Week of September 22-26

Dear families,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend weather!

Next week will be our first Sharing Assembly, and we will be celebrating the TDSB Character Trait of Respect. If your child will be receiving an award you will receive a note in your child's backpack. The Assembly will take place in the Gym at 9:00 a.m. We hope to see you there!

We have been reading several books about Respect - for others, and for ourselves - such as "And Here's To You" "Please Don't Interrupt" and "I'm Gonna Like Me." We have also been talking about Feelings to tie into our unit "All About Me." Next week we will continue working on our little books. Please encourage your child to read them to you when they go home. They have been working hard on them!

The first Scholastic Orders are due at the end of the month, September 30. The next Scholastic Order is due on October 31. You will receive October's package in this Friday's mail bag.

The homework for the Seniors this weekend is to complete the page about Rules at School - in the classroom, on the playground, in the bathroom, and in the lunchroom. The homework for the Juniors is to practice writing their name by tracing the dots on the name page I made for them. Top to bottom, left to right :)

After lunch the children have about 1/2 hour of quiet time, when they lie in their spot quietly and listen to music or nature sounds on a CD. If you would like to provide your child with a pillow please make sure it is very small because space is so limited.

The children's first Pizza Lunch is going to take place on Friday. Thank you for submitting your forms/money on time (the due date was Friday). The remaining Pizza Lunches will be registered online via email. See "Important Upcoming Dates" for the dates.

We had our first Mystery Reader on Thursday! Many thanks to Theo's mom who read two great books to the children about a Library Lion and a hockey player. Your children love to see you in their classroom - please consider being a Mystery Reader volunteer (Thursdays 9 a.m.). Please contact our Grade Parents Trudie and Erica if you would like to volunteer.

It is time to start bringing in indoor shoes for your child to keep in their cubby and wear inside. Please label the shoes. Crocs or slippers work really well - shoes that are easy for your child to get on and off by themselves. This is also a good time to start practicing doing up zippers as Autumn and cooler/rainy weather approaches.

Now that the children are quite used to the classroom routines we will be seating them in table groups (combined JK-SK) to help them with transitions and centres. Each table is a different colour to help the children find them and know where to go. I think they will enjoy having their own special table and chair/seat-pocket where they do their written work, as well as transitioning between tables as a group for play-based centre time. Routines are so important for little ones.

Finally, thank you so much for assisting your child's successful beginning and end to the day by being on time and saying a cheerful good bye. The children are all doing so well and they feel proud to know the routines!

Have a terrific week - the last week of Summer!