Week of Feb 19th

We hope you all had a lovely long weekend with your family.  It was an amazing weekend to be outside!

Due to the short week, we will not have a letter or word of the week.  Instead, we will review the words on our word wall and practice letter sounds.  The children are coming home today with a new library book and the sk students have a new snuggle book.

Last week the kids were so excited to bring home their love monsters filled with valentines from their classmates.  They all did a wonderful job decorating their boxes.  

We will continue to talk about ways we can be kind and caring to all.  I will be in Rm 138 tomorrow to read a good story about things that make us smile.  Stay tuned for pictures of the kids hard at work in the classroom.

This week we will wrap up our egg experiment and cut into the egg in vinegar.  It's going to be so exciting and gross all in one!!  Pictures to follow!

Reminders:

• We are running low on kleenex in the classroom.  If you have a box to spare, we would be very grateful!
• The blankets were sent home last Thursday for a wash. Please send them back with your child.  They like to snuggle with them during quiet time.

Week of Feb 11th

Our letter of the week is "L" and our word of the week is "love".  Ask your child to sing you our special love song! 

We went to the library today so the children will be bringing new library books home.  Mrs. Baker is very impressed with the children and how responsible they have been with bringing their books back each week.

This afternoon we read a book about loving ourselves.  The children loved listening to the story and writing and drawing about things they love about themselves.  They worked so hard on making their pictures colourful and detailed to look like themselves.

On Thursday, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day.  We will be making our love monsters and passing out our Valentine's cards.  We have 21 students in our class. Due to the severe allergies in our classroom, please do not send in any treats with your child.  If you plan on sending cards, please fill out the "from" portion only.  It makes it easier and quicker for the children to pass them out this way.

Your child will be coming home with their Communication of Learning (report card) on Thursday.  Please sign them and return the signed portion next week. We are so proud of everyone's progress so far!  There are no formal interviews this term but if you have any questions or concerns, please write a note in the communication book and we can arrange a meeting.

We are running low on Kleenex and markers in the classroom.  If you would like to donate either of these items, we would be very grateful!

Reminders:

• If the buses are canceled tomorrow, pizza day will be on Wednesday.
• Friday is a PD Day so there is no school for the children.  We will be sending home their blankets on Thursday for a wash.

Week of Feb 4th

Happy February!  This month we will be talking about and focusing on being kind to all.  February is Kindness Month and our school is handing out awards each week to students who are kind, caring, helpful etc.  Last week, Noah from our class received the award for love.  We were so happy and proud to hear his name being called over the announcements!

Our letter of the week is "e" and our word of the week is"me".  Please continue pointing these words and letters out at home.  The students will be bringing home a new library book tonight and the sk students will have a new snuggle book.  This is a great opportunity to practise these letters and words.


We talked about Groundhog Day today and watched the video of Wairton Willy.  Everyone was thrilled that Willy predicted an early spring..Yippee!!!!!  We talked about how nice it will be to not wear gloves, snow pants, mittens etc.

Our egg experiment is still going strong.  The students had great observations today.  Please see the pictures below.

Since Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, we are asking if you could send in your EMPTY Kleenex boxes for a special craft. Each child will need one empty kleenex box. Thank you in advance! If you are sending in Valentine’s cards, please have your child fill out the “from” portion only. It becomes too difficult and time consuming for the children to pass out cards that are individually addressed.  We have 21 students in our class this year.

Reminders:

Wednesday, Feb 6th - Walk to School Day

Friday, Feb. 8th- Sweater Day - wear a warm sweater to school.  The heat will be turned down a degree or 2 on this day

Friday, Feb. 8th - 100th Day of  School- To add fun to this day, the children are welcome to dress up like a 100 year old to celebrate the 100th day of school!

Week of Jan 28th

Last  week was an unreal week, weather wise! Hopefully tomorrow will not be as bad as they are calling for.  Even with the snow days, our learning continued!  We have been observing our egg experiment every other day and the kids seem to be very intrigued with what is happening to the eggs as well as the liquid levels.  We have had some really amazing predictions for kindergarten.  See the pictures below.

Our word of the week is "my" and our letter of the week is "y".  We learned a catchy song to remember how to spell the word "my".  Please ask your child to sing it for you!

If tomorrow is a snow day, pizza day will be the following day.  Fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong on this one!

The children brought their new library books home today.  There were a few students who had to skip a turn picking a new book because they didn't return their old book.  Please ensure that the library books come back by Monday in order to get a new one.

Snuggle Folders:  We hope you are enjoying a bit of snuggle time with your child as they read.  The children were excited to get their new snuggle books today.

Reminders:

Friday, February 1st is the last day to order pizza for the next term.  No late orders will be accepted.

Week of January 21st

Happy Monday!  Today we spent the entire day indoors due to the frigid temperatures outside.  We are hoping to get outside tomorrow! 
Our letter of the week is "c" and our word of the week is 'can".  The sks did a great job writing about the special things they can do! 

Today your child has come home with their first library book.  I was away last Monday and thought the kids took out a book.  Sorry for the misunderstanding.  You will find their library book in their mailbag. Please ensure that library books come back to school on Fridays.  Do not put the library book in the Snuggle Folder.  We will have a special library basket for the children to put their library books in.

A new snuggle book has also made it's way home today.  The books are simple books to start off with. Keeping it simple at the start will build your child's confidence and keep them interested in reading.  The books will get more "wordy" and interesting as we continue with the Snuggle Program.

Our egg experiment has continued to spark interest with the children.  Today we observed the changes and recorded what we saw.  Please see the pictures and read their AMAZING observations!

Reminders:

• Friday, January 25th is a PD Day.  There is no school for the students.

• Please keep an extra pair of mittens and socks in your child's backpack.  Ensure that they are all labelled. 
• Ensure that your child has a spare change of clothing.  Accidents happen in Kindergarten!

Week of January 14th

Happy Wednesday!  Our letter of the week is "d" and our word of the week is "and".  For all the sk students, please have your child look in their snuggle books and could how many "and"s they can find.

On Monday, your child came home with a library book for the first time.  Please ensure that the book comes back in time to take out a new book each week.  We have library every Monday morning.

Today we had fun being a scientist and making predictions.  Our science experiment today was to observe what happens when we put an egg in a glass of water and an egg in a glass of vinegar.  The students noticed that the egg in vinegar instantly formed bubbles on the outside of it's shell while the egg in water remained the same.  We will be observing and writing about the transformations of these eggs over the next little while.  It is a super fun experiment!

We have continued to learn about shapes both 2D and 3D.  The jk students enjoyed exploring around the room looking for shapes to match their "Shape Search".  The sk students went on a 3D scavenger hunt and then extended their learning by creating 3D shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks.  Some of the jk students also were excited to create 3D shapes and created some great cubes!  We also worked on making a shape pizza using 2D shapes and then counted how many shapes were used.  We continue to explore numbers, talking about odd and even numbers as well as how to compose and decompose numbers to 10.

This week is Kindergarten registration at St. Gabriel School. Please call the school at 613-271-6181 to schedule an appointment. Registration will also be accepted anytime during the school year if you happen to miss the official January registration period.  

Week of Jan. 7th

Happy New Year to all!  We hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday season.  2019 is off to a great start! The kids were so happy to share all about their Christmas break and their adventures over the past few weeks. By quiet time, many of them were fast asleep the moment the lights went out!

Our letter of the week is "w" and our word of the week is "we".  We talked about the letter 'w' and how sometimes it tricks us by thinking it says "d" instead of "w". At this age, it is a common mistake so we will continue to practise! The sk students wrote fantastic sentences in their journals. Mrs. T and I are noticing that the students are more confident and more willing to write independently in their journals and when describing their artwork. This is so wonderful to see and we will continue to encourage free writing in a safe and fun environment. As we always say, we learn by making mistakes!

We also revisited 10 frames today and explored numbers 1-10.  The students used the gems to represent the number given. Please continue to explore numbers at home.  Make it fun so the kids will want to engage in learning about numbers.

In the afternoon, we reviewed 2D shapes and looked more in depth at 3D shapes. We compared 2D and 3D shapes and talked about what is different and what is similar. We know that 2D shapes are flat and 3D shapes pop out. The students then extended their learning by building with the 3D manipulatives. At another tabletop, the students made objects using tangrams (2D). Their goal was to make it symmetrical. See pictures below.

Today, the SK students came home with their Snuggle Folders.  Please read the information in the front pouch. The idea of this program is not to be stressful for you or your child rather to give you a few minutes to snuggle and enjoy looking at a book together.  Please return the folder with the book inside every Friday. These books will be passed on to other students so please ensure that they come back each week. The kids were SO excited to have homework!!! Tee hee!

Today we welcomed Ms. Richichi as our new Principal.  We look forward to seeing her in our classroom and working with her this year. She popped by for a visit and the students were happy to meet her! We wish Ms. Montgomery all the best in her new role as Superintendent.

Reminders:

• Please send back blankets and spare clothing if you have not done so already.
• We will continue to stay outdoors each morning so please have your child dressed for the weather.  
• If a snow day (bus cancellations) occurs on a Tuesday, pizza day is cancelled so ensure that your child has a lunch if they are coming to school.  Pizza will be delivered the following day.

Kindergarten Registration:  Registration for junior kindergarten takes place during the week of January 14-18th, at St Gabriel.  Please call the school at 613-271-6181 to schedule an appointment. Registration will also be accepted anytime during the school year if you happen to miss the official January registration period.