Dear Parents/Guardians, It’s hard to believe that the month of December has arrived already! When we see all the boots, mittens and hats, we are quickly reminded that winter is just around the corner. December is always an exciting time in the classroom. It is a joyful period as we wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus. During Advent, the children enter into the holy season through story, ritual and symbol. The children will be waiting and preparing their hearts for the birthday of Jesus. They will be listening to and retelling the Christmas story and celebrating the gift of God. Every week, we will have an Advent celebration. Through songs, the symbols of light and the Advent wreath, the children will be experiencing the gift of God coming among us. As well as preparing for Jesus’ birthday, we will be discussing preparing our homes for Christmas and Santa’s visit. Here is an overview of what we will be focusing on during December in regards to the Four Frames of the Kindergarten Curriculum: Belonging and Contributing: As mentioned above, a big focus of December will be on the Advent season. We will be exploring ways in which to spread hope, peace, joy and love in our everyday lives. We will also continue to talk about how everyone belongs to a community and often can belong to more than one community at a time. Students should know they can contribute to these communities. We get excited when we hear that they are making connections between home and school! Self-Regulation and Well-Being: We have been teaching students calming techniques to use to help regulate their emotions. The methods are from a program called Conscious Discipline which is designed to help children with their social and emotional needs. Ask your child to show you the “drain” and “balloon” techniques. We have also been practicing yoga after rest time, which is another calming exercise that promotes well-being. With the cold weather comes many layers, so students have been working on getting dressed and undressed on their own. The order we have been teaching the children to get dressed in their winter clothes is snow pants, boots, jacket, scarf/neck warmer, hat and mittens. The more practice your child has with dressing themselves for the cold weather, the quicker they will get. Layers can be tricky! Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours: The students have been working on letter sounds for the past couple of weeks and will continue to focus on phonics throughout December. They have been learning to pair letter sounds with actions to help them remember. Ask your child to show you the actions and say the letter sound for the letters s, a, t, i, p and n. We continue to work on number recognition and learning that we can show a number in a variety of ways. For example, we can show the number 2 by holding up two fingers, having two students stand up or putting two rocks on a ten frame. You can help your child at home by asking them to find different amounts of objects around the house (“Can you pass me two spoons, please?”). This week we are focusing on number two. Here is a fun video that we watch in class. If you watch it with your child, ask them to let you know all the ways they see the number two! The Number Two Song www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkd-Vs_gTyc The students will be working on learning French words related to the season of Christmas. Here is a list of the vocabulary that they will be working on throughout the month: le Père Noël (Santa Claus) la canne de Noël ( candy cane) le renne (reindeer) Noël (Christmas) Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) l’étoile (star) le cadeau (gift) la neige (snow) le bas de Noël ( Christmas stocking) le sapin de Noël ( Christmas tree) la cloche ( bell) un ange ( angel) la crèche ( manger) le bébé Jésus (baby Jesus) la couronne (wreath) Problem Solving and Innovating: We are wrapping up our focus on healthy eating. The students continue to pick healthy snacks on their own each morning and have learned the effects of different foods on our bodies, especially why to avoid too much sugar and eat more fruits and veggies. We are still focusing on how to stop the spread of germs through handwashing and good hygiene. We were lucky to have a Scientists in School workshop last week! The students got to investigate many different simple machines through various hands-on activities. They had fun exploring Science centres in groups and even made a lever, which will be sent home this week. Thank you again to the parents who came to volunteer! Housekeeping Items:
Important Dates in December and Early January: December 10th: Advent Liturgy - Week Two (ran by the Busy Bees) December 12th: St. Michael Christmas Store December 17th: Advent Liturgy - Week Three December 18th: Christmas Mass at St. Ignatius Parish @ 12:45 pm (ran by the Friendly Frogs) December 21st: Advent Liturgy - Week Four December 21st: Last day of school before Christmas holidays. December 22nd to January 6th: Christmas holidays (no school) January 7th: First day back to school Thank you for your continued support. N. Leman C. Potvin
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