Dear Yellow Room Families,
 
It has been a magical week in the Yellow Room! Here is an update on what the Yellow Room children learned this week in school. But first:
 
Reminders:

• Dec 11: Field Trip to ABT Studios (Children MUST have one adult chaperone.)
• Dec 20: Holiday Breakfast (Children MUST have an adult attending.)

 
Theme:

• The Nutcracker Ballet

 
Classroom Activities:

• The Yellow Room began learning about The Nutcracker Ballet. We read many versions of The Nutcracker story, in which different authors used different words and pictures to tell the same story.
• The Yellow Room learned a new story element this week, Setting. The Nutcracker was the perfect story to discuss setting, where the story takes place. After reviewing all the characters in the Nutcracker, we learned that the story begins in Clara's house and then moves to the Land of Sweets. 
• For writing, the Yellow Room children wrote about their favorite Nutcracker scene. The children were able to recall so many different scenes, characters, and settings. 
• For Art, the children assembled their own nutcracker and stage to accompany their writing.
• In science, we had fun observing corn kernels dance in jars. We began by placing some corn kernels in three different jars. We then added water in one, vinegar in a second, and seltzer in the third. We watched closely to see if the liquids would react with the corn, but the corn was too heavy and would not move around. It wasn't until we added baking soda to the vinegar and seltzer that we saw a chemical reaction push the corn to the top of the jar and mimic dancing. 
• The letter of the week was ‘C’. We followed up with a journal entry, Letterland story and a Jolly Jingle.

 
Highlight of the Week:

• Learning that Peter Tchaikovsky loved the story of the nutcracker so much he wrote music to retell the story. We had so much fun listening to the music and letting it guide and move our bodies.  

 
Books we read:

• Nutcracker, by Mary Engelbreit
• The Nutcracker, by Susan Jeffers
• The Nutcracker Ballet, by Vladimir Vagin
• The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet, by Deborah Hautzig

 
Songs we sang:

• Jolly ‘C’ jingle

Places we visited:

• In Music, we began singing holiday songs, including “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah”, “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel”, “Feliz Navidad”, and “Jingle Bells”.
• In Library, Lindsay read “Over and Under the Snow”, by Kate Messner and children checked out their books to take home.
• In PE, children worked on their bounce pass and chest pass.

Enjoy the photos and have a beautiful weekend!
 
Sincerely,
 
The Yellow Room Teachers

Dear Yellow Parents,

It has been another busy week in the Yellow Room! Below is an update on what the Yellow Room children learned this week in school. But first:
  
Reminders:
 

• Nov. 12 & 13:  Parent Teacher Conferences
• Nov. 14: Picture Day in School (Children and teachers only)
• Nov. 20: Native American Festival (Each Child MUST have one adult in attendance)
• Dec. 11: Visit to ABT studios   (Each Child MUST have one adult in attendance)
• Dec 20: Holiday Breakfast (Children MUST have an adult attending.)

  
Themes this week:

• We concluded our author study on Laura Numeroff . 

 
 
 
Classroom Activities:

• The Yellow Room continued our Laura Numeroff author study and read her book “10-Step Guide to Living With Your Monster” and the Jellybeans series.
• For writing, the Yellow Room children authored their own book inspired by Numeroff titled “16-Step Guide to Teaching a Monster to Be a Yellow Room Student”. Each child thought of and wrote one thing to teach a monster about being a yellow room student.
• For Art, the children drew an illustration of a monster to accompany their writing for the book.
• In recognition of Diwali, the Yellow Room children learned about the holiday also known as “The Festival of Lights”. The children worked together to color a rangoli pattern and formed diyas (traditional oil lamps) from model magic. For cooking, the Yellow Room made Indian rice pudding called “Kheer”.
• The letter of the week was ‘I’. We followed up with a journal entry, Letterland story and a Jolly Jingle.

• In math, following up on our Pumpkin Seed estimation, the Yellow children received a paper jar and first had to estimate how many jellybeans they could glue down. After writing down their "guess", they glued down the colorful paper jellybeans and wrote down their actual count. 

Books we read:

• The Chicken Sisters, by Laura Numeroff
• Nighty-night, Cooper, by Laura Numeroff
• 10-Step Guide to Living with Your Monster, by Laura Numeroff
• Otis & Sydney and the Best Birthday Ever, by Laura Numeroff
• The Jellybeans and the Big Dance, by Laura Numeroff
• The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza, by Laura Numeroff

• The Jellybeans and the Big Camp Kickoff, by Laura Numeroff

Songs we sang: Jolly ‘I’ jingle

Places we visited:

• In Yoga, we stretched and worked on balance.
• In Art, children were introduced to a new artist: Kandinsky. 
• In Library, Lindsay read Farfallina and Marcel, by Holly Keller

 
Enjoy the photos and have a beautiful weekend!

Sincerely,

The Yellow Room Teachers

Dear Yellow Parents,

It has been another busy week in the Yellow Room! Below is an update on what the Yellow Room children learned this week in school. But first:
  
Reminders:
 

• Nov. 12 & 13:  Parent Teacher Conferences
• Nov. 14: Picture Day in School (Children and teachers only)
• Nov. 20: Native American Festival (Each Child MUST have one adult in attendance)
• Dec. 11: Visit to ABT studios   (Each Child MUST have one adult in attendance)

  
Themes this week:
 

• We concluded our learning about Halloween Characters.
• Began an author study on Laura Numeroff . 

Classroom Activities:
 

• In writing, we thought of delightful responses to a Halloween poems about Candy Corn. 
• The Yellow Room kicked off our first author study with Laura Numeroff and the “If You Give a…” book series.  We discussed that authors "write the words" and that illustrators "draw the pictures" in books and stories. We also reviewed that characters are people or animals in the story. 
• For Art, the children assembled their own character from one of the Laura Numeroff books we read using glue and paper as well as drawing adorable details to finish them off.
• For writing, children responded to the open-ended prompt: “If you give a ________ a cookie/donut/muffin/etc., he will want to…”.
• The letters of the week were ‘H' and 'T’.  We followed up with journal entries for each letter, Letterland stories and Jolly Jingles.

 
 
 
Highlight of the Week:

• Halloween, of course!!!  We had a spook-tacular day trick or treating around the school, dancing to Halloween party music, making masks, eating pizza and cupcakes and  having fun with our friends! Thank you all for making it such a memorable day for us.

 
 
Book we read:

• One Halloween Night, by Mark Teague
• Monster Trouble, by Lane Fredrickson
• The Sweetest Witch Around, by ALison McGhee
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff
• f You Give a Cat a Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin, by Laura Numeroff
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake, by L:aura Numeroff
• If You Give a Dog a Donut, by Laura Numeroff 

 
Places we visited:

• In PE we played the chase game and practiced our bounce pass.
• In Art, Julia and Janae continued the artist study on Piet Mondrian. The children made collages using paper in primary colors and black tape.
• On Friday, we joined the Montclare School Community in assembly.

Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend.
 
Sincerely,

The Yellow Room Teachers