Thursday 20 December 2018

Merry Christmas!

This week has been jam packed with fun events so the blog post is a bit late! A big thank you to all who came out last Friday for our Christmas concert.  The students were so excited to perform for you and they did an AMAZING job! Mrs. T and I were so proud of them all!

On Monday, students from Ottawa University came into our classroom to teach the children about the tree of life.  The children learned about the different categories of living things and had fun guessing which group the animals belonged to.

On Wednesday, we were treated to a performance by the Earl of March band.  The children absolutely loved it and were in awe of the high school students and their instruments.  Today we had pj and movie day.  It was a nice way to wind down the week.
In the event of a snow day tomorrow, we are sending home the blankets for a wash.  

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and restful holiday season.  We will see you all in 2019!!!
A quick word from Mme Vida. Sorry to have missed the last couple of days due to illness but feeling much better!  Thank you so much for your most generous gifts and lovely wishes for the holidays!   Merry Christmas!

Monday 10 December 2018

Important Information Regarding the Christmas Concert

Our Christmas concert will be at 2 pm on Friday, December 14th. The concert will take place in the gym and there will be lots of seat set out.  The students have been busy practicing their songs and dance moves and are so excited to perform for you! Please arrive at 1:45 pm to get settled into your seats before the performers enter the stage.

There is no specific dress code for the concert.  If your child wants to wear their fanciest Christmas wear or just a red or green shirt, anything goes!  Parents will have an opportunity to take pictures after the performance.  We will then go back to the classroom to make crafts with our parents/guests.  It is going to be a jolly good time in Room 138!

Thank you to all who have sent in money, razors, toothbrushes and items for the mitten tree.  Someone's Christmas is going to be extra special because of you!  If you have not sent in donations but would like to, please send them in by Wednesday, December 12th. 


Here are some pictures from today:



Monday 3 December 2018

Week of December 3rd

Happy December!  The time is flying by so fast!  It's hard to believe that we are only 22 days away from Christmas. This morning, the students were very excited by our surprise visit from Sparkles the elf.  We had a chat about all our elves at home and the funny things they do!  Sparkles left a note saying that he is very excited to see the children working hard and being kind to all.

Last week, a note was sent home regarding the collection of items for our Christmas hampers.  Our class was asked to bring in razors and one adult toothbrush per student.  If you would like to participate in this wonderful project, please send in the  items with your child.  We will be collecting these items from December 3rd until the 12th. Thank you so much for your generosity.

We will be taking a break from our letter and word of the week to focus on our singing practice for our upcoming Christmas concert.  The concert will take place on Friday, December 14th at 2 pm.  We hope you can all join us.  Please send the form back indicating how many people will be attending.

Today we talked about Advent and why exactly we celebrate Advent.  We put the purple candle of promise on our Advent wreath and talked about who's birth we are waiting patiently to celebrate on December 25th.

Reminders:

Please send in extra socks and pants for your child.  With this wet weather, the children are getting lots of soakers during recess.

Here are some pictures from today:







Monday 26 November 2018

Week of November 26th

Our letter of the week is "n" and our word of the week is "in".  The students are doing a great job sounding out their words.  Please continue to practice sounding out short, simple words with your children.  Sounding out 2 letter words is a fun game that the kids love to play.  Ask them to sound out each  letter like they do at school.

Tomorrow is Double Lunch Day.  If you would like to participate, please pack a second lunch and send it with your child.  These lunches will be collected and donated to the Ottawa Mission.  Every little bit helps make someone else's day a little brighter!

Raz Kids information was sent home last week.  This program is for home use.  It is a fun way for the students to listen to stories and eventually read along with the program. We do not monitor this program at school but feel free to use it at your convenience.

Reminder:

Please ensure that your child has extra gloves, pants and socks at school.  There have been many wet feet and hand recently!














double lunch day tomorrow for the mission - bring an additional lunch

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Week of Nov. 19th


Today was a wet day!!!!  When the students came in from our outdoor learning this morning, they were soaked but had a great time!  Many of them had to change into their spare clothing and we noticed that some were missing spare socks.  If you could send in extra socks (2 pairs) as well as an extra pair of mittens to keep in their backpacks, it would be much appreciated.

