The Woodland Weekly

Dear Woodland Families,

At Woodland School, we strive to create a safe, supportive environment where every student can thrive. For the most part, our students play nicely at recess, cooperate in class, and solve disagreements well (rock-paper-scissors solves EVERYTHING)! This month, we want to help families understand the difference between bullying and typical student conflicts, as well as ways to empower our children to resolve conflicts independently (when rock-paper-scissors doesn’t work).

What’s the Difference Between Student Conflict and Bullying?

Student Conflict:

• Definition: A disagreement or misunderstanding between peers.

• Key Elements: Not repeated and typically not intentionally harmful.

• Examples: Arguments over turns in a game, differences in opinions during group activities, unkind words.

• 
  

Bullying:

• Definition: Repeated, intentional actions and/or gestures meant to harm, humiliate, or intimidate someone.

• Key Elements: Physical, social, or emotional harm and repeated behaviors.

• Examples: Repeated name-calling, exclusion, physical harm.

How You Can Help

Stepping in right away may feel like the right thing to do, but it’s actually counterproductive. Instead, teaching children to solve conflicts on their own helps them build lifelong problem-solving and social skills. Here’s how you can guide them:

When to Intervene

If the strategies above aren’t helping, or if you suspect bullying, it’s important to involve school staff promptly to ensure the safety and well-being of all students. Our teachers and counselors are here to help resolve conflicts and support your child.

Thank you for partnering with us to create a positive school environment! If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Warm regards,

Emma and Kayla

December 6 - Paint Night TONIGHT!

December 11 - PTO Meeting @5:30 WS

December 18 - Winter Concert

December 21 - January 5 Winter Break

January 6 -School Starts Again!

During the month of December, preschoolers will learn about Families. They will explore family and animal homes. The children continue to work on their Heggerty skills (rhyming, beginning sounds, blending words, isolating medial sounds, segmenting words, adding and deleting words, and singing the alphabet while looking at each letter). They will continue to practice subitizing (looking at objects and knowing how many there are without counting) up to 5 and using objects for putting together and taking away up to 5. Preschoolers will continue to practice showing numbers 1-10 on their rekenreks. We will have fun using Braidy (our story grammar marker) to help us retell stories. The children are developing friendships and learning how to cooperate with others.

Math:

Students will continue with a unit on Geometry that they recently begun. They will learn to identify, describe, analyze, compare, and compose two-dimensional shapes. Students look for shapes in the world around them and describe and compare them using their own language. Students engage in activities such as; identifying objects in books and in their world that look like flat shapes. For example, students may look at the side of a tissue box and say it looks like a rectangle. With the use of pattern block manipulatives, activities that support the developing of spatial reasoning will also be a focus.

ELA:

Kindergarten students will complete their final week of the Module, “My Community Hero’s” and then shift focus to a new Module called, “Happy Healthy Me.”

In this module, children learn the essentials of healthy living, like eating well, exercising, and practicing good hygiene. They also see that being “my healthiest me” is really fun. During writing, students will begin to learn the genre of research writing, using the informational texts of this unit as mentor texts.

Science/Social Studies:

Students will enter their final weeks of the Unit on Construction. In this unit, students explore and engage in play centers while they learn concepts of stability. Read Alouds will be used to support students understanding of what it takes to build structures, and what makes structures strong and sound. Students will also learn about different types of buildings and structures, as well as different types of building materials. Additionally, they will become an architect themselves and draw blueprints of their own building designs.

First graders continue to work on growing their skills as readers, writers, and math thinkers!

In reading, we will be working on blending and decoding words with beginning and ending blends (sp, st, bl, dr, mp, nt). We will also practice and read words with open and closed syllables (sun/set, nap/kin, tu/lip, pa/per). We will be wrapping up our module all about being Better Together. Our stories have helped us to better understand how it is so important to do our best and get along with others.

In writing, we have begun to explore another type of informational writing in which we will teach others HOW-TO do something. We will learn that our writing can help others sequence the order in which things happen. (First, Next, Then, Last)

In math, we have begun to explore the teen numbers and adding and subtracting within 20. Students continue to show their thinking with math manipulatives, share their strategies for solving problems, and learn from one another.

As a special holiday celebration, first graders will also be making gingerbread houses! We are so excited for this special event coming up before the winter break!

Second graders continue to be hard at work! In ELA, they will soon begin Module 5: Lead the Way. In this module, students will be learning about the qualities that good leaders have. They will read about famous leaders in history, children who are leaders in their community, and opinions about what it takes to be a great leader. Children will also write a personal essay about what makes them unique. To support your child's learning, reinforce these important topic words when you read or talk with your child: admire inspire pioneer.

Students will also begin math Unit 4: Adding and Subtracting on the Number Line. In this unit, students learn about the structure of a number line and use it to represent

numbers within 100. They also relate addition and subtraction to length and represent the operations on the number line diagram.

The current science mini unit on forces is wrapping up. The focus will soon shift to a new social studies unit on geography. In this unit, students will learn about the cardinal directions and how to use a map key. They will also map a familiar location and learn the names and locations of the continents and oceans.

Come and join us for some beautiful music and art! Our Winter Concert will be held on December 18th with a snow date of the 19th and our students have been hard at work. The times for concerts are as follows:

Kindergarten (w/ B105 and A115) : 12:45-1:15

First Grade: 1:30-2:00

Second Grade: 2:15-2:45

A form will be sent home inquiring the post-concert dismissal of your student. Please fill out and return the form by Monday, December 16th. Students who have submitted this form will be dismissed ahead of any at-time-of-concert requests.

Spirit Week will be held Monday, December 16 through Friday, December 20. We can't wait to see everyone show their spirit!

Above are the current lost and found items the children have lost or left behind. Please have your kids check to see if they are missing any of these items. We will be donating any remaining items by December 20th.

Woodland School needs substitutes for the 24-25 school year. Being a substitute offers great flexibility, because you can choose the days you want to work! When teachers are absent, they leave the substitute a detailed lesson plan to follow. Interested? Have questions? Give us a call at 413-569-6598 or apply online: https://www.stgrsd.org/departments/human_resources/employment_opportunities.