Week of September 15-19

Dear Parents,

I hope your children had a terrific second week of school!

Thank you for attending Curriculum Night. I hope it was informative and helped you better understand the Full Day Kindergarten program. The Ontario Curriculum Document is available online as well. Thank you as well to all the parents who signed up to volunteer at our various craft days throughout the year, as well as for Thursday Mystery Reader. The children love to see their parents in the classroom! Once I have the confirmed date for Scientist in the Classroom (this year: "I Can Be A Scientist!"), I will forward that to Trudie and Erica, our wonderful Grade Parents, and they will coordinate the volunteers.

This week was the kick off to all that Lambton Kingsway does in preparation for the Terry Fox Run/Walk (the Kinders walk around the school 2, 3 times). The children were wonderfully attentive at their first assembly in the gym and listened as a guest speaker and Mrs. Gibson explained who Terry Fox was and why he is important. There was also an inspiring mini documentary about Terry's life at the assembly, and I have to share that one of the children looked at me and said, "When is the Batman movie going to start?" Well, Batman is a hero is a child's eyes and so is Terry Fox. :)

In the classroom, we read a book about Terry and talked/brainstormed about why he is a Canadian hero. The children then completed the sentence "Terry Fox is..." and drew a picture of him. They are on display on the hall bulletin board. Next week we will talk about how Terry was brave and never gave up, and the children will write and draw a picture about a time they were brave, too. I hope that they understand Terry Fox to be a Canadian Hero who is inspiring to all of us.

This week we completed a small folder about "School" and it would have come home in Friday's mail bag (the white TDSB bag). Please take the time to look at your child's work with them and to ask them what their drawings are about. What we see as circles and lines is a whole picture story to your child. I would also like the children to see themselves as authors and artists, writers and illustrators, just like in the books we read every day.

We also continued our fun Author Study of David Shannon, who wrote the funny and award-winning "David Goes to School," "David Says No," "David Gets in Trouble," and several other books that children love. The children made a cut-and-glue picture of David which is hanging in the classroom. They look great!

As a follow up to the David books, we talked and brainstormed about "peacemakers" and "peacebreakers" in the classroom and what they did. The children's ideas on on our class bulletin board. This was a fun way to introduce and reinforce classroom rules and routines. The children also made a little book called "__________ (their name) Goes to School" and wrote and drew a "Yes!" rule and a "No! rule. Next week we'll finish this mini unit.

In between our writing time the children have also been enjoying working at their inquiry-based centres; they have been counting and patterning, building, shaping, sorting, numbering and classifying several items at their tables. They're really enjoying this time! Of course they are also enjoying the more dramatic-play area such as "Home Centre" and "Puppets." These centres teach social skills such as cooperation so well, and help the children make new friends and get along as a group.

I think the Juniors are really getting to know the classroom as well - they know which table is the "Yellow" or "Purple" table, for example (they have matching pencil cubbies and chair covers), they know where their white boxes are, they know where their unfinished work goes (all the green bins are for the Juniors, Yellow for Seniors), and so on. Wow! Terrific!

Next week we'll work in smaller groups at the Smart Board (JKS - name recognition, letter formation; SKs more complex reading and writing tasks).

We are learning a new song ("Rise and Shine") and a new poem ("Circle of Friends") in class. I send the words home each week and I hope you have fun saying/singing them with your children. This reinforces their reading skills!

We met our Reading Buddies from Ms. Sunde's class for the first time this week! This year we have decided to meet in the much bigger Lunch Room and it is working really well so far - lots more space for the children!

The children are also making "Alphabet Art" in class; I shaped the first letter of their name with masking tape on a piece of card stock and the children paint on top, then we'll remove the tape when it is dry.

I have sent home the September-October Special Person of the Day Calendars. The Show and Tell item for these months is "something that starts with the first letter of my name." For example, Stella brought it sea shells (two Ss! wow!). I have scheduled it such that your child's birthday is on his/her Special Day. Feel free to bring cupcakes/cookies for your child's birthday, as long as they are commercially made and labelled nut-free.

Also, your child's first Scholastic order forms went home this week. A big thank you to Megan and her mom for collating the order forms each month!! Please send in your orders and cheque (payable to Scholastic Canada) in your child's white bag. Books make wonderful gifts and help provide new resources in the classroom. If you would like your child's order to be a surprise, please just write "Gift" or "Surprise" on the order form and I will hand the books personally to you (rather than putting them in your child's backpack) when they arrive. Thank you for supporting Scholastic!

Also a big thank you to Lauren's family for taking such excellent care of Bubbles the Beta Fish over the Summer!

Finally, I would like to send out a friendly reminder to please LABEL everything of your child's. There are 31 little people in our classroom with shoes, jackets, hats, umbrellas, snack boxes, lunch bags, (soon there will be mittens, gloves), etc. etc. Labeling your child's items guarantees the items won't be lost. I found that Mabel's Labels were terrific for my kids, and they liked putting them on their things. Put a label on each item in their lunch box please. Masking tape works too! :)

A big thank you for saying such terrific good byes at the outside door - this really helps your child look forward to school and makes the transition so much easier! Yes, sometimes there are tears, but they quickly disappear with a little sip of water, a tissue, and the hand of a friend.

There will be a little change of the Sharing Assemblies this year; they will be in the GYM and will be from approximately 9:00-9:20 (they'll start right after Announcements).

I've sent home some reading tips. Learning to read starts with letter recognition, letter sound recognition, then moves slowly to blending sounds, sight words, and so on. The most important thing to do now is encourage your child and read with them regularly (before bedtime works well). Remember, if you can read it, you can write it!

I hope you have a terrific week!

Mrs. Tyndall

Week of September 8-12

Dear Parents,

Thank you to everyone who attended the Kindergarten Open House last week. I enjoyed meeting you and I am looking forward to being your child's teacher this year.

This week we reviewed/learned classroom routines and the children enjoyed playing at various inquiry-based centres. They are a wonderful group and I have noticed already what excellent listeners they all are! The children are making new friends quickly which is terrific.

A note about outdoor play: it was very hot and humid last week and the children do play outside for about one hour in total. Please ensure they are adequately dressed for the weather.

A lot of information/paperwork was sent home on Friday. Please complete all the required forms and return them in your child's white TDSB bag by Monday.

A note re: snacks: Please LABEL your child's snack as "SNACK" so that they know what to eat for snack and what to eat for lunch. Thank you!

The children will be eating their snacks in class and their lunch in the lunchroom at 12:00 with he other Kindergarten classes. Please ensure that all your child's belongings, including his/her lunch bag, are clearly labelled with their name.

Curriculum Night is on Tuesday from 5:30-6:00 p.m. in the gym. I am looking forward to seeing you then. After our talk about Kindergarten Curriculum and Routines, you are welcome to return to my classroom to sign up for volunteer opportunities in the classroom this year. Thank you in advance to our Grade Parents Trudie Hynes (JK) and Erica Bower (SK) for doing the volunteer scheduling and calendars.

Here are some tips to start out the year:

- read stories to your child that are suited to their interests and comprehension level
- answer questions and encourage curiosity
- teach responsibility by asking your child to tidy up and care for personal items such as clothes and toys
- invite your child's peers, classmates to play dates
- supervise the amount and kind of media your child watches
- provide materials for active play -- balls, tricycles, etc.
- discipline- suitable consequences for misbehaviour, rules that are easy to understand and fair; provide explanation for the consequence, make sure your child understands why. Fairness is key.
- give your child plenty of time to get ready for school
- allow your child to do things s/he can in order to foster independence
- talk to your child about school as an interesting place to go; a place where s/he will have fun and learn many new things with friends
- arrive on time to school, say good bye cheerfully at the door, arrive on time to pick your child up

I'm looking forward to speaking to your further at Curriculum Night.

Have a terrific week!

Mrs. Tyndall