Our word of the week is "to" and our letter of the week is "o".  The kids had a blast looking for this letter and word during library time.  Please continue to practise letter recognition and sounds with your child.  Keep it fun!

We will be sending home information regarding an amazing home reading program called Raz Kids.  It will be coming home this week.  This program can be done on a laptop or an ipad. 

This week is Bullying Awareness Week at our school.  Today we talked about what a bully is and what to do if someone is being a bully.  We also listened to a story about being kind and helpful to our friends.  We will continue to talk about kindness and how to resolve conflicts all week.

On Friday, the kinders are invited to the News Show at 10:45 am.  We are so excited to participate in this awesome event!  It is also Flower Power Spirit Day.  The students are encouraged to wear flowers.

Here are some pictures from today:








Monday 12 November 2018

Week of November 12th

Today was such a special day for everyone in Kindergarten.  We were honoured to have 2 members of the Armed Forces in our classroom, Mr. Braden and Mr. Mousseau.  The children were in awe when these 2 men spoke and answered all their questions.  We thank you for your service and we are so happy that you came in today to educate us.

Our letter of the week is "s" and our word of the week is "is".  Please continue to practice letter recognition and sound association with your child as well as point out our popcorn words during your nightly reading.

Today we continued to work on patterning.  The students started to make patterns to display on our beautiful pattern tree.  We talked about what makes a pattern (repetition) as well as the different kinds of patterns (eg AB, AABB, ABCD).

Reminders:

Initial Observations:
 Our first "report card" is coming home on Wednesday and Parent Teacher interviews are on Thursday evening.  Mrs. N and I are so excited to chat with you about your wonderful child.  Please be mindful that each interview is only 10 minutes long.  If there is something that you need to talk about more in depth, feel free to write a note in the communication book and we can schedule a phone meeting.  We ask that each parent knocks on the door at their scheduled time slot.

Friday, November 16th : PD Day - No school for the students

Outerwear: 
Today we had many wet pants and socks due to the snow and puddles.  With this unpredictable weather, it is a good idea to send your child with a pair of splash pants or snowpants in their backpacks.  We are also asking that you ensure that your child has a few spare pairs of socks and a spare pair of pants.

Here are some pictures from today:



Monday 5 November 2018

Week of Nov. 5th

Our letter of the week is "t" and our word of the week is "it".  We practiced how to sound out a word today and the kids got a kick out of it.  Ask your child how we sound words out in Room 138.  Remind them to use their hands. Our sk students are becoming confident with their free writing and are adding writing to their artwork as well.  In the beginning stages of writing, we always sit one on one with them and help sound out the desired words.  We do not correct their spelling and always praise them for doing such an amazing job.  The most important part is to make them feel proud of their work so they want to keep doing it.  We are seeing lots of budding writers in Room 138!  

In Math, we used our problem solving skills to figure out how many legs 2 spiders have.  The students had 2 plastic spiders to use as a visual aide and were asked to use pictures and numbers to figure out their answer.  They did a great job and listening to them explain their work was very neat to hear.  See the pictures below to see their work.

On Monday, November 12th, we will have a visit from a parent who is a member of Armed Forces to talk to us about Remembrance Day.  We will be talking about peace and poppies this week, with a focus on being kind to each other.  We are so excited for this visit! The students made beautiful crosses today which we will display in the hallway.

Next week, "Initial Observation" reports will be sent home on Wednesday, November 14th.  The Ministry has asked us to prepare a report based on the first couple of months of getting to know your child.  Parent interviews are scheduled for the following evening, Thursday, November 15th.  You will receive an email with a link to schedule your meeting online.  If you do not or are having any difficulty booking your meeting time, please call the school for assistance.  If you feel that you will need more than 10 minutes to discuss your child, please let us know in your child's communication book, and we can schedule a separate time to do this.

Reminders:

Please ensure that your child has a spare pair of clothing.  If your child comes home with a soiled bag of clothes, please send new clothing back the following day.

Here are some pictures from today:









Monday 29 October 2018

Week of October 29th

Our letter of the week is "m" and our word of the week is "am".  The students had a blast this morning with our "What Am I" riddles (see the pictures below).  Together, we sounded out the word "am" using our "a" and "m" sounds.  The sk students did a great job writing their thoughts in their journal.

