NOVEMBER
Keenoo Kinder Chronicles
November 12, 2015
Dear Kinder-Families,
I hope all my Kinder-Kids are enjoying their Fall Break. They have all worked very hard so far this school year - we have 45 fish stuck on our fish bowl representing the number of school days we have had. In those 45 days we have learned about sharing, respect, friendship, learning our names and the letters in them, focused attention on Cc, Dd, Aa, Gg, Qq, and now Oo, apples, pumpkins, bats, fall leaves, fire safety, colours, days of the week and months of the year, signs we see in our environments (recycle, bathrooms, EXIT, STOP), people who work in our community, and Remembrance Day among other things. Not bad for 45 days! Both my classes are lovely groups of little people and I am fortunate and grateful to be a part of their lives.
REWIND AND REVIEW
We have been working on printing our names in a straight line from left to right with an Uppercase letter at the beginning (because names start with an uppercase letter as it shows they are important) and all the rest lower case. If you have time at home during the break please go over this with your child - some of us still need help remembering what letters are in our name and where they go. At this point we should be able to do our name from memory and some assistance at home will help make this happen.
We have done some intense focused work on the letters: Cc, Dd, Aa, Gg, and Qq. The children should be able to recognize these letters by name and by sounds - C says /k/ - cookie, car & /s/ - circle, centre; D says /d/ - dog, door; A says /ă/ - apple, ax, /ā/ - ate, ape, /ŏ/ - autumn, August; G says /g/ - grape, give, /j/ - gentle, giraffe; Q says /kw/ - quilt, quiet. We have just added O this week - O says /ŏ/ - on, off, /ō/- open, over, /oo/ - school, loop, /oo/ - book, hook. We have talked about English being tricky with all these sounds but we are smart and we can do it!! Please review these letters and sounds at home when you have the chance. We love to do word brainstorms at school where we think of all the words we can with a given letter or sound.
As we are learning more and more letters and sounds the children are noticing letters around the school and trying to sound out words - it is incredible to watch them expand their knowledge! Knowing how to read is not a Kindergarten requirement but when the children are able to make the connections between letters and their sounds they start realizing letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make stories and that makes them READERS! I have received some very positive feedback about our Home Reading program from parents - I would just like to reiterate that we are not trying to force the children to read but rather expose them to literature. If you read the Home Reader to them it counts! If they pick out letters they know it counts! If they have memorized the words and read with you it counts! If they can read and track each word with their finger it counts! As adults we are facilitating their success by helping them love books - reading will happen when the child is ready if we give them the time, tools and practice. In the Home Reading Logs please make one entry per day(night), date and initial the line and return the book and the Log to school so your child can pick a new book. If life intervenes, as it often does, and you don't have the opportunity to read every night don't worry about it! Read when you can - we want this to be an enjoyable experience for your child and you! Reading and comprehension becomes crucial in Grades 1 - 12 - let's start our children on the right path now by making literacy fun!
The Morning Class had their opportunity to attend a school assembly on Tuesday and they were fantastic with their behaviour especially considering the serious nature of Remembrance Day. Well done, Kinders!! I am proud of you. Thank you to all our families who sent in pictures of special people who serve or have served in the military - they have been added to our Hall of Heroes collection and will be displayed yearly. The concepts of War and Peace are often tough for children to understand - in class we focused on the good aspects that our soldiers, seamen, and airmen provide rather than death. My husband served with PPCLI for 20 years so Remembrance Day is very important in our family - our boys knew that Dad had to go away at times to make life better in countries where people didn't have the opportunity to make choices. At school I drew from that and we used this time to celebrate how lucky we are in Canada to have choices thanks to our military.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Friday, November 27th - NO SCHOOL. The teachers will be here but the children do not attend.
Wednesday, December 2nd - NO KINDERGARTEN (1st Wednesday of the month)
Friday, December 4th - AFTERNOON CLASS Fieldtrip to the Public Library - Christmas Around the World
Monday, December 7th - MORNING CLASS Fieldtrip to the Public Library - Christmas Around the World
*** Both classes will be building a graham cracker gingerbread house to bring home. Each child will need to bring a small bag of candies for decorating by December 3rd. (If you have Halloween candies still hanging around this is a great way to get them out of your house!! Other options include: jellybeans, gumballs, Swedish berries, sour cherries, gumdrops, Smarties, etc - please do not send nuts as we will be with other children at the Library). I will mix everything together and hand out the assortment of candies at the Library - this works on our goal of sharing and being part of a community. (I provide the graham crackers and the Library provides the icing.) Also, please send your child in his or her green Kindergarten shirt.
Thursday, December 10th - School Christmas Concert - the words and the song will be coming home soon so your little person can practice!!
Friday, December 18th - Pancakes and Jammies at school! This is our traditional way of celebrating the last day before Christmas break. We come to school in our jammies and slippers, make pancakes, and have fun!
***We talk about Christmas and holidays that other cultures celebrate during this time of the year. If your family does not celebrate Christmas please contact me so I can include your family's traditions or celebrations in our talks.***
Thank you everyone for a wonderful year so far! Enjoy the break and I will see everyone back on Monday, November 16th!
