Hi Spruce Families!
We hope you are all having a great winter break full of rest, family time, and joy. We are excited to start the new year with your children! It was great this last month to wrap up our salmon study. The children were so proud of their work and pieces displayed at the Salmon Walk. Right before break we touched upon the different holidays happening around the world as well as the winter solstice. We talked about how many cultures around the world bring light into their homes during these dark winter months and we enjoyed a Solstice Feast with the other Primary classes.
As we come back to class in January we will be revisiting some grace and courtesy lessons such as how to ask for help, using slow and quiet bodies in the classroom, and inviting a friend to join you for snack or to work together. We will also be introducing how to make tea and how to serve tea to a guest.
Along with being respectful and peaceful in the classroom, we’re going to be diving into our peacemakers unit along with the other Primary classrooms as we study the continents of the world. The children will hear stories about these peacemakers, including ones from when they were children themselves. We will be linking those stories to how we can all be peacemakers and be the change we want to see in the world.
In Writers’ Workshop, the Kinders continue to build a stronger community of writers. Over the past month or so we have been working on making our writing more readable. We have practiced using some new tools to help us tell our own stories–and practice reading with writing buddies. Our tools include:
- Rereading our words and phrases
- Using spacing between words
- Using our word wall of sight words or commonly used words
- Using the movable alphabet to build our words as we work on fine motor skills to write legibly
- “Taking a picture” in our mind, and trying to recall in our own minds
- Remembering the details that make our stories exciting and interesting to read
Thank you to all who attended our publishing party. Our students love to share their progress and their stories!
We look forward to welcoming you all back on the 7th to start off 2025 together!
Best wishes,
Cydnie and Lydia
