Thank you as always to our valued volunteers!
Another week gone and done! Thank you to all those who returned report envelopes and made it out to an interview over the last few weeks. It's always great to meet and chat about your wonderful kids!
Please keep sending in those paper egg cartons, we are almost there! The result will be worth it and the kids love making this craft.
Both classes are enjoying the patterning strand of math we've been working on and many parents have mentioned a spill over to patterning language at home...that's great! Although we do address each of the math strands over the year, numeracy and number sense is year round - count, count, count anything and everything, practise reading and printing those numbers, do addition and subtraction with concrete objects and especially for seniors - look for patterns in numbers such as counting by 2's, 5's 10's etc, the hundred chart, do mental math questions when in the car, walking, shopping etc etc to build skills and comfort level. Most children who "don't like" math, feel this way due to a lack of confidence and/or understanding around math concepts so any and all extra practise to build these skills is a great thing. We move next to data management - meaning we learn to sort things out using a rule centred around an attribute - we call it the "sorting rule" for example if I made groups of children such as:
GROUP A - Annabelle, Marley, Emily, Lucy
GROUP B - Henry, William, Noah, Daniel
The children would identify that I sorted by boys and girls meaning my rule was boys in one group and girls in another. Using this rule they would be able to place each child in the appropriate group. Once we can sort data, we begin to represent it in different ways such as surveys, T charts and graphs. This will take us into January.
Our author visit with Ted Staunton this past week was a big success, the children enjoyed songs, imagination time and a story-telling of Puddleman. Many thanks to our Parent donations - thank you Parent Council - for this special event! The morning class will bring home new library books after this week's library visit.
Pajama Day was fun for all and coming this Friday (to mark the end of "Mo-vember) will be "Dress Like A Man Day" as our Student Council has proclaimed it! That means there are many possible variations on what your child could wear but the idea is to have fun. Participation is never mandatory if the child is distressed about any of these events, you may take part as much or as little as you wish.
The November Sharing Assembly is Monday, November 25 at 9:00 and 12:35. Certificates celebrating the character trait of empathy will be given out. Congratulations again to Annabelle, William and Justin. The December Sharing assembly will be on Thursday, December19 at 9:00 and 12:35 to celebrate the trait of Kindness and Caring. We will perform several holiday songs at this time in the manner of a "mini" (but age appropriate!) kindie holiday concert. All are welcome!
December brings with it one of my favourite LKS traditions - our Stonegate Community Centre family baskets. Watch out for emails from your grade parents regarding donations for our assigned families. We will be given specific items of use for a specific family in need and each class pulls together what they can to help make the holiday season special for some who may otherwise not be in a position to enjoy the season. We are so blessed to have so much and the ability to share what we have is one of our most powerful gifts. Having taught in Rexdale for my first 12 years of teaching, I can tell you there is fierce pride in the needy but also the ability to recognize and be humbled, overwhelmed and thankful for the generosity of gifts given to meet a specific need/purpose (be it a baby's snowsuit or laundry detergent). So many life lessons can be taught by showing your children the value of giving and sharing. Donations will be collected from Dec. 2 - 16, in the classroom, once we have been assigned a family. I look forward to seeing what we can come up with!
Our afternoon class will begin Reading Buddies this week, yeah! We have been matched up with grade 8 students as a part of Mr. Kuru and Ms. Chandra's "L.I.V.E" program and we are looking forward to meeting them Thursday.
The December Scholastic order forms will come home this Friday and be due back to me for December 4. I still have one uncollected order from October - it has no name on it - if you are missing books please send me a note or speak to me so I can get them to the right house!
Boots and shoes please! The change in weather means the children should have boots on for outdoor play (we play outside some portion of each day, even in the winter) and a clean, dry pair of shoes to change into for the classroom. Keeping wet boots on wets and dirties our class, carpet and ultimately the children when the sit cross-legged on the carpet. The children each have cubbies that a pair of runners, crocs or other shoes can safely be left in. Labelling your child's shoes with their name or initials is never a bad idea either! Thanks for your help in this matter!
This week -
Monday - AM and PM Mystery Readers!
Tuesday - AM Reading Buddies, PM Computers
Wednesday - AM Library
Thursday - AM Computers, PM Reading Buddies
Friday - PM Library
Have a great week!
