Keeping things seasonal

Hello all,

Students are invited to wear santa hats and seasonal sweaters and shirts all week long!

On Thursday, we are all wearing our pajamas again!

For those wondering... I try to keep the learning very seasonal-changes based, so that our art, science and overall learning time is focused on skills and processes stressed in the curriculum.  While we do live in Canada and many Canadians celebrate Christmas, there are also those who do not and I invite students to share their family traditions and celebrations throughout the year.  Christmas is discussed in-so-far as we have many students who do celebrate and it is a definite time, calendar and space marker in their journey of mapping out their year and changes that happen in our lives at this time of year.  Those connections are also a part of our curricular learning. 

In our classroom, the biggest focus is our seasonal change to winter and our literature focus is winter, needs of plants and animals and any connections we are making with numbers, building, colours and art.  I do offer art experiences at this time of year that could be used as "winter ornaments" or a "tree ornament" but the focus and theme of the art is horizon lines, new material and how paint applies to different materials, which is all part of our curriculum learning.

We are in the process of creating a little winter art scene to bring home for the holiday.

Students have brought their little "me trees" from our wet felting experience in their folders today!

On Thursday morning we will have another buddy time and we will be making a little poetry connection to a craft about Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.  In the afternoon on Thursday there will be caroling in the gym and then a craft and movie option back in our classroom for the end of the day. 

I believe we have a caroling time in the gym on Wed morning as well, as we need to accommodate our morning and afternoon kindergarten classes whenever possible. 

Please continue reading those little books at home and send any pictures and stories about your family holiday, Christmas or other special celebrations over the break, so we can visit that information when we return in January!