Merry Christmas!

Hi Parents,

Time seemed to speed up even more this week... it is now Friday and the beginning of the Christmas Holidays!


On Wednesday we had our Christmas party. After a trip on the Snowflake Express (Lori the Conductor sure took us on a crazy ride to the North Pole!) we were excited to find some bells hidden under our chairs! Like Mrs. Demas said last week when she told us the magical story of the Polar Express, if we can hear the bell ring it means we believe in the magic of Christmas! A little boy during the excitement kept shaking his bell exclaiming: "I believe in Christmas! I can hear the bell!"

The kiddos did such an AMAZING job at the Christmas concert yesterday! If you happened to get a couple pictures of the whole group, would you mind sending them to me? I would love to post some on my bulletin board.

Today we ended our week by making some Christmas wreaths with our book buddies. The whole project took about an hour and we had a blast! We always have a great time with our book buddies :)

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas holiday. Thank you for all the thoughtful cards+gifts - I am truly spoiled! It has been an excellent 2012 :)

- Christine B

Daily 5 Update :)

Hello Parents,

A couple months ago I talked to you all about Daily 5, a new centres-based literacy program.
The Daily 5 is a structured language arts program that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working with peers that will lead to a lifetime of independent literacy.  Students will participate in one of the five activities every day:  Read to Self, Read with Someone (teacher, peer, parent, Grade 4 book buddy, etc.), Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing.

Here are some pictures to give you a glimpse of all the activities we've been doing during Daily 5:

Daily 5 not only gives the kiddos a chance to explore literacy (in terms of letters, sight words, and reading books) but it also gives the teachers a chance to work with smaller groups for interventions and more phonographics work! It has been going so well - thank you for your support and help with this new program!

(And a big thank you to Mrs. Peek for such a wonderful description of Daily 5 for kindergarten!)

-- Christine B

Jack and Jill went up the hill to...

"... slide back down!"
"... go to the wishing well."
"... run around. That's what I sometimes do."

Hello Parents!

The theme that we are talking with the kiddos about is... you guessed it! Nursery Rhymes :)  We've been having a lot of fun exploring different Nursery Rhymes and making our own rhymes.

Last week, we estimated how many cups would fill a pail. We had estimations ranging from 6 to 127! We also recorded our results by tallying up the cups on the white board. The results ranged from 20 to 22 cups to fill up the pails of water... that would have been 20 to 22 trips up and down the hill for Jack and Jill!







We are having a lot of fun talking about rhymes... try playing a rhyming game with your child this week!

-- Christine B.

Save the Earth!

Hi Parents,

We have been reading a lot of literature about what we can do to help keep our earth clean and green! I will be sending home a Save the Earth checklist! Please encourage your child throughout the next week   to do things that will help keep our earth healthy (like turning off the TV when finished, using both sides of the paper, etc.).

Mrs. Heggie + Mrs. Boles :)

After cleaning up the schoolyard, we learned that we need to do our part to keep the playground clean! At the end of 20 minutes, we had lots of full garbage bags and I heard a lot of kids ask good questions like: "Why aren't people putting their garbage in the garbage can?" What a good lesson to learn!

Until next time :)

-- Christine B

... why can't we dress up for two days?

Hi Parents,

That is a good question... and I think about extending "dress up day" for another day until I remember how exhausted I got the first day... could we last another day of Halloween?

        

       

Our Halloween Party was a great hit! Thank you for all of your help with the Halloween Treat. We couldn't have had such a success without you.


Please don't forget that you are always welcome to come hang out with us! Sign up on the calendar just on the window by my door... your child would love to show you off during class :)

-- Christine B

"I opened the door and there was a snow flood!"

Hello Parents,

I couldn't have said it better myself... a snow flood indeed! What a day! I hope everyone was able to stay warm and safe today. What a reminder to us though... just because our winter clothes are still in the basement, does not mean the snow will wait until we're ready (are we ever ready?) :)

I appreciate all the parents volunteers to help make cookies+icing for our Halloween party! I think two parents per class will do it... and I think I am only needing one more parent to make 1 doz. cookies for my afternoon class! Let me know if you're interested!

This week (and next) we are going to focus on Nutrition and what makes a healthy snack/meal! During a discussion about vegetables, Sheila and I were quite entertained when a student asked if a veggie burger could be added to our list of vegetables! To reinforce the idea of "sometimes" snacks, we decided to work on some Smartie Graphing. The kiddos were excited to do this activity... especially when it included eating the Smarties at the end!

With Halloween right around the corner, I think that it is important to remember that no matter how much we would love chocolate and only chocolate for our snack, an apple is probably a better choice :)

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week! I hope that we will get a chance to go play in the snow before it all turns into mud...

-- Christine B

Parent Volunteers NEEDED :)

Hello Parents!

Next week Monday, we are going to start doing some more work and practice with the sounds we are learning in school. The more practice we have the better... because eventually knowing these sounds will help us READ! We are going to approach this extra practice as an additional Centre Time during our day, but we will be calling this new Centre Time "Daily 5"... maybe you've heard of it?  Students will participate in at least one of the five activities every day:  Read to Self, Read with Someone (teacher, peer, parent, Grade 3 book buddy, etc.), Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing.

Read to self:

Students will have the opportunity during Daily 5 to "read to self."  This portion of the daily five involves students reading their phonics readers which are at their reading level and also enjoying read aloud books that contain loads of pictures, repetition and rhyme. 

Read with someone:

Students will have the opportunity during Daily 5 to "read with someone." This portion of daily five involves the student reading aloud with a peer, a parent volunteer, myself (the teacher), or with their Grade 4 Book Buddy.  

Listen to reading:

Students will have the opportunity during  Daily 5 to listen to literature using books on CD.  Kids love "listen to reading" time during the Daily 5.

Word Work:

Students will have the opportunity during Daily 5 to work on first our LETTERS that we are learning in class. Than, later in the year, they will work on words that incorporate the letter of the week. This portion of daily five involves the student creating letters or words out of a variety of manipulatives such as play-doh, magnet letters, wooden letters, dry-erase markers and boards, and wikki stix (later in the year). Students will also be able to play detective to look for words and letters in a variety of written material. 

Also, during this portion, the students will have the opportunity to work on words and letters on the school computers (using websites such as Starfall).

Work on Writing: 

Work on writing is a time of journaling. This is a time for students to express themselves in writing using what they know and what they have learn in kindergarten. They will be writing words very much like the word sounds. The focus is not so much about spelling words correctly, is it about sounding the words out and capitalization. The students will always get the chance to draw a picture to go along with the journal writing.

On MONDAY, OCTOBER 15th we are going to introduce the Word Work portion of these Centres and I NEED YOU HELP! Please let me know if you can volunteer for 30 minutes (or more, if you are able) on Monday to help introduce the activities to the kiddos for this new centre time.

Thank you in advance for your help... I cannot do it without you!
-- Christine B

Baby it's COLD outside!

Hello Parents!

Yes... it is getting cold, but that is not going to stop us from going to explore that changes happening around us out in the school yard! Please take a moment to go get your child's Fall/Winter clothes. This should include: warm shoes, warm coat, mittens/gloves, scarf and hat! If you don't have these, please send me an e-mail :)

We had such a GREAT week last week! I hope that your children are well rested and ready for another week of Kindergarten! Here is a glimpse of the things that we saw during our Community Helpers week...

Painting Center

"Look at my nails!"

Cookies at the Merc... YUMM!

We ran for Terry Fox!

Doing hair for our Spa Day

We got our hair dyed at our Spa!

Like I said... we had a blast!

Stay warm!

-- Christine B

Important Dates - UPDATED :)

Hi Parents,

I wanted to post a blog simply sharing with you some events that are coming up in the next week or so!

 September 27 - The Annual Terry Fox Run

The staff and students at RES will be participating in the National Terry Fox Run. The school theme is Toonies for Terry. Students are invited to bring a single toonie (1 per family) to donate for cancer research. Please wear red!

October 2 - Trip to the RCMP

Starting next week, our theme will be Community Helpers. We will be walking to the RCMP! This is always a great trip and a great opportunity to learn more about the people in our community. If you would like volunteer and come with us, please e-mail me.

October 3 - Field trip to the Merc

We will be walking to the Merc to take a tour and learn about what the Merc is all about! If you would like volunteer and come with us, please e-mail me.

October 4 - Trip to the Fire Hall

As you read in the form sent home with your child, on October 4 we will be walking to the Fire Hall! Once again, we are going there to learn more about the people in our community. If you would like volunteer and come with us, please e-mail me.

** In order for your child to participate, the permission form MUST be handed in to me at school by the end of MONDAY!**

That is all for now! If I do not see you tomorrow, have a wonderful weekend!
-- Christine B

Mandy Mae Moo made a mess in the morning!

Hello Parents!

This week, we have been working on the sound picture "m". Perhaps you have been hearing your child say a little rhyme about Mandy Mae Moo?

THANK YOU so much for being so great with helping your child do his/her homework! They absolutely love standing in front of their class reciting the poem, sharing their work, or describing what they did. It is great to expose the kids to fun ways to learn more about the sounds we are learning in school. Thank you! 

One more thing... I will be posting some pictures of the class in "action" on my blog and on the bulletin board just outside my classroom door. Have a look! They will give you a glimpse of some of the great experiences we are having in school. Please note that I have NOT posted your child's name, or any information about any of the children on this board (also, almost all of the pictures are group pictures). At the beginning of the year, you signed a  FOIP form giving me permission to do this... HOWEVER, if you are in any way uncomfortable with your child's picture being posted on the board OR on my blog please let me know as soon as possible. I will of course make the appropriate adjustments :)

Thank you so much!

-- Christine B