KINDERGARTEN
St. Gertrude School
Room 103
NEWS
January 2016
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos' Classroom Newsletter
Coming Together as a School
Community
As we enter 2016, we would like to welcome everybody back
to school and wish you all a happy and healthy new year! The
students have been doing a wonderful job of readjusting to
our classroom routines. They were so excited to share holiday
stories with their teachers and peers and we were delighted
to hear all about their Christmas adventures!
December was a busy time for our school community. We
began the month with a beautiful Advent mass in the gym.
Students did a great job of praying reverently and reflecting
on one of the most holy times of the year. To further get
into the spirit of Advent, the students took part in a schoolwide Advent retreat. The Kindergarten children were divided
into 4 groups and rotated throughout the school, participating
in a variety of Advent-themed activities. Students sang
Christmas songs, watched a movie about The Nativity,
listened to Phoebe Gilman's story Something From Nothing,
made Advent wreath crowns, learned about the symbols of
Christmas, and made a beautiful angel craft. The day was a
wonderful way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
As a school, we celebrated our last day of 2015 together as
we partook in a Christmas sing-a-long. The kindergarten
students sang Take a Walk to Christmas, a song we had been
practising for a few weeks prior to the sing-a-long. All the
classes did a wonderful job of spreading Christmas joy with
their musical talent.
Counting Down to Christmas
Preparing and focusing on Christmas allowed for many fun
opportunities to expand our mathematical skills. Our
November inquiry into patterning continued into December
as students used Christmas foam shapes and painted
sponge shapes to create colourful Christmas patterns.
Brightly coloured beads and pipe cleaners were also used
to make patterned wreath ornaments. The students of
Room 103 love creating patterns!
We also investigated numeracy as we collaborated to
create a Christmas tree number line. Bingo dabbers were
used to show numbers 1-10 and students practised writing
the numeral that corresponded to the number of dots on
the tree.
A very special elf came to visit our classroom and after
reading about him in the book Elf on the Shelf, we
discovered that we needed to name him. What better way
to decide on a name than creating a class survey! As we
analyzed the results of our survey, we determined that our
Elf would be named Sonic.
Sonic was just another reminder that Christmas was
quickly approaching, so we did daily oral countdowns to
Christmas with the help of our classroom Advent calendar.
These friends responded to our math challenge:
All decked out in red, white, and green- ready
for our Sing-A-Long!
Can you put the numbers in order on the tree? Way
to go, girls!
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos’ Classroom Newsletter Page 2
Connecting Christmas to Literacy
When the Advent season began, we started sharing a
variety of stories with the children on The Nativity. We
read stories from our Children's Bible, and compared
them to picture book and animated versions. Many
students enjoyed retelling the Nativity story with wooden
figures we put out in the classroom. Many also used their
artistic talents to represent baby Jesus in the stable.
Writing skills were developed through our reindeer
paintings. The students used various-shaped sponges to
paint a reindeer (inspired by the song, Rudolph the RedNosed reindeer). They then used their knowledge of
letters, sounds, and sight words to write stories and
descriptions of their reindeers.
Comparing Sizes. Which Gingerbread Man is
bigger? Taller? Shorter? Wider?
At the 'Creation Station', students discovered blank
Christmas cards and some began filling them with
Christmas messages to their loved ones. We hope our
families enjoyed reading the hand-written Christmas
cards made by their children as well as the ornaments
they worked so hard to create.
Another favourite story read in class, was The
Gingerbread Man. Students were so inspired by this story
that they decided to create an entire two-dimensional
'Gingerbread Man' village in the Dramatic Play centre.
The village included houses, pathways, Christmas trees, a
church, and of course, many different Gingerbread people.
The creativity was definitely flowing in Room 103!
Students enjoyed playing our Gingerbread Man Roll-ANumber game in which they rolled a die, determined the
number of dots on the die, and then matched the number
to the number on the game board. What a great game to
practise quantity recognition!
Our Gingerbread Village!
"My reindeer's name is Sonic.
He likes to play in the snow."
Friends helping friends with the Roll-A-Number
Reindeer Writing!
Game.
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos' Classroom Newsletter Page 3
Photo Gallery...
A Christmas Card for Mom.
A Christmas card for Santa.
The results of our survey indicate that
Sonic was the most popular elf name.
Shimmer was a close second!
Here's Sonic hiding out behind the
calendar. The students looked forward to
finding him in a new place every day.
Some of the artists behind the
Gingerbread masterpiece.
Using coloured beads to create a patterned
wreath ornament.
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos’ Classroom Newsletter Page 4
Photo Gallery...
Making a path for the Gingerbread Village.
This artist is creating a Christmas tree for
the Gingerbread Village.
Part of our Christmas tree number line.
Counting the days until Christmas!
Posing on Pajama Day with our stuffies.
This friend is making a gingerbread "bride
These friends also did some writing about
and groom" to get married in the church in
their toys.
the Gingerbread Village.
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos’ Classroom Newsletter Page 5
Notes and Reminders...

Congratulations to Anton, Nathan, and Zikorah, who were recognized at this month's school-wide virtue
assembly. Throughout the month of December, Anton, Nathan and Zikorah demonstrated the virtue of hope
by keeping a positive attitude and never giving up, even when faced with difficult situations. We thank these
friends for being wonderful role models to the rest of us. We will be focusing on the virtue of self-control
throughout the month of January.

This month we will be beginning an inquiry on hospitals and health care, as the children have been
demonstrating an interest in this topic. We will be turning our Dramatic Play centre into a 'hospital.' If you
have any materials at home that might assist with this inquiry, please feel free to send them in.

We will continue to focus on new letters, sounds, and sight words each week as indicated on the calendar.
Please help your child to review this at home as much as possible. We will also be starting our Snuggle Up and
Read program this month. More information will be going home with students in their Note Totes.

Thank you to all who donated to our Christmas toy/hat/mitten/toiletry drive. Your generosity has helped
provide hope to families in need.

We will continue to go outdoors daily (weather permitting). Please send your child to school prepared for
outdoor play.
We would like to wish you all a Happy and Happy New Year!
Thank you so much for your continued support and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Ms. Barran & Mrs. Santos
Our December Virtues Winners