Our focus during December is Homes, Families & Traditions. We will learn more about each other as we talk about how families are the same and different. This is a wonderful time to talk with your child about traditions that are special to your family. Your child can use the large paper that he/she brought home to make a poster showing a special tradition.
Over the years we've enjoyed learning about the traditions of the members of the class. We've also refined the project and connected it to both narrative pre-writing skills and our study of features of non-fiction.
Planning: Start by talking about all the different traditions that your family enjoys. Then choose just one tradition as the topic of poster. Now, brainstorm lots of details about that one tradition. Use a scrap piece of paper to paln out the poster.
Students should write your family (last) name in large letters in the center or across the top of the paper. (Title) Next, write the tradition below your family name. (Subtitle) Then decorate the board with photographs or illustrations that show how you honor that tradition. Label drawings and make captions for pictures (you or your child may write) to tell us about your tradition. (If you write, please do so in pencil and have your child trace over the words with marker.) You might even consider including a map if that's appropriate to the tradition.
This does NOT NEED to be a December holiday. You could choose family birthday traditions, weekend/vacation rituals, other holiday traditions, or any other thing that is special to your family. (Ex: My family has “Friday Night Fires” every Friday in the winter.) We especially encourage things that help us to learn about cultural traditions of our classmates.
Students should not feel rushed. A project like this is a good way to model how to work on a multi-step project. You might talk about it one night, gather photos another, sketch out a plan on a piece of paper…all before you ever touch the poster board. 1st graders will often lose steam and do sloppy work when they try to do too much at once. Have them take the time that they need to do their best work and encourage effort and detail over speed. NEATNESS COUNTS! Posters should be returned when they are complete. We ask that they at least 3 days before vacation begins.
Please spend a lot of time talking with you child about the tradition as you work on the project together. Although they might need some help with reading, they should be familiar with all the parts of the poster and be able to give a little information about the tradition as they share the project with the class. We will display them in the hall and return them after the New Year.
We know everyone is busy during this hectic time of year, but we hope you enjoy this project and connecting with your child about things that are special to your family!
Over the years we've enjoyed learning about the traditions of the members of the class. We've also refined the project and connected it to both narrative pre-writing skills and our study of features of non-fiction.
Planning: Start by talking about all the different traditions that your family enjoys. Then choose just one tradition as the topic of poster. Now, brainstorm lots of details about that one tradition. Use a scrap piece of paper to paln out the poster.
Students should write your family (last) name in large letters in the center or across the top of the paper. (Title) Next, write the tradition below your family name. (Subtitle) Then decorate the board with photographs or illustrations that show how you honor that tradition. Label drawings and make captions for pictures (you or your child may write) to tell us about your tradition. (If you write, please do so in pencil and have your child trace over the words with marker.) You might even consider including a map if that's appropriate to the tradition.
This does NOT NEED to be a December holiday. You could choose family birthday traditions, weekend/vacation rituals, other holiday traditions, or any other thing that is special to your family. (Ex: My family has “Friday Night Fires” every Friday in the winter.) We especially encourage things that help us to learn about cultural traditions of our classmates.
Students should not feel rushed. A project like this is a good way to model how to work on a multi-step project. You might talk about it one night, gather photos another, sketch out a plan on a piece of paper…all before you ever touch the poster board. 1st graders will often lose steam and do sloppy work when they try to do too much at once. Have them take the time that they need to do their best work and encourage effort and detail over speed. NEATNESS COUNTS! Posters should be returned when they are complete. We ask that they at least 3 days before vacation begins.
Please spend a lot of time talking with you child about the tradition as you work on the project together. Although they might need some help with reading, they should be familiar with all the parts of the poster and be able to give a little information about the tradition as they share the project with the class. We will display them in the hall and return them after the New Year.
We know everyone is busy during this hectic time of year, but we hope you enjoy this project and connecting with your child about things that are special to your family!