Week of 12/10

Hi Everyone!
 
Reminders:
 

• Thursday December 20th- from 8:15- 8:45 there will be a holiday sing-a-long up in the gym with Jenny and Noel. Early drop off is still available and we encourage everyone to come early and participate in a Montclare holiday tradition
• Our holiday party is the last day of school (Thursday December 20th) at 11:30 am. Siblings and caregivers are welcome and more details to follow later.
• School is closed from Friday December 21st – January 6th for our winter break. 

 
 
Theme: Hanukkah traditions

Letter of the week: O
 
Some books we read this week:

• How do dinosaurs say Merry Christmas?, by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
• Jingle Bells, by Iza Trapani
• Snowmen at Christmas, by Carolyn Buehner
• Bear Stays up for Christmas, by Karma Wilson

Classroom Activities

• Monday was the last day of Hanukkah and we were so happy to welcome Cole’s mom and day, Mimi and Matt, to our classroom to share their holiday traditions with us. They read us a book about Hanukkah and then taught us all how to play with the dreidels that they brought in. Best of all, each child got to take a dreidel home with them. 
• Monday was also the day we learned more about Mira, who was our person of the week. We read her “All about me book” and then saw pictures of her as a baby. So cute!!!
•  The Letter of the week was “O”. We practiced making the letter “O” with our Handwriting With Out ‘Tears materials and read our scholastic phonics book “Olive the Octopus’s day of juggling” by Liza Charleston
•  This week was also the week to get lots of projects done. Our first project was for the school auction in January. Each child made their our butterfly that will be used to create the piece that we will sell at the auction to raise money. The children each started by using pastel crayons to make a design on watercolor paper. After they were happy with their design, they used watercolor for a technique called “crayon resist” where the watercolor is repelled by the pastel so you see both mediums on the paper. After the children were finished, the teachers cut the papers into butterflies and pasted them onto our canvas. The children were thrilled with how it turned out and we hope you like it too!

• Our next project was super secret so we can’t tell you much, just that the children have made gifts to give you all next week.
• In Art with Julia and Jenae we worked on the paddles that will be used at the auction. The theme is “A Gatby Soiree” and our paddles will look like beautiful fans that a lady would carry to a fancy party.  

 
Enjoy your weekend and we hope to see you at the holiday party next week ☺
 
Karen, Rebecca, and Marvin