Mrs.
Miller’s Class Newsletter
December 23, 2009
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Wishing Your Families a Happy Holiday!
I would like to take a moment to wish all of
your families a happy holiday. I hope that you
are able to spend quality time together during the holiday
break. Talk to your child about the holiday traditions that
you have. Hopefully, these traditions will be passed down
throughout the years to come. I thank all of you for being
supportive of your child’s education at Valley View. I am
looking forward to all of the great things to come in the
year 2010!
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Happy Birthday Children’s Authors!
December’s Author: Jan Brett
This month we are reading books that were written
and illustrated by Jan Brett. Her birthday was on
December 1st. She has a wonderful, interactive website that
we visited many times throughout this month. Here are the
facts that learned about Jan Brett:
• Jan Brett spent many hours reading and writing when
she was young.
• As a child, Jan Brett knew she wanted to be an author
and an illustrator.
• Jan Brett lives in Massachusetts.
• She has over 34 million books in print.
• She travels to many countries to get ideas for her
books.
If you are interested in learning more about Jan
Brett and her books, visit her website:
www.janbrett.com
Learning About Money
Our class has been focusing on
money in math. The students are
doing a variety of activities in class
that relate to the topic of money. Counting sets of coins
was our focus in the beginning of our money unit. Many of
the students have been using the Touch Math strategy
when counting sets of coins. This strategy allows the
students to count by fives as they determine the total
value of a group of coins. Ask your child to model this
strategy as you count coins at home.
Over the holiday break, continue to review the
concept of money with your child. Have them compare two
sets of coins and then add the sets to find the total value.
You can look in the store advertisements and ask your child
how they would pay for specific items. We will be continuing
our money unit when we return in January. There are many
fun money activities that we still have to do in class!
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Making Healthy Food Choices
We have been learning about nutrition in
health. The students each have a
nutrition folder in their desk that
contains the information and activities that we have been
doing in class. This will be sent home early in January for
families to see. We have learned to identify healthy food
choices in each food group and why each food group is
important in keeping our bodies healthy. Try to send in
healthy snacks for your child to eat for a morning snack.
This will be a great way for us to begin a healthy new year!
Learning About the Winter Holidays
The second grade classes just completed a 3-day holiday
rotation. The students visited each of the second grade
classrooms as they learned about the variety of winter
holidays that are celebrated around the world. The
students wrote facts about each of the holidays. Have your
child share their holiday rotation packet with you. This was
sent home with them today. See what your child learned
about Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Los Posadas, New
Years Around the World, and Chinese New Years. We hope
that all families have a wonderful holiday celebration!
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Winter Break Reminder…
** Please make sure to read the
yellow note that is inside the holiday
treat bag from Mrs. Miller. There is a small
job that families have to do during winter
break. Please have your child bring in their
photo when they return to school in January.
Thanks! 