Wednesday 6 November 2019
Tuesday 5 November 2019
November 2019
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
2019
Dear Parents,
I hope this letter finds you in a warm place. Winter has arrived and with
the colder days now here, we will “hibernate” in our classroom and only go
outside on special “winter activity days”. However, we will from now on take
our students to the gym for fun filled games and physical activities each day.
We had a very busy October! Each class enjoyed a variety of fall
activities, exploring the inside of a pumpkin, letting pumpkins roll down the
hill and learning spooky Halloween rhymes!
Our first two field trips of the year were fantastic! We had a fun
filled morning at the Children’s Discovery Museum and at Dutch Growers hay maze.
Thank you to all parents that joined us for these special events!
NOVEMBER THEMES
November will be a potluck
of preparation for cultural events and looking into the winter
season.
HOW DO YOU ANIMALS SURVIVE IN WINTER?
We have already started with
this umbrella unit. This month our children will learn about how frogs, bears,
squirrels, hedge hogs and other animals protect themselves from the cold and
how they survive winter.
NURSERY RHYMES
We
will also focus on literacy this month by teaching students different
nursery rhymes and nursery songs. Can you think of a better time in the year to
sit inside cozy and warm and
listening to fairy tales and rhymes with your little one?
CULTURAL EVENTS
ST. MARTIN HOLIDAY
(GERMAN LANTERN FEST)
St. Martin is a traditional holiday that people in Germany celebrate on
November 11th every year. It is based on the legend of a soldier
named Martin who lived in Hungry around 316 B.C. One cold winter night, Martin
was riding his horse and saw an old beggar, shivering in the snow. The old man
had no warm clothes on. Martin stopped his horse, lifted his sword and cut his
own red cape in two halves. Martin kept one hand and shared the other one with
the old man. On Martin’s Day, in Germany children parade through the streets at
night, singing Martin songs and carrying their lanterns with lit candles in
honour of St. Martin. Often times the parade is accompanied by a rider on horseback
in a red coat. At the end of the night, people are gathering around a big
bonfire and warm up with hot chocolate and other warm beverages. St. Martin is
a festival of sharing and bringing light into the dark.
ALPHABET ACTIVITIES
We have noticed that our little ones are getting really excited to learn
a new letter every week!
Realizing that every letter has a sound makes it even more fun to look
for words that start with the letter of the week. The word “Daddy” has even 3
“D” s in it!!
Our younger students always enjoy tracing individual letters with
stickers.
In addition to letter recognition, we are teaching older students how to
print letters and how to write their name.
We always encourage children to start each letter from the TOP! It is a
great pre-printing skill to have prior to starting Kindergarten.
OPTIONAL
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Thursday, Nov 28th 3:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov 29th 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
We will be offering optional Parent Teacher Conferences for our families.
The meetings are a great opportunity to share and exchange information that
will help you and us to support your child’s growth. We believe that
communication is the key to positive relationships and we would be happy to discuss our observations
and any questions that you have regarding your child.
I will hang a sign-up list with slots for meeting
times in the hallway.
NIKOLAUS
VISIT & CELEBRATION WITH OUR FAMILIES
(Dec
5/6 10:30 a.m. -11.45 a.m.)
On December 5/6, Nikolaus will visit our class! Our children
will select a few songs and rhymes a
that they have learned over the last few months, and perform for Nikolaus. Based
on the German cultural tradition, Nikolaus will fill our children’s boots with treats
after their performance.
We will send out an invitation
and hope that all of you will be able to join us for this special celebration!
DATES TO REMEMBER
November
6/7 Picture Day 9 (class
picture/ individual pictures)
Parents are invited to
join us for a short St. Martin lantern parade at 11.30 a.m.
7/8 Scholastic Book Orders due (place your order
online at scholastic.ca/canadaclubs)
8 PD day, no school
11 Remembrance
Day Holiday, no school
28 Parent Teacher Conference 3:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
29 Parent Teacher Conference 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (class will be running
that day)
December
5/6 Nikolaus Celebration: 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
All
Families are invited to join us for this special event!
·
Visit from Nikolaus
·
Children’s performance
·
Christmas cookies and
traditional German mulled punch
If you are interested in special events of various groups within the
German Community, please check out www.saskgermancouncil.org.
WINTER WORDS:
Winter
(vin’tah) – winter
Schnee
(schnay) – snow, Schneeflocke (schnay
flaw’ken) – snowflake
Schneeball
(schnay’bahl) – snowball
Jacke
yak’eh - jacket , Mütze (mut’tzeh) - touque
Schal ( schahl) – scarf, Handschuhe (hahnd shoo’heh) –
mittens, Stiefel (schtee’fehl – boots
Kalt (kalt) – cold Eis (ice) – ice, Schneemann
(schnay’mahn) – snowman
Kind
Regards,
Uli
Hecker & Larissa Lorenz
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