Highlights

Inside

Holiday Celebrations
Gingerbread Cookies

Tips for Parents

Things Needed
December Calendar

kinderPRESSj

Issue 4
December
2014

Osgoode
Public
School

r.
Welcome to December
Our big ideas this month will be the story of The Gingerbread Boy and Holiday
Celebrations.
Curriculum Focus
Language Arts
We will be listening to and singing seasonal songs, stories and poems. We will review all
the letters taught so far this year (S, A, T, I, P, N, CK, E, H and R). We will continue to
make small words in class and practice printing our names. The children will be
encouraged to use capital letters only at the beginning of their names. We have kept all
of the Jolly Phonics blue folders for now as we are checking them over and reviewing
them here at school. We will send them home for review and practice over the holidays
(along with the new letter for JanuaryM). If you can please return the folders upon
return to school in January. We have been expanding our sight word recognition and we
have been working on the words, by and the. We just completed a book entitled,
Pumpkins by the Barn. The children are very good at reading this book which I am
sending home today. They are excited to read it to you!
Letter to Santa
On Wednesday, December 3rd, we will be writing our letters to Santa with Ms. Lowes
Grade 2/3 ETFI class. We will mail them with the return address to your home. We will
also photocopy these letters and send you home a copy.

Centres
One of our centers next week will be a Christmas wish list. I will provide some toy flyers
and the children will cut out pictures of things they would wish for. We will stuff them
into a stocking and bring home! As for our present centers, please check our blog for a
complete explanation of our weekly centers!
Presently our Elf Workshop is up and running! The children are delighted! They are
writing letters every day and putting them in our Class Mailbox to be delivered. We have
many seasonal words posted in our workshop for the children to copy onto their letters if
need be. We have not begun wrapping any gifts as of yet, still just writing lots of letters!
Math
We will be working on counting forwards and backwards, counting and sorting holiday
items. We will explore simple patterns and continue practicing whole numbers up to 10.
Also, we will be learning a very fun math game involving a die, single units and rods
worth 10.
Science/Social Studies
We will be baking gingerbread cookies as a whole group this Thursday. We will decorate
them on Friday, and go on our Gingerbread Hunt as I think those little cookies might run
away and hide!! We will talk about events that reflect our different family celebrations
and cultural backgrounds. We will explore and develop an awareness of the safe use of
all materials and tools used within our classroom.
Tips for Parents
Advent calendar activity i.e. a countdown until Christmas. We have a large
handmade Christmas tree in our room with a spot for 25 ornaments. We will place
an ornament on our tree every day until the holidays. You could use an advent
calendar to count how many more days until the Christmas holidays, Christmas
Eve, Christmas day, or other seasonal holidays. Help your child make a holiday card
to send to Grandma, Grandpa, Aunties and Uncles. This is an excellent fine motor
activity and a great opportunity for writing and creative expression.
Let your child help you with holiday preparations, especially in the area of baking.
This will provide him/her with valuable experiences related to math, science and
language. For example, measurement, reading and following directions, timing, the
effects of heat and cold, etc.
Review our Jolly Phonics work sheets and letter practice. Have your child both read
and spell simple three-letter words. For example, at, cat, hat, mat, rat, sat, no, is,
the, it, by.

Holiday Concert
We will be having our Empathy Assembly on Thursday, December 18th at 8:30am.
Our Holiday Concert will be at 1:00pm on the very same day. Our class will be
singing, The Jingle Bells Rock. We will ask your child to please wear a Santa hat
(these can be found at the dollar store) and please have your child dressed in red or

green or both. You and other family members are invited to join us in the gym to
watch as we delight you with some Holiday Cheer at 1:00 pm on the 18 th! We will be
having our class Christmas party on the last day before the holidays (the 19 th ). Some
families will be receiving a note soon to let them know what to bring to our Party. Not
all families will be required to bring food as our celebrations have been divided up
throughout the year, giving everyone opportunities to share.
Needed
Please send in used Christmas/Holiday cards and wrapping paper to be used at our
Elf Workshop.
Also, please if you can, bring in many canned goods or boxed goods for our School
Wide Food Drive! We are supporting the Ottawa Food Bank this year and the class
that brings in the most non-perishable food items will win a pizza lunch! Go Kinders
Go!!
Special Days
December 4th & 5th Thursday & Friday
Baking Gingerbread Cookies
th
December 5
Friday
Dress Like a Teacher Spirit Day
th
December 16
Tuesday
Christmas Shopping Day
th
December 18
Thursday
Empathy Assembly @ 8:30am/Holiday
Concert @ 1:00pm.
**Holiday Class Party and last day of classes on Friday, December 19th !**

Birthdays!
Cooper on December 18th!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A very special thank-you to

All of our parents who have donated items to the classroom, made wonderful play-dough
and who have volunteered their time in our classroom. Also, thank-you so very much for
all of the continued food donations to our Food Train!! Our box is filling up!!

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year!!! See

you back on Monday, January 5th!

The JK Team
Sonya Schmidt & Jessica Ketchum & Ms.Rae Evans