Dear families,
I would like to say a sincere and heartfelt "Thank you" for the wonderful cards and gifts from you and your children. I was really touched by your kindness and I thank you very much for all your kind notes and good wishes. This time of the year is so magical for the little ones and is a special time to remember.
A little update of our last week of school:
The Holiday Craft Party went very well and the children had fun making 6 different holiday keepsakes - they made a silver bell, a dove of peace, a snowman finger puppet, a sparkle bell, a Rudolph/Santa/Earth mobile, and a Christmas Day countdown. I think they were most excited about the Christmas Day countdown craft!
At our Holiday Sharing Assembly the children did a lovely job singing "It's December," "Twinkle, Twinkle," and "Winter Holiday." Congratulations to Chloe, Naomi, Cole, and Angelina who received awards for Kindness and Caring.
The children finished their Bear books, Santa Claus books, Christmas math and Santa letters and really enjoyed writing cards to friends, Santa, family and Alfie the Elf. The afternoon class made a toyland train book with their grade 3 reading buddies and the morning class will complete this in January.
Thank you as always to our parent volunteers of this week: Mystery Readers were Emma's mom and Logan's mom, and the white bags were done by Sienna's mom and Logan's mom. Thank you so much for taking the time to help in the classroom. Thank you also to our wonderful Grade Parents Dee, Timothy, Anne, Liza and Catherine for doing such a wonderful job with the parent volunteer calendars and with the Stonegate gift hampers. You are all very generous to give your time to help others in the community.
I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing holiday with your family and look forward to seeing everyone again on January 7, 2013!
Beverley
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
The children have been very excited about the holidays that are fast-approaching and of course about Alfie the Elf and Santa. I hope you will be able to attend our Sharing Assemblies (morning and afternoon) tomorrow; we will sing three little Holiday Songs and Naomi, Chloe, Cole and Angelina will be recognized for their "Kindness and Caring."
We had fun this week singing Christmas Carols around the piano and some of the kids were also inspired to dance hand in hand which was very sweet!
Our Holiday Craft Party is going to be a lot of fun - many thanks to the parents who will be providing treats/healthy snacks for that special day and also assisting the children with their ornament making. I still have my own children's ornaments that they made when they were little and I treasure them. I hope the ones your children make will hang on your tree for many years to come.
If your child will be absent next week please let me know so that I can prepare their white bag in advance. Thank you. In this week's white bags your child brought home their Christmas words (two pages!) to read and practice; the Snack and Mystery Bag Schedules from January to June (whew!), Santa Booklets they made and can read with you, and some in-class work they did as well.
Our little Post Office has been very popular and the children loved writing Christmas cards to their friends and Santa. Holiday cards are a wonderful opportunity for your children to practice their writing skills. A special thank you to Ava who hand-delivered all the cards the children wrote in our post office to Santa who was visiting her dad's office!
We also had fun reading books and making a holiday craft and puzzle with our afternoon Reading Buddies (Morning Reading buddies will meet this week).
Many thanks to this week's Parent Volunteers: Quentin's mom helped at the Computer Lab; our Mystery Readers were Ava's mom and Kate's dad, the white bags and snuggle books were done by Emma and Jonas' mom and Jack and Jackie's nanny Dalinda. Thank you so much!
If you received a note in your child's bad regarding overdue Snuggle Books, Laminated letter-sound folders or the Read-and-Write booklets, please do return them. I will make some more over the holidays so that if a lot are not returned over one week there will still be extras. Having a fun routine of reading those items and your child keeping them in their Bedtime Book Box is a great way to encourage your child's love of reading.
Kind regards,
Beverley
We had fun this week singing Christmas Carols around the piano and some of the kids were also inspired to dance hand in hand which was very sweet!
Our Holiday Craft Party is going to be a lot of fun - many thanks to the parents who will be providing treats/healthy snacks for that special day and also assisting the children with their ornament making. I still have my own children's ornaments that they made when they were little and I treasure them. I hope the ones your children make will hang on your tree for many years to come.
If your child will be absent next week please let me know so that I can prepare their white bag in advance. Thank you. In this week's white bags your child brought home their Christmas words (two pages!) to read and practice; the Snack and Mystery Bag Schedules from January to June (whew!), Santa Booklets they made and can read with you, and some in-class work they did as well.
Our little Post Office has been very popular and the children loved writing Christmas cards to their friends and Santa. Holiday cards are a wonderful opportunity for your children to practice their writing skills. A special thank you to Ava who hand-delivered all the cards the children wrote in our post office to Santa who was visiting her dad's office!
We also had fun reading books and making a holiday craft and puzzle with our afternoon Reading Buddies (Morning Reading buddies will meet this week).
Many thanks to this week's Parent Volunteers: Quentin's mom helped at the Computer Lab; our Mystery Readers were Ava's mom and Kate's dad, the white bags and snuggle books were done by Emma and Jonas' mom and Jack and Jackie's nanny Dalinda. Thank you so much!
If you received a note in your child's bad regarding overdue Snuggle Books, Laminated letter-sound folders or the Read-and-Write booklets, please do return them. I will make some more over the holidays so that if a lot are not returned over one week there will still be extras. Having a fun routine of reading those items and your child keeping them in their Bedtime Book Box is a great way to encourage your child's love of reading.
Kind regards,
Beverley
Sunday, December 9, 2012
It's hard to believe there are only 2 weeks until the holidays! Please remember to provide your child with indoor crocs/slippers as well as gloves/mittens and hats; we have outdoor activites each day for approximately 20 minutes. If your child will be absent from school please let the office know.
This past week the children reviewed their six phonics sounds, the numbers 1-20, worked on their Phonics books, and reviewed the order of seasons/months of the year. We have started our unit on December/Holiday activities and the children love playing
/making Holiday Cards in the post office. The SK children completed numeracy activities ("before and after" numbers) and the JKs did dot-to-dot numbers 1-20 and letters A-Z. The morning class met with their Reading Buddies and worked together on their "Black Bear Booklet." This upcoming week the children and their Reading Buddies will make a Santa craft and make and then read a Holiday Words Book. We are all reviewing our many Sight Words and are learning not only to recognize and read them, but to spell them as well. "If you can read it, you can write it."
I couldn't remember if I thanked Quentin's mom Liza for the craft items and for the box of "Insect" activities/crafts and also for the inside of a wasp nest which demonstrated what our large wasp nest looks like inside and differentiated it from a bee hive. Thank you Liza!! Thank you as well to Logan's mom who provided the cute holiday craft items for the afternoon class. I am preparing several keepsakes for the children to make at our Holiday Party on December 20. Thanks to the parents who have kindly offered to help out on this day.
Thank you as always to my parent volunteers - Reading Club, Mystery Reader, Book Bags, Snuggle Books, Parent Reps of course. It means so much to the children to have their parents volunteer in their classroom.
Kind regards,
Beverley
This past week the children reviewed their six phonics sounds, the numbers 1-20, worked on their Phonics books, and reviewed the order of seasons/months of the year. We have started our unit on December/Holiday activities and the children love playing
/making Holiday Cards in the post office. The SK children completed numeracy activities ("before and after" numbers) and the JKs did dot-to-dot numbers 1-20 and letters A-Z. The morning class met with their Reading Buddies and worked together on their "Black Bear Booklet." This upcoming week the children and their Reading Buddies will make a Santa craft and make and then read a Holiday Words Book. We are all reviewing our many Sight Words and are learning not only to recognize and read them, but to spell them as well. "If you can read it, you can write it."
I couldn't remember if I thanked Quentin's mom Liza for the craft items and for the box of "Insect" activities/crafts and also for the inside of a wasp nest which demonstrated what our large wasp nest looks like inside and differentiated it from a bee hive. Thank you Liza!! Thank you as well to Logan's mom who provided the cute holiday craft items for the afternoon class. I am preparing several keepsakes for the children to make at our Holiday Party on December 20. Thanks to the parents who have kindly offered to help out on this day.
Thank you as always to my parent volunteers - Reading Club, Mystery Reader, Book Bags, Snuggle Books, Parent Reps of course. It means so much to the children to have their parents volunteer in their classroom.
Kind regards,
Beverley
Sunday, December 2, 2012
This week we finished our little unit on bears. The children learned a poem and a song about bears (in this week's white bags) and wrote little books about bears with their Reading Buddies. They also did Corduroy bear math, bear art, did bear actions to the "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" poem, wrote in their journals about their favourite animal, and we read lots of books together about bears. The children practiced working "as quietly as hibernating bears" at their little tables which was terrific! For each little book the children read, they received a piece of a bear puzzle to put in the honey pot - when it is full they can take it home to show mom and dad. Well done readers! I am seeing such an improvement in the children's reading and writing abilities which is wonderful. Keep up the great work! If your child would like to practice at home, Starfall.com is an excellent supplementary website, and the Learn to Write app is also excellent and fun for kids. Writing in a journal about their favourite things or activities, making booklets, lists, and so on are also great ideas that the children love doing.
There will be a big surprise in the classroom tomorrow when the children come into room 166 - Alfie the Elf is somewhere is the room! He has come from the North Pole and will stay with us until the holidays start. I decorated the classroom and bulletin board with lots of new holiday and winter-themed items and we will integrate these with our curriculum for the next three weeks.
I have also changed the Home Centre into a Post Office where the children can write Christmas/Holiday Cards to their friends and family, Santa, and Alfie the Elf. It's an exciting time of year!
Thank you to Addison's mom for the Christmas wrapping paper which we will use to decorate large letters. Thank you as well to Dana's mom and Jack and Jackie's caregiver Dalinda for doing the white bags and snuggle books this week. Thank you to Isobel's mom, Liam's mom, and Lexa's mom for being Mystery Reader, and to Caroline's mom and Emma and Jonas' mom for Christmas/Holiday cards for our Writing Centreand Post Office!
The Holiday Scholastic Order is due tomorrow. Books make wonderful gifts! The orders should be delivered within 1-2 weeks at the latest.
At our December 17 Sharing Assembly we will be performing three poems/songs to celebrate the upcoming holiday. We hope to see you then!
Kind regards,
Beverley
There will be a big surprise in the classroom tomorrow when the children come into room 166 - Alfie the Elf is somewhere is the room! He has come from the North Pole and will stay with us until the holidays start. I decorated the classroom and bulletin board with lots of new holiday and winter-themed items and we will integrate these with our curriculum for the next three weeks.
I have also changed the Home Centre into a Post Office where the children can write Christmas/Holiday Cards to their friends and family, Santa, and Alfie the Elf. It's an exciting time of year!
Thank you to Addison's mom for the Christmas wrapping paper which we will use to decorate large letters. Thank you as well to Dana's mom and Jack and Jackie's caregiver Dalinda for doing the white bags and snuggle books this week. Thank you to Isobel's mom, Liam's mom, and Lexa's mom for being Mystery Reader, and to Caroline's mom and Emma and Jonas' mom for Christmas/Holiday cards for our Writing Centreand Post Office!
The Holiday Scholastic Order is due tomorrow. Books make wonderful gifts! The orders should be delivered within 1-2 weeks at the latest.
At our December 17 Sharing Assembly we will be performing three poems/songs to celebrate the upcoming holiday. We hope to see you then!
Kind regards,
Beverley
Sunday, November 25, 2012
It's been a busy two weeks in Room 166!
It was very nice meeting with all the parents during Parent-Teacher Interviews. I enjoyed speaking with you about your children's progress! Keeping a journal at home and a book report booklet is a wonderful "next steps" activity for children who wish to do more writing activities.
The children did a wonderful job on their Remembrance Day writing/art activities and I was so impressed with their attentive listening during the quiet Remembrance Day ceremony. The children wrote about Peace and make a booklet called "A Poppy is to Remember" based on a book we read of the same name.
Our Grade 8 Reading Helpers continue to read one-on-one with the children in the mornings and at the end of the day. I have made little puzzles called "I am a bear-y good reader" and for each book the child reads they get a piece of a bear-shaped puzzle. When they get all the pieces they can bring them home and make the puzzle!
Our Morning Class worked on two booklets called "Signs of Fall" and "The Story of the Black Bear." On Monday the afternoon class will meet their Reading Buddies from Mrs. Adair's class and we will work together on those books too.
On Monday, the children learned a lot about Bees and Insects in their lesson from the Scientists in the Classroom! Thank you to the parents who volunteered to assist with this special day. A special thank you to Angelina's mom who brought in a huge (empty!) wasp nest that she discovered in the Ottawa area, along with photos of what it looked like when it was on the tree. I will find a special spot on the classroom to display it!
Thank you also to Logan's mom who generously contributed Christmas/Holiday Crafts for the children. I will incorporate Holiday activities in our learning starting in December, and we will use the crafts at one of our tables during the Holiday Party.
Please save any small white Shopper's Drug Mart Beauty Boutique Bags for the classroom. I need at least 40 of them. Thank you!
In our journals we wrote about our favourite parts of the Robert Munsch story "The Paper Bag Princess." What a wonderful and funny story!
Our sight words of the week have been "the" and "said." We continue to work on our phonics duotangs and many of the SK children are on Set Two already which is terrific!
We are learning all about Bears and have been reading bear-themed books (such as "Corduroy"), writing in journals, doing bear math, making patterns and making booklets as part of this fun and interesting unit. The children did a wonderful job being "as quiet as hibernating bears" during their table work time. Next year I plan on teaching the children all about Penguins and incorporating this cute and interesting animal in our learning in November. I also plan to teach a unit on Fairy Tales in February and for the children to create a lot of reading and writing activities from some classic stories.
We had a special day on November 22 when award-winning author Rukhsana Khan read stories to the children. www.rukhsanakhan.com The children especially loved her New York Times recommended book, "The Big Red Lollipop." Thank you to Cameron who brought his own copy in and had it signed by the author! We wrote in our journals about our favourite part of this wonderful story.
The children did a wonderful job reciting the poem, "Manners" during our Sharing Assembly. Congratulations to Kai L, Kai B, Cameron and Julia who received certificates for "Empathy" at our assembly.
On Friday, November 30 all LKS students are encouraged to wear ties/dress shirts/pants as part of "Movember" to support Prostate Cancer awareness and research. Student Council will be collecting donations as well.
The date for our special holiday-themed December Sharing Assembly will be posted soon on the LKS blog. We hope you can attend! The Character trait for this assembly will be "Kindness and Caring" and I will post the names of the children who will receive a certificate for this TDSB Character Trait on my blog in advance of the assembly.
Have a wonderful weekend, see everyone tomorrow!
Beverley
It was very nice meeting with all the parents during Parent-Teacher Interviews. I enjoyed speaking with you about your children's progress! Keeping a journal at home and a book report booklet is a wonderful "next steps" activity for children who wish to do more writing activities.
The children did a wonderful job on their Remembrance Day writing/art activities and I was so impressed with their attentive listening during the quiet Remembrance Day ceremony. The children wrote about Peace and make a booklet called "A Poppy is to Remember" based on a book we read of the same name.
Our Grade 8 Reading Helpers continue to read one-on-one with the children in the mornings and at the end of the day. I have made little puzzles called "I am a bear-y good reader" and for each book the child reads they get a piece of a bear-shaped puzzle. When they get all the pieces they can bring them home and make the puzzle!
Our Morning Class worked on two booklets called "Signs of Fall" and "The Story of the Black Bear." On Monday the afternoon class will meet their Reading Buddies from Mrs. Adair's class and we will work together on those books too.
On Monday, the children learned a lot about Bees and Insects in their lesson from the Scientists in the Classroom! Thank you to the parents who volunteered to assist with this special day. A special thank you to Angelina's mom who brought in a huge (empty!) wasp nest that she discovered in the Ottawa area, along with photos of what it looked like when it was on the tree. I will find a special spot on the classroom to display it!
Thank you also to Logan's mom who generously contributed Christmas/Holiday Crafts for the children. I will incorporate Holiday activities in our learning starting in December, and we will use the crafts at one of our tables during the Holiday Party.
Please save any small white Shopper's Drug Mart Beauty Boutique Bags for the classroom. I need at least 40 of them. Thank you!
