Winter is Here!

Dear Esprit Families,

With the winter season upon us, we would like to address expectations for winter clothing required for recess.  The Esprit policy is that students wear to recess what they have been sent to school with. This is not negotiable with the children.  Please reinforce this expectation to your child, so as to minimize confusion or questioning about what is expected of them.

Playground rules require students to wear snow pants and boots if they want to be involved in activities on the fields and/or the playground.  Students who do not come to school with snow

pants and boots will only be allowed to participate in blacktop activities.  Even when there is not snow, winter grounds are wet and muddy. It is important that students not track mud back into the building, and that they have clean, dry clothes to wear for the remainder of the day for learning. We would appreciate your support in helping to make sure your child is prepared for recess this winter.

Thank you!

This week we had the opportunity to participate in the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is a part of Computer Science Education Week each December and introduces children to computer science and computer programming. Both of our classes used the ipads for an hour this week to try out coding. You can go to code.org or hourofcode.com if your child wants to try it out at home as well!

Miss Niles' class had a Publishing Party to share their opinion writing and poetry. It was wonderful to see so many families attend. These hard workers were proud to share their work! After the Holiday Break, we will be starting a Non-fiction writing unit. We will also be teaching the students cursive handwriting! Miss Niles' class also finished reading the Red Clover Books this week and voted on a favorite. It ended up with a tie! Winnie and Glamourpuss received the most votes! Be sure to ask our child which book was his or her favorite!

Our new science unit continues to move along! Miss Niles' class completed two investigations with magnets, focusing on what happens when magnets interact with paperclips and discovering if magnetic force can work at a distance. These scientists did a great job following the scientific method, making predictions, collecting data, and drawing conclusions.

Miss Deb's class completed an investigation about patterns of motion. They built a variety of wheel-and-axel systems and observed what happened when they rolled them down a ramp. They discovered that they can change the motion of wheels rolling down ramps by changing the size and placement of the wheels they use.

Miss Deb's class also met with their book buddies again this week. Miss Elia's Kindergarten Class came to our classroom to read with their partner from our classroom. It has been a lot of fun for our class to get to know our Kindergarten friends and build relationships with them.

Have a terrific weekend,
Deb and Jenn