Our topic this week was Welcoming the Elf on the Shelf, Winter, and St. Nick.
We started our week right away meeting our Elf. Once we met him, we read his note on the board (by sounding out some letter sounds), read his book, and then: he needed a name! We took a variety of options and then we voted and graphed our choices. The one with the most votes would be our Elf's name. Tiger wins!
On Monday, we also "sewed" our stockings and stamped our hands to have stockings to hang by the fire. Lacing was a little tricky, but once students got it down, they had the most adorable stockings ready for St. Nick.
We also worked on making snowmen, putting three circles we cut out in size order, small on top, then middle, and then big. We then used scrap paper and a whole punch (for the first time) to decorate or snow men.
Tuesday Tiger was hanging out on our dry erase board and wrote nice in magnets. N is our letter of the week, and he was sending us a message. We worked really hard at being Nice.
Wednesday, the silly geese were being sassy so Tiger was trying to tell Santa on them. The geese tried to cover it up, but we still know! "Put the geese on the naughty list!"
We worked on an early reader of winter clothing and their colors and we will work on reading it in the next week. We also started reading and practicing our Reader's Theater for Reading with the Stars.
We also began a measuring activity. Students need to count how many big snowflakes they are tall and then take small snowflakes around the room and measure various objects. This also worked on counting, the concept of measurement, and writing the numbers. Students are off to a great start in these areas.
It is so great to see the students using the writing center to write letters to Santa and to Tiger. Any time we can get them to use writing tools, try to get letter sounds, and get the mechanics of writing (left to right, top to bottom, etc) is wonderful! Tiger takes the notes to Santa when they leave them in Tiger's mail box.
Thursday, Tiger was hanging out by our stockings that were stuffed with love from St. Nick. He wanted his own stocking too!
The story of St. Nick:
Nicholas' parents died when he was just a teenager. His parents left him a lot of money which made him a rich young man.
Nicholas heard about a man who had lost all his money. He had three daughters. This family was so poor they had nothing left to eat. They were very sad. A daughter washed her stockings and put them in front of the fire to dry. Then all of them went to sleep. In the morning the daughter saw a lump in her stocking. Reaching in, she found a small, heavy bag. It had gold inside! Enough to provide food for the family. Oh, how happy they were!
The next morning, another bag with gold was found. Imagine! Such joy!
And the next night, the father planned to stay awake to find out who was helping his daughters. He dozed off, but heard a small "clink" as another bag landed in the room. Quickly he jumped up and ran out the door. Who did he catch ducking around the corner?
Nicholas, the young man who lived with his uncle. "Nicholas, it is you! Thank you for helping us—I hardly know what to say!" Nicholas said, "Please, do not thank me. Do not tell others about me."
Nicholas continued helping people. He always tried to help secretly. He didn't want any attention or thanks. When there wasn't any food, he found wheat; so no one went hungry. He always helped people in trouble. All his life Nicholas showed people how to love God and care for each other.
Everyone loved Nicholas. After he died, they told stories of the good and kind things Nicholas had done. Sailors took these stories about Nicholas everywhere they went. Some of the stories were about his special care for children—helping and protecting them when danger threatened. And so more and more people learned about good, kind Nicholas. They wanted to be like him. He is an example of how we should live.
December is very busy!
Dec 10 (am and pm showing) St. Edward Students will have their program
Dec 10 PLEASE GET RSVPs IN FOR READING WITH THE STARS SO WE CAN GET THE SNACKS AND CORRECT NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN THEIR PARTS.
Dec 11 St. Edward School has a half day (Extended day students will be done at 12:30, but have an AfterCare Option)
Dec 12 Reading with the Stars (Dec 12)--A reader's theater style with all 4k students having "parts" and holiday snack.
Dec 14 Breakfast with Santa sponsored by play and grow (please get RSVPs in)
Dec 20 (Friday) last day of school before break
The letter of the week was Nn. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters. Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!
Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters. Check out these videos with you child! Click HERE.
The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter N with noodles. On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, N is for necklace.
Please visit the whole website (4k, drop down menu, Gallery) to see your child's first day photo as well as photos from through out the week. If you would like the first day photo, please email me and I can send you the digital copy.
Important Notes:
- Boy oh boy, did it get cold fast! Dress for the weather. Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers) It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate. If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks. We go outside on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS, Extended day kids go out EVERY DAY.
- Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night. We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you. Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification. Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school.
- Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders. Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving.
- Literacy Bags come home every three weeks. Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
- Library Books come every week. We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays.
- Send in those family photos!
Next Week:
Theme: Winter, Gingerbread
Letter of the Week: Mm
Snack: Backes Family
