Mrs. Hallford’s Class Newsletter

December 8^th – 11^th

Merry Christmas! We had an absolutely wonderful time at A Christmas Carol last Thursday! The students were all very well behaved, and they enjoyed the play, which was very well done. We have almost finished reading the book (only three pages left!) and after the play, we had a class discussion about the similarities and differences between the play and the movie. I was very impressed with all the details that the students recalled! We also played a few rounds of Yes And No, a game that was played at a Christmas party in the book.

This week we will focus on learning the Christian foundations of Christmastime, as well as enjoying each other’s company as the semester draws to a close. We have had a wonderful semester together!

Our agenda includes making sachets that can be given as Christmas gifts from the herbs we harvested earlier this fall, studying the lyrics of traditional Christmas carols, looking at the meaning of Christmas symbols, and a holiday-themed debate. Mrs. Roy is showing our class the movie The Nativity Story during Bible, and they are really enjoying it!

On Thursday our class will have a gift exchange as their Christmas party. Each child needs to bring a wrapped gift of a $5 or less value to participate. Dollar Store items would be perfect for this, or you can always find something at home to re-gift! We will also be watching the movie A Muppet Christmas Carol, as a lighthearted end to our study of this wonderful piece of literature.

I hope everyone has a joyful Christmas season, and I look forward to our Spring Semester together!

God bless,

~Nicole Hallford

Mrs. Hallford’s Class Newsletter

December 1^st -4^th

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break! We are very lucky to have such a long break – it is a great opportunity to become refreshed and excited about school! Now that Coach Hallford and I are completely moved and settled into our new house, and our computer is unpacked and set up, I promise that the class newsletters will be much more regular!

There are only two weeks left of this semester, and we have a lot of really fun things planned. Most importantly is our upcoming field trip to see A Christmas Carol performed at the Dallas Theater Center. We need to be ready to leave at 9:15 on Thursday morning, as the play begins at 10:30, and if you would like to attend with your child (and help us carpool!) please purchase a ticket ASAP. I need to know who is interested in attending with us, so I can get organized. Also, if you have not turned in the $12 for your child’s ticket yet, please do so promptly.

In preparation for this trip, we will be reading A Christmas Carol in our classroom. We will have to set Robinson Crusoe aside for the week, and I have high hopes that we can finish A Christmas Carol before this Thursday! I plan to incorporate this into our Art and History lessons for the week, with a lot of discussions about the language and culture of England in Dicken’s time, and some artistic narration. Rather than the formal narration that we usually do for literature, I plan to have the students work on a picture study of an illustration from the book, and then create their own illustrations of key scenes while listening to the story. I love projects like these, because we get to see how differently each student is visualizing the story, and what elements stood out for them. They are also a great opportunity to work on the Habit of Perfect Execution as it pertains to art.

I’m looking forward to a great week as we all learn about the true meaning of Christmas and the fine arts!

God bless,

Nicole Hallford