Classroom News

Kindergarten News - January

Brewster kindergarteners will be starting 2012 with an interesting and informative presentation by our outdoor education specialist, Marcy Klattenberg. She will be teaching us about the many different types of evergreens. We will discuss what is the same and what is different about each type. We will also practice our scientific skills by using our five senses to study and make observational writings about and drawings of the evergreen samples we collect in the woods surrounding our homes.

This month we will be reading and comparing two favorite stories, The Mitten and The Hat, both written by the celebrated author Jan Brett. Our kindergarteners will be using a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between these books. We will also do a variety of projects inspired by the themes in these works of fiction.

January provides an ideal opportunity to reinforce the importance of our core ethical values. We will use Martin Luther King Day to discuss values such as kindness, respect, and courage. Through books and projects children will see just what courage really is and how one person can make such an amazing difference in the world by standing up for what he or she knows is right.

In math we will be learning about numbers through 31. The kindergarteners will learn to write, count and compare these numbers. We will also delve deeper into calendar math since most months have 31 days.

Happy New Year from the Brewster kindergarten family to your family!

The Kindergarten Team

First Grade Student Work

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First Grade News - January

Our first graders have smoothly made the transition from the holiday vacation back into our school routines. They all enjoyed a well-deserved break and are eager to leap back into learning!

We are kicking off winter with our ever-popular animal studies. We began with a trip to the Peabody Museum just before vacation. We examined a variety of local birds and explored the many types of habitats that are found in CT. We will continue to compare and contrast several different animal groups and identify the characteristics of each.

In math, we will be sending home our First Grade Facts to practice. A few minutes each night will help your child master this foundational skill. We are also continuing to introduce many new concepts such as: telling time, measurement and fractions. Many first graders have visited the computer lab to practice some of these skills.

To support our Social Studies curriculum we will be participating in our second annual Flat Stanley Project. Each first grader will make their own Flat Stanley and bring them home to be mailed to a friend or family member. Our hope is that as Stanley visits different places around the world, we will receive emails, postcards and/or photos telling us about his adventures. As we receive this information, we will track Flat Stanley’s travels on a world map. This project truly helps bring our geography studies to life!

We are also continuing to work hard on our reading and writing skills. Reading TO, WITH and BY your child will help them to enjoy all aspects of reading. This is truly a magical time for first graders. It’s awesome to watch the children as they open the door to the wonderful world of reading!

We are all looking forward to what the rest of this school year has to offer!

Happy 2012!

The First Grade Team

Second Grade Student Work

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Second Grade News - January

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! As part of our year-long unit on weather, the 2nd graders here at Brewster School are enjoying talking about snow. We will study how snow is formed, do experiments, make predictions about the amount of snow we think we will get, and measure how much snow we actually get.

In writing, we are trying to remember to use our senses to describe building snowmen, snow forts, igloos, going sledding, and skating as we continue to work on writing entertaining and vividly described stories. Just a little bit of snow this season might really help our imaginations!

In math, we are using mental math to add two digit numbers. We are learning about number patterns and continue to build upon our understanding of place value. We are learning about plane shapes and solid figures as we explore geometric concepts. We are learning to “regroup” in addition and “borrow” in subtraction, as we work on memorizing our facts and learn more about number sense.

Our kindergarten Book Buddies continue to meet with us twice each month as we share our favorite stories and do planned special activities together. We learn to be better readers and our kindergarten friends become better listeners.

Happy Winter everyone!

Second Grade Team

Last Modified: January 10, 2012