Kindie Korner Adventures

Today we read a story called Chrysanthemum.  It’s a sweet story about a little girl named Chrysanthemum who loves her name, until she gets to school and some unkind words are spoken about her name.  As I read the story, the children listened for times when Chrysanthemum’s heart or feelings would have been hurt by something being done or said to her.  Whenever the children noticed something unkind happening, they wrinkled the paper heart they were holding.  By the end of the story the hearts were very wrinkled and what we realized is, that once unkind words are said, even saying sorry doesn’t take away the wrinkles.  We tried really hard to flatten the wrinkles away, but nothing worked.  We talked about how powerful our words are, and how we should choose to be kind and help everyone’s heart be happy.  These paper hearts are coming home today and I thought you might like some context about why they are wrinkled.  Perhaps this would be a good conversation starter tonight with your child!

“Before you speak, think and be smart. It’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart!”

Last week as my new kindergarten friends were coloring and drawing, I noticed some of them holding their pencils and crayons with an awkward grasp.  As we have begun this week to work on learning phonograms and forming them correctly, we have also been working on holding our writing tools correctly.  Just like a builder holds a hammer correctly in order to his or her job, we also need to hold our pencils correctly in order to do our printing and coloring jobs.

I found this video that shows a technique I often use to help children who are struggling to hold their pencil correctly and I thought some of you might find it helpful as well as you watch your children work at home.  If you notice them holding their pencil awkwardly, give this a try!  Also, coming home today is a clock page.  We were practicing printing the phonogram “o.”  We start at the 2 and our crayon travelled on the tracks around the clock counterclockwise.  Ask your child to show you how they do it if you would like a peek at how they are holding their crayons.

https://www.facebook.com/thesunvideo/videos/961646343944995/UzpfSTE0MTY4MTYxOTIyOTQ0NzoyMDAzMzQxNTk5NzMwMDk3/

Here are some important dates for the month of September  for you to write down on your calendar:

Sept 17- professional development day (no school for students)

Sept 18- Parent Night in the gym 6:30-7:15 pm visit with teachers, 7:15- 8 pm announcements from administration (there is no childcare for this evening)

Sept 26- Knight Day – students can wear their Knight shirts and casual bottoms.  Forms for Hot Dog lunch will come home for pre-orders

Just a reminder that it is picture day tomorrow.  Please make sure your child is dressed in full uniform (see previous blog posting if unsure about what this is).  We will do our best to make sure they are smiling for the camera!

A newsletter explaining the emergency kits is coming home today.  Please ensure you read it and return a ziploc bag with the required items by October 12.

Hi Everyone!

If you are thinking that you might like to join us on a field trip, or help out in the classroom at any time, you will need to have a criminal record check done.  Forms can be picked up at the school office and there is no charge to you for that.  We hope you consider getting this done because we have so much fun at school and on field trips and we would love it if you could join us.  Parents without criminal record checks done will not be able to join us.

Thanks so much!

We did it!  We made it to the end of our first week of Kindergarten.  Everyone worked really well today on our first 2 Kindergarten Rules- BE SAFE, and BE KIND.

Today your children came home with a paper in their folders that needs to be filled out for the office.  You can return it to me in the folder and I will take it to the office for you, or you can drop it off at the office sometime that works for you.  I also sent home a Scholastic order form.  Every order placed for Scholastic books enables our classroom to expand its library as well as acquire new hands on materials and much more.  The prices are usually pretty good, and they make great gifts.  If you are ever planning on ordering and do not want your child to know, please just send me a note or an email about that and I am more than happy to help you be sneaky!

Things to know for next week:

-School starts at 8:55 just like it has this week

-Our day will end with the other elementary students at 2:55.  Again, students will need to be picked up from the classroom

-If you haven’t already brought in a pillow for rest time, and a pair of gym shoes, please have those here for Monday as we will be using them

-Pizza lunches start on Tuesday.  If your child would like pizza it is $2 per slice.  You can put your child’s money in their folder (although you need to ensure it won’t fall out).  I will also need a little note from you saying what kind of pizza your child would like.  Choices for primary are cheese, ham and pineapple, meatlovers, and pepperoni.  If your child has a pizza card at the office, then you will not need to include any money with your note but please indicate that your child has a pizza card.  If you would like to purchase a pizza card, you can do that at the office.

-It is photo day on Wednesday.  Please ensure your child is wearing their full dress uniform.  For girls this means peter pan blouse, tunic dress and cardigan, and for boys this means button up shirt and cardigan.

I think that’s all I need to say for now!  I will finish by adding a few photos of our centre time today!

Today each kindie left school with a special gift from Highroad- a Knight Shirt of their very own!  These shirts can be worn once a month on our Knight Days.  These shirts can be worn in conjunction with jeans or other casual bottoms.  If students do not wish to wear their Knight shirt on Knight Day, they will need to wear their uniform.

There are so many things for us to learn at the beginning of Kindergarten!  So far we have learned how to use sign language to let the teacher know when we need the washroom, and we know what to do when the teacher needs our attention.  We know where to find our lockers, our cubbies and where we can play on the playground.  We are packing our own bags at the end of the day and we have done a lot of counting.  We are getting very good at these things!

One of the things we worked really hard on today was being kind.  For some of us, this was really easy, but for some of us, we needed some reminders.  It is very important for me that my kindergarten friends feel safe.  Today we talked a lot about keeping our hands to ourselves, and we used the analogy that everyone has a bubble around them.  We need to be careful not to pop anyone’s bubble.  During centre time today there was a lot of bubble-popping happening.  We also talked about using kind words and how important that is.  I would appreciate it so much if, at some point in the next few days, you could have a little discussion with your kindergarten student about this as well.  If we all work together, our kindergarten classroom can be a place where everyone feels welcomed, loved, respected and safe.

Thanks so much!

Hi Parents!  This morning all of your children did SO WELL!  We had no tears and we have already learned so much!

I am looking ahead to next week and I am in need of 7 empty toilet paper rolls for an activity.  If anyone happens to have an empty one at home that they would be able to send along with their child before the weekend, I would appreciate that so much!