Dear Parents,

We had an exciting week learning about Christmas. We talked about how important it is to give to others. One of the ways the children experienced the joy of giving  was by painting and decorating a frame for you.  They could hardly wait to give it to you.

We continued the week by creating a classroom Christmas tree which adorns our bulletin board.  They also made dough ornaments which they painted and decorated.  Another fun project was creating stars, snowflakes, and trees out of craft sticks and pompoms. 

A holiday tradition we discussed was baking with our families and friends.  Our class worked together to create festive sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies for the holiday party.

We hope you enjoyed our holiday party.  The children had so much fun preparing for the celebration, especially practicing the holiday songs.

I wish you and your family a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Love,

Ms. Bonné   

 

December 14, 2012

Dear Parents,

We had lots of fun this week preparing for all the holidays.  Last week we celebrated Krampus, a European holiday. The children put their shoes in the hallway, and if they were good St. Nick would put candy in their shoes. If they were not well behaved, Krampus would put rocks in them.  Of course, all our children received candy.

This week our focus was on Hanukkah (the festival of lights) which lasts for eight days.  We celebrated the holiday in our class by painting wooden dreidels, making colorful 3-D dreidels and playing the dreidel game. The children had such a good time playing the game, especially winning all the candy. They also made a beautiful classroom menorah and present to go under it. The children enjoyed learning all about Hanukkah by listening to stories.  Some of their favorites were: Hanukkah, by June Behrens, Celebrate Hanukkah, by Deborah Hieligman, Hoppy Hanukkah, by Linda Glaser, and Festival of Lights, by Maida Silverman. We concluded our celebration by making the most delicious Latkes (potato pancakes).  The children absolutely loved them! You will all have a chance to try the Latkes at our Holiday party, next week.

Next week our focus will be on Christmas.  We will be learning all about Christmas and family traditions.  If you have any family traditions that you would like to share with us, please let us know.  Books are always welcome!

In music this week we practiced singing Hanukkah and Christmas songs.  Some of the children’s favorites were “Jingle Bells, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, “Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah,” and “I have a little Dreidel.” The children were so excited while they marched around the room, shaking bells, and singing songs. 

The Mad Scientist visited our classroom this week.  She showed the children different types of shells and had a discussion with them about which type of clams and crabs live in which shells.  She also passed around a whale’s tooth and a shark’s tooth for the children to examine.

Reminders: 

§  Thank you to those families that have already donated to Toys for Tots.  We will be collecting toys until the end of next week. We appreciate your donations.

§   Our Holiday party will be held on Friday, December 21st at 11:15am.  Please send your child to school at the regular time.  All children are invited to come to school on Friday, even if it is not their regular scheduled day.  

I would also like to thank all of you for your support throughout the year and for sharing your wonderful children with us. On that note, it is not necessary to bring anything to the holiday party, just your family. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of you!

Love,

Ms. Bonne 

December 14, 2012

Dear Parents,

We had lots of fun this week preparing for all the holidays.  Last week we celebrated Krampus, a European holiday. The children put their shoes in the hallway, and if they were good St. Nick would put candy in their shoes. If they were not well behaved, Krampus would put rocks in them.  Of course, all our children received candy.

This week our focus was on Hanukkah (the festival of lights) which lasts for eight days.  We celebrated the holiday in our class by painting wooden dreidels, making colorful 3-D dreidels and playing the dreidel game. The children had such a good time playing the game, especially winning all the candy. They also made a beautiful classroom menorah and present to go under it. The children enjoyed learning all about Hanukkah by listening to stories.  Some of their favorites were: Hanukkah, by June Behrens, Celebrate Hanukkah, by Deborah Hieligman, Hoppy Hanukkah, by Linda Glaser, and Festival of Lights, by Maida Silverman. We concluded our celebration by making the most delicious Latkes (potato pancakes).  The children absolutely loved them! You will all have a chance to try the Latkes at our Holiday party, next week.

Next week our focus will be on Christmas.  We will be learning all about Christmas and family traditions.  If you have any family traditions that you would like to share with us, please let us know.  Books are always welcome!

In music this week we practiced singing Hanukkah and Christmas songs.  Some of the children’s favorites were “Jingle Bells, “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, “Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah,” and “I have a little Dreidel.” The children were so excited while they marched around the room, shaking bells, and singing songs. 

The Mad Scientist visited our classroom this week.  She showed the children different types of shells and had a discussion with them about which type of clams and crabs live in which shells.  She also passed around a whale’s tooth and a shark’s tooth for the children to examine.

Reminders: 

§  Thank you to those families that have already donated to Toys for Tots.  We will be collecting toys until the end of next week. We appreciate your donations.

§   Our Holiday party will be held on Friday, December 21st at 11:15am.  Please send your child to school at the regular time.  All children are invited to come to school on Friday, even if it is not their regular scheduled day.  

I would also like to thank all of you for your support throughout the year and for sharing your wonderful children with us. On that note, it is not necessary to bring anything to the holiday party, just your family. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of you!

Love,

Ms. Bonne 

Quarter Note Newsletter

December 7, 2012

Dear Parents,

We continued our farm unit this week by listening to a story called The Little Red Hen, by Pal Galdone.  The children also acted out the story with puppets.  The Little Red Hen story is an old Folktale about a little red hen and her lazy friends who are not willing to help her plant, harvest, or grind wheat into flour, but all are eager to eat the cake she makes from it. The story taught the children a good lesson on how important it is to work together as a team.  After reading the story we baked delicious banana bread.  Luckily, we all helped baked the bread therefore, we all got to eat it.

We listened to the Three Little Pigs, by Caroline Bucknall            and then recreated our own version of the story by making a picture which included the house of sticks, the house of straw, the house of bricks and of course, the three little pigs.

In music, the children were introduced to the viola and listened to how beautiful it sounded when Miss Michelle gave a demonstration.  The children were all excited when they had an opportunity to try it.  They also compared the viola to the violin. The difference the children noticed was the size.  The viola is larger than the violin. 

We also attended a fantastic concert given by Nancy and Tamara.  Nancy played the cello while Tamara accompanied her on the piano.  After the concert, one of the children shouted out, “I loved it.” I guess that tells it all!

We concluded the farm unit by making 3-D horses and cowboys.

Next week we looked forward to beginning our Holiday Celebrations.  We will be celebrating holidays around the world. If anyone would like to come in share their holiday tradition with the class, please let us know. 

Reminder:  The Scholastic Book Fair will begin on Tuesday, December 11th.  The volunteer sign up sheet will be in Laetitia’s classroom.