Week of October 30th

Today we had a fun filled day on such a wet and gloomy Monday.  The children had a blast exploring the games that the Grade 6 students made.  Thank you for sending in donations.  This money will go to the Free the Children Foundation.

Our letter of the week is "i" / "I".  We practiced printing this letter with our magical finger and also buttered the "I" in our poem.  Our word of the week is also "I".  We spoke about the importance of using an uppercase and that when "I" is on it's own, it needs to be uppercase.  The sk writing is really coming along.  They are learning all the important concepts of print.

Please continue to read to/with your child. It's is so beneficial for them and they love listening to stories.

Tomorrow, we are having a visit from a motivational group called NED.  This is a program that centres around 3 important messages: Never give up + Encourage others + Do your best.  It is suppose to be a real engaging and fun show for the children.

Tomorrow, the children are welcome to wear orange and black clothing.  Please leave the costumes at home.  We don't want them getting dirty or damaged before trick or treating.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Play For Change -Monday, October 30th

On Monday, October 30th, we will be participating in the Grade 6 fundraiser called Play for Change.  The school will be filled with games that the Grade 6 students have made.  The money collected will be going to the Free the Children Foundation.  If you have any change to spare, please send it in a ziplock with your child on Monday.  All children will be able to participate in the games on Monday morning.  It is always so much fun for the children and they are looking forward to going!

Week of October 23rd

Today we got our new letter and word of the week. Our letter this week is "m" and our word of the week is "am".  The children remembered the sound that "a" makes and were able to sound out our new word! We came up with a great list of words that have "m"s in them.

This morning we brought our learning outdoors.  The children had a BLAST exploring Griffin's Grove in search of colourful, not crunchy leaves! They examined the leaves and made the decision of which leaves were good enough to be put into the collection  bags.  In the afternoon, we read the story "Leaf Man" which inspired us to make beautiful creations out of our leaves. See the pictures below.

We are learning about our emotions and being about to recognize and communicate how we feel.  This is a school- wide focus this year.  We are teaching the children strategies on how to recognize and manage their emotions.  This is a very important element of the kindergarten program.

On Friday, St. Gabriel will be hosting it's annual Halloween dance.  It is always a great night for the children. If you plan on attending, please bring a donation for the Kanata Food Bank (gently used clothing).  Our class will be decorating a pumpkin so make sure you check it out!

Here are some pictures from today:

Quick Announcements

A quick post to let families know that tomorrow, Friday, October 20th is Walk to School Day.  If it is possible to have your child walk to school, that is fantastic.  In order to allow all students this benefit, we will be walking around the schoolyard tomorrow morning from 9:00 to 9:30 instead of our usual outdoor play.

Tomorrow is also Hat Day in support of our United Way campaign.  While we usually discourage wearing hats indoors, tomorrow will be an exception.  With the donation of a toonie (or more if you wish), your child can wear their hat or cap inside all day.  Feel free to send them with their usual hat or a crazy one if they wish!

Week of October 16 - Letter and Word of the Week

Each week, we will be looking at a letter and a word of the week.  The intent is that the letter of the week is for the jk students and the word of the week is for the sk students.  The word of the week is a high frequency word that we call a "popcorn" word.  These popcorn words are words that are found in simple books which are easy to sound out for the children.  We will get a new letter and word every Monday.  Our activities on Monday will involve this letter/word at some of our tabletops.  I would encourage you to check the blog at the beginning of the week so that you can ask your child to point the word out during nightly reading (sk's), practise printing the letter/word with their magic finger, think of words that have the letter sound in them, etc.  Make it fun! 

Our letter of the week is the letter "a".  We learned that this letter makes 2 sounds ("ahh' and it says it's own name "a").  We had lots of fun with the letter a.  All the children with an "a" in their name stood up.  We noticed that most of the kids in the class have an "a" in their name so it must be an important letter!  We also came up with a list of words that have an "a" in them.  

Our word of the week is "a".  We read a poem about pumpkins and the children had fun "buttering" the popcorn word!  We will do this every Monday.  We will read a poem together and keep an eye out for the word of the week.  The children will take turns "buttering" the word of the week.  This means they will colour the word in yellow. See the pictures below from today.

The sk students then went on to write a sentence or a thought using the word "a".  Mrs. T and I were so proud of their work.  See pictures of their work below.

The students also took great interest in our pumpkin exploration.  They enjoyed writing and drawing about the different pumpkins that we had on the table.  Some of the things they wrote about was the pumpkin's size, colour and the difference between the variety of pumpkins.

We also used pumpkins for Math today.  We turned pumpkins into geoboards and explored shapes using the elastics on the pegs.  This was a big hit in the classroom this afternoon!

Last week, we had a lovely day learning outside.  It was a brisk morning and the kids were happy to be outside! They came in refreshed and hungry!  It was so nice to be able to take advantage of the outdoor classroom and learn in a different environment.  We will definitely be using the outdoor classroom again soon!

On Friday, we came together as a kinder group and celebrated a lovely Thanksgiving mass.  The children were engaged and did a great job sitting and participating.

Here are some picture from today and the later part of last week:

   

Week of October 10th

Today was a busy day in Room 138.  The jk students practised printing their name and recognizing the letters that make up their name.  The sk students were busy writing about why sharing is important and what they like to share.

The students also took on the role of engineers and loved it.  They built creations out of loose parts and we're asked to draw their creation as well as count how many screws, bolts, washers etc they used.  They did such a great job!

In the afternoon, we had a chat about who Jesus was.  Some of their answers were priceless! Check out their responses in the picture below!

Tomorrow we will be extending our learning outside for Outdoor Classroom Day.  We are very fortunate to have an outdoor classroom on our yard so we will be taking advantage of the nice weather and our cool new classroom! Perhaps we will explore letters and numbers using chalk paint, leaf rubbing in Griffin's Grove and listen to a read aloud on the rocks! It will be a morning full of fun and learning in the sun!

We will also be having our kindergarten Thanksgiving liturgy tomorrow morning.  We have so much to be thankful for and it's always nice to come together and pray.

Thank you again for all the Playdoh Club volunteers.  It starts on Monday, October 16th. Yahoo!!!

Here are some pictures from today:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for.  Enjoy your day with family and friends.

Playdoh Club Schedule

Below is the schedule for the Playdoh Club.  I have sent a paper copy with your child today in their mailbag.  Thank you for helping!

Playdoh Club Schedule

Date	Name	Date	Name
October 16	Anna Goodings	January 8	Jodie D.
October 23	Bonita Gagne	January 15	Mrs. Deslauriers
October 30	Jodie D.	January 22	Kim M.
November 6	Jessie Yanchus	January 29	Bonita G.
November 13	Kim Moher	February 5	Michele W.
November 20	Andrea Setya	February 12	Andrea S.
November 27	Sathy Paskaran	February 20	Jennifer D.
December 4	Jennifer D.	February 26	Sathy P.
December 11	Michele W.	March 5	Anna G.
December 18	Anna G.	March 19	Bonita G.
		March 26	Jodie D.
		April 3	Jessie Y.
		April 9	Kim M.
		April 16	Mrs. Deslauriers
		April 23	Michele W.
		April 30	Andrea S.
		May 7	Jennifer D.
		May 14	Sathy P.
		May 22	Mrs. Deslauriers
		May 28	Mrs. T
		June 4	Mrs. Rocco
		June 11	Jessie Y.
		June 18	Mrs. T
		June 25	Mrs. Rocco

Week of October 2nd

Welcome October! September was a month to learn the rules and routines of kindergarten as well and meet new friends and bond as a classroom community.  We are very excited to explore and observe Fall this month.  We are still waiting for the leaves to change colour and fall off the branches but we are in no rush!!!!!

Today we read a book about being thankful for our family and for all the things we have in our life.   The children had such wonderful answers of what they were thankful for (mommy, daddy, siblings, clothes, their lunches and healthy food, books, toys etc).  They traced their hands and wrote one thing they were thankful for. Their hands will become the leaves for our "Giving Thanks" tree.  More pictures to come.

We also read a book called "The Best Part of Me" which is a story about children writing about their favourite part of themselves.  I asked each child what the best part of them is and they came up with the most adorable answers. I can't wait to document their work and put it on display for everyone to see. I will post pictures once it's all done.

In Math, we are focusing on number recognition and counting forward by ones.  If you could continue to count at home it would be very beneficial.

Our jk friends worked in their name books today.   The children are at all different stages so Mrs T and I are ensuring that everyone is holding their pencil properly and writing their name in highlighter for them to trace if needed.   This is the first step for their name books.  Other children are using their name block as a model while others can write it independently.  It is also important for them to recognize the letters in their name.  We will be starting up the word and letter of the week in 2 weeks so this will help the students with letter recognition.

October book orders were sent home today.  They are due back on October 10th.  I am now listed on the parent pay program so if you would like to order books but pay online instead of send a cheque, it is now an option for you.

Here are some pictures of the day: