Our Elf is busy when we go home!

Shhh!  Elfie is sleeping!

Elfie likes to colour!

Riding on the train with some friends!

Cards, anyone?

     Welcome to the last week of school in 2017!  The children are busy with special activities for this wonderful time of year.  We completed our "This is Me in December" pictures this week.  Miss Santiago and I love watching the children's development as they continue to add more details to their pictures and write sentences using their sound knowledge, sight word vocabulary and environmental print in the classroom.  The Junior Kindergarten students completed a colourful book about reindeers and the Senior Kindergarten students wrote a book about a Christmas tree.  The books are included in your child's mailbag this week.  Please look carefully in their sound review books or poetry books for work.  The January calendar was also sent home on Friday.  Please keep it in a safe place for next month.  Enjoy the new poems and songs in your child's poetry book this weekend.  We also discussed Hanukkah this week and the children made menorahs.  On Tuesday, the class made ornaments with their Reading Buddies.  They are on display on the Christmas tree in the front hall.
     The children loved playing in the snow this week.  Thank you to everyone who sent in extra mittens with your child.  We play outside at lunch and then often have outdoor play first in the afternoon.  There is no time for mittens to dry, so an extra pair is a necessity.  Also neck warmers are much safer than scarves, since they have no loose ends to get caught on equipment.  Just a reminder to please label all clothing that your child brings to school.  With 27 children, we have many pairs of mittens, boots and snow pants etc in our classroom.  We want to get everything back to the correct owner and having names or initials helps Miss Santiago and I very much.  It also helps other teachers who find mittens etc outside or in the hall.
     Thursday morning we went to the gym to watch the teachers, including myself, play dodgeball with the Terry Foxers and winners of the Terry Fox trivia contest.  It was a fun school activity!  In the computer lab, Miss Santiago introduced the children to Bookflix.  You can access Bookflix through the virtual library on the LKS website.  The children explored fiction and non-fiction books.
     We are having our Holiday Party on Tuesday, December 19.  Thank you to our volunteers and those bringing food to our celebration.  Please check the December calendar for more details.  Children may wear their Santa hats, reindeer antlers etc to the party on Tuesday.
     Miss Santiago and I would like to thank you very much for our very generous Christmas gifts.  We will have fun shopping and buying something special.  Thanks again.  We love teaching your children and consider it a privilege to be a part of their learning.
     Mailbags will be sent home on Tuesday as usual.  Please return your mailbags and we will keep them over the holidays.  Mailbags will not be sent home on Friday.  Enjoy reading your favourite books at home and hopefully some new books will be presents!
     Check Mr. Currie's twitter account.  There is a tweet of our students using the Code-a-pillar.
     Wishing you all the best during the holidays.  Enjoy this time with your family and friends.

This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Christmas Party 9:00-11:20 
               Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Thursday-First Day of Winter
Friday-Music
            Last day of school before the holidays!

See you on Monday, January 8!
   

Hour of Code in Room 159

Coding with snowmen and astronauts

Watching the code-a-pillar follow the directions

Coding our code-a-pillar

Creating coding maps based on the Gingerbread Man

Coding with Miss Paska

Writing code to move the snowman to the mountains

We did it!

Playing Box Island on the iPads

     Welcome to the cold temperatures of December.  It is wonderful to see the children dressed so warmly.  Just a reminder that we are outside 2 or 3 times a day unless the weather is dangerously cold.  Please make sure your child has all of his/her winter gear so they can enjoy our outdoor time.  We had a busy week celebrating the Hour of Code in Room 159.  Enjoy the pictures above.  The children completed a variety of fun tasks involving coding.  On Monday, we borrowed the iPad cart and the children played Box Island, a fun coding app.  Box Island is available for free from the Apple App Store.  The children also had the opportunity to write code to move a snowman to the mountains avoiding dangers like fire and hot chocolate.  Later in the week, the students each created a Gingerbread Coding Map and then challenged a friend to move the gingerbread man to his/her house.  We sent this home on Friday, so you can play with your child.  The class is also enjoying using our new toy-the Code-a-Pillar.  The children sequence instructions and then the caterpillar follows the code you have created.  In the computer lab, the children used the Google coding activity and also explored germs and bacteria on Pebblego with Miss Santiago.

