Thank you as always to our valued volunteers! New books are making the rounds in the children's mailbags, don't forget to send them back Tuesdays and Thursday to be traded. Your child MUST have the mailbag AND the old book in order to receive a new one. As your child is listening to you OR reading themselves, be sure to use take some time to "read" the pictures first. At school we call this a "picture walk" - simply looking through the book at the pictures for some predicting skills, what might be happening, and some context clues, what kind of words will I see, is SO very valuable to building confidence in a new reader and developing story sense in a more advanced reader. We look at "text features" such as title, dedication, font size and style, appendix, pictures, table of contents, glossary etc etc. These are features we want the children to be aware of and familiar with in order to be knowledgable and comfortable with a variety of book genres as they go through the grades. Having taught up to grade 5; I can assure you the value of knowing how to get information from a book for novel studies and projects or research is SO important and never too early to begin learning! We are already very good at labelling books we read in class as fiction or non-fiction and giving valid reasons for why we believe they are...just ask your child!
Other than the deep freeze this week, it was fairly quiet in our class. We missed several children for several days due to illness. Thank you for not sending your child if he or she is not well enough to participate in the WHOLE day's activities. It's never nice to feel under the weather in a busy environment but feeling under the weather when there's just no place to relax is the worst...never mind the potential spreading of germs! We do not have the luxury of changing our class schedule, including outdoor activities, when children are ill. Both Miss Nisker and myself are outside with the students and cannot keep "under the weather" children indoors. Home is the best place for a sick child.
Coming up -
Sharing Assembly is Wednesday, January 28. We will recognize students for great teamwork this month. In our room that will be Kayln, Jackson and Rowan - all good organizers and team builders who help make sure everything gets done! Good job guys!
100's Day is Friday, February 6. The children are asked to create a 100's day collection - anything they can carry and manage and group- to share with their peers (see last week's blog for more info). With 31 in the class we will have groups assigned to a day for the sharing/presentation portion. Dates
are as follows:
Mon. Feb. 2 - Sophia, Michael, Yann, Jordyn, Lucy, Dhevan
Tues. Feb. 3 - Siena, Bridget, Marissa, Ethan, Natalia, Porter
Weds. Feb. 4 - Julian, Lexi, Chace, Santino, Marley, Will, Norah
Thurs. Feb. 5 - Malena, Sara, Kayln, Rowan, Tommy, Abby
Fri. Feb. 6 - Adam, Reese, Zachary, Jackson, Ayden, Amelia
All collections will be sent home on the Friday.
Kindergarten registration for next year will be February 10 and 11 in our office. Each of the four Kindergarten teachers will have a half day shift doing intake for the new registrants. I will be out of the class to cover the afternoon of Wednesday, February 11, a supply teacher will be in the class. If you are CURRENTLY in JK you do NOT have to re-register, once you are in the system we put the children forward until they complete grade 8 or you inform us you will be moving, changing schools etc. If you know anyone in the neighborhood with a child who will be 4 by December 31, 2015, they would be eligible for JK. New registrations for SK would be turning 5 by December 31, 2015.
Valentine's Day will be celebrated on Thursday, February 12. Writing a few valentines each day is
much more enjoyable than all 31 the night before, particularly for those still struggling with fine motor skills. Cards or treats ( peanut free only please!) need only to be labelled "from ______" and have your child sign their name not worry about writing everyone else's unless they would like to.
Those wishing an interview for this term keep an eye on your parent bulletin for the code and dates of online booking to be open and closed. For the SK parents, interviews to discuss next year - Grade 1 -
plans, possibilities etc ...it is MUCH too early! We will not have a count of grade 1 classes until early spring nor any way of knowing who potential teachers may or may not be. Junior Kindergartens will receive their reports on Monday, February 9. Seniors do not receive a report again until June.
This week:
Monday - LIB/IT
Tuesday - Reading Buddies, Mailbags
Wednesday - Mystery Reader PM
Thursday - Music, LIB/IT, Mailbags and Poetry Books
Friday - PA Day, No School
Have a great week, Ms. I.
