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:

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:

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:

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.

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

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:

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: