A parent volunteer spent time with us all morning yesterday preparing a donated Christmas craft.   She worked individually with the students while the rest of the class followed our regular programming.

There is a a hat and mitten drive for the needy.  We have a bag in our room for donations of hats and mittens. 

The cold weather is here and extra outdoor clothing is required.  The children are much slower in the mornings with the extra clothing.  Please practice independent dressing skills at home so we can be ready for morning announcements.  I keep telling the class, “practice makes you better – the more you practice the better you get”.  We apply this to all areas of life and learning in the room.  I strongly discourage the words “I can’t”,  I tell them to keep trying which shows integrity.  Integrity is one of the character traits followed by our school board and listed on the “Classroom Environment and Student Roles” page of this blog. 

We will be writing a class letter to Santa and mailing it off.  It’s a bit late this year so hopefully everyone will get a response to their home before Christmas day! 

December 16 – ROE presentations.  Baby Payton will be coming for her December visit along with our instructor.  This month are are discussing why babies cry. 

The same day in the afternoon, we will also get a visit from the Northern High school students.  We will be working on some Christmas activities. 

December 18 – last day of school before the holidays.  We have a parent volunteer coming in to read us a Christmas story.  It is also school spirit day and everyone is asked to dress in red and green for the holidays.

Thank you to all the parents who came in for interviews.  Your time and support in your child’s education is crucial and appreciated. 

The same six  Northern Students were in our class for their 2nd successful visit.  We completed a reindeer craft and name caterpillar (relating to “The Hungry Caterpillar” & our nutrition unit) during their visit. 

Ms. Jackson also came for our 1st Dec. ROE lesson.  The class predicted why we think babies cry.  On Wednesday, Dec. 16th,  Baby Payton will be visiting again and we will find out how our predictions compare with reality. 

It’s great to a have a supportive parent group – THANKS SO MUCH!

We got a new leader chair thanks to a generous parent. 

We have some cinnamon playdough made by a parent.

We have some new Christmas stickers, writing papers and pens in our writing centre donated by a family.  We also received some craft books and Christmas craft supplies from another family.   The writing supplies and craft supply donations  (foam shapes, etc.)  happen monthly.  Thanks to those sending in consumables, these help  keep our centres interesting and new.

We are planning to make English muffin pizzas (recipe on Nov. 25 blog note) for morning snack on Monday  - compliments of some parents as well.  After making a mini pizza, each child will individually record the procedure s/he used for the recipe.   

There are parents who generously volunteer on a regular and on an occasional basis giving their valuable time.  These parents  work in small groups and with individual students.   

All the parental support, whether time or materials is greatly valued and benefits the students – thanks again!!

Today, our class got a visit from a small group of Northern students.  The experience was very successful and the students helped us count and make our loops.  Please read the poem carefully and follow the instructions. 

On the following upcoming dates: Wed. Dec. 2 and Wed. Dec. 16 both Kindergarten classrooms will be getting visits from the group of Grade 11 Northern Students. These students are taking “Living and working with Children”, a course that teaches them about the development of young children.   The Northern students will be shared between Ms. Noel’s room and our room for a short period after lunch.  Ms. Noel will have the group on her own Wed. Dec. 9.

These students will be assisting with appropriate Kindergarten curriculum art and language activities that relate to Christmas. The ratio will be approximately 1 high school student for every 2 or 3 Kindergarten students.    The Northern students will be accompanied by their instructor Ms. Martin, and both Ms. Noel and I will also be in our respective classrooms.

 We believe this experience will be beneficial and enriching for both the elementary and secondary students. Ms. Martin, Ms. Noel and I met and co-operatively planned out the activities to ensure the entire experience is positive.

Today we had our first visit with baby Payton.  It was a lot of learning and fun.  We measured Payton and learned about her abilities and size.  On Friday, all the students will be measured so we can compare our height to hers and our classmates.  There is a photo waiver that will be sent home in your child’s report card envelope for ROE.  This waiver allows us to take pictures for the program and educational purposes.  Your child will never be identified by name. Please return the signed waiver at your interview (Wednesday, December 2).  We’re putting photos on our classroom bulletin board (now) and in the Kindergarten hall (in January).   

