If your family celebrates Christmas ...

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

The Aroma of Gingerbread...

Have you heard the news?  We started making gingerbread cookies in celebration of our reading of the Gingerbread Man fairy tale.  We mixed the dough yesterday, and put it in the fridge.  Today we'll roll out the dough and bake the cookies. (Hopefully, none of our gingerbread boys and girls will jump out of the oven and run away!)  We'll decorate the cookies tomorrow, and taste them.  If we have enough cookies, the children will bring a couple of cookies home, too.

Stay tuned for more news soon!  

If Your Family Celebrates Hanukkah,

Best wishes for a Happy Hanukkah!  

We hope your holidays have started well,

 and you are enjoying the celebrations 

with family and friends.

Junior Kindergarten Visits & Senior Kindergarten Meetings

As you are aware, we have been meeting with parents for the past few weeks to discuss their child's progress in our Kindergarten class.  We have enjoyed meeting with parents and discussing their child's growth over the last few months of school.

Some parents have asked for information about ideas that they can do at home to help their child learn more about letters and/or words.  Here are some ideas that we think your child may enjoy:
1.  Play letter/word games together. Here are some examples of games you can easily adapt for either letters or words:

• Play "I Spy..." at home or when you are out.  It's a good way to occupy young children when you have a few minutes to wait.   E.g.,"I spy the letter 's' on the menu.  Or "I spy the word 'the' on a sign."  Of course, you can always play 'I Spy..." for numbers, shapes or colours, too;
• Play "Memory or Concentration":  make a set of word/letter cards.  Each word/letter will need two cards.  We like to print two versions for each word/letter.  For e.g., The ... the,   And ... and,   M ... m,  S ... s, etc.   A set of 12 cards is a good start.  Mix the cards, and lay them face down. First player takes his/her turn by turning over two cards.  If the cards match, he/she reads the cards and takes the matching cards.  If the cards don't match, he/she turns the cards over again, and the next player has a turn.  The player with the most matches at the end of the game is the winner;
• Play "Letter/Word Detective":  Your child will need a piece of paper, a pencil and some pages from a newspaper/magazine.  Ask your child to locate and record letters/words from the newspaper/magazine.  Print the letter/word at the top of his/her recording page.  If your child needs help to correctly form the letters, show them once or twice how to correctly print the letter/word and have him/her practise. Praise his/her efforts.  If he/she needs more help, you may want to print the letter/word with a yellow marker a few times on the recording page.  Then he/she can trace the letter/word each time he/she finds one;
• Play commercial games and puzzles together. There are various word/letter games and puzzles available for purchase.  For e.g., letter/word Bingo or Junior Scrabble; and
• Websites/Apps:  Your child may enjoy playing word/letter games on websites/apps.  You can link to the 'Starfall' site from our Blog.  If you have other favourite websites/apps, let us know in the comments section, and we'll pass on the information.

2.  Continue reading to and with your child.  As you read, point under each word.  It may help your child notice what you are attending to when you read.  In class, we sometimes play 'secret signal' when we are trying to notice a word/letter while we are reading. For example, 'touch your nose (our secret signal) when you see or hear the word:  can'.

3.  Encourage your child to write for meaningful purposes.  For e.g., cards, shopping lists, E-mail, messages, signs, etc.  Let them have access to various kinds of paper, pencils, crayons, envelopes, etc.  (Short pencils/crayons encourage a better pencil grip.)   Here is a chart that shows the stages of writing that we often see in Kindergarten writing:

As you can see, standard spelling takes a while to develop.  Rather than spelling words for the children, we prefer to tell them to 'say the words slowly, and write down the letters that they hear'. We find that when a child worries about spelling each word perfectly, he/she often ends up not wanting to write very much, and he/she often has difficulty rereading what he/she recorded.  As we learn words, we do ask many children to spell the 'word wall words' correctly.  Here are the words we have worked on so far in our class:

a     and     can    I    is    like    look    no     see   the   we    yes

In addition, we have worked on 'ing family words' (e.g., king, sing, swing, playing, etc.).  Many children are aware that if they hear the 'ing' sound in a word, they will need to write   i n g.

We hope you find the above ideas informative and useful.  If you have any questions/concerns, please let us know, and we will do our best to help.  

We're Back!

It has been a while since our last post ... hopefully, your child has been letting you know what we have been doing at school for the last little while.  If not, here is a partial update (it will take a few postings to catch up) ...

Thank you to all the families who have already sent in their family photos.  Many children love to look at the photo display throughout the day.  If you have not sent in your photo, yet, please do so at any time.  We would love to have everyone's family represented in our classroom display.  

Also, thank you to all the families who sent in items to help us create our number charts.  The children did a great job with the task!  


Indoor Shoes, Extra Clothes & Colder Weather

As the weather gets colder and wetter, the students will need to have a pair of 'indoor' running shoes to wear at school.  Please make sure your child's shoes are labelled with his/her name.  

Please send in extra clothing (pants, socks, underwear & tops) to keep at school in case of bathroom accidents, big spills or very wet/snowy weather.  If soiled clothing is sent home, please make sure more clothing is sent to school again as soon as possible.  

As was mentioned in the recent email from our school, please make sure your child is dressed for the weather each day.  For safety reasons while playing outside, we prefer if children wear 'neck warmers' or hats that also cover their necks/faces rather than scarves.  We go outside for recess each day unless it is raining or extremely cold (temperature range is determined by the Board).

Example of a neck warmer

                                 

                          Example of hat

             

    

If you are buying new winter clothing and/or boots for your child, may we suggest that you please consider 'ease of use' before making the purchase.  By 'ease of use', we mean, will your child be able to manage dressing him/herself for outdoors as independently as possible?  For example, coats, jackets and/or boots with removable liners seem like good ideas but are often very tricky for little ones (and sometimes even their teachers) to manage.  We are always available to help the children get dressed for outdoors, but please remember it is 1 or 2 adults trying to help 25 children, potentially, at the same time.

Lastly, please label all outdoor clothing and boots with your child's name.  We often have more than one child wearing the same looking items.  

Franklin the Turtle

    

Franklin has been enjoying himself in our Kindergarten class, but he is ready to start travelling!  This weekend, he is at Ms. Guerriero's home, but he would like to visit with each child in our class, too.  Franklin will be sent home with each child starting this week.  Franklin will get to spend about a week with each child. He will be sent to your home in a travel bag along with some books and a journal.  (You will find some more information in the front cover of the journal.)

We hope you enjoy visiting with Franklin!

What's Been Happening in Room 110?

We've completed our first two weeks of school, and the children appear to be settling in well.  We have been getting to know each other and working on learning some of our classroom routines.  A big 'thank you' to the returning SK students!  They have been great role models and helpers with the new students in our class.  

Thank you very much to the families who have already sent extra clothes and running shoes to keep at school.  Your child will use the running shoes as 'indoor shoes' as well as gym shoes.  If you have not already done so, please send these items with your child as soon as possible.  Thank you also for returning your child's plastic communication bag to school each day.  

Gym Days & Library:
For timetabling purposes, our school operates on a Day 1 to Day 5 schedule.  Our class has use of the gym on Day 5.  Tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 21st, will be our second gym day. Please make sure your child has running shoes to wear for gym.

Our class will go to the school Library to sign out books on Day 3.  We expect to be able to sign out books starting at the beginning of October.  Your child will bring home his/her library book in a plastic bag. Please return the library book in the plastic bag to school on each 'Day 3' so your child may borrow another book. (Please note:  Families will be asked to pay for lost or damaged books.)


 Here is a partial list of the dates of our Library Days (Day 3s):

• Friday, Oct. 2                  
• Friday, Oct. 9
• Monday, Oct. 19
• Monday, Oct. 26                                
• Monday, Nov. 2
• Monday, Nov. 9
• Monday, Nov. 16
• Monday, Nov. 23
• Tuesday, Dec. 1
• Tuesday, Dec. 8
• Tuesday, Dec. 15     

Home - School Connection:

We love to have beautiful stuff to create even more beautiful art!  Please help us replenish our Art Centre supplies by sending in reusable items from your recycle bins such as:  paper rolls, small boxes, wrapping paper, magazines, buttons, lids, etc.

       

Family Photos:  We would like to set up a Family Photos display in our classroom. Please send in a picture of your family that we may keep for the year.  We will return the photos at the end of the school year.  

Number Posters:  We will asking each child to help us create a set of number posters from 1 to 25 to display in our class.  To help with this, we are asking each child to bring in small items that can be glued down on paper.  Here are some examples of items that your child may want to bring to school:  beads, stickers, cotton balls, paper clips, broken crayons, twigs, small leaves, seeds, etc. Please do not make any special purchases for this activity.

If your child is a JK student, please have him/her bring 1 to 12 items to school.

If your child is a SK student, please have him/her bring 13 to 25 items to school.  (We will return any items that we don't use.)

Please send the items to school with your child by Friday, October 9th.

Happy New Year!

To all our families who celebrate Rosh Hashanah, we send you good wishes for a Happy New Year!

Welcome Back to School!

Good morning, and welcome back to school!  Mrs. Mateo and I have been busy getting the classroom ready for a new school year, and we are looking forward to seeing our students again!   
Most of the JK students who were in our class last year will be with us again for Senior Kindergarten.  We will be in the Kindergarten fenced yard this morning starting at 8:55 a.m. to welcome you back to school.  If it is raining, we will have the students enter the classroom directly.

Happy Summer Holidays!

Happy first day of summer holidays!  We hope you had a good weekend despite all the rain.  

We just wanted to send a friendly reminder to all our families re. Raz-Kids.  Your family still has access to Raz-Kids over the summer holiday so your child can keep reading levelled books on your home computer, tablet or IPad. 

Here is some information from the Raz-Kids site:
Not sure what Raz-Kids is?
Raz-Kids.com delivers hundreds of leveled eBooks spanning 27 levels of difficulty, covering a wide range of subjects. This award-winning site gives students 24/7 access to the practice they need to become better, more confident readers. At the same time, teachers can view reports and track student progress every step of the way.

Download the FREE Learning A-Z app

iPhone & iPod Touch

iTunes

iPad

iTunes

Android 2.2

Google Play

kindle Fire

Amazon App Store

Note: Android devices require version 2.2 and higher.
Example devices include the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire.

When you access Raz-Kids, you will need the teacher username in order to login:  lguerrierob

If you have misplaced/forgotten your child's password, please leave a 'comment' on this blog, and we will contact you with the information.

Happy Reading!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the Dads, Grandfathers and Uncles in our Kindergarten Families: 
Sending you wishes for a Happy Father's Day!  We hope you have a great day with your children.

Borrow-a-Book Book Bags

Please return all Borrow-a-Book books with the book bag this week. We will not be sending home any more books this week since it is almost the end of the school year. We will check and return your child's reading response journal (SK students) or book log (JK students) for your child to keep.  

Thank you to all the families that participated in our Borrow-a-Book program. We hope you and your child enjoyed reading together. If you have any suggestions/comments re. our Borrow-a-Book program, please contact us. We are always interested in making improvements that will be beneficial for our students and their families.

End of Year Kindergarten Families Picnic

The weather wasn't with us this year, but we still had lots of fun!  As you know, our picnic was moved indoor to the gym this year.  The gym was a busy and bustling place yesterday, but according to our class survey, most of us enjoyed the indoor picnic.  

Thank you to all the parents and other family members who were able to join us.  We appreciate your support, and hopefully, you also enjoyed yourselves.

Summer Reading Program at Public Library

Pleasant Ridge Public Library:  Summer Reading Club Launch

Yesterday, Mrs. Stephen from Pleasant Ridge Public Library came to our school to let us know about the TD Summer Reading Club. Pleasant Ridge Public Library has set a goal of 5000 books read during the summer. We can help the library reach this goal by registering for the reading club. In addition, each time children return to the library and submit their book logs, they will get ballots for chances to win prizes.  

