Coughing, Sniffing and Sneezing

It seems we are fully immersed in cold and cough season again.  Several kids are coughing quite a lot.  If your child is feeling ill please keep him/her home to rest and recover.  Germs spread very quickly through a Kindergarten classroom.   If I see children with their hands in their mouths and yes, in their noses, I am asking them to wash their hands with soap right away.  I know there has also been a tummy bug going around in some of the other classrooms…something to keep an eye on.

Learning About Penguins

Today, we started talking about penguins and we answered some questions based on what we already know or think about penguins.  Each child came up to this chart and answered 3 questions with a "yes" or "no" response.  Then we counted up our answers and talked about our findings.  As we read and learn more about penguins, we will refer back to this chart and make some conclusions.

Today, we read lots of fun stories about penguins: Cuddly Dudley, Penguin and Pinecone, Penguin in Love and Penguins, Penguins Everywhere.  Tomorrow we will explore some non fiction books.  We've been talking a lot about the difference between fiction and non-fiction.  We have also discovered that sometimes fictional stories can also teach us facts and information.  Before reading a book, we always make a prediction as to whether we think it will be fiction or non-fiction.  We also spend some time looking at the features of a non-fiction book (table of contents, index etc).  These are some things that you can do at home, too, to reinforce the learning that is happening at school.

Some Morning Pictures

OUr morning started off really nicely.  Some of the kids wanted to paint and they sat and worked on some lovely paintings for quite a while.  Others chose to play with the toys on the carpet, and also worked really well together.  

We had music this morning and had a big "finish up" session where we were able to complete some projects that were almost done.  It was a very productive day and the rain did its best to stay away which made outside time lots of fun!  

Have a great weekend! Next Wednesday is the Multicultural Lunch.  Please see  the email and previous blog post for more information.  Also, next Monday is our last Gymsense day.  

Colours Are For Everyone!

This is a great shirt and it was very timely because our question of the day was "do you like pink?"and there was a lot of conversation about girl colours and boy colours.  We often talk about the fact that colours are for everyone and there is no such thing as "boy colours and girl colours"….a good conversation to have.

Thank you all for your support with our toy situation.  No toys were at school today and things went really well.

Did you know that when we lay on our tummies to print and draw it helps build the little muscles in our hands that help us with our fine motor control? We did a little of that today!

Miss Maria was with us again today and she worked with some kids on a penguin craft and read us a lovely story.  Not everyone had a chance to make his/her penguin today.  The rest of the class will have a turn next Thursday when she is back.  

Upcoming Potluck Lunch

Dear Parents/Guardians of Students in Division 16

We would like to invite your child to participate in a celebration of sharing and belonging. With that in mind, we will be holding a MULTICULTURAL POTLUCK LUNCH Wednesday, January 27^th.

Each student is invited to bring a contribution of food reflective of the culture of their choosing. The dish could be a family favourite, a main dish, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, appetizer, or dessert, and should be enough for each child to have a tiny taste (remember, we should have 22 students bringing in food to share.   With so many dishes portions should be small). Keeping in mind that a healthy lunch is our goal, it would be great to have more savory as opposed to sweet samples.

When you are preparing, (with your child if possible) please keep the following in mind:

• NO NUTS, please (we have a few students in our school with serious allergies)

• We will not be able to refrigerate or reheat dishes

• Please pre-cut / pre-portion your dish

• Please provide a serving utensil, if possible

• Please label the bottom of your dish (and serving utensil) with your child’s name 

• If you could provide a short description of your dish and the country of origin it would facilitate our conversations

Contributions can be brought to our classroom on Wednesday morning.  Lunch will begin at 12:00, so please ensure that your contribution has arrived by 11:45 am. Students will enjoy the meal together from 12:00 - 12:40, and then go outside to play.

Each student should bring a plate, personal eating utensils, and a water bottle.   Additionally, students are invited to bring a photo(s) of places in the world that they have seen.  These photos will be put on display so please label the back of the photo with your child’s name and division so they can be returned.

If you are able to help set up, serve and clean up, please let me know

Thanks for your support with this activity.

Nightlights, Gymnastics, Toys and Sharing

We started our day today in the dark, surrounding an item that was brought in for sharing.  This is a nightlight that changes colours and it created a lot of interest!  So, off went the lights and we all had a good look before getting back into our day. 

We welcomed our new student today.  She had her fist gymnastics class with us and seemed to love every second!  Please congratulate your children for being so welcoming and helpful.  It really is a pleasure to spend my days with your children, they are such a kind and caring group of kids!

We only have 2 more Gymsense classes remaining (tomorrow and next Monday) so I thought I'd post some more photos and you can see how our skills are progressing.  Again, apologies for the number of photos.  I try to get photos of each person and then I forget who I've already taken photos of and before I know it, I have 65 photos!  Enjoy….

We've been having some difficulties with toys like these coming to school.  I have asked the kids to leave such toys at home, but inevitably, they come back to school.  On the playground, they are being shared with some kids and not with others, resulting in some kids feeling left out and not included.  The person with the toys seems to take on a role of the one "in charge", the one who decides who can be included and who can't.  I encourage the kids to play together, show compassion and be inclusive.  These toys are making that challenging.  So, I'm asking for your support.  Please encourage your child to keep toys at home.  Please make sure that toys are not coming to school in pockets and backpacks. Thank you.

I knew I already had a lot to post today, so I didn't take photos of each child's sharing items.  Here is a look at some of the things that were brought in for sharing.  Ask your child if he/she remembers the names of the items.