All of us here at 

Hooksett Early Learning Program

wish you and your family a very 

Merry Christmas 

and a 

Happy and Healthy New Year!

The Month of December!

Oh my! Where did this month go?  We have been so busy in the classroom learning some new "games" and creating holiday decorations!

Here is our Gingerbread House!

We played a gingerbread man fishing game.   Some of us matched our letters, while others practiced writing our letters!

We added the correct amount of decorations to Christmas Trees!

(Practicing numeral recognition and 1:1 correspondence.) 

Here we are measuring a gingerbread man!  We then measured ourselves to see which was bigger!  The gingerbread man or us!

But our favorite was going on a gingerbread man hunt!  Everyone had their own clipboard with a picture of a gingerbread man with either letters or pictures on it.  We then looked all over the school for gingerbread men.  When we found one we would say the letter and find it on our paper.  If we had pictures we would say the sound the letter made and find the picture that began with the same sound!  The children did a great job!

And lastly, thank you so much for the yummy gingerbread cookies Mrs. Godbout!  We loved decorating them, and of course, eating them!

We have been working on:

• Identifying rhyming words
• Reviewing letter shapes Aa through Mm
• Associating  the names of letters with their shapes
• Introduction to the new sight word: in

Understanding and producing rhyme is an important phonological awareness skill.  Research indicates that there is a correlation between phonological awareness skills and reading.  Throughout this school year we will be working on developing this very important skill!  Here are some ideas for you to try at home:

• Read rhyming books to your child
• Teach your child nursery rhymes
• Read books over again!  Repetition is great and an important part in the learning process!
• Once you have read a rhyming book several times, begin to pause before you say the rhyming word to see if they can fill in the word that rhymes
• Play rhyming games 

It is important to remember that rhyming is a developmental skill that will emerge over time.   Be patient with your child, if he/she has difficulty with this skill he/she just may not be ready.  Continue to read and expose them to rhyme and before you know it they will be rhyming!

Always remember that learning is fun!