Pleasant Ridge Public Library is holding a kick off event for their summer reading program this coming Saturday, June 20th from 10:00 to 4:00 pm. For more information please check out their website:  http://www.vaughanpl.info/programs/view/2017

Keep reading over the summer, and help the library reach its goal of 5000 books!  We can do it, Nellie McClung students!

Missing Jacket and Kindergarten Picnic Reminder!

A child in our class is missing a new jacket.  It is a 'Joe Fresh' blue jacket, and it has sharks on it. The jacket is also labelled with the child's name. Would you please check your child's belongings to make sure the jacket didn't accidentally go home with the wrong child?  If you find it, please return it to school. Thank you!


A Friendly Reminder...

On Tuesday, June 16th, we will be having our annual end of year Kindergarten Family Picnic.  We hope you will be able to join us from 9:15 to about 10:30 am.  Bring a snack (or breakfast) and a blanket, and join us on the field.  (Please look for our class sign.) We'll provide some equipment like balls, skipping ropes, parachute, etc. for some fun after snack/breakfast.  Younger brothers/sisters are welcome to join us as well as grandparents/nannies/etc.  The more the merrier! (In case of rain on Tuesday, the picnic will be rescheduled to Thursday, June 18th.)

Caterpillar Update #5

Here is some news about our butterflies that was written mostly by the Junior Kindergarten students in our class:

Well done JK students!

Here are a couple of photos from our butterfly release on May 29, 2015:

This butterfly was having a sip of orange juice before it flew off.

One of our Painted Lady butterflies resting in the grass.

Although the butterflies have left our classroom, our inquiry continues.  We are in the final stages of our inquiry.  We are in the process of completing a few activities that show what we have learned. We are focusing on the life cycle of butterflies, and we will be writing a class information book about butterflies as well.  Look for these activities posted on our blog soon!   

What Have We Been Learning About in Math?

      

For the past week or so, we've been focusing on geometry in our math lessons.  We've been learning about 3D figures and how they differ from 2D shapes. We've been focusing on the following 3D figures: cubes, cylinders, rectangular prisms, spheres and cones. 
                                

cubes

                                                     
      cylinder                rectangular prism 

sphere

cone

We've been learning about some of the characteristics of the 3D figures.  Does the 3D figure have any faces or flat sides?  Does it roll?  Does it slide, and/or does it stack?   

We've also been looking for and identifying objects in our classroom that look like 3D figures.  For example, markers and pencils are like cylinders.  You can have your child look for objects that look like the various 3D figures at home, too.  You may want to talk with your child about how the shape sometimes helps with the function of the object, too.  E.g., wheels/tires are cylinder shaped and not cube shaped. 

We need your help:  we want to do some art and building activities at school, and we need your recyclable containers. Would you please send in various 3D items for us to use? Here are some examples of items we would like to have: paper rolls, boxes of all sizes, party hats, clean/rinsed drinking cups, etc.  Thank you in advance for your help!

(Look for the photos of our creations on this blog in the near future.)







                                                                                                            

Caterpillar Update #4

In addition, here are some observations recorded by Alon C.:

Today there was a strange thing. The butterflies had four legs today. I felt the butterfly today. It was ticklish. 

Alon C. and Jordan made some very good observations about the Painted Lady butterflies.  They noticed that the butterflies appear to have only 4 legs, but we had learned that all insects have 6 legs.  Chloe then told us that she had read in a book that their two front legs are very short and against their bodies.  Ms. Guerriero then read some information to the class.  She confirmed what Chloe had told the class:  some butterflies do appear to have only 4 legs. 

A photo of the underside of the butterfly's body.  Only 4 legs can be seen.

We have also learned that butterflies are harmless to people. They are unable to bite or sting. We wanted the children to experience this for themselves. So, everyone was invited, one at a time, to gently place their hand in the flight cage so they could hold a butterfly. Most of the children in the class were willing to try it.  The children were very careful not to touch the wings. Doing so may damage the wings, and the butterfly would be unable to fly. The children appeared to enjoy holding the butterflies and there were lots of smiles for the camera!