The students used their problem solving skills and made bridges to hold 5 rats at one time.  It was a great challenge for them and they worked together to come up with great bridge options for our 5 lovely rats!

The kids also made their own version of a scary monster to hang in our haunted house. The classroom is all ready for Halloween!

Last week, we went into Griffin's Grove to observe and collect different coloured leaves.  The students had so much fun looking at the different shapes and types of leaves as well as finding the reddest maple leaves!

On Friday, we were lucky to have Mrs. McEvoy's Grade 3 class come and do reading buddies with us.  The little kids were in awe of the big kids and their reading abilities.  We will continue on a weekly basis to pair up with this class for some reading adventures!



Reminders:

Tuesday, October 30th -
Photo Retake Day and Sibling Photo Day

Wednesday, October 31st -
 Students are invited to wear orange and black.  Please do not send your child with a costume.  We are also asking that you do not send in any treats to share for the children.  We have severe allergies so we do not want anyone to feel left out.

Thursday, November 1st -
We are taking our learning outside for our Outdoor Learning Day.  The students will explore literacy, Math, Art, Science etc outside on our school yard.  Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately.  We will be outside for a few hours.

Initial Observations - Report Card
In Kindergarten, we do not send a progress report card home at the same time as the rest of the school.  Our initial observations will be coming home on November 14th.  Parent/teacher interviews will be held on November 15th.  More details to follow.















Monday 22 October 2018

Week of October 22

Our letter of the week is "i, I" and the word of the week is "I". Mrs. T and I are very impressed with how interested and engaged the students are in letters and wanting to sound out words.  The sk students did a great job in their free writing journals today.  They sounded out their thoughts incorporating our word of the week.  See pictures below.

During carpet time, the students were eager to come up and "butter" our popcorn word.  We found 7 in this week's poem about leaves.

Today, we also turned our dramatic play area into a haunted house.  The kids were so excited to put their unique pumpkins on the window to create a pumpkin patch. It turned out so cute!

Reminders:

If you are not happy with the school photo and want a retake, please send the picture back with a note saying that you would like a retake.


Please send a hat and mitts with your child.  The mornings are chilly and we are outside until 9:30.


School Halloween Dance- Friday, October 26th @ 6 pm










Monday 15 October 2018

Week of October 15th Letter and Word of the Week


Each week, we will be looking at a letter and a word of the week.  The intent is that the letter of the week is for the jk students and the word of the week is for the sk students.  The word of the week is a high frequency word that we call a "popcorn" word.  These popcorn words are words that are found in simple books which are easy to sound out for the children.  We will get a new letter and word every Monday.  Our activities on Monday will involve this letter/word at some of our tabletops.  I would encourage you to check the blog at the beginning of the week so that you can ask your child to point the word out during nightly reading (sk's), practise printing the letter/word with their magic finger, think of words that have the letter sound in them, etc.  Make it fun! 

Our letter of the week is the letter "a".  We learned that this letter makes 2 sounds ("ahh' and it says it's own name "a").  We had lots of fun with the letter a.  All the children with an "a" in their name stood up.  We noticed that most of the kids in the class have an "a" in their name so it must be an important letter!  We also came up with a list of words that have an "a" in them.  

Our word of the week is "a".  We read a poem about pumpkins and the children had fun "buttering" the popcorn word!  We will do this every Monday.  We will read a poem together and keep an eye out for the word of the week.  The children will take turns "buttering" the word of the week.  This means they will colour the word in yellow. See the pictures below from today.

The sk students then went on to write a sentence or a thought using the word "a".  Mrs. T and I were so proud of their work.  See pictures of their work below.

The students also took an interest in our pumpkin exploration.  They enjoyed writing and drawing about the different pumpkins that we had on the table.  Some of the things they wrote about was the pumpkin's size, colour and the difference between the variety of pumpkins.

Reminders:

As the weather gets cooler, please send your child dressed warm enough to be outside for 30 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at lunch and 15 minutes at the end of the day.  Layers seem to be the best way to dress in this type of weather!

School photos came home today. Please check your child's mailbag.  The pictures are adorable!!!

The Scholastic orders arrived today and were sent home with your child.  Please check the mailbags! 