We also have our character assembly on Friday and our 3rd ROE November lesson with Ms. Kim.

New Volunteers in the Classroom

A parent volunteer will be helping all afternoon this Friday.  She will help with a counting Christmas loop craft.  When it comes home, please read the poem carefully and follow the instructions.  Also, please send in a plastic grocery bag for your child to store and transport the craft – they may be too fragile for the backpacks and too awkward to carry without a sack.  If you have extra plastic grocery bags (Metro, walmart, etc.) that you can donate to the room it would be appreciated. 

We also have a community volunteer, Ms. Jeanine who will be with us every Friday morning.  She visited for an hour today and worked with small groups of children on phonemic awareness skills (”at” family words – “cat, sat, etc.).   She will mainly be working with small groups of children to help build reading skills.   

We have a board hired student tutor, Ms. Copeland who comes to visit the room every Monday for two seperate 1/2 hour time blocks.  She is working with individual and small groups of children on language skills (helping to recognize letter sounds and some basic writing skills – thinking about and printing beginning sounds of words, leaving spaces between words, etc.). 

New Writing Form

We have started a new genre of writing – it’s procedural.  Today, we read a wiggleworks book “Pizza” on our Smartboard to illustrate this concept.  Our class anchor chart reminds the students of the following 4 procedural components – Goal, Materials Needed, and steps.  Here’s our sample which was based on the book:

Goal :  to make a pizza;

Materials needed: english muffin, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese;

Steps:

1. Place english muffins on baking sheet.

2. Spread tomato sauce on English muffins.

3.  Sprinkle on the cheese. 

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 

Recipes are only 1 sample of procedural writing.  There are also instructions (ie. how to carve a pumpkin, how to get dressed for outside, how to build a barbeque) and so forth.  If you have any samples of this writing genre at home, please send them in and we’ll add them to our Writing Sample booklet with your child’s name and allow your child to share the sample with the class.   It might be good to look in magazines and find recipes, etc.

Kindergarten Checklists and Interview Process

 Interview times will be sent home this Friday.   Thanks to everyone who has already signed up for an interview.

Kindergarten checklists (similar to a report card) will be sent home on Monday, November 30.  Please review your child’s checklist prior to the Wednesday interview. 

 Please bring your signed copy of the checklist back to school (along with any comments in the space provided for you) and the report card envelope.   Please prepare any questions/concerns so we can address them together.  JK and SK students have the same checklist for this particular reporting period.  Therefore, it is normal for JKs to have ”BD” – Beginning to demonstrate on their checklist since they are given 2 years (JK and SK) to meet these curriculum expectations. 

We will be reviewing your child’s progress and I will give you an identical copy for you to take home (we’ll trade copies - it allows us to focus on discussing your child rather than signing papers, etc.).  A parent signed copy needs to be filed in your child’s OSR (Ontario Student Record).  We reuse the envelopes for the next reporting period.   Thanks so much for  your co-operation.

Our first ROE lesson was yesterday.  The class was very interested.  We saw pictures of Payton and the students made predictions about her motor capabilities (dancing, walking, feeding herself, etc.).  We also made a graph predicting her size.  Next week when she visits we’ll measure her, see her capabilities and compare those with our predictions.  We  learned some songs that go with the program, we practiced making eye contact while speaking and talked about the word empathy.  

 We have a bulletin board in our classroom showing our predictions and Payton’s picture.  If you would like to see it, please let me know.  You are welcome to visit the room at the end of the day when you pick up your child.  Your child can show you our graph and predictions.

School fundraiser envelopes are due today.  If you didn’t return them yesterday, you will need to contact the school and/or drop them off by the end of  today. 

Also, Scholastic book orders will be accepted until Monday, Nov. 23.  This is the last order before Christmas, it will be returned before the holidays.

I am really excited about a wonderful opportunity for our class. We will be participating in a program called “Roots of Empathy”. It will run from Nov. 18 until the end of June 2010. It was developed in 1996 by a Kindergarten teacher to foster and develop social skills in students.

