December News
It is hard to believe it is already December!
During the month of December, we will continue learning letters and their corresponding sounds in French. As part of our Social Studies curriculum, we will be discussing family traditions. In math, we will continue to work on sorting, patterning, identifying numbers, and creating sets. We will also be doing a variety of fun, seasonal activities including learning Christmas vocabulary and songs, and doing Christmas/Winter crafts to continue to improve fine motor skill development. If you have any concerns or religious restrictions involving any of these activities, please let me know as soon as possible. If there are any other holidays that you celebrate at this or any other time of year, please let me know, and I would be happy to include those in our learning.
Report Cards: Written report cards will be sent home on Friday, December 10th. Please remember to sign and return the envelopes as we reuse them for the remaining 2 written reports. Student-led conferences will occur in the Spring; however if you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress throughout the year, please feel free to contact me.
Dramatic Play center: Our dramatic play center will become a "boulangerie" or bakery. The children will have fun playing with the yummy smelling (not tasting!) chocolate playdough and making delicious looking treats.
Fine Motor Practice: Now is a good time to encourage some authentic printing practice by having your child print their own name on Christmas cards that you may be sending out. You can refer to the show and tell schedule on the website that has all the children's names in case your child would like to send cards to his or her peers. Another good activity to strengthen the little muscles in little hands is to shred or tear paper into strips. If you are having any fires, have your child do the paper ripping.
Show and Tell: If you have not yet sent in a family photo, please do so as soon as possible. We will keep the photo in the class for the year, and return it to you in June. Our focus for Decembers show and tell is Family traditions. This can be a photo or explanation of something that you do as a family every year. For example, decorating a Xmas tree, visiting Butchart Gardens, family movie night, going camping in the summer, etc. We will be discussing how all families are unique and special. Throughout the month, as part of our Social Studies unit on families, we will be discussing similarities and differences between families, drawing our families, and will make a class graph of our different family compositions.
Baby Pictures, please!: As well as learning about families, we will also be looking at changes over time. This will include making a class "baby book" to look at how the children in our class have changed over time. If you could please send in a baby photo (not your most precious one please!) prior to the last week of school, it would be most appreciated. Merci!
Important Dates
If you wish to volunteer for any of these activities please sign up this google doc.
Tuesday, December 7th (8:45-10:00ish): Holiday Craft morning (Parent helpers welcome!)
Monday, December 13th: Rolling and baking gingerbread cookies. (Parent helpers needed!) If you are able to make gingerbread dough on the weekend of December 11-12, please let me know. I will supply the recipe!
Tuesday, December 14th (8:50-9:20): Decorating gingerbread cookies (Parent helpers needed!)
Wednesday, December 15th: Please send in holly, cedar, and fir boughs or other greenery cut into small pieces please!
Thursday, December 16th at 8:50-9:20: Making table centerpieces (Parent helpers needed!) Volunteers please bring in a pair of pruning sheers if you have them!