Holiday Collaborations with First Graders 

Kindergarten students have been busy working with First Grade and Fourth Grade to prepare decorations for our Gratitude tree in Marion Square. Fourth Grade friends helped teach the lovely art of finger knitting to Kindergarteners. Students collaborated to finger-knit garland and to prepare wood circle ornaments for the tree. Students shared and recorded “what they were grateful for” on the small wood circle ornaments and eagerly prepared for our festive outing Wednesday, to decorate the tree! We are so excited and proud to have a holiday Gratitude Tree in downtown Charleston’s majestic Marion Square!

Buildings

Kindergarteners have thoroughly enjoyed becoming experts on buildings during our study of buildings. We have investigated what local buildings look like, the different people who build buildings, what buildings are made of, flimsy and sturdy building materials, and what is special about our building at The Cooper School. Kindergarteners have enjoyed having guest speakers come teach about the process of building a home. We have explored many books about different kinds of buildings and occupations involved with buildings through class read aloud and our listening center. Students enjoyed hands-on experiences with tools that builders use and examined tools designers use when designing buildings.

Brave Authors and Illustrators Preparing to Publish their 2^nd Piece

Our young authors have been busy writing small moments from their lives. Kindergartners wrote who, where, and what happened on each page. Our brave writers practiced telling a story across several pages, stretched out words to record all of their sounds, and made their characters talk by adding speech bubbles. Then students learned to switch to the role of the illustrator as they practiced drawing pictures that matched the words on the page. Illustrators used real life colors to bring their story to life.

Important Dates:

Thursday, December 8th              Polar Express Movie Night

Thursday, December 15^th              Publishing Party 10:30

Friday, December 16^th                   Winter Break Begins- ½ Day, 11:30 Dismissal

Wednesday, January 4th                School Resumes