December: Virtue of Hope
We cannot believe we are at the end of 2015 already!! Time has flown by since the beginning of
the school year and our students have been hard at work learning many new things.
Our main focus for numeracy has been identifying patterns, painting and drawing patterns and
creating our own patterns using different materials such as counters, shapes, animals, rhythms
and many other things. Through our exploration of patterns, we have done a variety of
activities such as clapping in a rhythm, lining up in different patterns (boy, girl, boy, girl; tall,
short, tall, short…), sorted our art supplies into colour baskets, pattern bracelets made with
assorted pony beads, made paper chains, participated in pattern circles and so much more! We
will be moving on to spatial sense and students with have some fun with shapes as we move into
the holiday season!!
Letters/Sight Words for November: P (pat, pan, play), N (no, not), C (cat, can, come),
K (kit, kid, like)
There will be no focus letter of the week for the month of December so students can
focus on the Advent season with their families. Please complete the weekly activity that
has been sent home for Advent!!
Since we’ve begun our Letter of the Week, we have focused much of our attention on that
specific letter and based our literacy activities on this special letter. JKs have been busy
working on letter formation, letter crafts, as well as drawing pictures and labelling things
around the room that begin with the letter of the week. This helps them in identifying the
specific sounds. SKs have been busy doing similar activities but also in addition to this have
been working a lot on the sight words of the week. As students learn new letters and their
sounds they are able to create words more easily because they look similar and rhyme. Learning
how to sound out the sight words and word families, making and building these words and writing
them out, all help in preparation to begin reading simple books. Snuggle Up will begin in the New
Year. The Snuggle Up program will be clearly explained in the January newsletter.
Santa’s workshop has arrived! In room 102 the students have decided to transform the
dramatic centre into the North Pole. Santa’s workshop will have all the latest toys for all the
good girls and boys! Stay tuned for pictures! We have also began writing our letters to Santa!
A variety of art activities and crafts were created by the students through the month of
November. A few of the crafts they created were poppies using tissue paper, a poppy wreath
for our classroom door, water colour peace sign painting, letter of the week crafts such as a
colourful caterpillar for ‘c’, and most recently an advent wreath for the holiday season
approaching. We continue to explore a variety of different materials as we make new creations.
Our inquiry this month has been around peace and friendship. In preparation for Remembrance
Day on November 11th our students had many questions about what peace is and so we answered
these questions by reading a story about peace as well as writing all the things we know or
learned about what peace is to them. The week of November 16-20th was Anti-Bullying week.
For the week we focused our lessons on how to treat others and what it means to be a friend.
Many students didn’t know what a ‘bully’ was so we read stories and watched a video to clarify
the meaning for them. In addition, our Chime In was ‘If You’re Friendly and You Know it” which
the students enjoyed singing and dancing to as well as a class building activity where students
created a friendship mural after reading the story “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister.
With the cold weather fast approaching we talked about how to dress for the winter. Students
learned step-by-step how to properly put on their outdoor clothing. We ask that you continue
to practise this with them as well at home!
Virtue of the Month: Each month, we at St. Gertrude, and as a Catholic community, recognize a
virtue. For the month of September, Isabella R. and Jacob received the virtue of faith. For
the month of October, Alyssa and Matteo received the virtue of empathy. For the month of
November, Maya and Lance received the virtue of conscience.
We are excited to see what the end of the year has in store for us in Room 102.
Friendly Reminders:

Please continue to check your child’s Note Tote daily for important forms, notices or completed
work that is coming home. Return Note Tote daily so nothing is missed and please empty out Note
Totes so there is more room for new work!!

Students are encouraged to dress comfortably and wear clothing that will make toileting easy and
independent (no belts or tricky buttons).

We ask that all shorts and t-shirts be replaced with warmer clothing for the new season ahead. A
reminder that indoor shoes are a requirement for Physical Education and Music and Movement
classes. All items your child brings to school should be labelled (backpacks, lunch bags, clothing,
shoes, hats, coats, blankets etc.)

NEW**Please see Sunday of each week on the calendar for instructions on how to prepare your
child for the Advent season. We are going to focus on reviewing letter/sounds that we have
already learned as well as word families for the month of December. New letter/sounds will
resume in January!!

Thank you to those parents who have been sending in healthy snacks and lunches. A reminder
that foods containing nuts of any kind including Nutella, shellfish and eggs cannot be brought to
school due to allergies. We will be focussing on Healthy Eating in the New Year as all of us can use
reminders after the holiday season  Please help your child choose healthy snacks and lunches
for school and encourage healthy eating at home! If possible, take your child grocery shopping
with you and point out healthy options.

Chime-In folder should be returned no later than Wednesday of each week so new poems can be
inserted. Please review all poems weekly and assist your child in completing the activity on the
reverse side.

Please ensure library books are returned in library bags by the Thursday of each week.

Scholastic book club flyers are sent home each month to encourage literacy at home. The return
date is stamped on the front page. If you purchase from Scholastic, it also provides us with an
opportunity to acquire free books and learning materials for our classroom! Ordering from
Scholastic is optional and if you choose to do so please send a cheque with your order form
payable to Scholastic Canada. Only one cheque is necessary if ordering from multiple book club
flyers. NO CASH PLEASE!! Books make the perfect Christmas gift!! Order EARLY.

At school we wash our hands before snack and lunch daily. Please practise good hand washing
habits with your children at home so it becomes habit.

As the weather keeps getting colder, we ask that you dress your child accordingly. Jackets, snow
pants, hats, neck warmers, boots and mittens are essential. We are outside for approximately 30
to 45mins each day and cannot allow students to stay indoors if they are not dressed
appropriately.

Special Events: December 14-18th we will have some special Christmas events happening in our
classroom. Tuesday, we’re having a Pajama Party where students wear their pajamas to school
and may bring slippers and a stuffed toy too! Wednesday, we will watch a Christmas movie.
Thursday, we have an advent retreat day where the students will rotate from class-to-class
participating in a variety of different Christmas activities. Friday, we will sing some Christmas
carols & we ask all students to wear Christmas colours as well as Santa or elf hats and/or
reindeer antlers.. Looking forward to these exciting events ahead!
Wishing all of our students and their families a blessed holiday season!
Mrs. Cabral & Mrs. Di Gravino
Making patterns with linking squares
Fun with the letter of the week
Letter Matching
Playing the Parking Lot game with our sight words
Daily name writing practise
Making structures
Water table letter fun
More patterns
Painting poppies
Smart Board pattern fun
Making shape patterns
Making pattern bracelets with colour straw pieces
Pattern paper chain links
Remembrance Day activities
Where can we find patterns?
Fall finds!
Playing ‘teacher’ and practising the Chime In
Can you make a pattern with these materials?
Planning for play each morning!
Making patterns with linking squares
Making our names with letter snap cubes
Our Virtue of Empathy Winners
Shape puzzles
Racing cars for the letter C
Painting Rainbow Fish
Rainbow Fish mural, ‘A Friend is…’
Letter of the week crafts
Making patterned friendship bracelets
Car painting for letter C
Journal writing
Building with recyclables
PJ Day
Making our Advent wreathes