I can't believe this will be my last blog post for 2020. I'm happy to be saying goodbye to this year, but surprised at how fast time has flown by!

Despite the fact that the students are all ready for a vacation, we managed to get some good work done this week. We finished up our multiplication and division unit! Of course, we will never completely stop multiplying and dividing -- that work will continue through math menu until later in the spring, when we will have a similar unit with larger numbers. After vacation, we will begin a unit about addition and subtraction with large numbers (into the 10 and 100 thousands!) We will learn to regroup and use the standard US algorithm ("carrying and borrowing.") This unit is my favorite -- everyone is always successful, and learning about place value really helps with every other kind of math!

Our literacy units will both continue into January. This week, the students practiced finding the main idea and supporting details in parts of the books they are reading. They took notes and tried to figure out what was really important to write down. They also learned a few different strategies for elaborating in their own writing. They are begging for writing time, which is lovely!

Today we had our first "Maker's Space" day. The students really enjoyed being creative with a huge variety of craft items! Many surprise snowflake gifts are finished and wrapped! We will have another hour of crafting time on Monday so that we can make sure everyone has a chance to finish. I love this kind of activity -- everyone can find a way to participate!

I am still waiting on a few parent conference sign up sheets. If you can't find yours, feel free to email me and we can find a time for your conference. I have a schedule ready to share with you, but I am hoping to hear from everyone before it is finalized.

This week's vocabulary words were scrutinize, immense, and serene. We didn't get to put all of them into our visual dictionary, but we did try to use the words. See if you can use them too!

I probably won't write a blog post on Tuesday (although I might...) If you don't hear from me, I hope you all have a wonderful vacation!