Room 110 News

We made it through the first week of Kindergarten!  A big thank you to our returning Senior Kindergarten students for being such good helpers with the Junior Kindergarten boys and girls and helping to make them feel comfortable and welcome in our class and school.

We have been working on establishing and following the routines of our classroom.  For example, our entry routines include:  finding our cubby spots; hanging up backpacks; handing in communication bags; locating and handing in our ‘name rocks’; standing for O Canada; and sitting down on the carpet with our legs crossed.  (And that all happens in the first 10 minutes of the morning!)

As our first class inquiry, we posed this question to the class:  How do you want to feel when you are at school? After some thinking and discussion, most children said they wanted to feel happy. After some more discussion, we decided that we also wanted to feel calm, relaxed, safe and excited. 

We then asked, what kind of class do we need to have so we can feel happy, calm, relaxed, safe and excited?  What kind of choices will we make so we can have that kind of class? After some more thinking and discussion, we decided that we want to have a nice class and a clean class. 

We have been reading various books to help us distinguish what kind of choices and behaviours will help us achieve the kind of class we want.  One of our favourite books is I Call My Hand Gentle.  It reminded us that when our hands do things it is a choice that we make.  We can choose to do good things with our hands like play, build and colour.  We can also choose not to make other choices like hit, break or steal.

This coming week, we will use our ideas to write our class promise.  We refer to our class promise, on a daily basis, as a reminder about the kind of choices we should try to make each day.

Pete the Cat

Have you heard about Pete the Cat, yet, from your child?  We have been enjoying reading the various books that feature Pete the Cat.  Pete is a happy, go-lucky character.  He doesn’t get bothered very much when things go wrong.                              “Just keep walking along and singing your song because it’s all good!” says Pete.

Pete the Cat will be visiting each child’s home this year.  Each week, Pete will be sent home with a child.  In Pete’s travel bag, you will also find some books to read together and a scrapbook to record some of Pete’s adventures with your child.  Pete will start visiting the week of September 19^th.

Helper of the Day

Each day, one child from our class is selected to be the ‘Helper of the Day’.  Throughout the year, each child will have about 4 to 5 turns to be the Helper. 

What are the duties of the Helper?  The Helper takes the attendance to the office with 2 buddies.  The Helper gets to be first in line throughout the day, and holds open doors for the class. What are the perks of being the Helper?  The Helper gets to sit on a special chair during carpet time, and he/she takes home the message of the day.  

It's good to be the Helper!

Birthdays

Birthdays are important, and we like to acknowledge everyone’s birthday in our class. We celebrate each child’s birthday by singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him/her and ‘How Old Are You Now?’.  Each child also gets to choose a small gift from the birthday box. (We also celebrate July & August birthdays. We will celebrate these birthdays near the end of the school year.)  

                                     

Our birthday box

                                                                                            

As you may have already read in previous communication from the school, we are not able to share any food treats (e.g., cake, cookies, etc.) at school. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this policy.

Reminders & Dates to Remember:

·  Friday, September 23^rd:  Trip to the Community Safety Village at Bruce’s Mill Conservation Centre. Please sign up on ‘School Cash Online’ in order to give consent for your child to go on the trip and to pay for the trip. We welcome parent volunteers to come with us to help supervise the children on trips.  Please remember, in order to volunteer at school/on trips/etc., volunteers need to have a current police check on file at our school.

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    If you have not already done so, please send extra clothes and running shoes for your child to keep at school.  Please label all clothing and shoes with your child’s name.

·  Gym Day:  our class will have use of the gym on Day 1 of the school schedule.  Our school operates on a Day 1 to 5 schedule. Here are some of the dates for the upcoming Day 1’s:

 Tuesday, Sept. 13^th …. Day 1

 Tuesday, Sept. 20^th …. Day 1

 Wednesday, Sept. 28^th…. Day 1

·  Monday, September 26^th: PA Day … there is no school for students that day.  We will be in the school if you need to contact us.

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   Curriculum Night/Meet the Teachers:  September 29^th.  More information about the evening will be sent home soon from the school soon.