In our journals we wrote about our favourite parts of the Robert Munsch story "The Paper Bag Princess." What a wonderful and funny story!
Our sight words of the week have been "the" and "said." We continue to work on our phonics duotangs and many of the SK children are on Set Two already which is terrific!
We are learning all about Bears and have been reading bear-themed books (such as "Corduroy"), writing in journals, doing bear math, making patterns and making booklets as part of this fun and interesting unit. The children did a wonderful job being "as quiet as hibernating bears" during their table work time. Next year I plan on teaching the children all about Penguins and incorporating this cute and interesting animal in our learning in November. I also plan to teach a unit on Fairy Tales in February and for the children to create a lot of reading and writing activities from some classic stories.
We had a special day on November 22 when award-winning author Rukhsana Khan read stories to the children. www.rukhsanakhan.com The children especially loved her New York Times recommended book, "The Big Red Lollipop." Thank you to Cameron who brought his own copy in and had it signed by the author! We wrote in our journals about our favourite part of this wonderful story.
The children did a wonderful job reciting the poem, "Manners" during our Sharing Assembly. Congratulations to Kai L, Kai B, Cameron and Julia who received certificates for "Empathy" at our assembly.
On Friday, November 30 all LKS students are encouraged to wear ties/dress shirts/pants as part of "Movember" to support Prostate Cancer awareness and research. Student Council will be collecting donations as well.
The date for our special holiday-themed December Sharing Assembly will be posted soon on the LKS blog. We hope you can attend! The Character trait for this assembly will be "Kindness and Caring" and I will post the names of the children who will receive a certificate for this TDSB Character Trait on my blog in advance of the assembly.
Have a wonderful weekend, see everyone tomorrow!
Beverley
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Dear families,
Just a reminder that the SKs will be receiving their Progress Reports on Monday. If you have not yet booked an interview on line at www.schoolbookings.net and wish to do so, I still have some time slots available on Thursday from 4-5 p.m. Both JK and SK parents are welcome to book interview times and I look forward to meeting with you!
Please remember that the children need indoor shoes that remain in their cubbies throughout the cold season. Thank you. If you are missing any items just have a peak in the lost and found bag in the back of the cubby room.
At our upcoming Sharing Assembly on November 23 we will be recognizing the TDSB Character Trait of "Empathy." Kai B. and Julia (Morning Class), and Kai L. and Cameron (Afternoon Class) will be recognized at this assembly for their kindness and caring. Congratulations children! Please attend if you are able.
This Thursday, November 15 is CRAZY HAIR DAY! Show your school spirit by having crazy hair!
The children did a wonderful job listening attentively at the Remembrance Day Ceremony on Friday morning. I was very proud of them. This week we talked and wrote about peace, friendship and Remembrance Day. Some of the children's work is displayed on our hall bulletin board. They did a lovely job.
Please help your child to remember to return their white bags, Snuggle Books, Read and Write Books (SKs only) and Library Books to me each Monday at entrance. It teaches them responsibility and reinforces classroom routines. Thank you.
I hope your children are enjoying reading their Snuggle Books (JKs and SKs) and Read and Write Books (SKs) and that they are putting them in their Book Box. I have seen real improvement in the children's reading and writing which is wonderful. Keep up the good work!
The children are also continuing their phonics work and we have completed Set One (S,A,T,I,P,N). The SKs should be finished their first set of their Phonics Duotang; if it isn't finished by the end of ther week, I will send it home for homework.
Wonderful news! The afternoon class will meet with their Reading Buddies from Mrs. Adair's Grade 3 class each week starting November 19! We are looking forward to meeting with them and having fun reading together!
If you have signed up to volunteer next week with our Scientist in the Classroom, please remember that the Scientist will be with the children all morning and all afternoon. Thank you. A special thank you to Quentin's mom who generously donated insect-related items for our classroom. Thank you Liza!
Thank you also to our parent volunteers this week for Reading Club, Mystery Reader, and White Bags/Snuggle Books - we couldn't have such an enriched classroom without you!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'm looking forward to meeting with you next week to discuss your child's progress.
Beverley
Just a reminder that the SKs will be receiving their Progress Reports on Monday. If you have not yet booked an interview on line at www.schoolbookings.net and wish to do so, I still have some time slots available on Thursday from 4-5 p.m. Both JK and SK parents are welcome to book interview times and I look forward to meeting with you!
Please remember that the children need indoor shoes that remain in their cubbies throughout the cold season. Thank you. If you are missing any items just have a peak in the lost and found bag in the back of the cubby room.
At our upcoming Sharing Assembly on November 23 we will be recognizing the TDSB Character Trait of "Empathy." Kai B. and Julia (Morning Class), and Kai L. and Cameron (Afternoon Class) will be recognized at this assembly for their kindness and caring. Congratulations children! Please attend if you are able.
This Thursday, November 15 is CRAZY HAIR DAY! Show your school spirit by having crazy hair!
The children did a wonderful job listening attentively at the Remembrance Day Ceremony on Friday morning. I was very proud of them. This week we talked and wrote about peace, friendship and Remembrance Day. Some of the children's work is displayed on our hall bulletin board. They did a lovely job.
Please help your child to remember to return their white bags, Snuggle Books, Read and Write Books (SKs only) and Library Books to me each Monday at entrance. It teaches them responsibility and reinforces classroom routines. Thank you.
I hope your children are enjoying reading their Snuggle Books (JKs and SKs) and Read and Write Books (SKs) and that they are putting them in their Book Box. I have seen real improvement in the children's reading and writing which is wonderful. Keep up the good work!
The children are also continuing their phonics work and we have completed Set One (S,A,T,I,P,N). The SKs should be finished their first set of their Phonics Duotang; if it isn't finished by the end of ther week, I will send it home for homework.
Wonderful news! The afternoon class will meet with their Reading Buddies from Mrs. Adair's Grade 3 class each week starting November 19! We are looking forward to meeting with them and having fun reading together!
If you have signed up to volunteer next week with our Scientist in the Classroom, please remember that the Scientist will be with the children all morning and all afternoon. Thank you. A special thank you to Quentin's mom who generously donated insect-related items for our classroom. Thank you Liza!
Thank you also to our parent volunteers this week for Reading Club, Mystery Reader, and White Bags/Snuggle Books - we couldn't have such an enriched classroom without you!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'm looking forward to meeting with you next week to discuss your child's progress.
Beverley
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Fall is truly here and that means time for rain boots and indoor shoes. Please provide your child with a pair of indoor shoes or slippers. Croc-type shoes work very well. Most of the children are in the "zipper club" and have learned the "flip trick." Please remember that we have outdoor play each day for 10-20 minutes and to dress your child accordingly.
Hallowe'en has come and gone, and with it a lot of excitement and fun learning opportunities. We estimated and counted the seeds in our little pumpkin and counted 307 (morning class) and 356 (afternoon class)! We also learned and practiced Hallowe'en words, counting pumpkins, learned how pumpkins grow with sequencing pictures, and made several crafts at the the Hallowe'en Party.
Parent-Teacher interviews are coming up the week of November 12-16. Please see Ms. Caddel's website for instructions on how to sign up for an interview time. The Senior Kindergarteners will soon be receiving their first report card and I am assessing the JKs' progress as well. Their first report card will be in February. All parents are welcome to book an interview time and I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child's progress.
Please help your child remember to return their white bag and snuggle book/read and write book each week, as well as their library book.
Thank you to all my parent volunteers this week. You were a great help at the Hallowe'en Party and during the Parade and of course at Reading Club, as Mystery Readers, helping with the white bags and snuggle books, and with the Computer Lab.
Warm regards,
Beverley
Hallowe'en has come and gone, and with it a lot of excitement and fun learning opportunities. We estimated and counted the seeds in our little pumpkin and counted 307 (morning class) and 356 (afternoon class)! We also learned and practiced Hallowe'en words, counting pumpkins, learned how pumpkins grow with sequencing pictures, and made several crafts at the the Hallowe'en Party.
Parent-Teacher interviews are coming up the week of November 12-16. Please see Ms. Caddel's website for instructions on how to sign up for an interview time. The Senior Kindergarteners will soon be receiving their first report card and I am assessing the JKs' progress as well. Their first report card will be in February. All parents are welcome to book an interview time and I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child's progress.
Please help your child remember to return their white bag and snuggle book/read and write book each week, as well as their library book.
Thank you to all my parent volunteers this week. You were a great help at the Hallowe'en Party and during the Parade and of course at Reading Club, as Mystery Readers, helping with the white bags and snuggle books, and with the Computer Lab.
Warm regards,
Beverley
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Hallowe'en is fast approaching and what an exciting time for the children! Please see the "Important upcoming dates" section of this blog for more information on the Hallowe'en Parade and Craft Party. Come see our new spooky decorations in the class!
The JKs finished their "colour wheel" pies and had to "read" a colour chart to match up the colour chart words with their colour pie words, i.e. only one colour starts with R (so it must be red), one starts with O (it must be orange), etc. The SKs wrote a little Apple Booklet about features of apples and all the kids made a cute "Who is in the Barn?" booklet, with the JKs reading a colouring the booklet and the SKs reading the booklet, filling in blanks, and drawing accompanying pictures to match the words they read.
We also worked on patterning - ABAB, ABAC, AAB, ABC, ABCD, etc. and they children made patterns with foam stickers and had to read and understand the pattern they made. For the JKs I expected a simple ABAB pattern and for the SKs I expect a more complicated pattern. If you want to work on patterns at home, bingo dabbers are a fun and mess-free way to create patterns (dollar store).
We are also learning about pumpkins and did pumpkin math (counting), pumpkin sequencing, pumpkin ordering (smallest to biggest), and little booklets on how a pumpkin grows. Next week we will make jack-o-lanterns from our little class pumpkins together and will do a little science; we will weigh the pumpkins before and after removing the seeds, will estimate and then count the seeds, talk about the shapes we use to make the jack-o-lantern, etc.
Willem and Jacob from Mrs. Wilson's class read to our morning class and our afternoon class Reading Buddies helped the children read their Farm booklets and our class library Hallowe'en books. The Morning Class will be starting Reading Buddies later this month.
We also wrote in our journals and worked on our Phonics Duotangs as we do each week.
Thanks to the parent volunteers of this week! Reading Club was Dexter's mom and Sienna's mom, Computer Lab was Logan's mom, White bags was Dana's mom and Natasha's mom. Please remember to return your Snuggle Books and Read and Write Mini books (afternoon class will receive the read and write books on Monday) so that your child can receive and read another one. If you can read it, you can write it!
Have a wonderful weekend!
The JKs finished their "colour wheel" pies and had to "read" a colour chart to match up the colour chart words with their colour pie words, i.e. only one colour starts with R (so it must be red), one starts with O (it must be orange), etc. The SKs wrote a little Apple Booklet about features of apples and all the kids made a cute "Who is in the Barn?" booklet, with the JKs reading a colouring the booklet and the SKs reading the booklet, filling in blanks, and drawing accompanying pictures to match the words they read.
We also worked on patterning - ABAB, ABAC, AAB, ABC, ABCD, etc. and they children made patterns with foam stickers and had to read and understand the pattern they made. For the JKs I expected a simple ABAB pattern and for the SKs I expect a more complicated pattern. If you want to work on patterns at home, bingo dabbers are a fun and mess-free way to create patterns (dollar store).
We are also learning about pumpkins and did pumpkin math (counting), pumpkin sequencing, pumpkin ordering (smallest to biggest), and little booklets on how a pumpkin grows. Next week we will make jack-o-lanterns from our little class pumpkins together and will do a little science; we will weigh the pumpkins before and after removing the seeds, will estimate and then count the seeds, talk about the shapes we use to make the jack-o-lantern, etc.
Willem and Jacob from Mrs. Wilson's class read to our morning class and our afternoon class Reading Buddies helped the children read their Farm booklets and our class library Hallowe'en books. The Morning Class will be starting Reading Buddies later this month.
We also wrote in our journals and worked on our Phonics Duotangs as we do each week.
Thanks to the parent volunteers of this week! Reading Club was Dexter's mom and Sienna's mom, Computer Lab was Logan's mom, White bags was Dana's mom and Natasha's mom. Please remember to return your Snuggle Books and Read and Write Mini books (afternoon class will receive the read and write books on Monday) so that your child can receive and read another one. If you can read it, you can write it!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Last week we finished our booklets called "Leaves," learned about life on a farm and what farmers do, read books with our Book Buddies, did our October Calendars, and learned about apples through vocabulary building and graphs about what is made from apples. We also wrote about Thanksgiving in our Journals. We practiced our numbers and have learned/reviewed the first three Jolly Phonics sounds S,A and T. The children also worked on their phonics duotangs.
www.jollyphonics.com
Thank you so much to Sienna's family and Logan's family for craft supplies! We used some of them already to make patterns.
Thank you to Dana's mom and our co-op student Emily for making the "Who is in the Barn?" booklets. We will complete them this week. The JKs will colour and read their booklets, and the SKs will fill in missing word blanks, draw pictures to accompany the words, and read their booklets.
Thanks to Caroline's mom and Victoria's mom for being our Mystery Readers, Logan's mom and Caroline's mom for doing the Friday bags, Charlie's mom for doing Reading Club, and Kai L.'s dad for helping with Computer Lab.
At this month's Sharing Assembly we will recite the poem "If I were a Leaf" and sing the song "Apples." The children receiving certificates for Responsibility will be Clive, Emma, Carson, and Emerson. Good work! We are proud of you!
Have a great week!
www.jollyphonics.com
Thank you so much to Sienna's family and Logan's family for craft supplies! We used some of them already to make patterns.
Thank you to Dana's mom and our co-op student Emily for making the "Who is in the Barn?" booklets. We will complete them this week. The JKs will colour and read their booklets, and the SKs will fill in missing word blanks, draw pictures to accompany the words, and read their booklets.
Thanks to Caroline's mom and Victoria's mom for being our Mystery Readers, Logan's mom and Caroline's mom for doing the Friday bags, Charlie's mom for doing Reading Club, and Kai L.'s dad for helping with Computer Lab.
At this month's Sharing Assembly we will recite the poem "If I were a Leaf" and sing the song "Apples." The children receiving certificates for Responsibility will be Clive, Emma, Carson, and Emerson. Good work! We are proud of you!
Have a great week!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Hello families and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your families, enjoying the beautiful fall weather.
This week we made "pumpkin pie" plates called "I am very thankful for..." with four different things the the children wrote they were thankful for in each "slice." They did a lovely job and it was very sweet to hear what they were thankful for. We also made a "Thank you" turkey, an A-Z scarecrow, and learned the poem "The Turkey" (all these items were in this Friday's white bags).
I have several thank yous to say this week -
Taylor's mom donated an amazing metal miniature-sizzed shopping cart for our Home Centre/Store. Wow!
Dana's mom has been helping me collate reading/writing booklets by cutting and assembling them. Thank you so much Deanne!
Angelina's mom has donated boxes of paper napkins, paper plates etc. which is wonderful! Thank you so much! I will share them with the Kindergarten Team.
Alex's mom and dad kindly donated a bag full of craft materials. Thank you!
Lexa's mom cut and assembles a little book called "Leaves" which we will make next week when we do a unit on Leaves/Fall changes.
Thank you to our weekly volunteers: Reading Club parents this week were Lexa's mom and Victoria's mom. Mystery Readers were Julia's sister Samanthat who is now in Grade One! Way to go Samantha! Julia's mom also read a book to the class. Mason's mom read to the children as well and we welcome her back in the class this year. White bags and Snuggle Books were done by Chloe's mom and Emma and Jonas' mom.
E.C.I. Co-op student Emily is doing a great job helping out in the class and getting to know the kids. She will be assisting me with in-class routines/activities and with reading one-on-one to the children.
SK parents please remember to help your child read, write and return your child's "Read and Write Book" each week. The children can keep the little white board markers I gave them. The books can be stored in their Bedtime Book Boxes just like the Snuggle Books.
Almost all the children have made and shown us their wonderful Bedtime Book Boxes! They look amazing! What a great way to encourage reading.
The afternoon class welcomed their Reading Buddies again this week and read three books with them.
Next week we will be continuing with our Phonics Sounds/duotangs (we have done S and A) and we will also be doing a unit on Farms.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Beverley
This week we made "pumpkin pie" plates called "I am very thankful for..." with four different things the the children wrote they were thankful for in each "slice." They did a lovely job and it was very sweet to hear what they were thankful for. We also made a "Thank you" turkey, an A-Z scarecrow, and learned the poem "The Turkey" (all these items were in this Friday's white bags).
I have several thank yous to say this week -
Taylor's mom donated an amazing metal miniature-sizzed shopping cart for our Home Centre/Store. Wow!
Dana's mom has been helping me collate reading/writing booklets by cutting and assembling them. Thank you so much Deanne!
Angelina's mom has donated boxes of paper napkins, paper plates etc. which is wonderful! Thank you so much! I will share them with the Kindergarten Team.
Alex's mom and dad kindly donated a bag full of craft materials. Thank you!
Lexa's mom cut and assembles a little book called "Leaves" which we will make next week when we do a unit on Leaves/Fall changes.
Thank you to our weekly volunteers: Reading Club parents this week were Lexa's mom and Victoria's mom. Mystery Readers were Julia's sister Samanthat who is now in Grade One! Way to go Samantha! Julia's mom also read a book to the class. Mason's mom read to the children as well and we welcome her back in the class this year. White bags and Snuggle Books were done by Chloe's mom and Emma and Jonas' mom.
E.C.I. Co-op student Emily is doing a great job helping out in the class and getting to know the kids. She will be assisting me with in-class routines/activities and with reading one-on-one to the children.
SK parents please remember to help your child read, write and return your child's "Read and Write Book" each week. The children can keep the little white board markers I gave them. The books can be stored in their Bedtime Book Boxes just like the Snuggle Books.
Almost all the children have made and shown us their wonderful Bedtime Book Boxes! They look amazing! What a great way to encourage reading.
The afternoon class welcomed their Reading Buddies again this week and read three books with them.
Next week we will be continuing with our Phonics Sounds/duotangs (we have done S and A) and we will also be doing a unit on Farms.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Beverley
Friday, September 28, 2012
Friday, September 28
Hello Parents,
Please take a moment to look at the lovely watercolour-on-pastel art your children made that is displayed on the hall bulletin board: "Falling Leaves on a Cloudy Day" (Morning Class), and "Falling Leaves on a Sunny Day" (Afternoon Class).
Our Journal entries this week were about "My Best Friend."
The children had fun practicing/learning how to write numbers with their individual magnetic write-on/erase boards. Way to go! In this week's white TDSB bags I sent home the little rhymes that accompany the numbers.
The SKs borrowed their first laminated "Read and Write Mini-Books" this week along with an eraseable white board marker. The Read and Write Books reinforce word families. Your child can keep the marker to write on the books and practice their words, but please be sure to return the book next week to receive a new one (just like the Snuggle Books). Please keep the white board marker and little book in your child's Bedtime Book Box to encourage them to practice reading and writing it.
A special thank you to Dana's mom who has very kindly offered to help me with craft preparation/booklet preparation etc. since we, sadly, no longer have the assistance of an educational assistant in the class. Thank you so much Deanne. Thank you as well to Lexa's mom in the afternoon class who will be assembling/cutting/stapling our little "Leaves" booklet for both classes next week. Your time is very much appreciated.
As I wrote in a recent email, if your child will be receiving an award at an upcoming Sharing Assembly, I will post this in my blog. Each child will receive an award throughout the year for demonstrating a TDSB Character Trait.
Thank you to Quentin's mom for making the Play Dough this month! Thank you also for bringing in a bird's nest for our Science Centre.
The JKs and SKs worked on their new Phonics Duotangs and the letter-sound "S." The SKs will complete 8 Phonics booklets throughout the year.
The SKs also completed their first Sight Word Mini-Book: sight word "a." Sight word books are to be kept at home and stored in the Bedtime Book Boxes for practice/review.
If you have not made and brought in your child's Bedtime Book Box please do this by next week. The box is a terrific way to reinforce a joy of reading an encourage reading before bedtime as well as reinforcing literacy. Thank you.
Exciting news! Starting October 2nd our afternoon class will be assisted by E.C.I. Grade 11 co-op student (and former LKS student) Emily J. approximately 2 afternoons per week until the end of the school year. Emily will assist me with reading to/with the children, classroom materials preparation, and helping reinforce concepts of numeracy. Welcome Emily!
This Thursday, October 4 is PAJAMA DAY to celebrate all the donations for the Terry Fox Walk/Run. Thank you to all the parents who joined us on the walk and to those of you who donated to the Canadian Cancer Society in Terry's Memory.
Next week is our first Book Fair in the Library. The morning class will go on Monday, October 1 and the afternoon class will go on Wednesday, October 3. If you are sending money with your child please put it in a sealed baggie with his/her name on it.
Scholastic Orders for October are due on Hallowe'en. I will place September's orders on Monday and they should arrive late next week or early the following week. Thank you for supporting Scholastic and your child's classroom!
More thank-yous to parent volunteers:
Reading Club: Emma and Jonas' mom; Emerson's mom
White TDSB Bags and Snuggle Books: Lexsa's mom, Chloe's mom
Next week we will be doing fun numeracy and literacy activities with a Thanksgiving theme.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Beverley
Please take a moment to look at the lovely watercolour-on-pastel art your children made that is displayed on the hall bulletin board: "Falling Leaves on a Cloudy Day" (Morning Class), and "Falling Leaves on a Sunny Day" (Afternoon Class).
Our Journal entries this week were about "My Best Friend."
The children had fun practicing/learning how to write numbers with their individual magnetic write-on/erase boards. Way to go! In this week's white TDSB bags I sent home the little rhymes that accompany the numbers.
The SKs borrowed their first laminated "Read and Write Mini-Books" this week along with an eraseable white board marker. The Read and Write Books reinforce word families. Your child can keep the marker to write on the books and practice their words, but please be sure to return the book next week to receive a new one (just like the Snuggle Books). Please keep the white board marker and little book in your child's Bedtime Book Box to encourage them to practice reading and writing it.
A special thank you to Dana's mom who has very kindly offered to help me with craft preparation/booklet preparation etc. since we, sadly, no longer have the assistance of an educational assistant in the class. Thank you so much Deanne. Thank you as well to Lexa's mom in the afternoon class who will be assembling/cutting/stapling our little "Leaves" booklet for both classes next week. Your time is very much appreciated.
As I wrote in a recent email, if your child will be receiving an award at an upcoming Sharing Assembly, I will post this in my blog. Each child will receive an award throughout the year for demonstrating a TDSB Character Trait.
Thank you to Quentin's mom for making the Play Dough this month! Thank you also for bringing in a bird's nest for our Science Centre.
The JKs and SKs worked on their new Phonics Duotangs and the letter-sound "S." The SKs will complete 8 Phonics booklets throughout the year.
The SKs also completed their first Sight Word Mini-Book: sight word "a." Sight word books are to be kept at home and stored in the Bedtime Book Boxes for practice/review.
If you have not made and brought in your child's Bedtime Book Box please do this by next week. The box is a terrific way to reinforce a joy of reading an encourage reading before bedtime as well as reinforcing literacy. Thank you.
Exciting news! Starting October 2nd our afternoon class will be assisted by E.C.I. Grade 11 co-op student (and former LKS student) Emily J. approximately 2 afternoons per week until the end of the school year. Emily will assist me with reading to/with the children, classroom materials preparation, and helping reinforce concepts of numeracy. Welcome Emily!
This Thursday, October 4 is PAJAMA DAY to celebrate all the donations for the Terry Fox Walk/Run. Thank you to all the parents who joined us on the walk and to those of you who donated to the Canadian Cancer Society in Terry's Memory.
Next week is our first Book Fair in the Library. The morning class will go on Monday, October 1 and the afternoon class will go on Wednesday, October 3. If you are sending money with your child please put it in a sealed baggie with his/her name on it.
Scholastic Orders for October are due on Hallowe'en. I will place September's orders on Monday and they should arrive late next week or early the following week. Thank you for supporting Scholastic and your child's classroom!
More thank-yous to parent volunteers:
Reading Club: Emma and Jonas' mom; Emerson's mom
White TDSB Bags and Snuggle Books: Lexsa's mom, Chloe's mom
Next week we will be doing fun numeracy and literacy activities with a Thanksgiving theme.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Beverley
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Sunday, September 23
Dear families,
Wow! Three weeks of school are over already! The children are really settling into our classroom routines, such as reading a "Bell Book" when they come into the classroom before the start of our lessons. Good job!
Thank you for attending Curriculum Night. We enjoyed speaking with you and explaining the Kindergarten Curriculum to you. Here is more detailed information:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten.html
Please be sure to return your child's Medical Forms by Monday at the very latest.
The first Scholastic order is due at the end of September. The second Scholastic order is due at the end of October. Please support the classroom by supporting Scholastic. Orders are usually shipped within one week of the due date.
Please be sure to arrive on time to school and to pick up your child on time, especially during these first weeks of school when routines are being established and reinforced. Thank you. If you arrive please get a late slip for your child at the office.
Terrific job with the Bedtime Book Boxes! They look wonderful! Happy reading!
We have met our Afternoon Book Buddies from Ms. Sunde's class. This is a weekly opportunity to make a new friend and practice reading with a Grade 2/3 LKS student. Morning Book Buddies are coming soon!
Four poems/songs have gone home for your child to practice: If I Were a Leaf, Apples, Kindergarten Here I Come, and Sep-tem-ber.
The JKs completed their Brown Bear, Brown Bear booklets and should be able to "read" the story to you. The SKs did a wonderful job making and writing a little booklet (one of many they will make this year) entitled "I Like..." They are displayed on our inside hall bulletin board.
In our Science Centre the children are learning about fasteners and how to use simple technology such as staplers, hole punches (single, dual, triple), tape dispensers, paper clips, etc. and they enjoy making booklets from the materials.
In the children's white bags you will find a little project called "Who Am I?" Please help your child complete this and send in a baby and recent photo. We will read the work together and try to guess who is who! Please do not attach the photos. We will do that when we have read and guessed who the children are.
The children started their weekly journals and wrote and drew a picture about Fall.
The children also have a sheet called "Alphabet Chart" and "August/September Words." We practice these daily and I have asked the children to practice reading those words at home as well.
We completed our first calendar. The JKs are learning to write their numbers 1-5 and the SKs are reviewing their numbers 1-31. I will keep a copy each month for assessment and I will send the original home so you can see your child's progress with number writing. Here are the little sayings we say while learning numbers (a copy of this will go home):
Around, around, around you go, that's the way to make zero.
A straight line down is lots of fun, this is how you make the number one.
Around and back on the railroad track, two, two, two.
Around the hill, around the tree, three, three, three.
Down and over, down once more, this is how you make the number four.
Fat old five goes down and around, give him a hat and look what you've found.
Six is a monkey's tail that I've found, make a "C" and curve around.
Straight over, slant down, number seven is coming to town.
Make an "S" and close the gate, now you've make the number eight.
Around and down, number nine is coming to town.
LKS had practice Fire Drills and Lockdowns and they children did an excellent job lining up quickly and quietly and exiting the school (fire drill) and keeping silent in the cubby room (lockdown).
Our little class library has changed from "Back to School" books to the books of Eric Carle, the author, along with Bill Martin, Jr., of Brown Bear, Bear, Brown Bear, amongst many other wonderful books.
Miria and Elle from Mrs. Wilson's class were our Mystery Readers this week, and Daphne from Mr. Ourique's class collated the Scholastic Orders. Thank you so much!
Soon the SK children are going to be borrowing "Read and Write Mini Books" which are read at school and then put in their Bedtime Book Boxes and practiced at home. They will be exchanged weekly just like the Snuggle Books. The children will also be making/writing Sight Word Mini Books and will bring those home to keep in their Bedtime Book Box (no need to return those). If you are unsure of what is to be exchanged and what is to keep, a good rule of thumb is, "if it is laminated, it goes back to school."
Thank you so much to our parent volunteers:
Noah's mom - Play-Doh
White Bags and Snuggle Books - Charlie's mom, Anna's mom, Cam's mom, Chloe's mom
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you tomorrow!
Mrs. Tyndall
Wow! Three weeks of school are over already! The children are really settling into our classroom routines, such as reading a "Bell Book" when they come into the classroom before the start of our lessons. Good job!
Thank you for attending Curriculum Night. We enjoyed speaking with you and explaining the Kindergarten Curriculum to you. Here is more detailed information:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten.html
Please be sure to return your child's Medical Forms by Monday at the very latest.
The first Scholastic order is due at the end of September. The second Scholastic order is due at the end of October. Please support the classroom by supporting Scholastic. Orders are usually shipped within one week of the due date.
Please be sure to arrive on time to school and to pick up your child on time, especially during these first weeks of school when routines are being established and reinforced. Thank you. If you arrive please get a late slip for your child at the office.
Terrific job with the Bedtime Book Boxes! They look wonderful! Happy reading!
We have met our Afternoon Book Buddies from Ms. Sunde's class. This is a weekly opportunity to make a new friend and practice reading with a Grade 2/3 LKS student. Morning Book Buddies are coming soon!
Four poems/songs have gone home for your child to practice: If I Were a Leaf, Apples, Kindergarten Here I Come, and Sep-tem-ber.
The JKs completed their Brown Bear, Brown Bear booklets and should be able to "read" the story to you. The SKs did a wonderful job making and writing a little booklet (one of many they will make this year) entitled "I Like..." They are displayed on our inside hall bulletin board.
In our Science Centre the children are learning about fasteners and how to use simple technology such as staplers, hole punches (single, dual, triple), tape dispensers, paper clips, etc. and they enjoy making booklets from the materials.
In the children's white bags you will find a little project called "Who Am I?" Please help your child complete this and send in a baby and recent photo. We will read the work together and try to guess who is who! Please do not attach the photos. We will do that when we have read and guessed who the children are.
The children started their weekly journals and wrote and drew a picture about Fall.
The children also have a sheet called "Alphabet Chart" and "August/September Words." We practice these daily and I have asked the children to practice reading those words at home as well.
We completed our first calendar. The JKs are learning to write their numbers 1-5 and the SKs are reviewing their numbers 1-31. I will keep a copy each month for assessment and I will send the original home so you can see your child's progress with number writing. Here are the little sayings we say while learning numbers (a copy of this will go home):
Around, around, around you go, that's the way to make zero.
A straight line down is lots of fun, this is how you make the number one.
Around and back on the railroad track, two, two, two.
Around the hill, around the tree, three, three, three.
Down and over, down once more, this is how you make the number four.
Fat old five goes down and around, give him a hat and look what you've found.
Six is a monkey's tail that I've found, make a "C" and curve around.
Straight over, slant down, number seven is coming to town.
Make an "S" and close the gate, now you've make the number eight.
Around and down, number nine is coming to town.
LKS had practice Fire Drills and Lockdowns and they children did an excellent job lining up quickly and quietly and exiting the school (fire drill) and keeping silent in the cubby room (lockdown).
Our little class library has changed from "Back to School" books to the books of Eric Carle, the author, along with Bill Martin, Jr., of Brown Bear, Bear, Brown Bear, amongst many other wonderful books.
Miria and Elle from Mrs. Wilson's class were our Mystery Readers this week, and Daphne from Mr. Ourique's class collated the Scholastic Orders. Thank you so much!
Soon the SK children are going to be borrowing "Read and Write Mini Books" which are read at school and then put in their Bedtime Book Boxes and practiced at home. They will be exchanged weekly just like the Snuggle Books. The children will also be making/writing Sight Word Mini Books and will bring those home to keep in their Bedtime Book Box (no need to return those). If you are unsure of what is to be exchanged and what is to keep, a good rule of thumb is, "if it is laminated, it goes back to school."
Thank you so much to our parent volunteers:
Noah's mom - Play-Doh
White Bags and Snuggle Books - Charlie's mom, Anna's mom, Cam's mom, Chloe's mom
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you tomorrow!
Mrs. Tyndall
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Dear Parents,
The first week of school went very well and I would like to welcome all my new students and their parents to my classroom. Welcome back to all my returning students and their parents. It's hard to believe they're in SK now! It's going to be a wonderful year!
Please take some time to read my last posting, "Kindergarten Handbook for Parents." It contains a lot of helpful information about the Kidnergarten years and has fun ideas about how to help your child at home as well.
In this week's white TDSB bag were instructions on how to make the "Bedtime Book Box." When you have made it with your child, please bring it in so s/he can show the class! The Bedtime Book Box is a great way to inspire your child to read the weekely Snuggle Up and Read Books as well as other special books they may want to put in their box.
Your family also received information in this week's white bags about Anchor Words, the ABCs of Craft Supplies, and Reading Tips.
Please return the Personal Information Sheet/Topics I Want My Child to Write About This Year sheet by MONDAY so that your Grade Parents can start compiling class lists (handy for play dates and birthday parties!). Thank you.
September 11 is Curriculum Night! It starts in the gym at 5:30 and then parents are welcome to go to my classroom for follow-up questions and to sign up for Volunteer opportunities in the classroom. I will forward this volunteer list to my Grade Parents who will then enter the volunteers into monthly calendars and will email the class if more volunteers are swtill needed. Kindergarten Curriculum Night ends at 6:30 when the teachers need to return to the gym for introductions. The Grade 1-8 teachers will then have their Curriculum Night presentations. The Kindergarten Curriculum will be posted on Ms. Caddel's Blog at the end of the week.
This week the kids learned about Routines and used their new Memo books to start writing! They also talked and wrote about the summer and about how old they are. I am very happy to see that many of the JKs already know how to print their names.
If you will be volunteering in the classroom you will need to fill out a Police Check Form available at the office.
Your child received the first Scholastic Order Forms this month. Scholastic is a great program for reasonably-priced books and is a great way to support your child's classroom and get free/discounted books and materials for the classroom. Please support Scholastic. Books make wonderful gifts!
I need three parent volunteers for our Terry Fox Walk (around the school) on September 27, and one volunteer each week for Mr. Blais' Computer Lab Class. Sign up on Curriculum Night!
The LKS Photo Days are on September 19-20. Since LKS is a big school Photo Days are two days. I will let you know which day is your child's Photo Day. There will also be a Retake Day and a Sibling Photo Day. More information to follow.
A Special thank you to my helpers this week: Lexa's mom and Logan's mom did the white bags, and the Snuggle Books were done by Daphne Vescio, one of my wonderful LKS Student Helpers. Thank you so much! Please be sure to read and return your child's Snuggle Book so that s/he can receive and read a new one!
I would also like to say a very special Thank You to this year's Grade Parents: Cole's dad, Caroline's mom and Anna's mom in the morning class, and Quentin's mom and Chloe's mom in the afternoon class. The Grade Parents work very hard at organizing our parent volunteers and communicating from LKS Parent Council to home.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Please return your white bags, Snuggle Books and forms by Monday. Please send me an email if you have any questions at betyndall@rogers.com.
Mrs. Tyndall
The first week of school went very well and I would like to welcome all my new students and their parents to my classroom. Welcome back to all my returning students and their parents. It's hard to believe they're in SK now! It's going to be a wonderful year!
Please take some time to read my last posting, "Kindergarten Handbook for Parents." It contains a lot of helpful information about the Kidnergarten years and has fun ideas about how to help your child at home as well.
In this week's white TDSB bag were instructions on how to make the "Bedtime Book Box." When you have made it with your child, please bring it in so s/he can show the class! The Bedtime Book Box is a great way to inspire your child to read the weekely Snuggle Up and Read Books as well as other special books they may want to put in their box.
Your family also received information in this week's white bags about Anchor Words, the ABCs of Craft Supplies, and Reading Tips.
Please return the Personal Information Sheet/Topics I Want My Child to Write About This Year sheet by MONDAY so that your Grade Parents can start compiling class lists (handy for play dates and birthday parties!). Thank you.
September 11 is Curriculum Night! It starts in the gym at 5:30 and then parents are welcome to go to my classroom for follow-up questions and to sign up for Volunteer opportunities in the classroom. I will forward this volunteer list to my Grade Parents who will then enter the volunteers into monthly calendars and will email the class if more volunteers are swtill needed. Kindergarten Curriculum Night ends at 6:30 when the teachers need to return to the gym for introductions. The Grade 1-8 teachers will then have their Curriculum Night presentations. The Kindergarten Curriculum will be posted on Ms. Caddel's Blog at the end of the week.
This week the kids learned about Routines and used their new Memo books to start writing! They also talked and wrote about the summer and about how old they are. I am very happy to see that many of the JKs already know how to print their names.
If you will be volunteering in the classroom you will need to fill out a Police Check Form available at the office.
Your child received the first Scholastic Order Forms this month. Scholastic is a great program for reasonably-priced books and is a great way to support your child's classroom and get free/discounted books and materials for the classroom. Please support Scholastic. Books make wonderful gifts!
I need three parent volunteers for our Terry Fox Walk (around the school) on September 27, and one volunteer each week for Mr. Blais' Computer Lab Class. Sign up on Curriculum Night!
The LKS Photo Days are on September 19-20. Since LKS is a big school Photo Days are two days. I will let you know which day is your child's Photo Day. There will also be a Retake Day and a Sibling Photo Day. More information to follow.
A Special thank you to my helpers this week: Lexa's mom and Logan's mom did the white bags, and the Snuggle Books were done by Daphne Vescio, one of my wonderful LKS Student Helpers. Thank you so much! Please be sure to read and return your child's Snuggle Book so that s/he can receive and read a new one!
I would also like to say a very special Thank You to this year's Grade Parents: Cole's dad, Caroline's mom and Anna's mom in the morning class, and Quentin's mom and Chloe's mom in the afternoon class. The Grade Parents work very hard at organizing our parent volunteers and communicating from LKS Parent Council to home.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Please return your white bags, Snuggle Books and forms by Monday. Please send me an email if you have any questions at betyndall@rogers.com.
Mrs. Tyndall
Monday, September 3, 2012
Welcome to Kindergarten!
Kindergarten Handbook for Parents
Prepared for Parents by Mrs. B. Tyndall, Lambton-Kingsway JMS
Introduction
The Kindergarten Handbook has been created to acquaint you with the major components of my program as well as to provide activities which will help your child prepare for and succeed in Kindergarten. Please keep this as a reference guide for the entire year.
Mission of the Kindergarten Program
I would like to welcome you and your child to our kindergarten program at Lambton Kingsway Junior Middle School. I am looking forward to an exciting year of new experiences and lots of fun! It is during the first years of life that children form attitudes about themselves, others, learning, and the environment. These attitudes last a lifetime, so I work very hard to find ways to help children develop positive attitudes.
Educating a child is most successful when families and schools work together in the best interest of the child. I welcome your input and assistance in educating your child. After all, you are your child’s first teacher! Valuing education and the opportunities it provides are important first steps. I am hopeful that you will find time to participate in some of our school activities. I am always in need of parents to help in the classroom and in many other capacities.
The goal of my program is to meet your child's needs not only intellectually, but also physically, socially, and emotionally. Going to school is one of the most important experiences in a child’s life. School can be an exciting place where children meet new and different people and participate in many new and different experiences. I promise to work diligently to provide the children with wonderful experiences that help them to feel good about themselves and their school.
Communications
Contacting the Office: School Phone Number: 416-394-7890
My Blog: mrstyndallslksblog.blogspot.com. Please check my blog for weekly updates about classroom activities. I try to not send paper notes home and will post most information on my blog.
My email: betyndall@rogers.com
Overview of the Curriculum
Reading and Language Arts
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following communication arts areas: Pre-reading and reading activities • Letter identification • Letter-sound relationships • Letter formation (printing upper and lower case letters) • One-to-one correspondence • Determining real and make-believe Writing activities • Drawing a picture to convey meaning • Holding a pencil correctly • Copying words • Identifying and writing sight words • Writing words and sentences • Revising writing in a group setting
Speaking and listening activities
• Telling stories • Dictating lists, stories, and descriptions • Listening to others • Listening to stories • Story retelling • Reciting poems • Participating in class discussion • Show and Tell
Knowing and using basic library terminology (author, title, illustrator, Title page) • Identifying parts of a book (spine, cover) • Making predictions and drawing conclusions • Selecting appropriate reading materials • Demonstrating respect for others using library materials • Participating in author studies • Using visual structure to communicate ideas • Developing organizational skills in association with art activities
Mathematics
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following mathematics areas: • Counting forward from 0 to 100 • Color Recognition • Recognizing and writing numerals 0 to 100 • Skip counting by 2, 5, and 10 • Counting backwards from 20 to 0 • Reading numerals to 100 • Estimating time on an analog clock • Naming the value of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, loonie, and toonie • Performing simple data collection and graphing • Patterning • Naming geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, cone, sphere, and cube) • Showing Addition and subtraction facts to 10
Science
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following science areas: • Five senses • Weather elements • Production processes involving plants and animals
Social Studies
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following social studies areas. • Identifying and locating places and regions • Identifying landforms and bodies of water • Identifying people in places and community helpers • Recognizing the Canadian flag and singing the national anthem • Discussing sources of conflict and possible solutions • Identifying reasons for rules and routines in the classroom/playground
Health, Physical Education, Safety
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following health, physical education, and safety areas • Large muscle activity through outdoor play including running, sliding, skipping, and other games • Basic rhythms of walking, running, marching, skipping, and jumping • Fire drills and other safety drills (earthquake drills; drop and cover; Stop, Drop, and Roll )
Music
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following music areas: • Singing alone and in groups • Movement to music
Helpful Reminders for School
Starting Times: AM Kindergarten 8:30-11:20 PM Kindergarten 12:30-3:05
Before your child comes to school, please make sure he/she has had a good breakfast or lunch and also plenty of rest (ten to twelve hours is recommended for this age.
Snack Program: I have provided you with a Snack Schedule for the months of September/October. Please remember to send in snack for each of the children on your child’s Special/Snack Day. This is also your child’s Show and Tell day. If you forget to bring snack, I will provide snack and will send home a reminder to bring non-perishable snacks for each of the children to store for future use. Children will be provided time to eat their snack in a relaxed social setting. All snacks must be nut free.
Birthdays-individual special snacks
Monday-washed and cut vegetables
Tuesday-cheese and crackers
Wednesday-washed and cut fruit
Thursday-your choice of a healthy snack
Friday-cookies, muffins, rice krispy squares etc.
Label, Label, Label: Please label your child’s coats, sweaters, backpacks, lunch pails, thermos, etc… Please label everything and anything sent to kindergarten.
Shoes: For safety reasons, I ask that all children wear closed toe shoes to school. Please provide your child with a pair of indoor crocs or slippers if/when they wear boots to school.
When your child is ill: When your child is ill, please call the office at 416-394-7890 and report your child’s absence. All absences must be verified. If your child becomes ill at school, he/she will be sent to the office and you or one of the names listed on the emergency card will be contacted. Please notify us immediately if any contact numbers change.
Targeted activities you can do at home to help your child in Kindergarten:
Practice writing his/her first and last name
1. Have your child practice writing his/her name using a variety of tools such as a Magna Doodle, crayons, pencils, and markers. Check that your child is gripping the writing utensil correctly. You may even consider having your child practice writing his/her name using different items around the house such as pudding, rice, sand, or shaving cream. *** Be sure that your child uses a capital letter only at the beginning and lowercase letters for the rest of the name.
2. Write your child’s name in large letters (or use magnetic letters). Say each letter aloud as you write or place it so your child can associate the name of the letter with the shape of the letter.
3. Cut apart the letters of your child’s name (or use magnetic letters) and have him/her put them back in the correct order saying the name of each letter while doing so. (Start with just the first name, adding the last name only when they have mastered this.)
4. Label your child’s door or other objects so his/her name can be seen in print.
Practice recognizing and writing the numbers 0 to 10 (or higher)
1. Read and enjoy counting books together.
2. Point out numbers in license plates, in the store, in your home, and all around you. 3. Use magnetic numbers to have your child practice naming them. Have your child put the numbers for your phone number in order saying each number while doing so.
4. Practice writing numbers using a variety of materials such as pencils, crayons, markers, and sidewalk chalk, etc. (see number formation sheet in folder).
Practice counting orally and practice counting objects (to 10 or higher)
1. Have your child count his/her own snacks such as pretzels, goldfish crackers, grapes, etc....
2. Count each item as you pick up 10 things to put away in the house or bedroom.
3. Count the number of stair steps in your house or the number of steps from your car to the store.
Practice naming and correctly writing the letters in the alphabet
1. Read and enjoy alphabet books together.
2. Help your child recognize letters of the alphabet in everyday life (ex. Restaurants, road signs, store signs, cereal boxes, etc...).
3. Practice recognizing and writing both upper and lowercase letters. (see letter information sheet in folder).
Practice book handling skills
1. Discuss how to open the book from the front. Point out the front of the book and the back of the book. Discuss that the front of the book is where the story begins and the back is where the story ends.
2. Discuss how to hold a book so it is not upside down and show where to start reading. 3. Read with your child on a daily basis.
Practice recognizing the eight primary colors
1. When your child is coloring, ask what colors were used.
2. Have our child draw objects on paper and ask him/her to color the objects in certain colors.
3. Have your child sort objects or food by colors. Use items such as clothes, blocks, Skittles, M&M’s, or Fruit Loops. Have your child name the colors.
4. Discuss colors of things in the world around you such as the sky, the grass, cars, clothing items.
Practice your phone number and address
1. Have your child practice his/her phone number on a play telephone.
2. To help your child remember his/her phone number, make up a rhyme or song to go along with it.
Practice naming and drawing the four basic shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle) 1. Point out objects in your house or environment that have the basic shapes such as doors, windows, clocks, can tops, kites, etc...
2. Read and enjoy shape books together.
3. Have your child draw the shapes on chalkboards, paper, etc....then cut them out naming each shape while doing so.
Practice coloring within the lines and cutting on the lines
1. Have your child cut out coupons.
2. Have your child cut out pictures from old magazines of things that he/she is interested in.
3. Have your child draw simple objects with some detail (including “self, family, house, and pets).
4. Explore coloring with a variety of resources including markers, crayons, chalk, and paint.
Some Tips to Help with Beginning Reading and Writing
The greatest benefits of reading are obtained when your child is an active participant engaging in discussions about stories, talking about meanings of words and the story, predicting outcomes, and relating the story matter to other texts and his/her own life. 1. Read to your child daily.
2. Talk about the book as you read with your child and after you have finished reading it.
3. Look at the book cover before reading. Point out the title, author, and illustrator. 4. Point out words or phrases that are repeated several times throughout the story.
5. Encourage your child to finish predictable phrases or rhymes.
6. Remember to focus on the meaning of the story. If a child reads something that doesn’t make sense, often he or she will go back and try again. If this doesn’t happen, stop and ask, “Does that make sense?”
7. If your child comes to a word he or she does not know and asks for help, consider asking these questions: • Does the picture give you a clue? • What word would make sense here? • With what letter does the word begin (or end)? If these strategies fail and your child wants you to say the word, go ahead and do so rather than having your child labor over it.
8. Don’t worry if your child memorizes a particular phrase or story. That is an early stage in the reading process.
9. Encourage your child to point to the word with his or her finger as he/she reads. 10. Some helpful questions: • What happened at the beginning, middle, or the end of the story? • What do you think will happen next? • Why do you think the character did that? • What would you have done if you were that character? • What was the best thing about the story?
11. Make sure your child sees you as a reader, (reading a newspaper, enjoying a good book, reading a catalog, etc...)
12. When reading with a child, always sit beside the child with the book between you so that you can both see the text and enjoy the pictures.
13. Consider giving books as presents so they become associated with a pleasurable experience and have special meaning.
14. Make sure your child sees you as a writer, (writing things such as grocery lists, thank you notes, notes to other family members, etc....)
15. Have a wide variety of writing supplies available for your child to write and draw on including various sizes and types of paper, pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, etc... 16. When your child draws a picture, encourage him/her to tell you about it. Then write down what your child says as he/she says it. Let your child see you write down what is said. Read it back. Point to the words as you read.
25 Ways To Use Magnetic Letters At Home
1. LETTER PLAY: Encourage children to play with the magnetic letters on the refrigerator or on a table. Playing with letters allows children to learn more about how they look.
2. MAKING NAMES: A child’s name is the most important word. Have children make their names several times, mixing up the letters, making their names and checking them with their names written on a card.
3. LETTER MATCH: Invite children to find other letters that look exactly the same as a letter in their name (e.g., place an m on the refrigerator and have the child find all the ones that look like it). They don’t need to know the letter name.
4. NAME GAME: Have children make names of friends or family. Have them make the name, mix the letters, and make the names several times.
5. MAKING WORDS: Make a simple word like mom or dad or sun and have your child make the same word by matching each letter below the model (sun – s-u-n).
6. ALPHABET TRAIN: Have your child put the lowercase magnetic letters in the order of the alphabet. Then they can point to them and sing the alphabet song. Have them repeat the process with uppercase letters.
7. CONSONANT/VOWEL SORT: Have children sort the consonant letters and the vowel letters.
8. FEATURE SORT: Have children sort letters in a variety of ways – e.g., letters with long sticks and letters with short sticks, letters with circles and letters with no circles, letters with tunnels and letters with dots, letters with slanted sticks and letters with straight sticks.
9. COLOR SORT: Have children sort all the red, blue, green, yellow letters.
10. UPPERCASE/LOWERCASE MATCH: Have children match the uppercase letters with the lowercase form.
11. WRITING LETTERS: Have children select ten different letters and write each letter on a paper. They can use the magnetic letter as a model.
12. WRITING WORDS: Have children make five simple words (such as dog, fun, big, hat, like, sit) and then write them on a sheet of paper.
13. MAKING FOOD WORDS: Make some words that identify food – e.g., bun, corn, rice. Have children draw pictures of each, mix the letters, and make the words again.
14. MAKING COLOR WORDS: Give children a list of color words with an item made in that color as a picture support (for example, a red ball). Have children make the color word with magnetic letters using the model, mix the letters, and make it again several times.
15. MAKING NUMBER WORDS: Give children a list of numerals with the number word next to each. Have children make the word and mix the letters two or three times.
16. LETTER NAMES: Specify a color and have children take one colored letter at a time and say the letter name.
17. MAGAZINE MATCH: Look through a magazine or newspaper with children, cutting out some larger print simple words (such as man, box, boy). Glue them on a sheet of paper with plenty of space below each. Have children make each word below the printed one. 18. FIND THE LETTER: Make a set of alphabet letters, upper-or lowercase, on a set of index cards. Shuffle the “deck” and take turns drawing a card and finding the magnetic letter that corresponds to it.
19. LETTER IN THE CIRCLE: Draw two circles and place an (h) in one and an (o) in the other. Have children put letters in the h circle and say how they are like the h. Do the same with the o. This activity will help children learn to look at features of letters. Vary the letters in the circles; accept their explanations about what they are noticing.
20. CHANGE THE WORD: Build several simple words and show the children how to change, add, or take away a letter to make a new word. Examples are: he, we; me, my: at, hat, sat. After the demonstration put the needed letters in a special place in an empty container for them to practice.
21. ALPHABET SEQUENCE: Place the letter a on the table and have the child find the next letter (b) and place the letter c next to the b and have the child look for the next letter (d). Continue through the alphabet with lowercase letters. Repeat the uppercase letters.
22. LETTER SORT: Place a pile of magnetic letters on the table for the child to spread out. Have the child put all letters that are the same together in a pile. Then, if appropriate, have the child give the letter name for each pile.
23. LETTER CHAINS: Make a five letter chain (for example, pfrmo). Have children find the same letters and make the same chain below your model. Then have the children make a chain that you copy.
24. LETTER BINGO: Make two cards with a grid of three boxes across and three down. Trace one lowercase letter in each box. Put a pile of magnetic letters that represent the letters on the cards and some that are not in a plastic bowl. Play a Letter Bingo game. Take turns taking a letter, saying its name, and then placing the letter in the box if there is a match. If there is not a match, put the letter back in the bowl. The first to fill three boxes across, down, or diagonally says, “Bingo” and wins the game. Play the same game with uppercase letters.
25. RHYMING PAIRS: Use a magnetic cookie sheet. Make a simple three letter word such as dog, but, cat, fan, can, hot, man, net, pan, rat, sit. Say the word and then say a second word that rhymes (dog-log, bug-mug, cat-fat, fan-man). Ask the child to make the rhyming .
Quick Assessment Instructions: Have your child point to each letter and tell you what the letter is. Record the letters your child has difficulties identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home” This can also be used to practice letter sounds. Have your child name the colors. Have your child point to the shapes (triangle, rectangle, circle, and square) using objects around the house. Have a set of 10 objects . This could be buttons, pennies, cereal, etc… Have your child touch each object and say a number that object. Vary this activity by giving a new number and have your child count out this new set. Have your child cut straight lines on paper using “child-sized scissors.” Have your child write his/her name using an uppercase letter for the first letter, then followed by lowercase letters. Have your child say his/her first and last name.
Lower Case letter names and sounds
Have your child point to each letter and tell you the name of the letter. Record the letters your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home”. This can also be used to practice letter sounds.
Upper Case letter names
Have your child point to each letter and tell you what the name of the letter. Record the letters your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home” .
Identifying the Numbers 0 – 20
Instructions:
1. Have your child point to each number in random order and tell you the name of the number.
2. Record the numbers your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult numbers on an index card and use the index cards as Flash Cards. PRACTICE.
3. Practice with the Flash cards and have your child count out beans, or pennies. Start with the number 0 – 5. Once that becomes EASY, add a few more numbers 1 – 10. Continue to add a few more. Make a matching game: you place 8 pennies on the table. Have your child count them , then find the correct flash card. Keep a progress chart and set goals. 0- 10, 10 - 20. Encourage your child and when he/she meets a goal, do something fun and special together. Number Recognition Practice Sheet Instructions: Have your child point to each number and tell you the name of the number. Alphabet Practice: Directions: Trace the letters in the directions of the arrows
Prepared for Parents by Mrs. B. Tyndall, Lambton-Kingsway JMS
Introduction
The Kindergarten Handbook has been created to acquaint you with the major components of my program as well as to provide activities which will help your child prepare for and succeed in Kindergarten. Please keep this as a reference guide for the entire year.
Mission of the Kindergarten Program
I would like to welcome you and your child to our kindergarten program at Lambton Kingsway Junior Middle School. I am looking forward to an exciting year of new experiences and lots of fun! It is during the first years of life that children form attitudes about themselves, others, learning, and the environment. These attitudes last a lifetime, so I work very hard to find ways to help children develop positive attitudes.
Educating a child is most successful when families and schools work together in the best interest of the child. I welcome your input and assistance in educating your child. After all, you are your child’s first teacher! Valuing education and the opportunities it provides are important first steps. I am hopeful that you will find time to participate in some of our school activities. I am always in need of parents to help in the classroom and in many other capacities.
The goal of my program is to meet your child's needs not only intellectually, but also physically, socially, and emotionally. Going to school is one of the most important experiences in a child’s life. School can be an exciting place where children meet new and different people and participate in many new and different experiences. I promise to work diligently to provide the children with wonderful experiences that help them to feel good about themselves and their school.
Communications
Contacting the Office: School Phone Number: 416-394-7890
My Blog: mrstyndallslksblog.blogspot.com. Please check my blog for weekly updates about classroom activities. I try to not send paper notes home and will post most information on my blog.
My email: betyndall@rogers.com
Overview of the Curriculum
Reading and Language Arts
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following communication arts areas: Pre-reading and reading activities • Letter identification • Letter-sound relationships • Letter formation (printing upper and lower case letters) • One-to-one correspondence • Determining real and make-believe Writing activities • Drawing a picture to convey meaning • Holding a pencil correctly • Copying words • Identifying and writing sight words • Writing words and sentences • Revising writing in a group setting
Speaking and listening activities
• Telling stories • Dictating lists, stories, and descriptions • Listening to others • Listening to stories • Story retelling • Reciting poems • Participating in class discussion • Show and Tell
Knowing and using basic library terminology (author, title, illustrator, Title page) • Identifying parts of a book (spine, cover) • Making predictions and drawing conclusions • Selecting appropriate reading materials • Demonstrating respect for others using library materials • Participating in author studies • Using visual structure to communicate ideas • Developing organizational skills in association with art activities
Mathematics
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following mathematics areas: • Counting forward from 0 to 100 • Color Recognition • Recognizing and writing numerals 0 to 100 • Skip counting by 2, 5, and 10 • Counting backwards from 20 to 0 • Reading numerals to 100 • Estimating time on an analog clock • Naming the value of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, loonie, and toonie • Performing simple data collection and graphing • Patterning • Naming geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, cone, sphere, and cube) • Showing Addition and subtraction facts to 10
Science
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following science areas: • Five senses • Weather elements • Production processes involving plants and animals
Social Studies
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following social studies areas. • Identifying and locating places and regions • Identifying landforms and bodies of water • Identifying people in places and community helpers • Recognizing the Canadian flag and singing the national anthem • Discussing sources of conflict and possible solutions • Identifying reasons for rules and routines in the classroom/playground
Health, Physical Education, Safety
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following health, physical education, and safety areas • Large muscle activity through outdoor play including running, sliding, skipping, and other games • Basic rhythms of walking, running, marching, skipping, and jumping • Fire drills and other safety drills (earthquake drills; drop and cover; Stop, Drop, and Roll )
Music
Your child will participate in activities to enhance his/her skills in the following music areas: • Singing alone and in groups • Movement to music
Helpful Reminders for School
Starting Times: AM Kindergarten 8:30-11:20 PM Kindergarten 12:30-3:05
Before your child comes to school, please make sure he/she has had a good breakfast or lunch and also plenty of rest (ten to twelve hours is recommended for this age.
Snack Program: I have provided you with a Snack Schedule for the months of September/October. Please remember to send in snack for each of the children on your child’s Special/Snack Day. This is also your child’s Show and Tell day. If you forget to bring snack, I will provide snack and will send home a reminder to bring non-perishable snacks for each of the children to store for future use. Children will be provided time to eat their snack in a relaxed social setting. All snacks must be nut free.
Birthdays-individual special snacks
Monday-washed and cut vegetables
Tuesday-cheese and crackers
Wednesday-washed and cut fruit
Thursday-your choice of a healthy snack
Friday-cookies, muffins, rice krispy squares etc.
Label, Label, Label: Please label your child’s coats, sweaters, backpacks, lunch pails, thermos, etc… Please label everything and anything sent to kindergarten.
Shoes: For safety reasons, I ask that all children wear closed toe shoes to school. Please provide your child with a pair of indoor crocs or slippers if/when they wear boots to school.
When your child is ill: When your child is ill, please call the office at 416-394-7890 and report your child’s absence. All absences must be verified. If your child becomes ill at school, he/she will be sent to the office and you or one of the names listed on the emergency card will be contacted. Please notify us immediately if any contact numbers change.
Targeted activities you can do at home to help your child in Kindergarten:
Practice writing his/her first and last name
1. Have your child practice writing his/her name using a variety of tools such as a Magna Doodle, crayons, pencils, and markers. Check that your child is gripping the writing utensil correctly. You may even consider having your child practice writing his/her name using different items around the house such as pudding, rice, sand, or shaving cream. *** Be sure that your child uses a capital letter only at the beginning and lowercase letters for the rest of the name.
2. Write your child’s name in large letters (or use magnetic letters). Say each letter aloud as you write or place it so your child can associate the name of the letter with the shape of the letter.
3. Cut apart the letters of your child’s name (or use magnetic letters) and have him/her put them back in the correct order saying the name of each letter while doing so. (Start with just the first name, adding the last name only when they have mastered this.)
4. Label your child’s door or other objects so his/her name can be seen in print.
Practice recognizing and writing the numbers 0 to 10 (or higher)
1. Read and enjoy counting books together.
2. Point out numbers in license plates, in the store, in your home, and all around you. 3. Use magnetic numbers to have your child practice naming them. Have your child put the numbers for your phone number in order saying each number while doing so.
4. Practice writing numbers using a variety of materials such as pencils, crayons, markers, and sidewalk chalk, etc. (see number formation sheet in folder).
Practice counting orally and practice counting objects (to 10 or higher)
1. Have your child count his/her own snacks such as pretzels, goldfish crackers, grapes, etc....
2. Count each item as you pick up 10 things to put away in the house or bedroom.
3. Count the number of stair steps in your house or the number of steps from your car to the store.
Practice naming and correctly writing the letters in the alphabet
1. Read and enjoy alphabet books together.
2. Help your child recognize letters of the alphabet in everyday life (ex. Restaurants, road signs, store signs, cereal boxes, etc...).
3. Practice recognizing and writing both upper and lowercase letters. (see letter information sheet in folder).
Practice book handling skills
1. Discuss how to open the book from the front. Point out the front of the book and the back of the book. Discuss that the front of the book is where the story begins and the back is where the story ends.
2. Discuss how to hold a book so it is not upside down and show where to start reading. 3. Read with your child on a daily basis.
Practice recognizing the eight primary colors
1. When your child is coloring, ask what colors were used.
2. Have our child draw objects on paper and ask him/her to color the objects in certain colors.
3. Have your child sort objects or food by colors. Use items such as clothes, blocks, Skittles, M&M’s, or Fruit Loops. Have your child name the colors.
4. Discuss colors of things in the world around you such as the sky, the grass, cars, clothing items.
Practice your phone number and address
1. Have your child practice his/her phone number on a play telephone.
2. To help your child remember his/her phone number, make up a rhyme or song to go along with it.
Practice naming and drawing the four basic shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle) 1. Point out objects in your house or environment that have the basic shapes such as doors, windows, clocks, can tops, kites, etc...
2. Read and enjoy shape books together.
3. Have your child draw the shapes on chalkboards, paper, etc....then cut them out naming each shape while doing so.
Practice coloring within the lines and cutting on the lines
1. Have your child cut out coupons.
2. Have your child cut out pictures from old magazines of things that he/she is interested in.
3. Have your child draw simple objects with some detail (including “self, family, house, and pets).
4. Explore coloring with a variety of resources including markers, crayons, chalk, and paint.
Some Tips to Help with Beginning Reading and Writing
The greatest benefits of reading are obtained when your child is an active participant engaging in discussions about stories, talking about meanings of words and the story, predicting outcomes, and relating the story matter to other texts and his/her own life. 1. Read to your child daily.
2. Talk about the book as you read with your child and after you have finished reading it.
3. Look at the book cover before reading. Point out the title, author, and illustrator. 4. Point out words or phrases that are repeated several times throughout the story.
5. Encourage your child to finish predictable phrases or rhymes.
6. Remember to focus on the meaning of the story. If a child reads something that doesn’t make sense, often he or she will go back and try again. If this doesn’t happen, stop and ask, “Does that make sense?”
7. If your child comes to a word he or she does not know and asks for help, consider asking these questions: • Does the picture give you a clue? • What word would make sense here? • With what letter does the word begin (or end)? If these strategies fail and your child wants you to say the word, go ahead and do so rather than having your child labor over it.
8. Don’t worry if your child memorizes a particular phrase or story. That is an early stage in the reading process.
9. Encourage your child to point to the word with his or her finger as he/she reads. 10. Some helpful questions: • What happened at the beginning, middle, or the end of the story? • What do you think will happen next? • Why do you think the character did that? • What would you have done if you were that character? • What was the best thing about the story?
11. Make sure your child sees you as a reader, (reading a newspaper, enjoying a good book, reading a catalog, etc...)
12. When reading with a child, always sit beside the child with the book between you so that you can both see the text and enjoy the pictures.
13. Consider giving books as presents so they become associated with a pleasurable experience and have special meaning.
14. Make sure your child sees you as a writer, (writing things such as grocery lists, thank you notes, notes to other family members, etc....)
15. Have a wide variety of writing supplies available for your child to write and draw on including various sizes and types of paper, pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, etc... 16. When your child draws a picture, encourage him/her to tell you about it. Then write down what your child says as he/she says it. Let your child see you write down what is said. Read it back. Point to the words as you read.
25 Ways To Use Magnetic Letters At Home
1. LETTER PLAY: Encourage children to play with the magnetic letters on the refrigerator or on a table. Playing with letters allows children to learn more about how they look.
2. MAKING NAMES: A child’s name is the most important word. Have children make their names several times, mixing up the letters, making their names and checking them with their names written on a card.
3. LETTER MATCH: Invite children to find other letters that look exactly the same as a letter in their name (e.g., place an m on the refrigerator and have the child find all the ones that look like it). They don’t need to know the letter name.
4. NAME GAME: Have children make names of friends or family. Have them make the name, mix the letters, and make the names several times.
5. MAKING WORDS: Make a simple word like mom or dad or sun and have your child make the same word by matching each letter below the model (sun – s-u-n).
6. ALPHABET TRAIN: Have your child put the lowercase magnetic letters in the order of the alphabet. Then they can point to them and sing the alphabet song. Have them repeat the process with uppercase letters.
7. CONSONANT/VOWEL SORT: Have children sort the consonant letters and the vowel letters.
8. FEATURE SORT: Have children sort letters in a variety of ways – e.g., letters with long sticks and letters with short sticks, letters with circles and letters with no circles, letters with tunnels and letters with dots, letters with slanted sticks and letters with straight sticks.
9. COLOR SORT: Have children sort all the red, blue, green, yellow letters.
10. UPPERCASE/LOWERCASE MATCH: Have children match the uppercase letters with the lowercase form.
11. WRITING LETTERS: Have children select ten different letters and write each letter on a paper. They can use the magnetic letter as a model.
12. WRITING WORDS: Have children make five simple words (such as dog, fun, big, hat, like, sit) and then write them on a sheet of paper.
13. MAKING FOOD WORDS: Make some words that identify food – e.g., bun, corn, rice. Have children draw pictures of each, mix the letters, and make the words again.
14. MAKING COLOR WORDS: Give children a list of color words with an item made in that color as a picture support (for example, a red ball). Have children make the color word with magnetic letters using the model, mix the letters, and make it again several times.
15. MAKING NUMBER WORDS: Give children a list of numerals with the number word next to each. Have children make the word and mix the letters two or three times.
16. LETTER NAMES: Specify a color and have children take one colored letter at a time and say the letter name.
17. MAGAZINE MATCH: Look through a magazine or newspaper with children, cutting out some larger print simple words (such as man, box, boy). Glue them on a sheet of paper with plenty of space below each. Have children make each word below the printed one. 18. FIND THE LETTER: Make a set of alphabet letters, upper-or lowercase, on a set of index cards. Shuffle the “deck” and take turns drawing a card and finding the magnetic letter that corresponds to it.
19. LETTER IN THE CIRCLE: Draw two circles and place an (h) in one and an (o) in the other. Have children put letters in the h circle and say how they are like the h. Do the same with the o. This activity will help children learn to look at features of letters. Vary the letters in the circles; accept their explanations about what they are noticing.
20. CHANGE THE WORD: Build several simple words and show the children how to change, add, or take away a letter to make a new word. Examples are: he, we; me, my: at, hat, sat. After the demonstration put the needed letters in a special place in an empty container for them to practice.
21. ALPHABET SEQUENCE: Place the letter a on the table and have the child find the next letter (b) and place the letter c next to the b and have the child look for the next letter (d). Continue through the alphabet with lowercase letters. Repeat the uppercase letters.
22. LETTER SORT: Place a pile of magnetic letters on the table for the child to spread out. Have the child put all letters that are the same together in a pile. Then, if appropriate, have the child give the letter name for each pile.
23. LETTER CHAINS: Make a five letter chain (for example, pfrmo). Have children find the same letters and make the same chain below your model. Then have the children make a chain that you copy.
24. LETTER BINGO: Make two cards with a grid of three boxes across and three down. Trace one lowercase letter in each box. Put a pile of magnetic letters that represent the letters on the cards and some that are not in a plastic bowl. Play a Letter Bingo game. Take turns taking a letter, saying its name, and then placing the letter in the box if there is a match. If there is not a match, put the letter back in the bowl. The first to fill three boxes across, down, or diagonally says, “Bingo” and wins the game. Play the same game with uppercase letters.
25. RHYMING PAIRS: Use a magnetic cookie sheet. Make a simple three letter word such as dog, but, cat, fan, can, hot, man, net, pan, rat, sit. Say the word and then say a second word that rhymes (dog-log, bug-mug, cat-fat, fan-man). Ask the child to make the rhyming .
Quick Assessment Instructions: Have your child point to each letter and tell you what the letter is. Record the letters your child has difficulties identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home” This can also be used to practice letter sounds. Have your child name the colors. Have your child point to the shapes (triangle, rectangle, circle, and square) using objects around the house. Have a set of 10 objects . This could be buttons, pennies, cereal, etc… Have your child touch each object and say a number that object. Vary this activity by giving a new number and have your child count out this new set. Have your child cut straight lines on paper using “child-sized scissors.” Have your child write his/her name using an uppercase letter for the first letter, then followed by lowercase letters. Have your child say his/her first and last name.
Lower Case letter names and sounds
Have your child point to each letter and tell you the name of the letter. Record the letters your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home”. This can also be used to practice letter sounds.
Upper Case letter names
Have your child point to each letter and tell you what the name of the letter. Record the letters your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult letters on an index card and use the index cards as flash cards. Practice. Practice with flash cards starting with a few at a time. See “25 Ways to Use Magnetic Letters at Home” .
Identifying the Numbers 0 – 20
Instructions:
1. Have your child point to each number in random order and tell you the name of the number.
2. Record the numbers your child has difficulty identifying. Write each of the difficult numbers on an index card and use the index cards as Flash Cards. PRACTICE.
3. Practice with the Flash cards and have your child count out beans, or pennies. Start with the number 0 – 5. Once that becomes EASY, add a few more numbers 1 – 10. Continue to add a few more. Make a matching game: you place 8 pennies on the table. Have your child count them , then find the correct flash card. Keep a progress chart and set goals. 0- 10, 10 - 20. Encourage your child and when he/she meets a goal, do something fun and special together. Number Recognition Practice Sheet Instructions: Have your child point to each number and tell you the name of the number. Alphabet Practice: Directions: Trace the letters in the directions of the arrows
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
It's hard to believe the school year is coming to an end and that in September our little JKs will be moving on to SK and the SKs will be going into Grade One!
Over the last two weeks we have learned about the letter sounds oo and y, finished our Canadian Coin Values unit, learned about the concept of 5, played "The Tens Race" game, and met with our Reading Buddies! The afternoon buddies made wonderful stories the children about them which they took home. Many of the SKs have finished Set 6 (of 7) of their Phonics booklets and the JKs have almost finished their Phonics duotangs as well. Great work!
Please remember to return Library Books, Snuggle Books and the laminated Alphabet/Phonics folders. Thank you.
Thank you so much as always to our Parent Volunteers - Mystery Readers were Dana's dad and mom, Samantha's mom, Jamie and Alexandra from Grade One, and Kasen's mom. Reading Club was done by our Grade Eight helpers as well as Anna's mom, Tatum's mom and Carly's mom. The white bags and snuggle books were done by Emma and Jonas' mom, Logan's mom, Dana's mom. Jack B.'s mom and Mrs. Najder.
I hope you have had a wonderful Father's Day!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Saturday, June 1
Please excuse the lack of formatting/paragraphs - this is a new bog format and I can't seem to figure that out yet...
This week we learned about the dime and quarter and opened up our store in the Dramatic Play centre. The kids love it! They also are working on Money Booklets and sang the Money Song at this week's Sharing Assembly. They also recited a little poem called "I Look in the Mirror" to complement this month's TDSB character trait of Integrity. We also listed to the big book "Squirrel Store" and learned about Special Coins (for example, those used to commemorate the Vancouver Olympics). We are also learning about the concept of 5 which ties in nicely with the unit on money. Our next and last unit this year will be on 3-Shapes. The kids also had fun in the listening centre listening to Five Little Monkeys along with the accompanying puppets.
We had two special guests come into each class to talk about Grade One: Jamie M. and Daniel answered questions for the Morning Class and Alexandra and Jamie L. talked to the Afternoon Class about Grade One. The SKs are excited about moving on to full day school and it was great to hear the Grade Ones share their experiences!
We are also working on a special Father's Day craft that the children will bring home on the 15th.
This week we learned and reviewed the Jolly Phonics letter sound "v." The children's reading is really coming along and I am very proud of them! Below is a summary of the Jolly Phonics sounds we have learned (JKs) and reviewed (SKs):
JK Parents – Please review the following Jolly Phonics Sounds with your child:
s a t i p n c k e h r m d
g o u l f b j z w v y x
SK Parents – Your child has learned and reviewed sounds and should review the following two-letter sounds:
ai oa ie ee or ng
oo (long and short) ch sh th
qu ou oi ue er ar
Remember – if you can read it, you can write it !
Continue to practise the sounds daily and have fun sounding out these words!
cup on get flip kick land
pig fun gas band pen dad
bun hog loft run hop gift
flap log leg mud bit rot
from its let up grill tub
top spot pot lick but lap
sniff flag mom soft brick fan
frog slip flat luck fog lamp
grip pack grin sink stop spill
big spin bug sift ring lad
gap fin spell frill hem peck
gruff sun gulp ill egg in
at rat pest hip nap met
tin tap pet tan sing spend
quilt chair shell pie boat buzz
Please have fun reading the weekly laminated file folders I have made of the Letter Sounds and return them so that your child can get a new one.
Thank you so much to the Parent Volunteers who took the time to help out in the classroom this week: Bags and Snuggle Books were done by Sienna's mom and Taylor's mom, Mystery Reader was Ava's Mom, and Reading Club was done by Charlie's mom.
If anyone has any Wedgits stacking toys that they are not using we would love them in the classroom. Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Sunday, May 27
The past two weeks have been busy in our classroom! We finished our unit on Life Cycles and made a bulletin board based on Eric Carle's wonderful book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We are also tracking the weather each day and will summarize our findings at the end of the month (graphing and patterning). The children created some wonderful art with the help of a visit from an artist - thank you to Parent Council for funding this wonderful experience for the children. The children also completed the sentences "I like/don't like rain because...", completed the Phonics sounds W and NG, and the SKs made a booklet called "I know it's Spring when..."
The children also made booklets called "What Do Plants Need?" and "Who is in the Barn?" They can read these booklets and would love to read them to you! They also made spider booklets and love to read those too!
Both classes welcomed their Reading Buddies, Grade 8 Reading Buddies, and enjoyed going to the Book Fair. The children also practiced role-playing with puppets on what to do if they are bullied.
We also completed our May calendars (reviewing how to correctly write 1-31) and started our new unit on Canadian Coins and their values.
Thank you so much to our recent parent volunteers: white bags and snuggle books were done by Declan's mom and Cameron D's mom, Reading Club was done by Emma and Jonas' mom and Tatum's mom. Our Mystery Readers were Charlie's mom and Jamie who is in Grade 1 now (great job Jamie!).
Please remember to bring in the Pizza Lunch form and money by May 31st. Summer Scholastic Orders are also due on May 31st.
Please remember that the children should be wearing closed-toe shoes.
Have a wonderful week!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
It was an exciting week this week since all our butterflies hatched and the children were able to hold them briefly before they started to fly! We released them into the Kindergarten garden and made butterfly puppets to remember them with.
The children have been working hard on their Mother's Day gifts and also brought home the sunflowers they planted. They are ready to go in a sunny spot in your garden and by August should be taller than the kids! In the fall you can cut the top off, leave it to dry for about 2 weeks, then plant the new sunflowers or leave them as food for birds and squirrels.
The children did a terrific job reciting two poems about apples at this week's Sharing Assembly! They have become such excellent audience members and performers!
Next week we welcome Artist Janeen from Lello Art Works who will help the children create a little work of art on the theme of Kandinsky. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help! Thank you also to Parent Council who paid for this special opportunity.
I am busy preparing for this year's SK Graduation which will take place on June 27. It's going to be a special day for everyone!
Our two new poems are "I Look in the Mirror" and "I`m a Little Tulip." We will perform them at the May 21 Sharing Assembly:
I Look in the Mirror
I look in the mirror
and what do I see?
A pair of eyes
looks back at me.
A nose, two ears, two eyebrows, too.
Two lips, and teeth, to say,
"I love you."
I look in the mirror
and what do I see?
I look in the mirror
and I see ME!
_________________________________________
I'm a Little Tulip
I'm a Little Tulip
On my stem,
Here are my green leaves,
See how they bend.
A tulip all alone
Might droop its head,
But I'm happy because
I'm in a flower bed!
Thank you so much to this week's Mystery Readers: Emma and Jonas' grandmother, and Nico! Thank you so much as well to Carly's mom and Taylor's mom who did the white bags and snuggle books. It's a time-consuming job and I really appreciate your help!
Your child received one of the 46 new laminated letter-sound folders I made. Please encourage your child to read it with you and be sure to return it next week so they can get a new one!
This week the children attended "Just Kidding," an excellent and informative session on bullying. They also did a terrific job during our fire drills and lock down drills. Good job!
Let's cross our fingers that the Spring weather is here to stay - now is the time to think about hats and sunscreen for your children. Please remember that they should wear closed-toe shoes outside. Flip-flops don't protect their little toes.
I wish you all a very wonderful Mother's Day and thank you all again for all your help and support throughout the year.
Mrs. Tyndall
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27
Hello families,
April is almost over and we have been busy learning about Life Cycles. The children planted their sunflower seeds and have watched them sprout. When they reach their full height in the summer the plants will be taller than they are
The children have also marvelled at how quickly our Painted Lady Caterpillar larvae have been growing. When they arrived they were only about 3 mm long, and now they are over 2 cm long! Once they attach themselves to their lids (branches, in nature) and form a pupa, we will have to wait patiently until they change into butterflies! We have read Eric Carle's wonderful book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and are completing a number of associated literary, numeracy and art-based activities. We are doing a caterpillar alphabet and caterpillar numbers 1-20 and are also creating a Carle-style art piece of our own classroom caterpillar and are reviewing days of the week which go along with Carle's story. We will also tie this in with healthy eating (another theme of Carle's Hungry Caterpillar book) which will lead nicely into our unit on Canadian Coins and their Values when I open our Grocery Store Centre next month. We have recently completed the letter-sound combinations OA, IE, EE and OR ("when there are two vowels walking the first one does the talking"). In today's white bag, you will find a laminated file folder with several words containing one of 46 letter sounds/letter combination sounds. I have made these and am distributing them weekly to reinforce the letter sounds we learn in Kindergarten and hope you enjoy reading them with your child. S/he will receive a new one each week. They should be returned in the white bag along with their Snuggle Book. Thank you. To celebrate Earth Week the children participated in Eco-Oplympics which were run by the LKS Eco Warriors. It was a lot of fun! The children also created Earth Wheels which helped explain which things we can recycle. They also made a set of Earth Week Memory Cards to play at home. I have almost finished re-organizing my room and have created a new Listening Centre (which the children are really enjoying), a larger Writing Centre, a Reading/Phonics Centre, and I have widened the Circle/Teaching Area. I have also re-organized several hundred books in bins according to their title, and I have re-organized the Dramatic Centre, and changed it to a Flower Shop for now. Themed books go in our Reading Library; I have put out Earth-related books as well as a large set of Franklin Books. There's always something new going on! I am still looking for my Bat Man Phonics set - if you have it please kindly return it. Thank you! Thank you so much to the Parent Volunteers this week: Reading Club: Charlie's mom Mystery Reader: Samantha's mom White Bags: Carly's dad, Logan's mom We really appreciate your help! Thank you as well to our Grade Parents who have worked hard organizing the SpringFest Silent Auction baskets. It's a busy time of the year! Have a great weekend.
April is almost over and we have been busy learning about Life Cycles. The children planted their sunflower seeds and have watched them sprout. When they reach their full height in the summer the plants will be taller than they are
The children have also marvelled at how quickly our Painted Lady Caterpillar larvae have been growing. When they arrived they were only about 3 mm long, and now they are over 2 cm long! Once they attach themselves to their lids (branches, in nature) and form a pupa, we will have to wait patiently until they change into butterflies! We have read Eric Carle's wonderful book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and are completing a number of associated literary, numeracy and art-based activities. We are doing a caterpillar alphabet and caterpillar numbers 1-20 and are also creating a Carle-style art piece of our own classroom caterpillar and are reviewing days of the week which go along with Carle's story. We will also tie this in with healthy eating (another theme of Carle's Hungry Caterpillar book) which will lead nicely into our unit on Canadian Coins and their Values when I open our Grocery Store Centre next month. We have recently completed the letter-sound combinations OA, IE, EE and OR ("when there are two vowels walking the first one does the talking"). In today's white bag, you will find a laminated file folder with several words containing one of 46 letter sounds/letter combination sounds. I have made these and am distributing them weekly to reinforce the letter sounds we learn in Kindergarten and hope you enjoy reading them with your child. S/he will receive a new one each week. They should be returned in the white bag along with their Snuggle Book. Thank you. To celebrate Earth Week the children participated in Eco-Oplympics which were run by the LKS Eco Warriors. It was a lot of fun! The children also created Earth Wheels which helped explain which things we can recycle. They also made a set of Earth Week Memory Cards to play at home. I have almost finished re-organizing my room and have created a new Listening Centre (which the children are really enjoying), a larger Writing Centre, a Reading/Phonics Centre, and I have widened the Circle/Teaching Area. I have also re-organized several hundred books in bins according to their title, and I have re-organized the Dramatic Centre, and changed it to a Flower Shop for now. Themed books go in our Reading Library; I have put out Earth-related books as well as a large set of Franklin Books. There's always something new going on! I am still looking for my Bat Man Phonics set - if you have it please kindly return it. Thank you! Thank you so much to the Parent Volunteers this week: Reading Club: Charlie's mom Mystery Reader: Samantha's mom White Bags: Carly's dad, Logan's mom We really appreciate your help! Thank you as well to our Grade Parents who have worked hard organizing the SpringFest Silent Auction baskets. It's a busy time of the year! Have a great weekend.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Friday, April 6
Dear families,
With this wonderful Spring weather the children have been learning to read and write Spring words and Easter Words, and the two new poems we are learning are Apple Seed and Way Up High, copies of which I have sent home. We will be opening a pretend flower store in the Dramatic Centre as well which the children are really looking forward to! We also made booklets called Five Little Seeds and will be planting our Sunflower seeds next week. We also read Eric Carle's book Tiny Seed and wrote about what we did in March and so far in April. The children's reading and writing skills have come along so much and I am very proud of them!
We are now on Book Four (of Six) of the Jolly Phonics Program and haved just learned the letter/sound group "OA" : boat, oak, moat, croak, soak, oats, soap, goat, etc. The Seniors are doing a great job completing their Phonics Duotang sets and are proud of completing each set! The Juniors are also coming along in their junior levels Phonics Duotangs.
In Numeracy we are reviewing counting by 5s and review simple math each day as we count the days at Calendar Time. Their number recognition is very good! The children also completed their March calendars and the SKs are writing numbers with few or no reversals which is great! The JKs are continuing to learn number recognotion and writing alongside the SKs.
I am starting to plan the SK Graduation on June 27 and will need 4-5 volunteers that day to help. Please let your Grade Parents know if you are available.
I am in the process of rearranging my classroom to make for a larger writing centre and will be opening up a Listening Centre soon as well. I have also moved the Creative/Craft Centre to the "red table." I am also clearing out some of the toys the children do not use to make more space for literacy-based centres.
Next week we will be creating a book called Little Spider based on Eric Carle's book The Very Busy Spider. Our Reading Budddies will help us make the webs!
The Refridgerator Words of this week and last are:
if
in
into
is
it
had
have
he
to
too
two
up
us
very
was
water
Please post the lists I sent home and practice these words at home with your child to reinforce his/her learning at school.
FOr a Spring Craft the children had a fun time dipping their eggs in different colours of food colouring, then painting glue on and rolling them in glitter! We made little baskets for the eggs and made clay eggs as well. The children did a great job weaving ribbon around their baskets. Thank you to all the parents who brought eggs and baskets in! Next week we will be finishing our wall paper bunnies.
The children also had great fun on their outdoor Egg Hunt! Thank you to the terrific Student Council members and Mr. Kuru who helped organize this event!
On April 24 the LKS Eco Warriors will be coordinating an Eco Olympics for the Kindergartners! Stay tuned for more information!
A very special thank you to Cameron B.'s mom who talked to the children about her job with the provincial government taking care of Ontario's water! She did a wonderful job explaining where our water comes from, how it can get polluted, how to conserve it, and how to take care of our water sources. Thank you again! As a follow up activity the children will colour a page about Sources of Water and will learn water vocabulary (lake, river, glacier, etc.). A great little Science Unit!
The children also really enjoyed visiting the Grade Three Medieval Castle projects in Mr. Littlejohn's and Mr. Ross' rooms.
Thank you as well to our Parent Volunteers and thank you as always to our Grade Parents who keep you informed about school-wide events such as SpringFest. This year for SpringFest the Kindergarten classes will be collecting items for a basket to be raffled off.
I hope you have a very happy Easter Weekend!
Mrs. Tyndall
With this wonderful Spring weather the children have been learning to read and write Spring words and Easter Words, and the two new poems we are learning are Apple Seed and Way Up High, copies of which I have sent home. We will be opening a pretend flower store in the Dramatic Centre as well which the children are really looking forward to! We also made booklets called Five Little Seeds and will be planting our Sunflower seeds next week. We also read Eric Carle's book Tiny Seed and wrote about what we did in March and so far in April. The children's reading and writing skills have come along so much and I am very proud of them!
We are now on Book Four (of Six) of the Jolly Phonics Program and haved just learned the letter/sound group "OA" : boat, oak, moat, croak, soak, oats, soap, goat, etc. The Seniors are doing a great job completing their Phonics Duotang sets and are proud of completing each set! The Juniors are also coming along in their junior levels Phonics Duotangs.
In Numeracy we are reviewing counting by 5s and review simple math each day as we count the days at Calendar Time. Their number recognition is very good! The children also completed their March calendars and the SKs are writing numbers with few or no reversals which is great! The JKs are continuing to learn number recognotion and writing alongside the SKs.
I am starting to plan the SK Graduation on June 27 and will need 4-5 volunteers that day to help. Please let your Grade Parents know if you are available.
I am in the process of rearranging my classroom to make for a larger writing centre and will be opening up a Listening Centre soon as well. I have also moved the Creative/Craft Centre to the "red table." I am also clearing out some of the toys the children do not use to make more space for literacy-based centres.
Next week we will be creating a book called Little Spider based on Eric Carle's book The Very Busy Spider. Our Reading Budddies will help us make the webs!
The Refridgerator Words of this week and last are:
if
in
into
is
it
had
have
he
to
too
two
up
us
very
was
water
Please post the lists I sent home and practice these words at home with your child to reinforce his/her learning at school.
FOr a Spring Craft the children had a fun time dipping their eggs in different colours of food colouring, then painting glue on and rolling them in glitter! We made little baskets for the eggs and made clay eggs as well. The children did a great job weaving ribbon around their baskets. Thank you to all the parents who brought eggs and baskets in! Next week we will be finishing our wall paper bunnies.
The children also had great fun on their outdoor Egg Hunt! Thank you to the terrific Student Council members and Mr. Kuru who helped organize this event!
On April 24 the LKS Eco Warriors will be coordinating an Eco Olympics for the Kindergartners! Stay tuned for more information!
A very special thank you to Cameron B.'s mom who talked to the children about her job with the provincial government taking care of Ontario's water! She did a wonderful job explaining where our water comes from, how it can get polluted, how to conserve it, and how to take care of our water sources. Thank you again! As a follow up activity the children will colour a page about Sources of Water and will learn water vocabulary (lake, river, glacier, etc.). A great little Science Unit!
The children also really enjoyed visiting the Grade Three Medieval Castle projects in Mr. Littlejohn's and Mr. Ross' rooms.
Thank you as well to our Parent Volunteers and thank you as always to our Grade Parents who keep you informed about school-wide events such as SpringFest. This year for SpringFest the Kindergarten classes will be collecting items for a basket to be raffled off.
I hope you have a very happy Easter Weekend!
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Saturday, March 24
Hello families,
We continued our unit on Community Helpers with a class visit from Bob, our Crossing Guard. I am also arranging a visit from Ron Jones, a Toronto Firefighter. He visited my classroom last year and did a wonderful job teaching the children about safety.
We are learning to count by 5s and to understand the concepts of the numbers 1-10, i.e. that 5=1+4, 2+3, 5+0; 10=9+1, 8+2, 7+3, etc. We also finished our St. Patrick's Day booklets with our Reading Buddies and presented a St. Patrick's day skit during our Sharing Assembly. The children did a wonderful job!
Thank you so much to this week's Parent Volunteers: Reading Club was done by Carly's mom and Taylor's mom; Mystery Readers were Anna's mom and Sam's mom; TDSB bags were done by Charlie's mom and Logan's mom; Snuggle Books were done by Mrs. Tyndall and Logan's mom.
I have ordered Painted Lady Butterfly Larvae from Boreal and they should arrive the week of April 16! The children will learn about the life cycle of the butterfly and when the larvae change to pupae and then butterflies, we will release them outside! We will also be learning about the life cycle of plants and have made booklets with five different kinds of seeds (corn, allspice, coriander, cardamom and caraway). We will be planting mini watermelon seeds as well and the plants will be ready to plant in your gardens in May.
Have a great weekend!
We continued our unit on Community Helpers with a class visit from Bob, our Crossing Guard. I am also arranging a visit from Ron Jones, a Toronto Firefighter. He visited my classroom last year and did a wonderful job teaching the children about safety.
We are learning to count by 5s and to understand the concepts of the numbers 1-10, i.e. that 5=1+4, 2+3, 5+0; 10=9+1, 8+2, 7+3, etc. We also finished our St. Patrick's Day booklets with our Reading Buddies and presented a St. Patrick's day skit during our Sharing Assembly. The children did a wonderful job!
Thank you so much to this week's Parent Volunteers: Reading Club was done by Carly's mom and Taylor's mom; Mystery Readers were Anna's mom and Sam's mom; TDSB bags were done by Charlie's mom and Logan's mom; Snuggle Books were done by Mrs. Tyndall and Logan's mom.
I have ordered Painted Lady Butterfly Larvae from Boreal and they should arrive the week of April 16! The children will learn about the life cycle of the butterfly and when the larvae change to pupae and then butterflies, we will release them outside! We will also be learning about the life cycle of plants and have made booklets with five different kinds of seeds (corn, allspice, coriander, cardamom and caraway). We will be planting mini watermelon seeds as well and the plants will be ready to plant in your gardens in May.
Have a great weekend!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Saturday, March 10
This was an exciting week as we started our unit on Community Helpers and welcomed several parents to our classroom to talk about their jobs. Thank you very much again to Emma and Jonas' dad for telling us all about being a Bone Surgeon (and thank you for the surgeon's masks, gloves and hats!). The children were fascinated by the x-rays and vertebrae; thank you to Luke's mom, who talked to the children about saving money and what a bank does (thank you for all the piggy banks too!); and thank you to Jacob's mom, who did a wonderful job talking to the children about her job as a Nurse at Sick Kids' Hospital (thank you for the masks!). We are looking forward to when Ava's mom will talk to the children about her job at a TV Station!
I have booked Officer Ritch from 22 Division who will talk to the a.m. and p.m. children about Safety on April 10, and we will also meet Firefighter Ron after the March Break. Please let me know if you are able to come in to talk to the kids for about 20-30 minutes - it's something they will rememember!
We are learning to count by 2s and 5s and are now up to the sound "ai" in our Jolly Phonics Series. Examples of these words that we have been learning are: aim, brain, snail, train, gain, mail, rain, gain, main, pain, vain, tail, etc.
This week's "Refridgerator Words" are:
pest
tap
pin
is
pit
snap
in
man
red
dip
Also, an excellent website for Kindergarten level Learning to Read is called www.starfall.com. The children love it and it has four different levels.
I am still missing some Snuggle Books - if you have "Biscuit and the Box", "The Number One", or "A Trunk for Buck" please return it. Thank you. We will be starting a new series of take-home Snuggle Books after the break. Also, if anyone has my Batman Phonics Set please return it to our Reading Club basket. Thank you!
Our morning Reading Buddies worked on a St. Patrick's Day Booklet with the children. The afternoon Reading Buddies interviewed my students for a special book they are writing.
Thank you so much to this week's Parent Volunteers:
Reading Club: Lewis' mom, Charlie's mom
White Bags: Charlie's mom, Cameron D.'s mom
I hope you and your families have a wonderful and safe March Break! When we come back it will be Spring!
Mrs. Tyndall
I have booked Officer Ritch from 22 Division who will talk to the a.m. and p.m. children about Safety on April 10, and we will also meet Firefighter Ron after the March Break. Please let me know if you are able to come in to talk to the kids for about 20-30 minutes - it's something they will rememember!
We are learning to count by 2s and 5s and are now up to the sound "ai" in our Jolly Phonics Series. Examples of these words that we have been learning are: aim, brain, snail, train, gain, mail, rain, gain, main, pain, vain, tail, etc.
This week's "Refridgerator Words" are:
pest
tap
pin
is
pit
snap
in
man
red
dip
Also, an excellent website for Kindergarten level Learning to Read is called www.starfall.com. The children love it and it has four different levels.
I am still missing some Snuggle Books - if you have "Biscuit and the Box", "The Number One", or "A Trunk for Buck" please return it. Thank you. We will be starting a new series of take-home Snuggle Books after the break. Also, if anyone has my Batman Phonics Set please return it to our Reading Club basket. Thank you!
Our morning Reading Buddies worked on a St. Patrick's Day Booklet with the children. The afternoon Reading Buddies interviewed my students for a special book they are writing.
Thank you so much to this week's Parent Volunteers:
Reading Club: Lewis' mom, Charlie's mom
White Bags: Charlie's mom, Cameron D.'s mom
I hope you and your families have a wonderful and safe March Break! When we come back it will be Spring!
Mrs. Tyndall
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Sunday, March 4
Hello families,
Our skating parties this week (a.m. class) and last (p.m. class) were a lot of fun and we had good weather! The children had a great time and thank you so very much to all the parents who came out to tie skates.
On Thursday, Scientist in the Classroom Patricia taught the children All About Bugs, which was a good lead-in to Spring. Thanks to all the parent volunteers on this day as well.
If your SK child's Phonics duotang has been sent home please work on it and return it to school on Monday/Tuesday. We are now starting Set 4 of the series.
If your child has received the Alphabet and Numbers Photo Book please read it with your child and return it the next day so that another child can read it. Thank you. It will take approximately 43 days to go through the morning and afternoon classes.
The afternoon class will be interviewed this upcoming week by their Reading Buddies and they, Mrs. Zappi's students, will follow this up by writing a story about their reading Buddy. Morning Reading Buddies completed a booklet together about Mittens.
If you are going to a sunny destination over the March Break please bring back as many small seashells as you can for a special craft project. Shells that have holes in them (for putting string through) are preferable. Thank you!
Thanks as always to this week's Parent Volunteers:
Reading Club: Olivia's mom
Mystery Reader: Tatum's mom, Sienna's dad
White Bags: Declan's mom (a.m.)
Starting next week we will be welcoming parents who will be talking about their occupations as we learn about Community Helpers: thank you so much in advance to Emma and Jonas' father Arne who will talk to the a.m. children about being a Bone Doctor (Orthopaedic Surgeon); Luke's mom Michelle (a.m. class) who will talk to the children about her work in a Bank and all about saving/investing money (a great lead-in to our unit on Canadian coins and their values); Jacob's mom (p.m. class) who will talk about her work as a Pediatric Nurse. If you would like to volunteer to talk to the children about your work (only about 20 minutes is necessary) please just send me an email and we will arrange a time suitable to your schedule. I will also be arranging for Bob the Crossing Guard and a Toronto Firefighter to speak to the children about their jobs as Community Helpers. More information to follow.
I apologize for forgetting to email parents whose children received TDSB Character Trait certificates this month. I usually remember to send out emails but forgot this month. I am so sorry!
Wishing you a good weekend,
Mrs. Tyndall
Our skating parties this week (a.m. class) and last (p.m. class) were a lot of fun and we had good weather! The children had a great time and thank you so very much to all the parents who came out to tie skates.
On Thursday, Scientist in the Classroom Patricia taught the children All About Bugs, which was a good lead-in to Spring. Thanks to all the parent volunteers on this day as well.
If your SK child's Phonics duotang has been sent home please work on it and return it to school on Monday/Tuesday. We are now starting Set 4 of the series.
If your child has received the Alphabet and Numbers Photo Book please read it with your child and return it the next day so that another child can read it. Thank you. It will take approximately 43 days to go through the morning and afternoon classes.
The afternoon class will be interviewed this upcoming week by their Reading Buddies and they, Mrs. Zappi's students, will follow this up by writing a story about their reading Buddy. Morning Reading Buddies completed a booklet together about Mittens.
If you are going to a sunny destination over the March Break please bring back as many small seashells as you can for a special craft project. Shells that have holes in them (for putting string through) are preferable. Thank you!
Thanks as always to this week's Parent Volunteers:
Reading Club: Olivia's mom
Mystery Reader: Tatum's mom, Sienna's dad
White Bags: Declan's mom (a.m.)
Starting next week we will be welcoming parents who will be talking about their occupations as we learn about Community Helpers: thank you so much in advance to Emma and Jonas' father Arne who will talk to the a.m. children about being a Bone Doctor (Orthopaedic Surgeon); Luke's mom Michelle (a.m. class) who will talk to the children about her work in a Bank and all about saving/investing money (a great lead-in to our unit on Canadian coins and their values); Jacob's mom (p.m. class) who will talk about her work as a Pediatric Nurse. If you would like to volunteer to talk to the children about your work (only about 20 minutes is necessary) please just send me an email and we will arrange a time suitable to your schedule. I will also be arranging for Bob the Crossing Guard and a Toronto Firefighter to speak to the children about their jobs as Community Helpers. More information to follow.
I apologize for forgetting to email parents whose children received TDSB Character Trait certificates this month. I usually remember to send out emails but forgot this month. I am so sorry!
Wishing you a good weekend,
Mrs. Tyndall
Monday, February 27, 2012
February 27, 2012
It was a pleasure speaking with you on parent-teacher interviews. Thank you for taking the time to come in.
At today's Sharing Assembly the children sang their Popcorn Word song. Great job!
All families should have received a copy of our snack/special day schedules from March-June.
The afternoon class has started reading with their book buddies from Mrs. Zappi's Grade 3 class! The children have exchanged cards and had a great time reading together.
On March 1st we will be welcoming a Scientist in the Classroom. Thank you to all our parents who are volunteering for this event.
This week's Refridgerator Words are:
let
nap
pat
dot
top
pot
on
sit
sat
tan
Your next Scholastic Order is due February 29th. The following Scholastic Order is due March 31st.
Thank you to our most recent parent volunteers for their time:
Mystery readers: William's mom, Sam's mom, Logan's mom, Lola's dad, Sienna's mom, Cameron D.'s mom, Naomi's mom, Alex H.'s mom
White Bags and Snuggle Books: Dana's mom, Olivia's mom, Chloe's mom, Sienna's mom. Logan's mom, Charlie's mom
Reading Club: Anna's mom, Lewis' mom, Carly's mom, Tatum's mom
Thank you as well to all the parents who volunteered to help with our activities on 100th Day and Valentine's Day.
The Afternoon Class had great weather for their skating party. Morning Class, please remember to wear helmets for our skating party tomorrow.
We are starting our unit on Community Helpers. If you would like to volunteer to speak to the children about your job please send me an email with some dates/times suitable to you and we will schedule your visit!
Finally, thank you to all the parents to attended our Kindergarten Literacy Evening.
At today's Sharing Assembly the children sang their Popcorn Word song. Great job!
All families should have received a copy of our snack/special day schedules from March-June.
The afternoon class has started reading with their book buddies from Mrs. Zappi's Grade 3 class! The children have exchanged cards and had a great time reading together.
On March 1st we will be welcoming a Scientist in the Classroom. Thank you to all our parents who are volunteering for this event.
This week's Refridgerator Words are:
let
nap
pat
dot
top
pot
on
sit
sat
tan
Your next Scholastic Order is due February 29th. The following Scholastic Order is due March 31st.
Thank you to our most recent parent volunteers for their time:
Mystery readers: William's mom, Sam's mom, Logan's mom, Lola's dad, Sienna's mom, Cameron D.'s mom, Naomi's mom, Alex H.'s mom
White Bags and Snuggle Books: Dana's mom, Olivia's mom, Chloe's mom, Sienna's mom. Logan's mom, Charlie's mom
Reading Club: Anna's mom, Lewis' mom, Carly's mom, Tatum's mom
Thank you as well to all the parents who volunteered to help with our activities on 100th Day and Valentine's Day.
The Afternoon Class had great weather for their skating party. Morning Class, please remember to wear helmets for our skating party tomorrow.
We are starting our unit on Community Helpers. If you would like to volunteer to speak to the children about your job please send me an email with some dates/times suitable to you and we will schedule your visit!
Finally, thank you to all the parents to attended our Kindergarten Literacy Evening.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Happy 100th Day!
Happy 100th Day of school! The children have been looking forward to this day for a long time and had fun completing five activities (with the help of our parent volunteers - thank you!) related to 100th Day. `Zero the Zebra`came out to play three times because 100th Day also fell on February 10. The children also created a 100th Day booklet which went home this week.
A reminder that the next Scholastic Order is due on February 29th.
Please also send in your child`s permission forms for Skating at Lambton Arena on February 28 (Morning Class) and February 23 (Afternoon Class). Remember that helmets must be worn on the ice. Thank you! All parents who volunteered are welcome to help out with the laces etc. - the more the merrier!
There are a number of winter articles and shoes in our Lost and Found bag in the classroom`s cloak room. Please check it from time to time.
We have been hard at work practicing our `Popcorn Words` which are words that `pop up`frequently when reading. The accompanying song goes to the tune of `Mary had a little lamb`:
Like in to no am a that
can me yes
I of the
you me he is was go see and
it big my went
Please practice this song backwards and forwards with your child at home.
Please also be sure to attend the upcoming Kindergarten Literacy Information Night on February 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Library.
Have a great weekend!
A reminder that the next Scholastic Order is due on February 29th.
Please also send in your child`s permission forms for Skating at Lambton Arena on February 28 (Morning Class) and February 23 (Afternoon Class). Remember that helmets must be worn on the ice. Thank you! All parents who volunteered are welcome to help out with the laces etc. - the more the merrier!
There are a number of winter articles and shoes in our Lost and Found bag in the classroom`s cloak room. Please check it from time to time.
We have been hard at work practicing our `Popcorn Words` which are words that `pop up`frequently when reading. The accompanying song goes to the tune of `Mary had a little lamb`:
Like in to no am a that
can me yes
I of the
you me he is was go see and
it big my went
Please practice this song backwards and forwards with your child at home.
Please also be sure to attend the upcoming Kindergarten Literacy Information Night on February 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Library.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 26
What a busy week it has been! Yesterday Story Teller Cheryl Thorton told the children wonderful stories from all over the world.
Sam the Space Man has arrived! He will help us remember to put spaces between our words. I will make a Space man for each of the SK children that they can also bring to Grade One in September.
SKs are bringing home a list of "100 most frequently used words." All children are bringing home 5 of these words per week to practice at home; this week's words are A, DID, HER, OVER and THIS.
The Afternoon Class is starting Reading Buddies next week with Mrs. Zappi's class! This is a wonderful weekly opportunity for children to read and be read to by chidlren in the LKS community, as well as make new friends!
Thank you to this week's volunteers: Gramma Shirley and Sam's mom did Reading Club; Lola's Dad and Raine's dad were the Mystery Readers; White Bags and Snuggle Books were done by Anna's mom and Olivia's mom. Thank you!
Just a reminder that the children need indoor shoes or slippers (Crocs are easy for the children to get on and off) that remain in their cubbies. Also, some children are still arriving at school with no snow pants, hats or gloves – please make sure they have these items since they play outside each day. Please encourage your children to dress and undress themselves each day to promote independence. Snow pants, coats, hats, scarves, boots, and lastly mitts.
Parent-Teacher Interviews will be February 15-17 and are booked online. The JKs will be receiving their first Progress Report this term and the SKs do not receive a Progress Report this term. Both JKs and SKs receive a report in June. I have requested some parents to meet with me to discuss their child’s progress. I will let you know the "Event Code" to book interviews at www.schoolbookings.net as soon as the office makes it available to us.
There are many excellent iPad Apps that reinforce letter and word recognition, basic math skills, and printing and drawing skills. They are fun and very helpful! Here is a list of some we recommend:
Word Bingo
Reading Skills 1, 2 and 3
Spelling Magic abc 1, 2 and 3
Sentence Magic 1
ABC Magic 2 and 3
Montessori Words
Math Series
Mad Math
Coin Swap
Math Bingo
Big Trace
Learn to Write - especially for JKs!
Chalkboard
Doodle Buddy
Sound Sorting
Please remember to prepare and send in your child's 100 items for our 100th Day of School Celebrations on February 10th. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered for this special day!
Valentine’s Day is coming soon! I would ask that your child remember to include one Valentine for each of their classmates. The children's names can be found on the list of contact information you received in September. Letting your child write them out on their own is great practise using a capital for the first letter in someone’s name and lower case letters for the rest if possible. Students can start bringing in their Valentines on February 7th and we will sort them together. Please remember that any treats must be labelled nut-free.
We will be having a Valentine Party on Valentine's Day starting at 10:00 (morning class) and 2:00 (afternoon class). I will need 5 volunteers for each class to help with the activities and crafts. Please let your Grade Parent know if you are available to volunteer. If you would like to bring in juice boxes and or nut- free valentines treats please let your Grade Parent know as well.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.
Sam the Space Man has arrived! He will help us remember to put spaces between our words. I will make a Space man for each of the SK children that they can also bring to Grade One in September.
SKs are bringing home a list of "100 most frequently used words." All children are bringing home 5 of these words per week to practice at home; this week's words are A, DID, HER, OVER and THIS.
The Afternoon Class is starting Reading Buddies next week with Mrs. Zappi's class! This is a wonderful weekly opportunity for children to read and be read to by chidlren in the LKS community, as well as make new friends!
Thank you to this week's volunteers: Gramma Shirley and Sam's mom did Reading Club; Lola's Dad and Raine's dad were the Mystery Readers; White Bags and Snuggle Books were done by Anna's mom and Olivia's mom. Thank you!
Just a reminder that the children need indoor shoes or slippers (Crocs are easy for the children to get on and off) that remain in their cubbies. Also, some children are still arriving at school with no snow pants, hats or gloves – please make sure they have these items since they play outside each day. Please encourage your children to dress and undress themselves each day to promote independence. Snow pants, coats, hats, scarves, boots, and lastly mitts.
Parent-Teacher Interviews will be February 15-17 and are booked online. The JKs will be receiving their first Progress Report this term and the SKs do not receive a Progress Report this term. Both JKs and SKs receive a report in June. I have requested some parents to meet with me to discuss their child’s progress. I will let you know the "Event Code" to book interviews at www.schoolbookings.net as soon as the office makes it available to us.
There are many excellent iPad Apps that reinforce letter and word recognition, basic math skills, and printing and drawing skills. They are fun and very helpful! Here is a list of some we recommend:
Word Bingo
Reading Skills 1, 2 and 3
Spelling Magic abc 1, 2 and 3
Sentence Magic 1
ABC Magic 2 and 3
Montessori Words
Math Series
Mad Math
Coin Swap
Math Bingo
Big Trace
Learn to Write - especially for JKs!
Chalkboard
Doodle Buddy
Sound Sorting
Please remember to prepare and send in your child's 100 items for our 100th Day of School Celebrations on February 10th. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered for this special day!
Valentine’s Day is coming soon! I would ask that your child remember to include one Valentine for each of their classmates. The children's names can be found on the list of contact information you received in September. Letting your child write them out on their own is great practise using a capital for the first letter in someone’s name and lower case letters for the rest if possible. Students can start bringing in their Valentines on February 7th and we will sort them together. Please remember that any treats must be labelled nut-free.
We will be having a Valentine Party on Valentine's Day starting at 10:00 (morning class) and 2:00 (afternoon class). I will need 5 volunteers for each class to help with the activities and crafts. Please let your Grade Parent know if you are available to volunteer. If you would like to bring in juice boxes and or nut- free valentines treats please let your Grade Parent know as well.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Welcome back!
Welcome back to school after a nice winter break! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Just a few short notes for this week:
We have two new children in our morning classroom! Please welcome twins Jonas and Emma to our school community!
Thank you to this week's parent volunteers - Mystery Readers were Carly's dad and Lewis' mom. Remember to email your Grade Parents if you would like to volunteer in the classroom. Please also check your schedule to ensure you remember that you have volunteered. Thank you.
Snow is finally here! Please encourage your child's independence by practising putting on snowpants, then boots, then coat (zippered) then hat, scarf, and finally mittens. Remember also that your child needs indoor shoes/slippers that remain in their cubby. Thank you.
February 10th is the 100th Day of School! We have been counting in 10s and 1s since September and have been learning our numbers in anticipation of this special day. We will celebrate 100th Day by doing a lot of fun numeracy activities. Please help us celebrate and learn by counting with your child and bringing in 100 small items. They could be pennies, sea shells, popsicle sticks, buttons, cotton balls, cheerios, grains of rice, noodles, stars, stamps, shapes, Smarties, etc. Ideally they would be arranged in 10 rows of 10. Please bring your 100 items in by the 10th of February. If you would like to volunteer to help at our 100 Day Party/Craft Day please let your Grade Parent know. I will need five volunteers for each class. If you have volunteered before please consider letting another parent have the opportunity to volunteer as well.
Have a wonderful weekend!
We have two new children in our morning classroom! Please welcome twins Jonas and Emma to our school community!
Thank you to this week's parent volunteers - Mystery Readers were Carly's dad and Lewis' mom. Remember to email your Grade Parents if you would like to volunteer in the classroom. Please also check your schedule to ensure you remember that you have volunteered. Thank you.
Snow is finally here! Please encourage your child's independence by practising putting on snowpants, then boots, then coat (zippered) then hat, scarf, and finally mittens. Remember also that your child needs indoor shoes/slippers that remain in their cubby. Thank you.
February 10th is the 100th Day of School! We have been counting in 10s and 1s since September and have been learning our numbers in anticipation of this special day. We will celebrate 100th Day by doing a lot of fun numeracy activities. Please help us celebrate and learn by counting with your child and bringing in 100 small items. They could be pennies, sea shells, popsicle sticks, buttons, cotton balls, cheerios, grains of rice, noodles, stars, stamps, shapes, Smarties, etc. Ideally they would be arranged in 10 rows of 10. Please bring your 100 items in by the 10th of February. If you would like to volunteer to help at our 100 Day Party/Craft Day please let your Grade Parent know. I will need five volunteers for each class. If you have volunteered before please consider letting another parent have the opportunity to volunteer as well.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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