The Real Meaning of Christmas

This week we slow down just a little (on purpose!) to focus again on the most important thing: Jesus' birthday!  We love all the traditions, but the most important ones focus us back to the real meaning of Christmas.  Everything from stories, activities, and even our agenda board will remind us of some part of the story of Jesus' birth.  I hope you are finding time to slow down this week, too!  In all the hustle and bustle of the season, it helps to take a moment to remember....

Daily 5:
We are focusing on retelling stories in order... not forgetting the most important parts!  This can be challenging!  You can help by having your child retell the story after you've read together.  ASK: What happened in the story?  What was first, next, last?  Who were the characters?  Was their a problem they solved?  These all help us to listen while we read or hear a story.  We know good readers listen to what is being read.  And they ask questions about the story!

Math Workshops:
We still have a few numbers we are practicing (11 - 20 and beyond), but we are moving on to making patterns!  Patterns are all around us, and most importantly they are in our number line!  We are building and recording patterns.  You can help by talking to your child about patterns you see.  They may be the stripes on the towels or the colors on the lights hanging on the tree...ANY pattern!  Keep your eyes ready; you will be surprised!

UPCOMING THIS WEEK:

• Chores for Change -  We turned in our gift to the church.  We collected a total of $52.12!
• Thursday, Dec. 18 - Polar Express Day / PJ's Day!  Traditionally at Holy Spirit, we spend time doing some special activities around The Polar Express.  We end the day together watching the movie!  To help us celebrate, children are encouraged to wear the pajamas!  Students will still need shoes (no slippers, please!).
• Friday, Dec. 19 - 12:00 Dismissal / Mass / Class Book Exchange... The book exchange is meant to be a simple, fun way for the children to exchange a small gift.  The Dollar store (or the like) have books sections with possible books.  Or if you have a gently used book to trade, that would work, too!  Wrap  the book and only label with who it is from.  On Friday, we will do a drawing! 

Please contact me if you have any questions!

Chores for Change Update!

Our box is filling up! Only a few days left to collect any change you earn to add to our gift to the parish giving tree! We hope the children continue their chores, but we will STOP collecting change on Monday, December 15th so we can get all of our tags back to the church.

Thanks for all you did to make this another successful, giving year!

Gingerbread Adventure!

What fun we've had reading multiple versions of the Gingerbread boy stories!  Great vocabulary, fun order, and always a twist at the end!  I would hope your child could tell you about a few of those now!

When we went to Conner Prairie, we even got to experience the story by being a part of it! We walked from the kitchen, to the barn, to the room, following the footprints and clues from the gingerbread boy.  We also saw many examples of decorated gingerbread houses.... All great examples for ideas we will be using!

Some shots from Conner Prairie:

 

 

 

Starting Today!

December is off and running! :)
Make sure you don't miss out on these great opportunities!

CHORES FOR CHANGE:
Each child is asked to do some small task each day at home.  We hope this will be a task above and beyond what is already expected of them.  This way the earn some small change / a few coins for each task.... DON'T over pay!  

There are two goals for this:
1. The children learn that working is hard and it takes time to earn money.
2. The children feel proud of what they do and their gift to our giving tree items.

This month we will be focusing on the real meaning of Christmas... Jesus' coming.  He gave us so much, we can all share, too!

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA: Saturday, Dec. 13, from 9:00 - 12:00
Please consider coming to a wonderful tradition!  Tickets are on sale now in the office.  THERE WILL BE NO SALES AT THE DOOR... Tickets must be purchased in advance.  Contact the office for more information!