Here are some pictures of the day:








Wednesday 10 October 2018

Week of October 8th

We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends.  We have been spoiled by the summer-like weather over the past 2 days.  The kids have had a blast digging in the sand and building castles!  Let's hope it stays a little while longer!

Today, we read a book about friendship and decided to paint portraits of our classmates.  They turned out absolutely adorable!  We have been talking about the different zones of regulation and our feelings.  This is very useful when the students are faced with conflicts between peers.  We are talking about using our words instead of hands and sharing our feelings when someone does something that makes us feel sad or angry etc.

This afternoon, we were invited to a presentation by Earth Rangers where the children got to learn about different animals.  They brought live animals such as an owl, skunk and turtle for the kids to see.  The students had a blast!

We have been looking at numbers and letters in our learning environments and continue to practise letter sounds through songs and games.  Please continue to review letters and numbers at home, Keep it simple and fun!  We will be starting our letter and word of the week over the next few weeks so be sure to check the blog each week.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who signed up for our Playdoh Club.  A schedule and recipe was sent home today in your child's mailbag.  A separate blog post will be added with the schedule and recipe for easy access.

Here are some pictures from today:






Playdoh Club Schedule and Recipe

Easy Playdoh Recipe

2 cups of white flour
½ cup of salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
Up to 1 ½ cups of boiling water


Add slowly and check the consistency.  When it is the way you like it, let it cool and knead it until it’s smooth!


If you would like to make it coloured, add the food colouring to the water after it’s boiled.


Playdoh Club Schedule
October 22 – Claudia C. (Leo)
March 4 - Ashleigh W.
October 29 - Adrian M. (Domenic)
March 18 - Jana M.
November 5 - Stacey B. (Decklan)
March 25 - Joyce L.
November 12- Angie W. (Allison)
April 1 - Ivy Y.
November 19 - Nelly G. (Sofia)
April 8 - Sara B.
November 26 - Eric S. (Elizabeth)
April 15 - Claudia C.
December 3 - Ashleigh W. (Evan)
April 22 – Adrian M.
December 10 - Jana M. (Quinn)
April 29 - Stacey B.
December 17 - Joyce L. (Amelia)
May 6 - Angie W.
January 7 - Ivy Y. (Alex)
May 13 - Nelly G.
January 14 - Sara B. (Micah)
May 21 - Eric S.
January 21 - Claudia L.
May 27 - Ashleigh W.
January 28 – Adrian M.
June 3 - Jana M.
February 4 - Stacey B.
June 10 - Joyce L.
February 11 - Angie W.
June 17 – Ivy Y. and Sara B.
February 19 - Nelly G.

February 25 - Eric S.

Thank you for participating in Playdoh Club!  It will be put to good use!!!

Monday 1 October 2018

Week of October 1st

Can you believe that it is already October??!!!  The month of September few right by!  The children are settled into our routines and have had fun exploring our classroom.

Today, we talked about Thanksgiving and what it means to give thanks.  The children made their own "giving thanks" booklets as well as made love notes for family and friends.  Since September, Mrs T and I have noticed a big interest in writing and drawing.  We are THRILLED!!!

We have been talking about the Fall and all the things that change during this season. Everyone is waiting patiently for the leaves to change colour and fall from the trees.  We will be going into Griffin's Grove to collect leaves once this change happens.  The children explored a different medium today and created leaves using plasticine.  They did an amazing job!

The students also played with nuts, bolts and other loose parts to make letters and various creations.  They were eager to find a letter in their name and trace over it with the loose parts.  Incorporating letters and numbers in a fun way is a great way to teach literacy/numeracy without the children realizing it!

We also started our "Giving Thanks" tree which will be located in the main foyer.  If you are in the school, be sure to check it out.

On Thursday, the children will be coming home with a Thanksgiving craft that will be a perfect centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner.  We hope you enjoy it!

Reminders:

Wednesday, October 3 - Terry Fox Walk

The kinders will be taking part in the Terry Fox Walk in the morning.  Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the outdoors.  We will be staying on school property for our walk.  If you would like to make a donation, please see the post from last week on the ways to contribute.  Thank you for your support.

Thursday, October 4 - Family Pizza and Movie Night - 5:30 pm

Friday, October 5 - PD Day.  No school for the children


Here are some pictures from today: