Happy October! We have finished a busy month of September with many "firsts" especially for our Junior Kindergarten families. Thank you again to everyone for helping us have a smooth beginning to the school year. We had a very warm beginning to the week and the students and staff enjoyed a "cool" popsicle treat from Mr. Currie and Mrs. Norton on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Miss Santiago made Thank You cards with the children and we delivered them to the office. It was a meaningful way for everyone to practise printing their names.
The children completed Terry Fox activities this week leading up to our walk on Thursday. Thank you very much to all the parents and grandparents that attended the assembly and then walked around the school yard with us. We appreciated all your help and we couldn't have done it without you. The SK students drew a picture with Terry and wrote something special they knew about Terry Fox. The JK students drew a self-portrait of themselves running with Terry Fox. On Thursday, the children designed a running shoe they thought Terry Fox would like to wear. The children also completed their "This is Me in September" pictures. We will complete this drawing and writing task each month. Their wonderful work is displayed over the cubbies in our classroom. Please have a look the next time you visit our classroom. In Music, the children are singing, "Here We Go a Walking" and are keeping the beat with their arms, legs and hands. In the computer lab, Miss Santiago is having the students explore "Trace to the Beat!" using numbers and letters in abaya.com. The children will be completing their October calendars this week and completing Thanksgiving activities.
We had our first Lockdown drill on Friday. During a Lockdown drill, the children sit in their cubbies quietly with books, the lights are turned off, the windows are covered and the doors are locked. The children did a wonderful job of being calm, quiet and following the expectations for this drill. We also had our first Pizza Day on Friday. Due to the rainy weather, the children ate in the classroom instead of the lunch room. Thank you to our volunteers for helping with supervision on this special day. The children also participated in their first Sharing Assembly on Friday. Congratulations to our award winners for the character trait of Respect. Each child will receive an award during the school year. Thank you to everyone who attended and waved goodbye to their child for a successful (and tear free) ending to the Assembly.
The cooler weather seems to be approaching with some chilly mornings. Please give your child opportunities to practise putting on his/her coat independently. We are teaching the students to use the "flip" method in our class. Have your child lay his/her coat on the ground with the tag/hood at his/her toes. The child puts his/her arms into the coat and flips it over his/her head. When he/she can successfully put on his/her coat, then we will begin with zipper practise. Thanks in advance for your practise at home.
The October calendar and Scholastic book order forms were sent home on Friday. I will be submitting the book order during the Thanksgiving weekend, so please send all orders to school on or before Thursday. I have copied the Library and Computer groups on the back of the calendar. There were a few changes due to the reorganization.
Tuesday, October 3 is Picture Day. All children will be in our class photo and have an individual picture taken. Our scheduled time will be in the morning, so please be on time for school. If you are absent, there is a retake day Wednesday, November 1. Edge Imaging recommends that your child wears bright solid coloured clothing and NO SOLID GREEN CLOTHING. Please let us know if a sweater or a specific article of clothing has to be left on for the picture.
A reminder that Friday, October 6 is a PA Day and there is no school for the students. The teachers will be at school for meetings. There is no school on Monday, October 9 for Thanksgiving celebrations. Enjoy this long weekend with your family and friends.
We are still accepting donations for our Terry Fox Campaign. Thank you to everyone who has donated. Donations may be sent directly to the classroom or done on line at www.terryfox.org. We are currently short of our school donation goal of $21,592.40. Thanks again for your generosity.
This Week:
Monday-Music
20th day of School, Zero the Hero visits
Tuesday-Picture Day
Library (A), Comptuers (B)
Wednesday-Have you donated to our Terry Fox
Walk?
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Last day for book orders
Friday-PA Day, No School
Monday 25 September 2017
Saturday 23 September 2017
Welcome to the first weekend of Fall, even though it feels more like the middle of Summer. As you can imagine, we have had some very warm days this week in our classroom. Thanks so much for sending water bottles with your child and taking them home for lunch for a cool break if possible. We are encouraging the children to hydrate as necessary and we happily refill water bottles throughout the day.
We are working with the Junior Kindergarten students to help them practise printing their names. Please continue to practise this activity at home. Children can practise using markers, paint, dry erase markers, crayons, pencils, chalk or other writing utensils. Try to make this activity as fun and meaningful as possible. Have them sign birthday cards, notes, give them junk mail and have them experiment on scrap paper. The students are currently having fun printing their names and friends' names with dry erase markers on name tags that Miss Santiago made. Please see a picture on the right side of the blog. Please monitor his/her pencil grip and help them to hold writing utensils properly. Children may also enjoy printing the names of family members and friends. Thanks in advance and we will continue to practise this skill at school. The Junior Kindergarten students also completed name puzzles this week and counted the letters in their names.
Also this week, the Senior Kindergarten students practised sequencing numbers to 20 and reviewed numbers in the teens using 10 frames. We have introduced the words "to" and "is" to the class using songs and poems. Enjoy the songs we have learned so far in your child's Poetry book we sent home on Friday. We also graphed how the students came to school. You can see our first class graph at Curriculum Night. See the LKS website for more details.
Our first Sharing Assembly is on Friday. The Kindergarten classes will be presenting a poem about school. Sharing Assemblies begin after morning announcements in the gym. Please have your child enter our classroom as usual and we will proceed to the gym as a class. Everyone is invited. Sharing Assemblies last approximately 20 minutes. Award winners will be notified this weekend. All the children will receive an award throughout the year. This month's character trait is Respect.
A reminder that Friday, September 29 is Pizza Day. Sign up information is available on the LKS Bulletin. Children will still need a morning and afternoon snack on Friday and their water bottle for drinks throughout the day. Your grade parents will be contacting you regarding volunteer opportunities for pizza days.
In the computer labs this week, Miss Santiago introduced the students to activities on abcya.com. They played alphabet bingo and bubble alphabet. Your child may enjoy using this website at home. If using a mouse, encourage your child to use 2 fingers, Peter Pointer and Tall Man to move the mouse.
Just a reminder to make your donation to our LKS Terry Fox Walk. Donations may be sent to school with your child or made on-line at www.terryfox.org. Additional pledge sheets and information is available at the office. If your child has a Terry Fox shirt, please have he/her wear it on Thursday, or perhaps a Canada shirt to show our pride for Terry Fox. Last year LKS raised $21,592.40 and we would love to beat that amount this year.
Change and reorganization is never easy and our Kindergarten classes will be adjusting on Monday with the addition of a new class. The children had the opportunity to visit their new class on Friday afternoon and had a wonderful time with Mrs. Champagne. Miss Santiago and I were sad to say good-bye to 5 of our students and we are looking forward to seeing them during outside play and other school activities. All of the Kindergarten students have begun to foster friendships outside of our classrooms with play experiences before, at lunch and after school.
This Week:
Monday-Music
Return your mailbag and Poetry Book
Tuesday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Firedrill
Thursday-Terry Fox Walk-watch for information
from the Grade Parents to volunteer
-Library (B), Computers (A)
Friday-Sharing Assembly 9:00 am in the gym
Pizza lunch
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday, October 3-Picture Day
Friday, October 6-PA Day-no school
Monday, October 9-Thanksgiving-no school
We are working with the Junior Kindergarten students to help them practise printing their names. Please continue to practise this activity at home. Children can practise using markers, paint, dry erase markers, crayons, pencils, chalk or other writing utensils. Try to make this activity as fun and meaningful as possible. Have them sign birthday cards, notes, give them junk mail and have them experiment on scrap paper. The students are currently having fun printing their names and friends' names with dry erase markers on name tags that Miss Santiago made. Please see a picture on the right side of the blog. Please monitor his/her pencil grip and help them to hold writing utensils properly. Children may also enjoy printing the names of family members and friends. Thanks in advance and we will continue to practise this skill at school. The Junior Kindergarten students also completed name puzzles this week and counted the letters in their names.
Also this week, the Senior Kindergarten students practised sequencing numbers to 20 and reviewed numbers in the teens using 10 frames. We have introduced the words "to" and "is" to the class using songs and poems. Enjoy the songs we have learned so far in your child's Poetry book we sent home on Friday. We also graphed how the students came to school. You can see our first class graph at Curriculum Night. See the LKS website for more details.
Our first Sharing Assembly is on Friday. The Kindergarten classes will be presenting a poem about school. Sharing Assemblies begin after morning announcements in the gym. Please have your child enter our classroom as usual and we will proceed to the gym as a class. Everyone is invited. Sharing Assemblies last approximately 20 minutes. Award winners will be notified this weekend. All the children will receive an award throughout the year. This month's character trait is Respect.
A reminder that Friday, September 29 is Pizza Day. Sign up information is available on the LKS Bulletin. Children will still need a morning and afternoon snack on Friday and their water bottle for drinks throughout the day. Your grade parents will be contacting you regarding volunteer opportunities for pizza days.
In the computer labs this week, Miss Santiago introduced the students to activities on abcya.com. They played alphabet bingo and bubble alphabet. Your child may enjoy using this website at home. If using a mouse, encourage your child to use 2 fingers, Peter Pointer and Tall Man to move the mouse.
Just a reminder to make your donation to our LKS Terry Fox Walk. Donations may be sent to school with your child or made on-line at www.terryfox.org. Additional pledge sheets and information is available at the office. If your child has a Terry Fox shirt, please have he/her wear it on Thursday, or perhaps a Canada shirt to show our pride for Terry Fox. Last year LKS raised $21,592.40 and we would love to beat that amount this year.
Change and reorganization is never easy and our Kindergarten classes will be adjusting on Monday with the addition of a new class. The children had the opportunity to visit their new class on Friday afternoon and had a wonderful time with Mrs. Champagne. Miss Santiago and I were sad to say good-bye to 5 of our students and we are looking forward to seeing them during outside play and other school activities. All of the Kindergarten students have begun to foster friendships outside of our classrooms with play experiences before, at lunch and after school.
This Week:
Monday-Music
Return your mailbag and Poetry Book
Tuesday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Firedrill
Thursday-Terry Fox Walk-watch for information
from the Grade Parents to volunteer
-Library (B), Computers (A)
Friday-Sharing Assembly 9:00 am in the gym
Pizza lunch
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday, October 3-Picture Day
Friday, October 6-PA Day-no school
Monday, October 9-Thanksgiving-no school
Saturday 16 September 2017
It has been a busy week in Room 159! The children used scissors, glue, stickers and magic markers to create buses and people. The brightly coloured people were inspired by reading, ""It's OK to be Different" by Todd Parr. Todd Parr books always have brightly coloured people and animals in their illustrations. To help practise scissor skills have your child cut up the flyers included in your newspapers. They can cut out pictures of their favourite foods, toys and anything they are interested in. A reminder when using scissors the children should always point their thumbs to the sky. The students also completed their September calendars. Each month the students will make a calendar with an art project to take home. It is amazing to watch the development in numeral formation skills, printing, colouring and labelling that occurs. Save a space to prominent displays your child's wonderful work. The children were very excited to take home their calendar and busses on Friday. Please return your child's empty mailbag on Monday. We will be sending home mailbags on Fridays until we start Snuggle Up books in October, when we will move to twice a week.
We accomplished many "firsts" this week. We had our first Fire Drill and the children did a wonderful job, walking quietly and staying in line. Our Lockdown drill was postponed to later in the month. Both library groups also borrowed books from the library. Please keep the library books in the "green Bee bag" for travelling to and from school. We have a box in the classroom for the children to place their returned books. They will not be able to borrow a new book unless the prior book is returned. Library dates are on the monthly class calendar, the blog and the groups are on the back of the calendar. The children also had their first music class with Ms. McGee. They played drums and sang songs by Raffi. On Tuesday, we attended the Terry Fox Assembly. The children listened carefully during this school wide assembly and enjoyed the Terry Fox movie. We will be discussing Terry Fox in anticipation of our walk on Thursday, September 28. We will try to keep the classroom discussion age appropriate for our Kindergarten students, but classroom activities may lead to some questions at home involving cancer or illness. We focus on the fact that Terry ran to collect money to help the doctors, nurses and scientists to make new medicines. We also discuss that Terry is a hero. You may send in Terry Fox pledge sheets and donations any time. You may also make your donations on-line. Please see the pledge sheets for more information. Thanks in advance for your generosity.
Friday was International Dot Day, a day to create and celebrate all that creativity inspires and invites. Dot Day was inspired by the book, "the dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. Children are encouraged to make their mark and see where it takes them. Miss Santiago and I set up a variety of activities which the children completed to create with dots. The children used bingo dappers to make a design and they also used watercolour crayons dipped in water to make a dot collage. The dot collages are displayed on our classroom door. The SK students also used black dots to create their own picture based on the book, "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews. Please see some examples to the right. It was a day of dots!
Miss Santiago and I are excited to be hosting Miss Paska in our classroom. Miss Paska is a 4th year Early Childhood Studies student at Ryerson and she will be in our classroom Thursdays and Fridays until December.
A reminder that our classroom is quite warm, so please dress your child in layers. No one wants to be warm and uncomfortable while learning. If there will be a change of plans in our child's routine, please write a note or call the school if it is a last minute change. The office staff will call the classroom and let us know.
Thanks again for all your support, patience and assistance as we begin the school year. We appreciate all your smiles and understanding at the end (and beginning) of the day.
Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy this perfect weather!
This Week:
Monday-Music
10th day of school, Zero the Hero visits
Tuesday-Library (A) Return your books
Computers (B)
Wednesday-Happy Wednesday!
Thursday-Library (B) Return your books
Computers (A)
Friday-1st Day of Fall!
We accomplished many "firsts" this week. We had our first Fire Drill and the children did a wonderful job, walking quietly and staying in line. Our Lockdown drill was postponed to later in the month. Both library groups also borrowed books from the library. Please keep the library books in the "green Bee bag" for travelling to and from school. We have a box in the classroom for the children to place their returned books. They will not be able to borrow a new book unless the prior book is returned. Library dates are on the monthly class calendar, the blog and the groups are on the back of the calendar. The children also had their first music class with Ms. McGee. They played drums and sang songs by Raffi. On Tuesday, we attended the Terry Fox Assembly. The children listened carefully during this school wide assembly and enjoyed the Terry Fox movie. We will be discussing Terry Fox in anticipation of our walk on Thursday, September 28. We will try to keep the classroom discussion age appropriate for our Kindergarten students, but classroom activities may lead to some questions at home involving cancer or illness. We focus on the fact that Terry ran to collect money to help the doctors, nurses and scientists to make new medicines. We also discuss that Terry is a hero. You may send in Terry Fox pledge sheets and donations any time. You may also make your donations on-line. Please see the pledge sheets for more information. Thanks in advance for your generosity.
Friday was International Dot Day, a day to create and celebrate all that creativity inspires and invites. Dot Day was inspired by the book, "the dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. Children are encouraged to make their mark and see where it takes them. Miss Santiago and I set up a variety of activities which the children completed to create with dots. The children used bingo dappers to make a design and they also used watercolour crayons dipped in water to make a dot collage. The dot collages are displayed on our classroom door. The SK students also used black dots to create their own picture based on the book, "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews. Please see some examples to the right. It was a day of dots!
Miss Santiago and I are excited to be hosting Miss Paska in our classroom. Miss Paska is a 4th year Early Childhood Studies student at Ryerson and she will be in our classroom Thursdays and Fridays until December.
A reminder that our classroom is quite warm, so please dress your child in layers. No one wants to be warm and uncomfortable while learning. If there will be a change of plans in our child's routine, please write a note or call the school if it is a last minute change. The office staff will call the classroom and let us know.
Thanks again for all your support, patience and assistance as we begin the school year. We appreciate all your smiles and understanding at the end (and beginning) of the day.
Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy this perfect weather!
This Week:
Monday-Music
10th day of school, Zero the Hero visits
Tuesday-Library (A) Return your books
Computers (B)
Wednesday-Happy Wednesday!
Thursday-Library (B) Return your books
Computers (A)
Friday-1st Day of Fall!
Saturday 9 September 2017
What a wonderful first week of school! Thank you very much for all your support and understanding as we work with the children through the coming to school jitters, learning names and school routines. Your understanding is greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone for quickly returning your child's back to school paperwork and mailbag. Mailbags were sent home on Friday with additional paperwork and an updated September calendar. Please complete the Physical Education form and return the form and mailbag on Monday. Thanks in advance. The children have been divided into 2 groups for library and computer and this information is on the back of the new September calendar. One group will be in the library with Ms. McGee and the other group is in the computer lab with Miss Santiago. Library and IT classes will be labelled on the monthly calendars, so you will know when to return library books. The children will begin to borrow library books when the library computers are updated with the new class lists. Group B went to the library on Friday and Group A went to the computer lab. On Monday, all the children will be going to the library to have music with Ms. McGee and Miss Santiago.
Next week will be busy with a fire drill and a lock down drill. We will also attend the Terry Fox assembly on Tuesday after announcements. Information regarding how to contribute to Terry's Dream was sent home on Friday. Donations will be accepted until Thanksgiving. This gives you time to talk to your family and friends. LKS is very proud of our fundraising for the Terry Fox foundation. Our Terry Fox walk is Thursday September 28. The Kindergarten classes will walk around the school. More information to follow regarding opportunities to walk with us.
The class has been eating snack together for the first days of school. Beginning on Monday we will have free flow snack. The children will be able to have their snack during activity time when they are hungry at the snack table. Thank you very much for discussing snack and lunch with your child. They are very well prepared. Although the temperature outside is chilly in the morning, the school continues to be quite warm, since it is closed up during the evening and weekends. Please dress your child in layers for the cool mornings and warm afternoons. No one likes to be uncomfortable during the day.
Reminder-If you are taking your child out of school early, you must go to the office, sign them out and they will buzz the classroom so we can get your child ready. If you let us know in the morning, we will try to have your child prepared for his/her early dismissal. Thanks!
September 29 is our first Kindergarten Sharing Assembly. Each month a Sharing Assembly is held in the gym beginning at 9:00. The Kindergarten classes will present a song or poem and award certificates will be presented for the monthly character trait. The character trait for September is Respect. Each child will receive an award during the school year and parents are notified prior to the Assembly so they can attend. Sharing Assemblies are approximately 20 minutes. Everyone is welcome.
I hope that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful weather this weekend. It was great to see so many students at Taste of the Kingsway enjoying the neighbourhood. Looking forward to a marvellous week!
This Week:
Monday-Music with Ms. McGee
Tuesday-Terry Fox Assembly
Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Fire Drill
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Friday-Lockdown Drill
Next week will be busy with a fire drill and a lock down drill. We will also attend the Terry Fox assembly on Tuesday after announcements. Information regarding how to contribute to Terry's Dream was sent home on Friday. Donations will be accepted until Thanksgiving. This gives you time to talk to your family and friends. LKS is very proud of our fundraising for the Terry Fox foundation. Our Terry Fox walk is Thursday September 28. The Kindergarten classes will walk around the school. More information to follow regarding opportunities to walk with us.
The class has been eating snack together for the first days of school. Beginning on Monday we will have free flow snack. The children will be able to have their snack during activity time when they are hungry at the snack table. Thank you very much for discussing snack and lunch with your child. They are very well prepared. Although the temperature outside is chilly in the morning, the school continues to be quite warm, since it is closed up during the evening and weekends. Please dress your child in layers for the cool mornings and warm afternoons. No one likes to be uncomfortable during the day.
Reminder-If you are taking your child out of school early, you must go to the office, sign them out and they will buzz the classroom so we can get your child ready. If you let us know in the morning, we will try to have your child prepared for his/her early dismissal. Thanks!
September 29 is our first Kindergarten Sharing Assembly. Each month a Sharing Assembly is held in the gym beginning at 9:00. The Kindergarten classes will present a song or poem and award certificates will be presented for the monthly character trait. The character trait for September is Respect. Each child will receive an award during the school year and parents are notified prior to the Assembly so they can attend. Sharing Assemblies are approximately 20 minutes. Everyone is welcome.
I hope that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful weather this weekend. It was great to see so many students at Taste of the Kingsway enjoying the neighbourhood. Looking forward to a marvellous week!
This Week:
Monday-Music with Ms. McGee
Tuesday-Terry Fox Assembly
Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Fire Drill
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Friday-Lockdown Drill
Tuesday 5 September 2017
Friday 1 September 2017
Room 159
Miss Santiago and I have been working diligently to get our classroom ready for the new school year. Kindergarten Open House is on Tuesday, September 5. A reminder that Senior Kindergarten students can visit from 10:00 am to 11:00 am and the Junior Kindergarten students are invited to look around the classroom from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. We can't wait to see everyone! Everything has been labelled and your child's mailbag is all ready with back to school paperwork.
Please read the previous blogs below for additional back to school information including school hours and helpful tips.
Wishing everyone a wonderful long weekend and looking forward to an exciting school year!
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