December News 2009

Religion:  We are anxiously waiting for the birth of Jesus.  We learned purple symbolizes preparation in the liturgy.  We are learning the liturgical colors song.  I hope your family is enjoying the "Getting Ready for Christmas" calendar sent home on the 1st!  Each day the calendar has a coloring activity and reminders to use our advent wreath.  May Christ be the center of our preparation.  St. Nicholas came today to leave a candy cane and 50 cents in our shoes.  Absent students have their treat waiting in their cubbie.

Handwriting:  It is important for PreK to know how to write all the capitals   When we/you see they are mastering their name in all capitals please encourage them to use a capital and the rest in lowercase.  Check out www.hwtears.com for lowercase.  We are working on capital T and J and then reviewing all capitals.  We always want to discuss the "partner letter" [lowercase letter] that goes with the capital.  We talk about the sound the letter makes and words that begin with the letter.

Reading:  We read aloud a story every day.  Please reinforce reading by reading a bedtime story.  These students are so excited about learning words.  Three letter cvc words [consonant/vowel/consonant] are great to begin with.  We have not worked with vowels that say their name.  Ask them to tell you the name of the letters and then go back and ask them to say each letter's sound.  They can then blend the sounds together.

Math:  We are spending about four days on a number.  Their math papers are sent home to reinforce what they have learned.  They can color and/or use cheerio counters etc.  We work on counting and pattern every day with our calendar. 

Science:  We still have a few leaves, seeds, and nuts to add to our science journal.  Next we are learning about snow and ice.  We had several donations of leaves, pine-cones, nuts, etc.  Thank you.  We enjoyed using a magnifying glass to discover them.