Aspen's December Newsletter

Parent and Family Activities:

• 12/9 Math Magic Parent Education Event 2:35-3 PM
• 12/9 PIE (Parents In Education) Monthly Meeting 3:45 PM
• 12/9 3rd Grade Music Concert 6 PM

School Updates:

• 12/8-12 FastBridge Testing
• 12/15-19 Christmas Dress-up Days
• 12/22-1/5 Christmas Break
• 1/6 Students Return to School
• 1/13-15 Winter WY-TOPP Testing
• 1/30 No School

Students learned about family traditions and enjoyed plenty of turkey-themed activities. We’re also practicing our nursery rhymes and working hard to earn our stickers. Ask your child to recite “Do You Know the Muffin Man?” or “Hickory Dickory Dock”; they’ve been excited to share what they know!

We jumped into hands-on projects that enrich our learning in meaningful ways. Our collaborative pumpkin project was a favorite, giving students a fun opportunity to build their fine motor skills. We also spent time in the kitchen, celebrating each book in the Mercy Watson series; be sure to ask your child about Mercy Watson, the delightful Porcine Wonder!

We strengthened our early literacy skills by exploring key book elements, such as the author, illustrator, title page, and important story components like setting, characters, and plot.

To wrap up the month, we enjoyed a Family Style Feast. Students learned about family and community, and this shared meal was the perfect way to celebrate those themes. They voted on the menu, created placemats and tablecloths, and even helped prepare the meal. This experience helped them take pride in their work while building a strong sense of community in our classroom.

The kinder classes have been building foundational skills since the first day, 67 days ago! (and believe it or not, 6 -7 is a foundational skill!) Besides counting to 100, counting objects, sorting, and categorizing we have been studying 2 and 3 dimensional shapes as well. From discussing attributes to learning new vocabulary to simply building and creating new shapes with shapes.

We also have been reading a variety of classic stories and fables. They love to read different versions of familiar stories. Thank you parents for reading with your children! Many students are writing and reading sentences using "red words" we have learned and simple CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words along with a detailed illustration. These are all foundational skills that we will be practicing for the rest of the year and then some!

Throughout this school year, our first graders have been growing in so many wonderful ways! In math, students have been learning different strategies for addition, including making a ten to add, which has helped build a strong foundation for more complex problem solving.

In Language Arts, first graders have been blending CVC words, practicing vowel sounds, and becoming more confident, independent readers. Our writing work has focused on crafting complete sentences that include a noun, a verb, and a “where” expander, and students are really starting to stretch their ideas with added detail.

Across first grade, we continue to practice sight words to support fluency and overall reading success. We also enjoyed visits from several special guest speakers via Zoom, and we want to give a special thank you to Mrs. Rosty for being a guest in our classroom and sharing her time with us.

In November, our first graders wrote letters to veterans to show our appreciation and to help celebrate Veterans Day. It has been such a joy to watch our first graders shine!

In reading, we have been doing a unit on "Cycles of Nature". In math, we are learning about addition and subtraction strategies up to 100. In writing, we are working on informational writings. Please encourage your child to share about what they are learning in school.

This trimester, 3rd grade has been learning about classic stories, animal groups, and most recently, the human body! We've really enjoyed discovering things about our bodies and how they work. In math, we've been adding and subtracting within 1,000, and working on multiplying and dividing in story problems. Play-doh has been our favorite tool to use in making arrays, and we've been making chalk arrays outside to demonstrate the distributive property. Now we're starting measurement and fractions.

🌟 Math Adventures

Our mathematicians were busy putting their number-sense superpowers to work! Students practiced rounding big numbers (all the way into the hundred-thousands!), compared numbers written in different forms, and even tackled some hefty addition and subtraction problems. We also dipped our toes into multiplication and division, and began exploring the mysteries of area and perimeter—”Area Scavenger Hunts” and measuring shapes brought lots of excitement!

🧪 Science Discoveries

We wrapped up our first science unit by investigating the clever physical structures plants and animals use to survive. Students loved examining how creatures sense their surroundings and how plants stay supported as they grow. Now we’re gearing up for our new energy unit—cue the curiosity!

📚 Reading Journeys

This month took us across time and around the world. Students read about a young girl’s courageous battle with polio and explored life in the Middle Ages—knights, castles, and all! We’re now stepping into a poetry unit, where students get to play with rhythm, imagery, and creative expression.

🏛️ Social Studies Time-Travel

Our historians dug into the dramatic rise and fall of the Roman Empire and got a closer look at how the Byzantine Empire carried on Muhammed’s legacy. The stories, leaders, and inventions sparked great classroom discussions!

✍️ Writing Workshop

In writing, students worked hard to craft clear and convincing opinion essays—complete with multiple paragraphs and thoughtful reasons. Now we’re shifting gears into informational writing, where students become “mini-experts” on topics they’re excited to teach others about.

In fifth grade, students are diving into multiplying and dividing fractions, exploring ecology, and learning about Native American culture, history, and government. In writing, we’ve been practicing both informational and opinion pieces, and we’ll continue strengthening those skills this spring.

Did you know there are lots of ways to help shape what happens at Aspen Elementary? Your voice matters, and we want to partner with you to help our school community grow and thrive!

Join Us for PIE!

Every second Tuesday of the month, 3:45–4:15 p.m., we host our Parents in Education (PIE) meeting. It’s a quick, upbeat gathering where we brainstorm ways to support classrooms, strengthen our school culture, explore parent-education ideas, and plan fun family events. Whether you join in person or virtually via Facebook Live, we love hearing from you. Mark your calendar—our next meeting is December 9!

Thank You for Escaping the Math Swamp!

Thanks to our Title I grant funding, we recently hosted an exciting family night, Escape the Math Swamp! A huge thank-you to all the families who came out to enjoy the math games, puzzles, and collaborative challenges. Your enthusiasm made the night a success!

Parent Education Event—Coming December 9

We’re thrilled to host our first parent education event on December 9. Join us for hands-on, engaging strategies you can use at home to strengthen your child’s math skills and support them with homework - without the stress! Park your car in the pick-up line and join us in the cafeteria as we play with math. We sill start at 2:35 and be done by 3:00, just in time to make it back to your car for pick-up. Let’s keep building a strong, connected Aspen community—together!

In language therapy, many younger students have been learning spatial concepts such as "behind, under, below" etc. and have been gradually improving their understanding of these terms. Many of the older students have been learning grade level antonyms, synonyms, multiple meaning words, and how to define a new word using context clues.