Hallowe'en at School

Friday, October 31st is Hallowe'en. Many children like to dress up for Hallowe'en and may want to wear their costumes to school.  Please have your child follow these school guidelines if he/she is going to wear his/her costume to school:
1.  no toy weapons (e.g., swords, guns, etc.) are allowed at school;
2.  children may not wear masks at school; and
3.  have your child wear his/her costume over his/her clothes so he/she can easily change out of the costume for the afternoon.


Lastly, please do not send any candy/food treats to school for Hallowe'en.  We will not be able to hand them out to the class.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

The Coming School Week

Here a few information items for the coming school week...

P.A. Day... Monday, Oct. 27th is a PA Day for staff.  There is no school for students.

Tuesday, Oct. 28th is Day 3 on school schedule.  Please return library books to school.

Families of Senior Kindergarten students may start booking a conference time for Student-Led Conferences for Thurs. Nov. 13 or Fri. Nov. 14.

From a previous email from the school:

Interviews are to be scheduled in 20 minute time periods for students to take a leadership role in describing their academic achievements and areas for growth.   

Bookings of appointments is through an online booking system.  Please go on the Internet to the following website:

http://www.schoolbookings.net

Enter School Event Code: ___SKRXR___

Please click the link for more information

http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/nelliemcclung.ps/classrooms/Documents/How%20to%20book%20online%20interviews.pdf

Please Note:  there may be other students and their families in the classroom at the same time as you and your child.

Self-Regulation Podcast featuring Dr. Shanker

You have probably heard the term 'self-regulation' being used a lot in the recent past with regard to Full Day Kindergarten.  One of the leading experts about self-regulation is Dr. Stuart Shanker.  He is a psychologist, philosopher and professor at York University.  CBC Radio 1 recently replayed an episode of 'Ideas: Neuron Therapy' featuring Dr. Shanker.  We found episode with Dr. Shanker informative, and we thought you might, too.

From the CBC Ideas site:

What I.Q. was to the 20th century, self-regulation will be to the 21st. That's the prediction of psychologist and philosopher, Dr. Stuart Shanker. For decades he's been teaching kids how to self-regulate, so tantrums, meltdowns and lack of focus diminish - an ever more important skill today as childhood anxiety appears to be on the rise. IDEAS producer Mary O'Connell explores this terrain with Dr. Shanker and a mother who had serious struggles with her own son.

Here is the link to the podcast:

                       http://www.cbc.ca/player/AudioMobile/Ideas/ID/2465155397/
(You can copy and paste the site address above to your navigation bar.)

  

This is a book that Dr. Shanker has written.  

Tomorrow is Library Day

Just a friendly reminder...
Tomorrow, Monday, Oct. 20th is Library Day for our class.  Please have your child return his/her library book in the library book plastic bag if you have not already done so.

The Adventures of Pete the Cat

Pete the Cat is on the road again!  

Each week, he is going home with one of our students.  Students and their families are able to have Pete as a guest in their home for the week. The students are encouraged to record the fun they have with Pete in his scrapbook.  (Pete also has some books to read in his travel bag.)

We hope you and your child enjoy Pete's visit as much as Pete enjoys it!

School Photos

As you are aware, we had a our school photos taken on Friday.  We did not have a class photo taken since several children were absent for Religious reasons.  We will have our class photo taken on November 3rd.  This date will also be for photo retakes and group photos with brothers and sisters, if you wish.

Progress Reports: Junior Kindergarten In-Class Observation Visits & Senior Kindergarten Student-Led Conferences

On Friday, Oct. 9th, we sent home the confirmation notes re. the date and time of your In-Class Observation Visit for your Junior Kindergarten child. If you are no longer able to attend on the date/time stated, please let us know as soon as possible so we can make alternate arrangements.  


Senior Kindergarten students will receive their Progress Reports in November, and we will be having Student-Led Conferences with parents/guardians on the evening of November 13th or the morning of November 14th.  (More information about the conferences will be sent home as we get closer to the date.)

Our First Class Inquiry

For our first inquiry, we asked the children the following question:
What kind of class would you like to have?
Their answer:  a nice class.
Our next question:  how will we have a nice class?

To find the answer to the question, we shared our ideas and talked.  We read lots of books and discussed the books we read.  We acted out some scenarios, and we wrote.

As a culminating task of our thinking, discussions and researching, we wrote Our Class Promise:

1.  We promise to use our manners.

2.  We promise to keep our hands to ourselves.

3.  We promise to solve problems using words.

We all signed 'Our Class Promise', and it is posted in our classroom to remind us about making good choices. 

    

What's Been Happening in Math?

Math:  Surveys, Graphing and Sorting

As we have been getting to know each other, we have been surveying our class and graphing the results of our surveys.  You may have noticed some of our graphs posted in and outside our room during Curriculum Night.  Here are some of the surveys we did:  How Many Letters are in Your Name?;  How Many Words are in Your Name?;  and What is Your Favourite Colour?

When our graphs are complete, we examine them and discuss the results.  What did we find out?  The students' observations are recorded and posted along with the graphs.

Here is one of the graphs we created:


(photo will be added soon...Ms. G. forgot to take a photo on Friday.)


Sorting

We have also been learning about sorting in math.  The children have been sorting various collections of objects and learning how to describe the attribute (e.g., size, shape, colour, etc.) they used to sort the objects.

Here are a few photos of some of the sorting done in our class:

There are lots of opportunities for your child to sort objects at home as well.  Have your child help with sorting and putting away laundry (e.g., socks, towels, t-shirts, etc.). When your child is cleaning up his/her toys/books/craft supplies/etc., ask him/her how is he/she sorting the objects?  Talk to your child about how you use sorting in your life to keep things organized.

Patterning 

We'll be focusing on patterning next in math.  We'll be identifying, creating, reproducing and extending repeating patterns.  We'll also be learning how to describe the patterns. (Stay tuned to our Blog for photos of our patterns, too.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Sending you and your families Happy Thanksgiving wishes!  We hope you are enjoying the long weekend together.

Just a reminder...

Just a friendly reminder...
Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 10 is photo day at school.  If your child is absent tomorrow, he/she will have his/her photo taken on our School Photo Retake day in November.