The class completed their December calendar and explored different patterned paper to create a fancy Christmas tree.  Miss Paska discussed healthy meals with the students and they each created a healthy meal they would like to eat, following the guidelines of 2 fruits, 2 vegetables, meat, grains and a dairy product.  The children also played Silly Bananas, a tag game with Miss Paska in the gym.  This was Miss Paska's last week in Room 159.  We will miss her very much and wish her all the best as she completes her Early Childhood Education Studies at Ryerson and continues with her basketball career.

The class wrote their letters to Santa this week with their Reading Buddies.  We will mail our letters in Mrs. Stefanowicz's special mailbox and wait for a reply from Santa.  Thank you very much for all your generous donations for our Stonegate baskets.  Monday morning is your last opportunity to contribute.  Please contact the Grade Parents if you have any questions.  We have helped to make a family's Christmas a bit brighter.

We enjoyed a great presentation from author Kerri Lynn Winters on Friday.  She has written over 26 books and talked about making connections, visualizing and making predications when we are reading.  Keri Lynn read us French Toast, My Walk and Let's Play a Hockey Game ( a rhyming book).  Thank you to Parent Council for funding this wonderful opportunity to meet an author.

Students in Mrs. Heath's, Mrs. Gibson's and Mrs. Taylor's classes will be selling blinking red noses beginning Monday, December 11-15 (or while supplies last).  Proceeds go to the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, which supply TDSB students with food, warm clothes and other necessities.  The red noses will sell for 3.00 each during homeroom.  Students will come to our classroom to sell the noses.  If you are sending money to purchase a red nose, please place your $3.00 in a baggie or envelope labelled with your child's name.  Thanks in advance.  Additional information will be supplied in this week's LKS Bulletin.

There was a mistake on the December calendar.  There is no library on December 12.  Sorry for any confusion!

     A reminder that Friday, December 15 is our December Sharing Assembly.  Sharing Assemblies begin at 9:00 am in the gym.  The children are presenting a holiday song.  Children should wear red, green and or white clothing and wear a festive hat!  Award winners will be notified this weekend.  The character trait this month is Kindness.  See you there!

This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)

               Red Noses on Sale-$3.00

               Last day for Stonegate donations

Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged

Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)

Thursday-Return your Sound Review books

Friday-Pizza Day

            Sharing Assembly-wear red, green and/or white and a    

            festive hat

            Music

            Snuggle Up books exchanged
            70th Day of School-Zero the Hero visits!

  

     Happy December!  This time of year is always very busy at school and at home, so please continue to check the blog each weekend for up to date information.  With the assistance of our Reading Buddies on Monday, the children completed a Santa countdown activity.  Each day in December, have your child cut off 1 loop of Santa's beard.  When all the loops are gone, it will be Christmas Day.  Have fun counting the days until December 25.  We continued with graphing activities and the children have the opportunity to create their own graphing question, ask their friends and graph the results.  It is great to see all the learning happening around this activity.  Miss Paska also discussed healthy and unhealthy foods on Thursday.  The class enjoyed looking through the grocery store ads and creating their own list of healthy and unhealthy food choices.  We were excited to have Mr. Currie visit Thursday afternoon post some pictures of Room 159 on the Lambton Kingsway Twitter feed.  You can see Mr. Currie's tweets on the Lambton Kingsway website.  Follow the link to the right of the blog.
     Next week we will be participating in The Hour of Code.  The Hour of Code began as a one hour introduction to computer science to show that anyone can learn the basics and to broaden participation in the field of computer science.  It has become a world wide event to celebrate computer science.  Coding activities help to develop problem-solving, logic and creativity.  We will be participating in a variety of activities to teaching simple coding to the students.  Coding is a set of instructions (directions) that computers can understand, it is similar to a recipe.
     A reminder that we are collecting donations for our Stonegate basket.  Details of our family and suggested donations were emailed by our Grade Parents.  Please contact them if you have any questions.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.  We have been discussing how important it is to help others with the children.  Please include them in your shopping if you are able.  Friday, December 8 is the last day for donations.
     December calendars were sent home on Thursday.  Please look inside your child's Poetry book or Sound Review book.  I will be working on the January calendar before the holidays, so please let me know if you will be away in January.  Thanks so much.
     Our December Sharing Assembly is Friday, December 15 at 9:00 am.  We would like the children to wear a festive hat and wear red, green and or white to add to the celebration.  See you there!  Award winners will be notified later in the month.
   
This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Thursday-Bring your Stonegate donations
                 Return your Sound Review Books
Friday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
            Last day for Stonegate donations
            Author visit (Keri Lynn Winters) in the 
             library

Welcome to the end of November and the beginning of December.  We started discussing germs this week, how they spread and how to stay healthy.  The children had fun completing a book about germs.  To show how germs spread, Ms. Santiago and I put hand sanitizer and glitter on our hands to represent germs and then shook hands and high fived the children.  They could easily see how germs pass from one person to another.  We also started an experiment with 2 slices of bread.  I placed 1 slice of bread into a ziplock bag wearing gloves.  We then passed the second slice of bread around the circle and had each student touch the bread.  It was then placed into a ziplock bag.  We will be watching the bread this week to see if the germs are growing on either slice of bread.
     The children are enjoying shopping in our grocery store.  Thank you so much for all your donations.  Our shelves are now full and we do not require any more food packages.   Thank you to everyone who attended our November Sharing assembly.  Just a reminder, please do not post any videos or pictures of the Sharing Assembly which contain other children on social media.  
     Once again this year LKS is helping those less fortunate through our Stonegate Baskets.  The Grade Parents have emailed information regarding our adopted family.  Please contact Candace, Linda or Artie if you have any questions.  Donations may be brought to the classroom beginning Monday, November 27 until Friday December 8.  Thanks in advance for your generosity.  It is a great way to give back during the holiday season.  If possible, have your child  help pick out your donation.  It is a wonderful way to teach empathy and the importance of helping others.
     The Kindergarten students now have time in the gym each week.  We are currently taking the children to the gym in 2 groups for 20 minutes each, on Day 1 and Day 5.  This week the children played Sharks and Minnows, which is a game of tag.  They also played Night at the Museum, where they have to be a statue and change poses without the caretaker noticing.  If the caretaker sees you moving you become a caretaker.  Please ensure that your child has running shoes in their cubby for our time in the gym.  Thanks to everyone who has sent in running shoes for your child's indoor shoes.  On occasion we will miss our gym time for other events in the gym.
     In the computer lab this week, the students explored www.pebblego.com.   They explored natural happenings in the Fall.  You can access pebble through the Lambton-Kingsway website.  Scroll down to the bottom of the list of teacher websites to the virtual library.  Click on the virtual library, proceed to quick finds and you will see pebblego.  The children went to science, earth/space and then fall.
     On Tuesday afternoon, we will have a Terry Fox assembly to celebrate reaching $20,000 in donations.  Thanks again for your generous donations.  I will be participating in the Mystery Pail Dump.  There will be a number of pails to choose from, with a variety of materials inside.  Fingers crossed for a safe pail with something not sticky or gooey to be dumped on my head!  I am sure you will hear all about the assembly after school.
     You received a brochure from the Parent Council regarding the Annual Giving Campaign in your child's mailbag on Friday.  You will be receiving additional information via email this week.  The brochures were to be sent home on Monday, but since mailbags do not go home on Monday, we sent them home a day early.
     A reminder that Friday is a PA Day and there is no school!   Please return Snuggle Up books Tuesday and Thursday to be exchanged.

This Week:
Monday-Happy Monday!
Tuesday-Computers (A), Library (B)
               Terry Fox Assembly at 12:30
               Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Return Sound Review Books
Thursday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
                Music
                60th Day of School-Zero the Hero visits
                 December calendars will be sent home
                 Scholastic Book Orders Due
Friday-PA Day-No School
            Happy December!
  
   

     It has been a short, but busy week in Room 159.  Miss Santiago and I enjoyed meeting you and discussing your child's learning throughout the week.  It was a wonderful opportunity to talk and share information regarding your child.  Thanks again.  If you have not yet returned your child's brown report card envelope, please sign where indicated and return it this week.  Thanks in advance.
     Your child's mailbag was full on Thursday.  We have completed the first 6 letters in the Jolly Phonics program and we sent home the letters so you and your child can practise the sounds and begin making words.  Please keep the 6 letters in a safe place as we will be adding additional letters as we progress throughout the program.  The corresponding songs were included in the Sound Review books.  Poetry books were also sent home.  I hope everyone had the opportunity to read and sing the new songs and revisit old favourites.  We are learning about tally marks as we begin to do graphing in math.  The children practised making tallies using popsicle sticks.
    Miss Paska helped the children learn about colour mixing this week as they investigated mixing coloured water and also mixed paint to make new colours.  It was a fun filled and slightly messy Thursday.  Please see the pictures to the right of the blog.  We also completed our Peace People this week and they are displayed on our classroom door and small bulletin board.
    Book orders were sent home on Thursday.  A reminder they are due on Thursday, November 30, so I can place the order on the weekend.  Please return the completed order form after paying online.  If you wish the books to be a gift, please mark "gift" on the order form and I will give them to you in a bag concealing the contents.  Returning the order forms in your child's mailbag is the safest way to ensure delivery to the classroom.
     We will begin to discuss healthy living with a focus on germs and healthy eating.  Our drama centre will become a grocery store.  We would appreciate donations of clean, empty containers/boxes of healthy food to add to our store.  Nut free products only please.  Thanks in advance.
     Our November Sharing Assembly is Friday, November 24.  The character trait this month is Empathy.  The award winners will be notified this weekend.  The children will be presenting a Beatles song with Miss McGee conducting.  The children should wear a yellow shirt for the Sharing Assembly.  Thanks!

This Week:
Monday-Bring in a box for our grocery store
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
               Library (B), Computers (A)
Wednesday-Smile. it's Wednesday!
Thursday-Music
                Return Sound Review Books
Friday-Pizza Day!
            Sharing Assembly-Wear Yellow!
           Library (A), Computers (B)

     Welcome to the chilly November weather!  Thank you so much for dressing your children warmly for the cold weather on Friday.  The children will continue to go outside for outdoor play and during the lunch break unless the weather is dangerously cold.  We taught the children a song to help with the order of dressing in their winter clothing, "snow pants, boots, coats, hats and mittens always last."    Just a reminder to please label all clothing coming to school, it makes it so much easier for us to send the students home with all their belongings.  It is always a good idea to buy an extra pair (or 2) of mittens/gloves, as they do tend to get lost during the winter months.  Also when we start playing in the snow, it is always nice to have an extra dry pair of mittens/gloves for the next outdoor time.  Please let your child know if he/she has snowpants, hats or gloves in his/her backpack for outdoor play. We don't want anyone to be cold when playing outside.
     All children will receive their Communication of Learning on Monday.  The report is yours to keep, please sign and return the brown envelope.  We will reuse the envelope for the next report and it will verify that you have received the Communication of Learning.  Miss Santiago and I look forward to meeting with you this week to discuss your child's progress.
     The children completed their "This is Me in November" pictures this week.  You will have the opportunity to see them during our parent teacher interviews.  We are finishing our patterning activities this week.  The children made doves with Miss Paska on Thursday and wrote about Peace.  Their individual doves were used to create a large dove of Peace on our hall bulletin board.  The children are also creating "Peace People" and will write their ideas about being a "Peacemaker".  On Friday, the children enjoyed playing Bingo with their Reading Buddies.  Miss Paska created a Bingo sheet and the children rolled the dice and coloured the appropriate square on their Bingo card.  A fun time was had by all!
     We attended the Remembrance Day Assembly on Friday.  The students did a wonderful job listening during this solemn ceremony.  
     Miss Santiago is continuing to use the website Starfall.com in the computer lab.  The children are investigating stories including, Zac the Rat, Peg the Hen and the Big Hit.  Through games they are learning the word families "at, en and it".  They are also matching pictures with the sounds of "s. a. t, i and p"
     The student council has made Thursday, November 16 Pyjama Day!  Let's have a comfy day at school!  Please do not send stuffed animals or blankets to school.  Thanks in advance.
     We have created a classroom Alphabet Book which will be sent home with the leader beginning on Monday.  Please enjoy this book with your family and return it to school the next day so another student can take it home.  Thanks so much!
     Since there is no school this Friday, Snuggle Up books will be exchanged Tuesday and Thursday this week.  Also Sound Review books should be returned by Wednesday to receive a new sheet.  Poetry books will also be sent home for the long weekend.  Enjoy!

This Week:
Monday-Communication of Learning sent home
               Library (B), Computers (A)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Music
                    50th Day of School, Zero the Hero
                     visits
                    Return Sound Review books
Thursday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
                 Pyjama Day
                 Library (A), Computers (B)
Friday-No School

     Welcome to November!  We had an extremely busy week to finish up October.  The children had a wonderful time on our trip to Strawberry Creek Farm.  We started by watching pumpkins fly through the air using a pumpkin canon!  We then continued to an adventure in the corn maze attempting to find the exit path.  I think most groups exited through the entrance, after finding many dead end paths.  We continued with an early lunch followed by time to use the playground and run around to stay warm.  The highlight of the trip was taking a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch.  At the pumpkin patch we learned about growing pumpkins and then everyone had the opportunity to pick their very own pumpkin.  The tractor and wagon then returned and took us back to the bus for our ride home.  Thank you so much to our volunteers who came on our trip.  
     Tuesday we celebrated Halloween.  The children loved parading through the school yard to show off their costumes.  We continued the celebrations with a party in the classroom.  The students had the opportunity to visit a variety of Halloween activity centres.  These included making a jack-o-lantern out of tissue paper and toilet paper, making a pattern with orange, black and white beads, creating a mummy, making a ghost and designing a spider web.  We then went to the gym to dance to some Halloween music.  After some additional activity time, the children had their special Halloween snacks.  Thank you to the parents who helped at the centres and the parents who donated food and drinks.  A great time was had by all.  
     The children completed their November calendar this week.  We are beginning the discussion of Remembrance Day and the importance of wearing a poppy.  Our classroom discussions will focus on peace and the bravery of the soldiers to keep everyone safe.  The children also made a poppy for the top of their calendars.  Each class at LKS creates a wreath for our Remembrance Day Assembly.  The children painted egg carton cups red and we added black buttons to create poppies.  When our Reading Buddies visited on Friday, they traced the Kindergarten children's hands and these are added to our wreath for the leaves.  The school Remembrance Day Assembly begins at 10:30 on Friday and parents are invited to attend.
     With the cooler and wet weather it is a good time to send shoes to keep at school.  This will help us keep our carpet clean and dry.  If your child does not have shoes at school they must wear their boots all day, which is uncomfortable and can be messy.  Thank you to everyone who has sent shoes to school.
     A reminder to read the LKS Bulletin for information regarding booking an interview during the week of November 13-17.
     Our November Sharing Assembly is on Friday, November 24.  We would like the children to wear yellow as they are sharing a special song with Ms. McGee.
     Please add Pizza Day on Friday, November 24 to our classroom calendar.

This Week:

Monday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Music
Thursday-Library (A), Computers (B)
                 Return Sound Review Books
Friday-Remembrance Day Assembly 10:30
             Snuggle Up books exchanged