Week of December 8-12

Dear families,

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

On December 1st your child brought home "Countdown to Santa" beads (unless s/he was absent, in which case they brought them home the day they were present). Their Reading Buddies helped them make this. Each night before your child goes to sleep, s/he moves one bead over. Green beads are for weekdays, red for weekends. When the last bead is moved over, that means it is December 25 and they ring the attached bell. You can also cross off the days on your calendar at home.

The children had a terrific time at the Robert Munsch play on Wednesday and it was terrific to hear them exclaim, "That's Mortimer!" or "That's Down the Drain" because they remembered the books we read before the production. Technically speaking, we are trying to teach the children to make connections from texts to themselves, to the world, to other texts, etc. Back in the classroom they wrote and drew about their favourite part of the play. Thank you so much to Izzie's, Martel's and Christopher's moms who accompanied us on our trip. Thank you as well to Elizabeth's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week.

At our upcoming Sharing Assembly on Friday, December 12, Adam, Lauren, and Matthew C. will be receiving certificates for demonstrating Kindness and Caring in our classroom.

During the next few weeks until the holidays, we will be doing a lot of holiday-themed inquiries. We have also started a mini inquiry on snowflakes, using three mirrors and various clear and blue materials. The children are enjoying our new Holiday Card Writing Centre. After the holidays are over and you have taken your decorations down, please send in your old card 1/2s (with the message side removed) so that the children can make new cards from them next year. Thank you! We are also learning new December-themed words, a list of which I am sending home. Our Reading Buddies are helping the children read and write a book about Santa Claus.

December 10th is Spirit Day to support Free the Children. Please read the LKS Bulletin for further information.

See you on Monday!