December 2019

​It was a pleasure meeting with many of you during our recent interviews. Thank you for sharing your insights about your children. While the formal interviews are now done, you are welcome to touch base with me at any time during the year. If you email or write a note in the agenda, we will find a time that works as soon as possible.

As I mentioned last month, in November, we began studying the work of Shel Silverstein. This has been enormous fun, with students begging to read Silverstein's poetry during our spare moments. Several students brought Silverstein books to school to share their favourite parts. Recently, students selected a Silverstein poem to present (a copy was sent home with each student). We have discussed in class that one purpose of poetry is to entertain, so students will be working on presenting their poems in an entertaining or engaging way. Basic presentation skills are still important (good pace, clear pronunciation, eye contact), but they can have a bit of fun with voice and gestures where appropriate.

We hope that in studying poetry your child gains an interest in playing with words. Shel Silverstein takes top prize for playfulness with a good dose of silliness when it comes to words. So, if you get a chance over the holidays...., bit sack in a chomfy cair and enjoy a pood goem with your child (Sorry, couldn't resist! Your child can explain this or you can refer to the book Runny Babbit).

What's on every kid's wish list? School Supplies!

Lots of learning requires lots of supplies. Many students are down to their last pencil or glue stick. Please ask your child if they need new pencils, erasers, glue sticks, markers, sharpeners or pencil crayons. These could make nice stocking stuffers! ​

Supporting your child in Math this month

We have been studying money for a few weeks now. The students have practised counting money, exchanging coins, showing a money amount in several ways and adding two amounts of money together. Now we are working on making change - a tricky concept. The method we have been using is called "Adding up". It is actually a technique for subtraction, but we use addition to find the difference between two numbers. For example, if Sally buys a baseball that costs $3.75 and she pays with a $10 bill she can calculate the change by starting at $3.75 and adding on to reach $10 (add 25 cents to get to $4, then add $6 to get to $10). In class, we use a number line to note the jumps forward.

Footwear Check

Small feet keep growing and shoes wear out! Please check that your child's indoor shoes still fit comfortably and are in good shape. Also, please ensure that your child always has indoor and outdoor footwear so we can keep our classroom clean and dry. Indoor footwear must be suitable for gym activities (i.e, sturdy, tight-fitting). Merci!

DECEMBER CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS:

FRENCH:

  • review of sounds on, oi, in
  • writing a descriptive paragraph - introduction
  • study of song for Winter Concert

ENGLISH:

  • noticing rhyming words
  • reading and reciting poetry
  • writing complete answers to questions about texts

​MATH:

  • Number Talks (mental math strategies for adding 2-digit numbers, estimating sums)
  • solving problems involving money (making change, showing amounts in multiple ways, adding and subtracting amounts)
  • review of multiplication strategies (0x, 1x, 2x, 5x)
  • composing and decomposing 3-digit numbers

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH:

  • Sending and receiving games
  • Locomotion activities (obstacle courses)
  • Oral health; brain stress response