January

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a great break and a good first week back! This month we will be continuing with:

• The alphabet - learning our letters and letter sounds, as well as the characters from the animated alphabet
• Numbers - we're focusing on numbers 6-10 as well as comparing numbers and recognizing quantities
• 7 Habits - focusing on Habit 4: Think Win-Win and Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
• Seasons - Winter
• Daily 5 - Listen to Reading
• Oceans - our new theme/goal sheet

Tomorrow will be our first day of library so bring your library bags to school!

Please remember we go outside everyday! Bring snow pants, hats, mitts, coats to school!

December Update

Thank you for those of your who returned your library books yesterday! Yesterday was the last library exchange day until the new year.

Our Christmas Concert will take place Thursday December 17th. All the kindergarten classes will be participating in BOTH concerts.  The grades K, 1, 3, 5 concert will take place from 12:15-1:15. The grades K, 2, 4, 6 concert will take place from 1:45-2:45. Feel free to pick whichever concert you would like to attend or both. The kindergarten classes will be performing the same song at each concert.

With the Christmas concert taking up most of the afternoon and rehearsals for the concert taking place that morning, we have decided to have our Christmas party on Tuesday December 15th. This day will consist of a Christmas craft and a short Christmas film accompanied by snacks. I will be asking students to volunteer to bring some snacks to share with the class. If your child volunteers, you will receive a note in their agenda. Thanks in advance for your help!

If you have any questions about either one of these events, please feel free to contact me!                  

December

Hey everyone!

Thanks so much to everyone who came swimming with us! There were a lot of parent volunteers (and even four dads!!) and it really made the afternoon go a lot smoother and I felt like I could relax a bit more. I really appreciated the help!

December is fast approaching already! We will be carrying on with many of the same things we have been working on this month such as Daily 5 (Read to Self), the 7 Habits of Happy Kids, explorations with dinosaurs and the alphabet. In Math we are starting sorting and patterning which will carry on into the new year. We will also have some centres set up that will pertain to the holidays.

A few things to note:

The kindergarten classes will be participating in the Christmas concert this year! We will be singing a song about Pete the Cat. If you would like to practice the song at home you can find the link here.
http://www.thelearninggroove.com/#!pete-the-cat-saves-christmas/c18k4
It will also be posted on the "Songs and Videos" page of my blog (right hand side). The concert will be taking place December 17th. I will be sending home notices about the Christmas concert once we have more details about it.

We will also be having our class Christmas party on Thursday December 17th. More details will follow about that, as well.

Please remember that we do go outside everyday for recess. Students need to be bringing snow pants, hats and mitts to school everyday!

Our last day of library before the break will be Tuesday December 1st. Please don't forget to return books.

November

First of all, thank you to everyone for being so accommodating in regards to having the swimming postponed. I have contacted the pool and our new date is THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19. The staff at Ponoka Aquaplex have assured me that the kiddie pool will be open at this time. I will double check on the Monday before and will also be contacting parents to volunteer that day, as well. If you are available please let me know. It is supposed to be a mild day, but please remember we are walking to and from the pool so dress your child for the weather. Due to the nature of the circumstance, you will NOT have to sign another consent form.

We are continuing to work on lots of fun things in Kindergarten!

1. Early Literacy - We have just started to learn our letters. We use the Animated Alphabet program to assist students with remembering their letters and sounds. Each letter has a character that goes with it and an action. We are continuing with Daily 5. We have learned Read to Self. Students have learned that they can read books by "reading the pictures".

2. Early Numeracy - We are continuing with numbers 1-5. We are about to start sorting and patterning

3. Citizenship and Identity - We have just learned the rules for "Caring and Sharing". Ask your child if they can remember what the rules are and how they follow the rules at school.
The rules are:

• Say nice things
• Ask others to play
• Be helpful and work together
• Be a good listener
• Share and take turns

4. Environment and Community Awareness - Our new unit of study for centertime is Dinosaurs! We have a lot of activities, games, stories and puzzles related to dinosaurs set out for the students to play with and explore.

5. Personal and Social Responsibility -  We are continuing with the 7 Habits. We have done Habit 1: Be Proactive. The students know that they are in charge of themselves and are proactive by taking charge of their actions and doing the right thing. We will begin Habit 2 this month: Begin with the End in Mind.

6. Physical Skills - The students work hard on their fine and gross motor skills everyday by doing activities such as writing, cutting, drawing, coloring and climbing, hanging, running, and different movement games.

7. Creative Expression - For Remembrance Day, we made fingerprint poppies that will go up on the wall in the gym for our assembly. The students also have opportunities to paint, color, draw or work with Plasticine everyday during centers.

Reminders:
Please take note of our November calendar. Kindergarten will NOT have school Thursday, Nov 12 in lieu of parent/teacher interviews.

Parent/teacher interviews will take place WED NOV 18 and THURS NOV 19. Please call or email me to make an appt. or sign up below. Interviews will only be about 15 minutes long and will focus on how your child is adjusting to school.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4fa9a62aa4fc1-parentteacher

Tuesday/Thursday kindergarten students WILL have school on Friday, November 27 to make up for their missed day.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: RE SWIMMING

Hi parents,

I am so sorry to have to do this again, but we will be postponing our swimming date. I have just talked to Ponoka Aquaplex and the kiddie pool is NOT open as of yet. This is really a safety concern as I don't feel comfortable taking the students to the pool and having them use the big pool. I think it is best for everyone that we hold off until the kiddie pool is open. They have given me Saturday as the opening date, but I will get back to you with a confirmed date as to when we will be going. You will NOT have to sign another consent form due to the circumstances of the postponement. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience of this and the short notice.

- Miss Kenzie

7 Habits

We have started learning about the 7 Habits of Happy Kids based on the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. This is a program that is being used in schools to allow children to develop skills such as leadership, responsibility, teamwork and problem solving. Our school has taken this up as a whole so if you have other children in the school, you may have heard them speaking about the habits as well. Today we started Habit 1: Be Proactive. We talked about being in charge of our words and actions and being responsible. I encourage you to use the vocabulary with your child at home. Congratulate them if they are demonstrating proactive behavior, and remind them to be proactive if they are not. We have actions and characters that help us learn the 7 Habits. If you would like more information on the 7 Habits so you can reference them at home, please let me know!

On another note:

Two consent forms were sent home today:
1. Permission slip to go swimming on Tuesday November 3
2. Permission slip to have your child's photo posted in our blog (Please note that names will NOT be posted with photos)
Please sign and return both forms when you come to school on Thursday

Just a reminder, we do go outside everyday. Now that the weather is colder, please remember to pack coats, hats and mitts for your child and snowpants once it starts snowing.

Thanks!

Halloween Party

Our Halloween Party is fast approaching! We will be celebrating next Thursday (Oct 29). Please remember that your child is more than welcome to wear a costume to school. We will be watching a Halloween video and having snacks. If you would like to volunteer to bring a snack to our party, please sign up on SignUpGenuis (see link below)

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4fa9a62aa4fc1-halloween

Our grade 2 buddies will also be joining us at the end of the day!


Just a few reminders:
Our swimming date is Tuesday, Nov 3 (1-2pm)
Picture retakes will be held on Nov 9 (Am only)
Now that the construction on the east side of the building is complete, please use the EAST doors to enter and exit the building instead of coming through the main doors.