It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas in Kindergarten!

-Here are some of the exciting things we will be doing during the month of DECEMBER!

-We will focus on symbols of Christmas: the evergreen tree, the candy cane (shaped like the shepherd's staff), reindeer (caribou), candles (symbol of light), Advent wreath (the circular shape is Jesus' never ending love for us), bells, and the legend of the poinsettia plant. We will be using literature to enhance our understanding of the meaning and importance of these symbols.

-We will explore the descriptive writing in the popular book, The Polar Express. We will compare/contrast the different versions of the stories as told by the gingerbread boy/man and the gingerbread girl. We will also explore what it means to give a gift from the heart as we read The Legend of the Poinsettia; The Crippled Lamb; The Christmas Sweater; The Innkeeper's Daughter; The Donkey's Song; The Little Drummer Boy.

-We will learn all about the first Christmas and the true meaning of the holiday....the birth of baby Jesus. As we count down the days via our Advent wreath, and the calendar with a different character for each day, we will discuss the Nativity. We will also act out the story with puppets of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, wise men, animals, the little drummer boy, etc.

-We will learn briefly about other worldly celebrations as we compare them to Christmas. In addition, the girls will learn about a telling sentence and an asking sentence as they will write a question they have for Santa, in the hopes he will answer it for them. They will be making lots of great little books that continue to reinforce and/or introduce them to sight words. We will continue to work on letters and letter sounds; stretching out sounds in words; and onsets and rhymes. The girls will make some ornaments and also their very own model of the Nativity.

-We will also keep our eyes peeled for signs of winter: change in weather patterns and temperature. What is snow? and Will we get a lot of it this winter season?

-This month will be filled with a lot of excitement and anticipation! Please take note of the following reminders:

December 2nd: Half day of school (11:30 dismissal)

December 4th: Nativity Lighting / Advent Mass 6:30 PM

December 6th: Report Card Conferences (11:30 dismissal)

December 8th: Feast of the Immaculate Conception: school closed

December 9th: Chicken tender lunch

December 14th: Christmas Boutique: Dress-UP day for the girls

December 16th: Pizza lunch

December 19th: Christmas Show Dress Rehearsal

December 20th: Christmas Entertainment Show (10; 1; 7)

December 22nd: Cabaret Show 7:30 pm

December 23rd: Half day of school (11:30 dismissal)

December 24th-January 2nd: Christmas Recess - School Closed

January 3rd: Classes resume

I will keep you posted on when our holiday big sister/little sister get together will be.

*May you and your family have a most blessed Christmas season!

November News!!!!!!

It is hard to believe that we are already in the third month of school! The girls are realizing how the weather is getting colder and the daylight is much shorter. They really enjoyed all the fun things we did back in October, but are now anxiously awaiting all the excitement of Thanksgiving and what's in store for this month.

The themes for this month will center around building our phonics and phonemic awareness skills; colors - recognition of and writing the color words; scarecrows; Pilgrims and Native Americans (the first Thanksgiving); and turkeys.

Lessons will include shared readings from big books pertaining to the themes, stories, songs, and even poetry! The girls will become more aware of the structure of a sentence, and they will continue to strengthen their reading readiness skills through more fun little books that we work on in class. The girls will be encouraged to continue sounding out and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g out words when reading and also when beginning to write. We will continue to build on our inventive or phonetic spelling as we write.

Within readings of books and poems, we will discuss words we encounter and their meanings through the context in which it is used: examples include: floppy scarecrow; crops; Pilgrims; Plymouth; chores; churn butter; muck a garden; Native Americans; canoes; teepee; longhouse; wigwam; arrows; cornucopia; turkey; waddle.

We will continue to strengthen our ability to recognize and write color words through a fun study on scarecrow colors. We will review red, yellow, green, orange. Students will review looking beyond the first letter to identify blue, black, brown, purple, pink. We will use the SmartBoard to play some fun color-related matching games to reinforce their learning. The girls will also learn how to play a color word memory game, and they will make many little books on scarecrows and colors. In fact, they will even design their own scarecrow and write about all the colors of his clothing.

Fine motor skills will be practiced as the girls lace and "sew" apples and pumpkins for a Thanksgiving decoration. They will make patterned Indian corn, write about things they are thankful for, and work on a great story about the very first Thanksgiving. All of these things will be placed in a keepsake basket. We will also discuss the difference between a need and a want.....as we learn to be thankful for the things we have.

Math topics covered this month will include a continuation of numbers from ten and higher; shapes; making more intricate patterns; and interpreting graphs. We will continue counting our days in school and counting by tens.

In Science, the girls will experiment with mixing primary colors to get secondary colors. We will also learn how corn grows and all the things we can make from corn (muffins, cereal, popcorn, corn on the cob, etc.). We will also learn about many of the foods that they ate at the first Thanksgiving, and how that compares to what WE eat at our Thanksgiving table. We will also learn some interesting facts about turkeys and read some very silly stories about some very silly turkeys.

In Social Studies, the girls will learn how the Pilgrims and Native Americans lived and made use of the land and all its resources; types of houses they lived in; chores the children had; the struggles the Pilgrims had and how the Native Americans helped to teach them; tools they used; things they made; and the story of the very first Thanksgiving. We will actually dress up as Pilgrims and Native Americans and act out the story of the first Thanksgiving, concluding with a class feast.
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REMINDERS FOR THIS MONTH:

November 4th: Half day of school; Show-n-Tell day

November 7th: Wear your winter uniforms to school!

November 10th: Chicken tender day

November 11th: School closed for Veterans Day

November 15th: School Photo day!

November 17th: Pizza lunch

November 23rd: Thanksgiving Recess begins: half day of schol

November 24th and 25th: No school.....Happy Thanksgiving! May your holiday be filled with many blessings!