Week of December 2-6

Dear families,

As the holidays draw near the children are becoming more excited with all the festivities both at home and at school. I never tire of watching the holiday season through my students' eyes. The innocence and wonder of a four and five year old at this time of the year is truly a beautiful thing to behold. I feel very fortunate to be part of their world as we delve into holiday festivities here at school. The classroom decorations look wonderful! A special thank you to my wonderful Co-Op student Emma (who helps in the afternoon class 2-3 days/week) who helped decorate our classroom.

We will be doing a Santa countdown with patterned beads, including days of the week and weekends. Ask your child how many days until December 25! I am sure s/he will be able to tell you since we are counting by ones and twos and tens and every possible way we can until that magic number! This is an excellent way to reinforce number recognition and numerical order.

I am busy preparing for the Craft Party on December 19th and I am also setting up a "post office" so the children can write Christmas post cards to their friends and family. They love doing this and I simply use recycled cards from previous years which I have cut in half i.e. they write on the back of the picture, like a post card. Please save your old Christmas/holiday cards and kindly send them to our class so that we can "recycle" them in our class for next year's holiday season. They also make wonderful crafts. I welcome any kind of used cards - birthday, mother's day, father's day, etc. The children love to write/make cards and it is good writing and reading practice! The children also love opportunities to show how much they love their family and cards are perfect for this.

This week we finished our unit on Fairy Tales and a lot of reading, writing and learning came from the three stories we studied. The children also did a lot of retelling, sequencing and patterning activities based on the stories, which is good practice for Grade 1 and beyond. This week children learned about healthy ("real") foods from Little Red Riding Hood who you may recall was bringing food to her sick grandmother, and we talked about which foods would make grandma better by looking at simple grocery flyer. The children then each got a flyer of their own and cut healthy foods (and flowers too just like in the story) for Gramma, which they then put into paper baskets and in then their literature pockets along with all their other wonderful work. In their Literature Pocket for this story, along with a simple version of the story, is a little book with no words at all. This is excellent for re-telling, as are the little puppets they made; it is an important comprehension skill going forward as they learn now only how to read using their phonetic knowledge but are able to understand what they have read. Prediction, summarizing and retelling are important aspects of literacy. We also read two modern and funny versions of Little Red Riding Hood which the children enjoyed. Interestingly, the children liked the original Charles Perrault story the best! Maybe because it was a little bit scary but had a happy ending...

Our Word Wall is filling up with high frequency/sight words and I am impressed by how many the children know already! The children can refer to this wall when they are creating stories or need to know how to spell a word.

In the Little Red Hen literature pocket that went home on Friday, there was a sheet with story-related words to cut out, from which the SKs can make sentences based on the story (again, retelling and sentence structure).

We continued our numeracy lesson on patterns and sequencing this week; the JKs made patterns with two colours, the SKs with three.

Our Holiday Sharing Assembly will be on December 19. The children should wear a Santa or Elf hat please for this special assembly. I hope you will be able to join us!

Thank you to Lilia's mom and Megan's dad who were our wonderful Mystery Readers this week. Thank you to Lexa's mom who did the morning white bags and Brady's mom who did the afternoon white bags. Thank you also to our Grade Parents who prepare the volunteer calendars for each month. Thank you again for all your time.

JK homework this week is to complete the "Number Poem Book." The little rhymes help them learn how to form their numbers. Don't worry if your child's early number writing has some backwards numbers - this is normal as the children learn how to form them (always top to bottom, and left to right except for 6, 8 and 9!). It takes a lot of practice! SK homework is to practice their numbers 1-31 and beyond (lots of patterns!) and to continue work on their phonics duotang. We completed our November calendar in class and I am pleased with the children's neat number writing!

LKS parent volunteers have very kindly prepared donation baskets for needy families in the Stonegate community. The donation baskets will be in my classroom by the back door, along with a description of the items needed by our class's families.

Morning Class: Family #11
Single mother with 2 year old girl
Needs: Wipes, gift certificates to any store, food vouchers, household items such as dish soap, detergent, fabric softener, children's books, clothing size 3, socks, gloves, puzzles

Afternoon Class: Family #14
Single mother of 4 year old girl
Needs: Food vouchers, scarf and glove set for mother, household items, dish towels, detergent, non-perishable food items, child loves cats, clothing size 6.

Thank you for your generous support of a family in need this holiday season.

Please take a moment to read/sing the poetry/song sheets I send home with your child every week. The children love to perform them and this is a wonderful opportunity to sit and read together!

I would once again like to say how very much I enjoyed meeting you at the interviews. Thank you for coming. On Friday, December 6 I will be at a media literacy training session and there will be a supply teacher.

Enjoy this magical time with your children. It passes all too quickly and the next thing you know they are grown up! I know this from my own children and I remember very well when they were in Kindergarten...

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs. Tyndall

Week of November 25-29

Dear families,

It's hard to believe that December is around the corner except when we go outside and see the snow! Please be sure to dress your little ones in hats and mittens going forward.

The SKs should now all have their daily journals. In the front of their journals is a list moms and dads may remember completing called "10 Things I want [my child] to write about this year." There are so many fun things to write about!

This week we finished our "Little Red Hen" fairy tale with a little book about friends and wheat stalk/little red hen art. We also started "Little Red Writing Hood." Look for another literature pocket in the children's mail bag with all their hard work!

We are also continuing to make and colour cube patterns (a math skill). Patterns are everywhere! This weekend's homework is a sheet on patterning.

The children enjoyed listening to author Ted Staunton during his visit to our Library.

A reminder that the Christmas/Holiday Scholastic order is due by tomorrow (Monday) please.

Tomorrow is our third Sharing Assembly and we will be recognizing students who demonstrate Empathy.

I hope to see you then! Have a wonderful week.

Week of November 18-22

Dear families,

We started last week with attendance at our LKS Remembrance Day ceremony and the children did a wonderful job of attentive listening. After the ceremony, the children discussed a time when they were brave and drew a picture (with a sentence for the SKs). They also made poppy art out of four hearts they cut out. Remembrance Day ties in well with the November TDSB character trait of Empathy.

It was a pleasure meeting with you this week to discuss your child's progress. If you were unable to schedule an interview time and would like to do so, please call the school or email me. Thank you.

The homework for the SKs this weekend was to circle the correct word to match the picture in the gingerbread man story line.

This week we started our second fairy tale - The Little Red Hen. This well-known fairy tale is about helping others, being responsible to your friends, and working hard. I read the full story out loud, the children's Reading Buddies read a simplified version to them, and the children have simplified versions in their Literature Pocket to practice at home.

We learned about the life cycle of a hen and about where flour comes from. We also talked about how water mills and wind mills used to grind grain. There is a wonderful working water wheel grain mill at Pioneer Village if you happen to go. We also talked about our local historic Old Mill and the Humber River beside it.

We also talked about and did a flow chart about friendship called "My friend is..." Next week we will write a booklet about this.

This weekend the SKs brought home Set 1 (of 8) of their Phonics Duotang. When your child has completed this set, please hand it in for a new one. The JKs work on their Phonic folders in class.

This week we will be saying so long to The Little Red Hen and hello to Little Red Riding Hood! We will also continue our numeracy lessons in patterning and measurement with cube-a-links.

Finally, thank you to Cole's mom who read a terrific book called "The Interrupting Chicken" that tied in perfectly with our unit, and thank you to Victoria's mom who was a terrific Mystery Reader as well. If you would like to be Mystery Reader please contact your Grade Parent. Children are so thrilled and proud when their parents come to class!

Thank you as well to Olivia's dad who did the white bags for the morning class.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Week of November 11-15

Dear families,

Reading/Writing:

This past week we started our Fairy Tale unit with The Gingerbread Man. This is an excellent tale to start with for many reasons - it is fairly easy to sequence, there is a lot of repetition, and the story can be simplified into a readable version. I am making "literature folders" for each child and each fairy tale we study; the children will bring them home when they are done. In the folder will be a copy of the fairy tale and all their work. The Drama Centre is now the Dress up Centre tied to our fairy tales. I also have a lot of puppets related to the tales to encourage re-telling of the stories. We discussed the differences between the gingerbread man and the fox who tricked him. I have a class set of The Gingerbread Man as well as a tape recording, so each child could have his/her own copy and follow along. Our next story will be The Little Red Hen, a story about sharing responsibilities, working as a team and helping others. It also ties into how to make bread from flour which we can tie back to how to make gingerbread (i.e. where does flour come from?). This weekend's homework is to colour the gingerbread man page according to the rhyming colour words.

This week's poem is "Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

So far on our word wall we have the "popcorn" (high frequency/sight) words: and, am, the, I, and like. We add a new word each week and practice writing it and reading it each day. The words on the word wall can be removed and brought to the children's tables to help with their spelling. The SKs also enjoyed playing a sight word game this week in which they had to read the word (attached to a lid) and if they were correct they put the word in the can. Whoever has the most lids wins! The children are also practicing their popcorn words with our Grade 8 readers. Our morning books (books we read each morning before calendar) were the Bob books. Next week - Clifford Phonics. The JKs are working on letter sound recognition. So far we have done S,A,T,I,P,N,E and R.

We are continuing to work on the various reading strategies. I have been reviewing the students’ independent reading levels (which is lower than their instructional level so that they can be successful). Thank you so much to those parents who continue to make reading a daily activity with their child. It really makes a huge difference.

Math – We are continuing our work on patterning, and students learned that a patterns repeat.

I am very excited about the new SmartBoard that was installed in my classroom this week! An electrician will do the final wiring and as soon as it is set up we will be ready to start using it. I am looking forward to using this wonderful tool to make our learning more interactive and fun!

Science – we welcomed two Scientists in the school this week and learned about Water (morning class) and Magnets (afternoon class). The children learned so much! Thank you to our parent volunteers to helped make each learning centre run smoothly! Thank you also to Parent Council for funding Scientists in the School. It is such a valuable experience for children of all ages. Our little science table is a magnets table during the month of November.

Our Terry Fox Celebration Assembly was on Tuesday. Since we reached the $20,000 level, there was a fun staff vs. student tricycle race.

Report cards will be sent home on Monday, November 11. The interview is meant to be a way to celebrate the child’s accomplishments, and to help them develop a plan of action for the following term. I am looking forward to meeting with you this week to discuss your child's progress and samples of his/her work. I will be seeing parents most evenings this week starting Monday evening.

Our Remembrance Day Assembly is on Monday Nov. 11 at 10:30 am. All are welcome to join us in the gym. Please remember that this is a solemn assembly and we would ask that there be no clapping at any point. Aria will be carrying our class wreath to the front of the gym. Thank you Aria.

The cold and flu season is upon us. If your child is not feeling well, please be sure to keep them at home, until they are feeling better, and symptom free, in order to stop the spread of illness. You may want to consider having your entire family vaccinated against the flu this season as a preventative measure. Visit Public Health, or your family doctor for more information, as clinics have started to open. Also, please talk to your child about proper hygiene (washing hands, using a Kleenex and not their finger, covering their mouth and nose when they cough and sneeze, sneezing into their elbow and not their hand, etc..

Please remember that the November/Holiday Scholastic book orders are due on November 30th. If you would like to order something as a surprise, for either your child(ren) or someone else, just let me know by writing "surprise" on the outside of the envelope. Books makes wonderful gifts!

Please remember to send your child to school with a coat, hat and mittens as the weather gets colder and windier; the weather is definitely changing!

Have a wonderful week!

This week was busy in Room 166 and the children completed several Halloween-themed activities. We read the wonderful book "Stellaluna" about a bat who grows up thinking he is a bird, and learned about the similarities and differences between them. There are a lot more differences than similarities! We talked about more than, less than, the same as in relation to bats and birds. The children also did a fantastic job drawing "Bats flying at night" on black paper.

We also compared the two pumpkins we carved. The children took turns putting the pumpkin seeds into groups of ten. The morning pumpkin had over 300 seeds and the afternoon pumpkin, which was slightly heavier, had about 50 less. The children's estimates were interesting - some guessed there would be 10, others over 200.

Thank you to the parents who helped out at our Halloween Craft Party. The children enjoyed making a cloth ghost, decorating a foam skull, making a Halloween theme pattern, making a bookmark, and making a witch and a spider.

Each morning our routine is to select and read a phonics book on the carpet before we start the day with the calendar. This week we changed the routine slightly so that the SKs are "Reading Buddies" to the JKs and read their little books to them. They really enjoyed this!

The homework this week for the SKs is to complete "A Halloween Story" by filling in the missing words. The JKs were to finish their "Halloween Word Book" by colouring and tracing the Halloween words in the booklet.

This week the SKs completed a Halloween Colours booklet in which they had to read the words and colour accordingly. The SKs also helped the JKs with a sequencing activity about the steps carving a pumpkin.

On Tuesday the morning class will be participating in the tricycle race in the gym as part of our Terry Fox fundraising efforts. We are on Team Orange so please dress your child in something orange. If your child is in the afternoon class and would like to watch the morning tricycle race they must be supervised by an adult. Thank you.

Here are some tips on How to be a Good Reader:

Touch each word.
Return to the beginning.
Look at the picture.
Stretch out the word.
Look for little words inside bigger words.
Look at the first letter of the words.

This week we will be starting our unit on Fairy Tales and will continue learning about patterns. We will also be preparing for the Remembrance Day Assembly on November 11.

I hope you have a wonderful week!