As our view count is extremely low some of this will be a repeat of last week - if you read the blog could you please pass it on to others to do so...it appears most families still do not!
Another busy week in our kindergarten room!
Thank you to our book changers, computer helpers and mystery readers once again. Most children return their snuggle books Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Tuesday and Friday on a short week) and are happily making their way through our first set of books. Not returning a book disrupts the circulation of that book to the next child as well as prevents your child from receiving a new one. You will find some books better than others as well as some sets better than others - you can always supplement by using library or personal books and the idea here is building confidence as well as sight words and skill.
Remember that in school we run on a five day cycle not Monday to Friday. This means days will "shift" every time there is a holiday or a PA day; such as library this week. Morning library is not each Monday but each day 5 and afternoon library is not every Friday but each day 4. You can download an LKS school year calendar with the days on it directly from Ms. Kaddel's blog on our links.
Leader of the day will continue along over the year. The leader may bring one item to share and show on their day. There are no requirements for this item as long as it is classroom appropriate (no weapons etc) and something meaningful to your child that your child can talk about - where did they get it, where do they keep it, who uses it etc. The idea is to spotlight a variety of interests your child has to create interest in the other students so that they may ask questions or make comments appropriate to the item. Questioning, reasoning and making connections are all higher level thinking skills which we require of the children both orally and in written form as they move up the grades.
The morning class met their reading buddies this week - Mr. Littlejohn's grade 4 class - and were excited to spend a period working and reading with their new friends. As the older classes have more than 20 students some of us may have 1 buddy and some may have 2 to accommodate the mismatch. We will meet regularly with them to read and share activities over the year. Peer mentoring is a wonderful opportunity for both classes; I know we get very excited when we walk the halls to library or computers and see a familiar face!
Thank you to our book changers, computer helpers and mystery readers once again. Most children return their snuggle books Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Tuesday and Friday on a short week) and are happily making their way through our first set of books. Not returning a book disrupts the circulation of that book to the next child as well as prevents your child from receiving a new one. You will find some books better than others as well as some sets better than others - you can always supplement by using library or personal books and the idea here is building confidence as well as sight words and skill.
Remember that in school we run on a five day cycle not Monday to Friday. This means days will "shift" every time there is a holiday or a PA day; such as library this week. Morning library is not each Monday but each day 5 and afternoon library is not every Friday but each day 4. You can download an LKS school year calendar with the days on it directly from Ms. Kaddel's blog on our links.
Leader of the day will continue along over the year. The leader may bring one item to share and show on their day. There are no requirements for this item as long as it is classroom appropriate (no weapons etc) and something meaningful to your child that your child can talk about - where did they get it, where do they keep it, who uses it etc. The idea is to spotlight a variety of interests your child has to create interest in the other students so that they may ask questions or make comments appropriate to the item. Questioning, reasoning and making connections are all higher level thinking skills which we require of the children both orally and in written form as they move up the grades.
The morning class met their reading buddies this week - Mr. Littlejohn's grade 4 class - and were excited to spend a period working and reading with their new friends. As the older classes have more than 20 students some of us may have 1 buddy and some may have 2 to accommodate the mismatch. We will meet regularly with them to read and share activities over the year. Peer mentoring is a wonderful opportunity for both classes; I know we get very excited when we walk the halls to library or computers and see a familiar face!
The afternoon class will be introduced to their buddies this week, we have paired up with Ms. Caligiuri's grade five class and in this case most of the kindergarten students will have 2 buddies to work with. The kids are looking forward to this!
As incredible as is seems, Senior Kindergarten progress reports will be coming home in about a month and interview time will be upon us. Both junior and senior kindergarten families will have interviews to discuss progress but junior kindergarten students do not receive a report until next term. LKS uses a completely online form of interview sign up so watch for dates and news of how to log in and select your child (children's) interview times. The site is opened for all parents to sign up, no matter their child's teacher, on the same day and closes down (finalizing selections) on the same day. You will be notified of these dates soon. Teachers individually organize their availability and post it on the site where you may select the time most convenient for yourself. Interviews are 10 minutes long in order to accommodate everyone. I will post a variety of before and after school times as well as the traditional interview evening times for you to select from.
Our character trait focus this month is on responsibility. In kindergarten that takes the form of making sure your tasks are as complete as they should be, your belongings are where they should be, you are where you need to be, materials are tidied after being used, mailbags make it out of backpacks etc etc! We have some exceptional students in this regard, both junior and senior and these will be the sharing certificate winners for this month. As promised - you, the parents, are receiving previous notice to accommodate your schedules but please don't tell your child who the winners are! This month we will celebrate Christian (SK) and Harrison (JK) in the morning and Leena (SK) in the afternoon for their great efforts and hard work. Last month we celebrated both Liam and Kate (SKs) in the morning and Brendan (SK) in the afternoon for their outstanding show of respect in the class - listening, raising their hands, following instructions, caring for materials in the class and the classroom/school space etc.
We began our Jolly Phonics letter sound program this week. The students hear a story and view pictures regarding one sound at a time. Follow up lessons focus on listening for the sound in names, words etc that we hear and use. As well as learning the letter name, the idea is to begin associating the sound taught with the letter in print so that the children can begin to build decoding skills which they will use for reading. Students complete a worksheet for each sound introduced which is kept in their sound booklet. These will be sent home periodically.
This week -
Monday- PM library - plastic bags MUST accompany your child's book
Tuesday- AM library - plastic bags MUST accompany your child's book
Wednesday- AM Reading Buddies, PM computers
Thursday- Ms. I. away in the PM for an ECO Committee meeting,
Mystery Readers come! 10:55 AM and 2:45 PM, check in at the office please
Friday- Sharing Assembly 9:00/12:35 in the lunchroom, AM computers, PM Reading Buddies,
TWIN day! (pick a twin in the class and dress alike - from your student council)
Upcoming-
Weds. Oct. 24 - photo retake day (AM times only), call the office with further questions
Fri. Oct 26. - sharing assembly (9:00/12:35)
Weds. Oct. 31 - Halloween - come in costume, no weapons please - share peanut/sesame free treats with your classmates only please
Friday- Sharing Assembly 9:00/12:35 in the lunchroom, AM computers, PM Reading Buddies,
TWIN day! (pick a twin in the class and dress alike - from your student council)
Upcoming-
Weds. Oct. 24 - photo retake day (AM times only), call the office with further questions
Fri. Oct 26. - sharing assembly (9:00/12:35)
Weds. Oct. 31 - Halloween - come in costume, no weapons please - share peanut/sesame free treats with your classmates only please
