Dear Primary Parents,
Happy New Year! We are very pleased to welcome all your children back to school, and we hope that all of you had a wonderful winter break. The month of December brought about much excitement for the Primary Classroom. Throughout the month, we continued to engage the children with work that fosters preparation of the hand and the mind, and in turn, supports them on their journey to dive deeper into reading and writing.
We started the month introducing a label dresser to all the children! On the front of each drawer there is a picture of each child. In each drawer is a small print out of the child’s first and last name written multiple times. The children have the option of cutting out each label and gluing them on their work. The purpose of the work is to increase functional independence so that every child can place their name on their work without any help from an adult, and also to train the hand through cutting precisely and the eye to recognize symbolic letter formation of their name.
We also highlighted some of the cultural holidays surrounding the month and discussed the stories and values behind them. As a classroom we focused on giving and what that means, whether it be making a card for mom and dad, rehearsing for the winter concert, or giving a helping hand to a friend in need. All the children gave in a myriad of ways and the result was fantastic, as I’m sure many of you observed during our annual winter concert!
The children all had the experience of decorating a tree in the classroom! We continued to strengthen the hand through the tracing of metal inset designs of Christmas trees and ornaments. Each child exercised visual motor coordination through the task of carefully assembling and disassembling ornaments on the tree. The children also benefited from a Hanukah sorting exercise, by placing different pictures of objects found during the holiday in order depending on their size, incorporating new vocabulary as well as practicing visual discrimination.
Additionally, the children were introduced to a new work made personally by Ms. Patty. It is called the light box work. It is a florescent box of light that enables the children to illuminate the puzzle maps laminate control under paper to provide the option of tracing a map of a continent very clearly. It provides another means of strengthening the eye and the hand to execute detail and precision.
The children had many experiences highlighting the continent of Antarctica! Some of these include: learning about many animals that live in Antarctica, as well as observing the different land and water forms surrounding the continent, cutting and shading in different animals in Antarctica, and enjoying many books and enrichment of vocabulary activities on different kinds of penguins.
Special Gatherings
We began the month with a special Hanukah presentation by Noah’s dad Daniel Baratz! He read a beautiful book about Hanukah and discussed the history of the holiday. He also shared a variety of amazing menorahs and dreidels that each of the children had a chance to feel and examine. Noah and Daniel both spoke to the class about some of the special ways their family celebrates Hanukah together. Shortly after, toward the end of the month, Mrs. Mary followed with a historical presentation on the story of Christmas. All the children loved the story, and we implemented new vocabulary used in the story with our farm work.
Finally, the children prepared for the Winter Concert. It was truly a labor of love. A couple times a week the toddler class came to visit us during gathering and we rehearsed together. All the children were so proud to share their voices with all of you! Mrs. Mary and I truly enjoyed seeing so many of you there, and it was really a perfect end to the year.
Important Information for the New Year:
- I can’t wait to touch base about each of your children. Please don’t forget to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences if you have not done so already!!! (They will take place January 23rdthrough the 25th) If you have trouble signing up please contact Ms. Patty.
- Please bring a warm change of clothes for your children if you have not done so, and as always, please label everything!
- Mark your Calendar- Primary Collaboration night will take place from 6:30- 7:30 on January 22nd, 2019. It will be on “Supporting the Development of Listening in the Primary Curriculum”, as well as ways to foster listening skills at home. Click here to RSVP
As always Mrs. Mary and I look forward to another month of learning and growth with each of your children!
Best Regards,
Mr. Carl and Mrs. Mary
