Mrs. DeLuca: Grade 5, Grade 6 ELA

1Merry Christmas to our families! This week was full of holiday activities and celebrations. On Wednesday, the middle school students were good sports and took part in a game where they had to race to unwrap a ball full of treats. On Thursday, the lower school did a beautiful job teaching us about holiday traditions around the world with their Christmas performance. Also on Thursday, our fifth/sixth hybrid ELA class celebrated the season with their own original carols from their recent readings. Enjoy their performances below. If you'd like to view their lyrics, make sure to click on the slideshow!   Finally, on Friday the whole school gathered together for BINGO and cookies, made by the student council. We hope all of our families have a happy and healthy holiday break and a  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

On Tuesday, we celebrated a new tradition,  Las Posadas. A holiday custom in parts of Latin America, Las Posadas  represents the journey of Joseph and Mary on their way to Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus. Mrs. Kathol, Señora Vintimilla, and our fifth graders worked together to bring this exciting custom to our school. They began with a traditional Spanish carol, "My Burrito Sabanero," (video below) which they performed for their families, followed by churros that they made with Ms. Kathol that morning. As we wrapped up our morning, all students were surprised with piñatas in the gym. Our older students really stepped up to make this a memorable occasion for our younger students, with our fifth graders taking on a special role.  

The month of December has brought plenty of holiday cheer to Grade 5. For this week's Community Time, the middle school came together to create ornaments that will adorn our holiday trees around the building. We are even getting into the Christmas spirit in Reading class! The fifth grade has begun their first novel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , which they are experiencing through literature circles. Literature circles are student-centered and allow children to contribute to the learning process while exploring literature. Each fifth grader has a specific job within their group with responsibilities; by working together, they use context clues and a range of reading strategies to understand, apply, and connect to their reading. On Thursday and Friday, Mrs. S's and Mrs DeLuca's math classes got together to build their geometric gingerbread designs. The students had a blast working with different edible materials and used