Last Day Before Christmas Break

We had a great last day together.  We played games and I do believe the highlight for most of the kids was eating the pancakes. Mmmm!  We also had treats sent in from families to share.  Please enjoy the photos.

            

One of my favourite quotes of yesterday was when E said, "She is using her senses."  I asked what sense and he said, "The sense of feel."  I said yes, she is using her sense of touch to feel where the paper is.

Have a Very Merry Christmas!  A wonderful break!  I can't wait to hear all about what the kids will be doing.  If you have time over the break.  I would love for the children to draw a picture of their favourite part of the holiday and try to sound out some words to tell me what they have done.  It could be as easy as playing with their cousin, pet, grandparents or flying on an airplane.

If I did not send you a thank you card.  I would like to thank you for the wonderful gifts as well as the pleasure to teach your child so far this year and can't wait to continue learning with them in the new year.

Christmas Celebration

The Christmas celebration was great.  I am sure all the children had an amazing time.  The songs were very well sung by the children.  I was glad that so many families could join in the fun.  See some of the great photos below.  The first two are from the Peppermint Stick song and the next ones are of the songs:  Frosty the Snowman, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and Snowflake, Snowflake.

I have also added some photos of the parents making crafts with their children.  

     

The Week Before Christmas Break

I just wanted to give you all a list of things that are happening this week.

1. Home reading due on Wednesday this week
2. Christmas Celebration on Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 6:30
3. Small celebration on Thursday, I will be making pancakes in class and if you would like to send a small treat with your child to share that would be wonderful
4. Thursday dress up in Farewell to Funky 2015: season something will do, Christmas sweater, Christmas colours
5. Please scroll down and do the Survey
6. I will update the Volunteer Calendar for January, please sign up for anything that you will be able to help us out with (scroll down to find link)
7. There will be carolling for the children throughout the week.  Please try and make sure the children come in even though it is the last week as I have some fun activities planned.

If I find out anything else I will post it.

Number Song

We have finally finished the numbers 1 to 10.  Many of the children are doing a wonderful job of matching numerals to their quantity.  We are going to continue practicing this and are going to go even higher.  They were excited to share the number formation song with you so I attached it via the link as it was to large.  I recorded just the other day and the children seem very tired.

Number Song

Saint Nicholas Visit and Holiday Comparisons

We have been talking about the many different celebrations around the world that happen during the month of December.  One of the celebrations we talked about that I enjoyed as a child was Saint Nicholas.  In Germany, they put out there shoes in the beginning of December and if you were good Saint Nicholas would come an place candy and fruit in your shoe.  We tried it and you will not believe it.  He came.

There were oranges, candy canes and chocolates in our shoes.

They children were so excited as they came in.  They all really wanted to share and talk about the experience.

When talking about Holidays in different place we even compared Christmas in Canada, Italy and England.  How we did this is I would read a little story about Christmas celebrations and then we would talk about what was the same and different.  They were surprised when they heard Italy had fireworks for Christmas as well as writing letters to mom and dad saying that they would be good.

   

They liked that Father Christmas from England and Santa Claus wear the same clothes.  The children were able to come up with some pretty good comparisons.  I also want to thank Iona's mother for coming in and talking to us about Advent and how they celebrate at home.  We also talked about Hanukkah and the menorah and how Jewish people celebrate the holiday with the lighting of the candles.  Eight all together as the middle one we do not count.

The Letters "W" and "T"

Two weeks ago we learnt the letter "T" and last week we learnt the letter "W".  Here is our list of "W" words.  We had fun making these letters out of many different things throughout the room.  Printing the "W" was really tricky for a lot of the children.  The songs are below, we get a little mixed up on the "T" song but we are trying our best.

Scented Finger Painting

As we continue to use are senses we mixed it in with an art activity.  Scented Finger Paint!  First we learned how to waft gently with our hands.  Then I walked around with the different containers of paints and we made predictions on what each one smelled like. The children made some great guess. They were able to correctly identify cinnamon on the first try.  The peppermint one was a little tricky some of the children guessed candy canes or gum, not wrong but not super specific.  Then there was vanilla which the guesses were very broad from cake to candles.  The last smell was lemon and they all got that one correct as well.  Then I placed a dab of each paint in front of the children and told them to have fun exploring the different textures.  Some were vey careful to start only putting one finger in each paint others went all in.

 

As they continued to work with the paint they talked about the different colours they were able to make: pink, green, orange, purple.

Our Trip to Explore Winter in Bowness

We went to explore the signs of winter in Bowness Park.  Thank you to all the volunteers that braved the cold with me and the children.  I think we found lots of great signs and had fun looking at tracks and snowflakes.  Guess who made these prints?  Look how long are shadows are?  The water is even starting to freeze over.  With the afternoon class we saw a man drilling in the ice to see if it was ready for skating and he said not yet.  We also heard a big crack.  The morning class only went one week later and they were cleaning of the ice with snowblowers so that skating could start.  I hope you can find some time to do that during the Christmas break.

 

Sorry

I want to apologize for the lack of posts lately.  I will be updating it later today.  I just want to make sure everyone has received the invitation to the Christmas Celebration.  Please return it with the number of people attending as I need to ensure that there are enough chairs for you all to sit on.

No School Today

There will be no school today.  Scholastic orders are due on Monday in hopes of receiving the books before the break.

Quick Information for you

We will be having an evening family winter celebration on December 15th.  An official invitation from your children will be coming home soon.

If you have a few moments could you quickly complete this anonymous survey.  It focuses on a few questions that I have been asked by other parents.  Just click on the purple link below.

Survey