Take care,
Karen
Keenoo Kinder Chronicles
November 12, 2015
Dear Kinder-Families,
I hope all my Kinder-Kids are enjoying their Fall Break. They have all worked very hard so far this school year - we have 45 fish stuck on our fish bowl representing the number of school days we have had. In those 45 days we have learned about sharing, respect, friendship, learning our names and the letters in them, focused attention on Cc, Dd, Aa, Gg, Qq, and now Oo, apples, pumpkins, bats, fall leaves, fire safety, colours, days of the week and months of the year, signs we see in our environments (recycle, bathrooms, EXIT, STOP), people who work in our community, and Remembrance Day among other things. Not bad for 45 days! Both my classes are lovely groups of little people and I am fortunate and grateful to be a part of their lives.
REWIND AND REVIEW
We have been working on printing our names in a straight line from left to right with an Uppercase letter at the beginning (because names start with an uppercase letter as it shows they are important) and all the rest lower case. If you have time at home during the break please go over this with your child - some of us still need help remembering what letters are in our name and where they go. At this point we should be able to do our name from memory and some assistance at home will help make this happen.
We have done some intense focused work on the letters: Cc, Dd, Aa, Gg, and Qq. The children should be able to recognize these letters by name and by sounds - C says /k/ - cookie, car & /s/ - circle, centre; D says /d/ - dog, door; A says /ă/ - apple, ax, /ā/ - ate, ape, /ŏ/ - autumn, August; G says /g/ - grape, give, /j/ - gentle, giraffe; Q says /kw/ - quilt, quiet. We have just added O this week - O says /ŏ/ - on, off, /ō/- open, over, /oo/ - school, loop, /oo/ - book, hook. We have talked about English being tricky with all these sounds but we are smart and we can do it!! Please review these letters and sounds at home when you have the chance. We love to do word brainstorms at school where we think of all the words we can with a given letter or sound.
As we are learning more and more letters and sounds the children are noticing letters around the school and trying to sound out words - it is incredible to watch them expand their knowledge! Knowing how to read is not a Kindergarten requirement but when the children are able to make the connections between letters and their sounds they start realizing letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make stories and that makes them READERS! I have received some very positive feedback about our Home Reading program from parents - I would just like to reiterate that we are not trying to force the children to read but rather expose them to literature. If you read the Home Reader to them it counts! If they pick out letters they know it counts! If they have memorized the words and read with you it counts! If they can read and track each word with their finger it counts! As adults we are facilitating their success by helping them love books - reading will happen when the child is ready if we give them the time, tools and practice. In the Home Reading Logs please make one entry per day(night), date and initial the line and return the book and the Log to school so your child can pick a new book. If life intervenes, as it often does, and you don't have the opportunity to read every night don't worry about it! Read when you can - we want this to be an enjoyable experience for your child and you! Reading and comprehension becomes crucial in Grades 1 - 12 - let's start our children on the right path now by making literacy fun!
The Morning Class had their opportunity to attend a school assembly on Tuesday and they were fantastic with their behaviour especially considering the serious nature of Remembrance Day. Well done, Kinders!! I am proud of you. Thank you to all our families who sent in pictures of special people who serve or have served in the military - they have been added to our Hall of Heroes collection and will be displayed yearly. The concepts of War and Peace are often tough for children to understand - in class we focused on the good aspects that our soldiers, seamen, and airmen provide rather than death. My husband served with PPCLI for 20 years so Remembrance Day is very important in our family - our boys knew that Dad had to go away at times to make life better in countries where people didn't have the opportunity to make choices. At school I drew from that and we used this time to celebrate how lucky we are in Canada to have choices thanks to our military.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Friday, November 27th - NO SCHOOL. The teachers will be here but the children do not attend.
Wednesday, December 2nd - NO KINDERGARTEN (1st Wednesday of the month)
Friday, December 4th - AFTERNOON CLASS Fieldtrip to the Public Library - Christmas Around the World
Monday, December 7th - MORNING CLASS Fieldtrip to the Public Library - Christmas Around the World
*** Both classes will be building a graham cracker gingerbread house to bring home. Each child will need to bring a small bag of candies for decorating by December 3rd. (If you have Halloween candies still hanging around this is a great way to get them out of your house!! Other options include: jellybeans, gumballs, Swedish berries, sour cherries, gumdrops, Smarties, etc - please do not send nuts as we will be with other children at the Library). I will mix everything together and hand out the assortment of candies at the Library - this works on our goal of sharing and being part of a community. (I provide the graham crackers and the Library provides the icing.) Also, please send your child in his or her green Kindergarten shirt.
Thursday, December 10th - School Christmas Concert - the words and the song will be coming home soon so your little person can practice!!
Friday, December 18th - Pancakes and Jammies at school! This is our traditional way of celebrating the last day before Christmas break. We come to school in our jammies and slippers, make pancakes, and have fun!
***We talk about Christmas and holidays that other cultures celebrate during this time of the year. If your family does not celebrate Christmas please contact me so I can include your family's traditions or celebrations in our talks.***
Thank you everyone for a wonderful year so far! Enjoy the break and I will see everyone back on Monday, November 16th!
Take care,
Karen