January Scholastic book orders arrived today and were sent home.  Students also brought home: a 5 Snowman poem & craft (re-reading this poem while your child tracks the words would be beneficial); polar bear faces and Shape pictures with “recipe cards”.

February book order forms were sent home.  They are due on February 2nd for those interested in ordering.   Please make cheques payable to Scholastic Canada.  Books generally arrive within a week after ordering.

February Parent Council lunch order forms were sent home today.  The information about the Sub Day is stated on the form.

January 30 – ROE with Ms. Kim

February 1 – Groundhog Day – please listen to the radio to see whether or not the groundhog (Wiarton Willy or Puxtany Phil) sees his shadow.

February 2nd is Pajama Day.  Student council will give house points to participating students.

February 2 – Mrs. L. Cook will come to our class and do a presentation on dog safety and the Humane Society.  If you would like to donate any animal food, treats, old blankets/towels, or anything else you feel would benefit the Humane Society, please send the items to school prior to her visit and she will deliver them for us.

February 3 – PD day – no school for students.

February 9th is WWF-Canada’s National Sweater Day – this event is a fun and celebratory way to raise awareness about climate change and encouraging individual behaviour change.  WWF Canada is calling on Canadians to turn down their thermostats and wear a fun sweater to symbolize their commitment to the environment.   WWF Canada says:  “There are a multitude of things that divide people: gender, nationality, race, political and religious beliefs to name a few. But when it comes to fighting climate change, it doesn’t matter who we are or where we’re from – we’re all on the same team. This is our opportunity to ignite change and ensure that Canada is on the right path for future generations, our economy and the planet.”

February 6- ROE with Ms. Kim

February 13 – ROE – Baby Ben and Jen come to visit the room.

February 14 – Mini Valentine celebration and card exchange at school.  We have 28 students in the class.  Students are asked to simply print his/her name on each card.  Please do not address the cards to specific students otherwise it takes too much time to read and distribute the cards.  If your child really wants to address the cards, s/he can simply print to: “my friend” or leave the “to” area empty.  It is a good writing experience for your child to print his/her name on all 28 cards but you may want to do this activity over several days, doing a few each night.

February 16- Report cards go home.

February 27- ROE with Ms. Kim

Hi, my name is Jaylyn. I am 19 years old and I am in my final semester at Lambton College. I am enrolled in the Early Childhood Education program. Every semester I am required to complete a placement at a school or daycare centre. This semester I have been placed in your child’s classroom. I will be in the classroom on Mondays and Tuesdays. While I am in the classroom I will be planning a variety of activities for each centre in the classroom. I hope my activities will interest your children and be fun for them to experience. I will be in the classroom until the end of March and I look forward to getting to know and work with your children. Some other things you may want to know about me is that I have a lot of experience working with children, I have been babysitting since I was 11 years old. I have babysat triplets, twins, and families that have children of all different ages. I also currently work at Bonnie Togs here in Sarnia. Below I have posted one of my favourite edible play dough recipes that you might enjoy making with your children. Enjoy!

Kool-Aid Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
3 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
1 package Kool-Aid Mix (any flavor of unsweetened)
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Slowly add water mixed with oil and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens to dough. Turn out onto a heatproof bread board or counter top and knead until cool enough for children to handle. Dough will be the color of the Kool-Aid mix and will smell like the Kool-Aid mix. (Can be stored in a tightly covered container for up to six months)

Our class is studying report writing.   We have been looking at some non-fiction books on arctic animals and will continue to review similar books about pets.  The SK students are doing some guided writing in small groups to create simple reports with 4 headings: appearance; food; habitat and interesting fact.  Students use diagrams, pictures and more advanced students label their pictures and print complete sentences.

Report writing needs to include a title, and list 2 or 3 facts (not opinions) the child has learned from observing or reading something.  We can distinguish reports from other types of writing because they traditionally have photographs, sections and may include diagrams.  Samples can include: weather reports, fashion reports, factual/scientific book reports , sports reports, biographies, brochures and so forth.  At school, we are playing the fact versus opinion game, doing individual oral reports and shared writing reports.

**If anyone has empty paper towel rolls, please send them to school over the next week for an activity in our drama centre.  We are unable to take toilet paper rolls for health and safety reasons.  Thanks.

We have new hooks across from our classroom.  With the new hooks, every student has his/her own locker or hook.  There is significantly more space for students to get ready.  Plus, the students can independently access their backpacks at all times.

Our drama centre is currently an animal clinic/hospital.  It contains several stuffed animals, cages, medical equipment and so forth.  A guest  speaker from the Humane Society will do a presentation for our students on February 2nd.

January 25 -Pizza lunch for those who ordered.

January 27- Term ends.  Last day of Persuasive writing unit.  Family Literacy Day.

January 31 – Students attend Character Education Assembly in the gym.

February 3 – PD day  – no school for students

February 13-17 JK/SK registration for September 2012.  Students already attending school do not need to register.  Students usually stay in the same classroom for both JK and SK since it’s a two year program. 

February 17 – Report cards go home.

We have a first year Lambton College, Child and Youth Worker (CYW), Hailey, she is in our classroom every Wednesday and Thursday until April.

We also have a second year Lambton College Early Childhood Educator (ECE), Jaylyn, she will be in our classroom every Monday and Tuesday until April.

Our high school co-op student, Sydney, is almost done her placement and getting ready for exams.

SK students have restarted the book in a bag program.  It is important to work on the retell component (see duotang for details).  Also, please work on the word lists at the back of the duotang.  Students who complete the first set of Zap game cards may get the second set to practice if they are ready.  There are only two sets.

We are working on persuasive writing along with the rest of the school.

In math, we are working on graphing.  Then, we start a unit on 2D and 3D shapes.

The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program (Draft 2010) document has been in draft form during the first two years of the program’s implementation. The Ministry is now initiating the formal stage of reviewing this document. Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten teams, administrators, parents and other stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the proposed revisions to The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program (Draft 2010) document.

The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Branch of the Ministry of Education is hosting an electronic Feedback Consultation session in two parts:

1. A pre-recorded information session that outlines the proposed changes (12 minutes)
2. An electronic survey for providing feedback.

To access the Feedback Consultation session and the feedback survey please go to:

www.curriculum.org/edu/kindergarten

ID: survey2011

Password: kindergarten123

OR

Visit this link on the Lambton Kent District School Board’s homepage at http://www.lkdsb.net/ . You will find it under the Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) icon.

The Feedback Consultation and survey will remain open until January 31, 2012.

Parents of the Full-Day Kindergarten students are invited to participate in the feedback process.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in and support this curriculum review process.

Welcome back!  It was nice to see all of you again.

Remember to return the Boston Pizza lunch order forms by Monday, January 16, if you are interested in participating.

EDI permission slip forms were sent home today.  All the details are on the forms, participation is optional. 

Scholastic Book order were sent home today as well.  Due date for orders is Monday, January 16th.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!

We look forward to seeing you back on January 9th!

Library books were supposed to be returned last week.  No books are sent home during the Christmas break.  Overdue notices were sent home today, please return any of these books and/or pay the lost book amount on the form.

For SK students, Book in a bag is also stopping for the Christmas break but I have sent home some sight word game ideas.  There is a photocopied package that includes a list of the 30 Kindergarten sight words and instructions.  Parents will need to cut the words apart to make cards for your child.   Game instructions can also be found in your child’s book in a bag duotang – on the back of the jolly phonics letter page.  There are instructions for Zap, Flip 3, Louder & Louder, Jeopardy, Memory, Funny Voices and Swat.   The front page of the card set also includes instructions for Pick 3.

Parents of SK students can  record the number of times you play the  games on the Activity page in your yellow duotang.  Students will continue to play these games in January until s/he knows the majority of the sight words and then s/he will go back to reading books.  We have been playing similar games in our phonics circle at school.  Have fun!

Thursday is Christmas spirit day – please dress in red and green.