “Botany on Our Plate” later in the winter. We will be starting a new science unit relating life science and the garden involving critters that live in the soil, in the pond and on the plants. We will be studying worms, snails, fish, and a special surprise garden helper after we return in January. By the way, if any other parents have time on Friday mornings, there is a small group of volunteers doing weeding and other general garden chores right after opening ceremony. It is a drop-in group, so please feel free to join in and keep our garden well-tended. I will end with a little personal announcement. I am expecting a baby in May next year. I will share this with the children tomorrow at our class meeting, but I wanted to inform all you families. I am planning to continue teaching through mid-May. I wish I could finish out our year completely, but I am glad that we will have finished all of our major projects before I go on maternity leave.