Thursday, February 17, 2011

Friday, February 17

Dear families,

This week we celebrated Valentines day and completed several numeracy- and literacy-based worksheets related to this day. We learned valentine-related vocabulary, we talked about, wrote and drew things that are red, matched rhyming words, completed a numbers sheet with blank hearts to fill in, and completed the sentence "I love you when..." with written words and a matching picture. The children did an excellent job with this and it is on display on the bulletin board outside our classroom. The morning class also had fun completing their 100th Day booklets with their Reading Buddies. The afternoon class made valentines for their Reading Buddies. Please encourage your child to talk about the work s/he has done in class. They are proud of their work!

Thank you so much to this week's parent volunteers: Lola's mom did Reading Club, Jamie's mom and Jacqueline's mom did the white TDSB bags and Snuggle Books, and Nico's mom was our Mystery Reader. Your help is always appreciated! Thank you also to the parents who brought in tasty treats, juices etc. for our Valentine's Party! The children enjoyed sorting their valentines in their friends' bags. And thank you for the chocolates and treats for Mrs. Tyndall! Yum!

I have still not received all the permission forms for our Skating Party -- please send them in by Tuesday! The children must have written permission in order to participate in this event.

Exciting news! I have booked Firefighter Ron Jones to come to our classroom and speak to the children about fire safety. He will be visiting our morning and afternoon classes on March 25.

I have enjoyed meeting with parents regarding their child's progress, whether it was at our two Open Houses on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, or during a scheduled interview this week.

Take care and have a wonderful Family Day weekend!

Mrs. Tyndall

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sunday, February 13

Hello families,

It was a busy week in room 166 as we celebrated the 100th day of school on Thursday. The children counted several items they brought in, made banners and bracelets, and completed counting and colouring pages. A special thank you to our parents who helped the children compile and sort 100 items - they are on display outside the classroom on our bulletin board. Our reading buddies helped the children make a booklet called "100 Ways to Celebrate" and it should be finished by this week. Thank you to Scarlett's mom for bringing in fruit and to Victoria's mom who brought in a cake (made by Victoria!) with 100 candles! Thank you also to Sydney's mom for the delicious cupcakes.

In this week's white TDSB bags you received a permission form for our skating event. Please return it by Monday or by the end of the week at the latest. If you do not have skates or a helmet, a good place to purchase used and new skates is Newsons, which is at the south west corner of Jane and Dundas, beside the library. They also exchange skates.

Thank you to our parent volunteers this week; our Mystery Readers were Alexandra's dad and Victoria's mom, and the white bags and snuggle books were done by Alexandra's mom and Jacqueline's mom. Thank you so much!

On Monday we will have a Valentine's Day Party which the children are very excited about. Thank you to the parents/children who have already brought in their cards/treats. The children had fun reading their classmates' names and sorting the cards in the valentine bags that will go home on Monday after the party. Thank you to the parents who are bringing in fruit, juice boxes etc.

We have started the Jolly Phonics letter sound "G" and are on our third series of sounds. I have seen enormous improvement and learning in the classroom and a lot of children are starting to blend sounds and read now which is wonderful! Congratulations to Spencer who read a book to us the other day. Way to go! I am also impressed with the effort the children put forth on their worksheets. We do worksheets every day after our morning message/circle time in order to reinforce the numeracy/literacy activities we are learning, and the children always do their best. Great job!

I am looking forward to meeting with parents this week to discuss their child's progress and to show them the great work they are doing in class.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Tyndall