Monday, June 24, 2013

Week of June 24-28

Dear families,

It's so hard to believe that this is the last week of school. I think the children are really realizing that summer is practically here, especially now that we have hot and humid popsicle weather! Please remember to provide your child with a hat and/or sunscreen.

This week we are reviewing all our phonics sounds as well as practicing blending sounds into words and of course reviewing our sight words. "If you can read it, you can write it!"

We are talking about Camping Safety and are making a booklet about camping safety as well. The children are really loving playing in the camp site area of the classroom!

We are finishing our unit on insects, and this week will be learning about ants and spiders.

Please remember to bring in your child's white bag this week as well as any outstanding Library books. I will need the white bags to send home the children's Phonics booklets, work done this week, work I filed for assessment purposes, as well as their journals.

For Pizza Day/Lunch on the Lawn on Thursday, please arrive at school by 11:30. Parent volunteers will be distributing the pizza and drinks (thank you!) from just outside my classroom door.

Senior Kindergarten Graduation is on Wednesday (10:15/2:00). I am really looking forward to celebrating all the children have accomplished and learned over the last two years! I have made photo DVDs for all the SK parents that are computer-readable.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Tyndall

Monday, June 17, 2013

Week of June 17-21

Dear families,

I can't believe we are coming up to the end of the school year! The children are beginning to sense this and are becoming "just" a little more exuberant! They are excited about our ice cream scoop countdown (thanks to Ms. Raymond for the idea!).

I hope all the dads had a wonderful Father's Day this past Sunday and will enjoy their Coupon Books and key chains the children made.

The children did a wonderful job singing "This Fabulous Year" at our last Sharing Assembly of the year. Congratulations again to Jonas, Luke, Taylor and Kate for earning the certificate of "Perseverance."

The Volunteer Tea is June 25 at 8:15 a.m. in the Library. I hope that you will attend so we can thank you for all the volunteer hours you have spent in our classroom. Parent Volunteers are a big part of Kindergarten and we appreciate your help! Your efforts and time contributed so much to the success of the class. Thank you!

In anticipation of Grade One, I am beginning to take the children out to recess with the rest of the school. The children are very excited about this!

A note about the Phonics Books and Journals: I will continue to send these home for the children and will send them home on the last day of school for work over the summer. The summer is a wonderful opportunity for your child to write what s/he did each day in their journal with an accompanying drawing. I am sending home starter sentence ideas as well, such as "Today I...," "This summer I want to...," "Tomorrow I am going to...," Today was fun because..." etc. Your child's journal will also be a wonderful keepsake when they are older!

The Senior Kindergarten Graduation is fast approaching and I hope my SK parents will be able to attend. Bring your cameras! I will be presenting the children with their certificates, the children will be singing a special song, and I will be presenting them with awards and little gift bags. After the ceremony I will show a photo DVD, a copy of which each SK grad will receive in their little gift bag.

This week we will be learning all about bees and the toonie.

We have finished our Phonics Single Letter sounds and are reviewing all the sounds now with flash cards. We are also practising our reading with sound blending flash cards.

Tomorrow I am opening a Camping Centre! The children will have fun learning about Camp Safety by completing a little book and by playing in our mini camping area.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Tyndall

Monday, June 10, 2013

Week of June 10-14

Dear families,

It's hard to believe it is June already...

In Science, we are continuing our unit on insects and learned where they live, what they eat, and how they grow. A special Thank You to Carson, our future entomologigist, for bringing in a beetle and catepillar from his garden. We have learned about Ants and Lady Bugs and will now learn about Bees.

We worked on our "My Seed" book with our Reading Buddies. Our bean seeds have not started to shoot yet but I will keep you posted and will send your child's little plant home when it sprouts.

In Literacy we have finished all the single letter sounds of the Jolly Phonics Program and are doing doing review. If your child's phonic duotang and/or journal goes home please encourage your child to work on them. It is good preparation for Grade One!

Thank you to everyone who supported Scholastic this year - our last Scholastic order was at the end of May. Scholastic helps support your child's classroom with resources such as books.

In Numeracy we learned about the quarter and this week we are learning about the loonie. The children are enjoying playing store and pizza restaurant and using play Canadian money and the cash register.

This week and next we will be continuing our money and insect units and will make our special Father's Day book.

Thank you for sending in the Pizza Lumch forms - they are due tomorrow, June 11.

Have a wonderful week!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Week of June 3-7

Dear families,

We've had another busy week in Room 166. This past week we learned about the quarter and this week we will learn about the loonie. The children enjoyed playing Ice Cream Store and the prices of the cones have gone up from under ten cents to between 10 and 25 cents in order to help them learn to count their coins. The kids have a lot of fun playing in our Pizza Restaurant, writing up the bill, counting money, using our cash register, and so on.

In Science we are continuing our unit on Insects and have almost finished learning about Ladybugs. Next is ants! The children had fun making a booklet called "Where is Ladybug?" which had them read location words such as "on, over, beside, under, above and below." We also read several books about Ladybugs, from science books about their life cycle, to Eric Carle's wonderful classic "The Grouchy Ladybug," about sharing and cooperating. We also made dragonfly art and a dragonfly key chain which the children really enjoyed. We tied our ladybug theme into beginning and end sounds by the children taking turns placing dots on our giant ladybug's two wings, depending on whether they heard a beginning or ending sound. We also used our scale to weigh pennies.

A special thank you to Quentin's mom who donated items for our Insect unit, and to Charlie's mom who gave each of the morning class a dime. Thank you as well to Dana's mom who read some fun poetry to the children and who gave each child a copy of the Ice Cream Store poem. Thank you! Thank you Cameron's mom and Logan's mom who did the white bags and Snuggle Books. Your time in the classroom is very much appreciated!

Our sounds this past week have been Ww and Yy, and next we are on to Xx.

It's so hard to believe we are now in June! I am busy preparing for the SK Graduation on June 26 and of course your children's report cards. In the interests of space and chairs, the SK graduation ceremony is open for SK parents.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Tyndall

Monday, May 27, 2013

Week of May 27-31

Dear families,

Our unit on Canadian Coins and their Values continues this week as we review the penny, nickel and dime and learn about the quarter. Thank you for sending in the 10 pennies, 2 nickels and one dime for the children's Piggy Bank Booklet. Now they can count out the money at home with you. This will help reinforce the concept of 5 pennies equals one nickel, 10 pennies equals one dime, one nickel and 5 pennies equals one dime too.

To help the children understand these values, we played Ice Cream Store and Snack Store in the classroom, in which the children had to "pay" for their treats.

We also had fun making rubbings of the coins and watching them magically appear on paper.

We have learned about why the symbols of the Maple Leaf, the Beaver and the Bluenose are on our coins, and I brought in a photo of the Bluenose II from a trip to Halifax. Charlie contributed a lot of information as well since he has been to Halifax and knows a lot about this famous schooner too. Thanks Charlie! For the nickel the children took a good look at the real stuffed beaver in the Library. What an amazing animal! I will not be bringing in an elk/caribou as we learn about the quarter :) but if your children call it a Moose please remind them that it is a caribou/elk :) Caribou are often spotted in the Banff area where a lot of kids have been skiing. Try to relate learning to real life experiences and your children will remember!

Some of our bean plants have germinated and sprouted, and when they are about 3 inches tall I send them home. You can plant the seedling, including the paper pot, directly into the ground in a sunny spot. Next to a fence is ideal since beans climb and need support.

Our letter sound was Ww, like the noise the wind makes. This week we are learning about the letter sound Yy.

The children had fun at the Scholastic Book Fair. Thank you for supporting the LKS Library with your child's purchases.

Our poem for this week's Sharing Assembly is "Wiggly Tooth." I hope you can join us May 28 at the second last assembly of the year! We will be celebrating the TDSB Character Trait of Integrity. Next month we are celebrating "Perseverance" and Taylor, Kate, Jonas, Luke and Charlie will receive certificates celebrating their hard work and their terrific ability to always try their best and never give up!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Tyndall