Thank you as always to our valued volunteers! Many thanks also to everyone who was able to make it out to an interview. We follow the same process in February, however; this time the Junior Kindergartens get a printed report and the Seniors an oral. Everyone is eligible to sign up and once again we use the on-line format for bookings.
This past week we had our first lice check and lice notice sent home. At the kindie age lice spreads very quickly and easily since the children touch each other so often and play/work in such close proximity for much of the day. Even our coats and hats are hung close together in order to get 31 of them into the cubbies! The best defense is a proactive offense - buy a lice comb (usually behind the pharmasist's counter) and use it on your child's hair WEEKLY. There is a great deal of information available online about what to look for but the key is to REGULARLY look since one week the kids are clear and the next week there can be eggs or nits. While having lice is in NO way a reflection of the cleanliness level of a house or a child it IS extremely frustrating to get rid of as EVERYTHING has to be washed, treated, cleaned etc ... clothing, bedding, couches, soft toys etc etc ... to avoid a recurrence. I suggest you do some reading to know what to look for, what some preemptive treatments are (mint spray is said to be good!) and talk with your child about sharing hats, clothing and hair accessories. This has become such a hot topic that even award winning author David Shannon (No David!) has a book out called "Bugs in my hair!" about the battle with lice.
This week we began our Jolly Phonics learning program in the classroom. I have used this program for 20 years and believe firmly in the value of using letter sounds as a strategy for decoding words and spelling words at this age. The idea is that approximate spelling allows the kids to get their ideas down as they flow without that "how do you spell..." helpless dynamic. As the children read more and accumulate more sight words more standard spelling will appear in their written work but until that point we don't want stunted writers who can't get ideas out without someone to "spell" a word for them. If you look on Youtube there are videos and songs you can use to reinforce the sounds with your child. Each time we complete a set (there are typically 6 sounds per book) I will send the work home. Juniors may keep the papers at home and Seniors will be asked to return the duotangs ready for the next set.
Our November Sharing Assembly will take place this Friday, November 21 at 9:00. The character trait for this month is empathy - a particularly tricky one when child development for this age group says most are completely egocentric! Talking about knowing how someone else feels because YOU yourself have experienced a similar event helps. We talk a lot in the class about being kind and thinking about each other's feelings when we say things. To some, the idea becomes clearer when we verbalize that words hurt on the inside just like falling down hurts on the outside. The three certificate recipients this month have done a great job of showing understanding of this concept but everyone is in general doing a much better job of sharing materials and space on a daily basis and considering the feelings of others when we work and play together. Congratulations everyone and well done to Norah, Will and Malena as our certificate recipients.
This week:
Monday - Reading Buddies
Tuesday - Mystery Reader PM
Wednesday - Music AM, Lib/IT PM
Thursday - Mystery Reader AM
Friday - Lib/IT
**Please remember to dress your child for the weather as we do play outside SEVERAL times over the day in ALL KINDS OF WEATHER. Having boots is a must to keep feet dry as well as warm when the woodchips are wet and dirty. Having indoor shoes is the ONLY WAY to keep our carpet clean. Keep practising independent dressing with your child, particularly when the clothing items change such as new coats or snowpants are added. The children need to have some understanding of the ORDER in which we put things on (mitts cannot go first and snowpants need to come before coats!) as well as HOW to get them on. Again, if you have difficulty with some of your child's clothing; how will they be able to manage at school with those same troublesome items?
As you can imagine there will be MANY pairs of boots, mitts, snowpants etc that all look the same to the 31 children in the class so please label your child's belongings to avoid loss or confusion.
Thanks and have a great week!
Ms. I.
