Welcome back and Happy New Year!
It was great to see all the smiling faces the first day back after winter break. The Juniors had many stories of trips, winter break camp at Rohan Woods and new toys from Santa. Friends were reunited as we jumped right back into the JK routine.
The Juniors enjoyed learning about the various holidays during the month of December. We focused on the symbols of Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas. We completed many projects, games and activities while also comparing the similarities and differences of each. The class especially enjoyed playing with the Hanukkah toy set during center time.
In Language Arts, we studied letters N, O and P, learning to write, identify and make the sound for each. We also learned a new game called “People Sentences” to help with word order and identification in sentences. In this game, a volunteer for each word in a given sentence would stand in a line and say their word. Once we were fluent with the sentence, two words would switch spots, jumbling up the sentence and making it sound very silly! For example, “A monster is dancing”’ would change into “A dancing is monster.” The Juniors loved hearing the silly sentences, emphasizing that changing word order changes sentence meaning. Finally, we began a new book called “Willy the Wisher.” We will read stories from this book throughout the school year to practice critical thinking and problem solving through various characters with very big problems.
December Math activities included learning about patterns and numbers. The Juniors made paper chains using the Christmas colors in a pattern and bracelets using the colors of the Kwanzaa kinara in a pattern. They also wove mkeka mats to create a Kwanzaa pattern. Lastly, the class practiced dice recognition while playing a game to build a snowman and numbers to 20 while completing a Christmas dot-to-dot.
We are looking forward to a fun month in January!!
Sincerely,
Kristen Masiel