Three Wednesdays a month for a 1/2 hour a trained ROE instructor, Miss Kim, will be coming to our room to administer the program. This program teaches children about feelings, their own feelings, and the feelings of others. Once every three weeks, baby Payton and her mom will visit the classroom. Miss Kim will gather the students in the classroom and together we watch the baby grow.

The children predict and cheer when their ROE baby reaches the ‘developmental milestones’ of the first year: She can roll over! She got her first tooth! She can sit up! She can crawl!!

The ROE Instructor also coaches the children in observing the baby and reading the cues the baby gives as to how the baby is feeling: Is the baby happy or sad? How can you tell? And we use this discussion as a lever for the children to talk about their own emotions and to understand how their classmates feel: Do you smile when you’re happy? How can you tell if your friend is happy? Being able to understand how other people are feeling is called empathy. Miss Kim also visits the classroom before and after each Family Visit to prepare and reinforce teachings using a specialized lesson plan geared specifically for Kindergarten.

For more than ten years across Canada and internationally, thousand of children are learning respect and care for one another with the lessons started through their Roots of Empathy baby.

Here is the website: http://www.rootsofempathy.org/ProgDesc.html so you can read some additional information on the program. I will keep you informed of additional details throughout the year. We will have a bulletin board in our room dedicated to this program with our current learning. Aspects of the program will teach lessons in a variety of curriculum areas (ie. graphing, measuring and patterns relate to our math program and so forth). Our 1st lesson is Wed., Nov. 18th and we meet Payton on Nov. 25th.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the school and speak with myself or Mr. Parnham.

Friday, November 13 – PD day – no classes for students

Wednesday, November 18 :

Our first ROE (Roots of Empathy) lesson with Miss Kim.

Scholastic Book orders due.  Please let me know if any items are Christmas gifts.  Please give orders to me when I come outside in the morning or at the end of the school day as you pick up your child.    

School Council Meeting in staff room at 6pm.  All parents are welcome and free childcare is provided during the meeting for those who attend.  The meetings are approximately an hour long.  I will be there as the teacher representative.

November 25 – Our class meets baby Payton for the 1st time, our 2nd ROE lesson. 

 November 27:

Character Development Assembly in the gym.
Our 3rd ROE lesson for November.

Tomorrow our class will celebrate Remembrance Day with the rest of the school.  We will attend an assembly in the gym starting at 10:25am. 

 Miss Callie, our co-op student, who is an Air Cadet will come in full uniform and she will read the class “A Poppy is to Remember”.  We will create poppy bracelets and do a few related language activities to help follow up our lessons. 

The school will be giving poppies to each child.  Donations are gladly accepted and will be collected in the morning.

Our class is scheduled to attend the book fair Monday, November 9 at 8:40 am.  If you would like to send some money with your child or stay with us for a few minutes and take your child to the fair, let me know when I come to get the class in the morning. 

Many of the children have been  bringing home “fish” for our character development program (see more details on the  “Classroom Environment and Student Roles” page of this blog).  In our class we have been learning about responsible and appropriate choices.  We talk about “control” of ourselves, including hands to ourselves and to choose what we say and how we say it in a respectful manner.   We will attend the Character Ed. Assembly with the rest of the school on November 27. 

At school we continue with Fictional Narrative writing, learning our letter sounds, numbers beyond 10 & patterns, “healthy eating” and also reviewing our prior learning of safety both in and outside the classroom.  If you would like more details on the monthly specifics for math or language please refer to the appropriate page of this blog.

The H1N1 vaccination will be given at our school on Thursday, November 5th for all JK and SK students only.  The rest of the school needs to wait until a later date. 

 This is a “B” day but you may accompany your child to school so s/he can get the shot. 

You need to go to the main office by 9am and the office staff will direct you to the appropriate room.  Please bring your signed consent forms to school with you.  You will need to wait while your child gets his/her shot.  There are only a total of 80 JK/SK students (I’m not sure how many are getting the vaccine)  but the wait shouldn’t be too long.