Blog Archives

January 30-February 3

1/29/2017

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:

Printing our very best “D”s and 7’s in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks (HWT)!
Celebrating Literacy Week with lots of fun activities (Buddy Reading with Ms. Quast’s gr.1 class, Musical Letters, Wear a Word)
Making paper dragons with our Gr. 4/5 Big Buddies for Chinese New Year
Wowing Ms. Gartrell by reading most of Alphabet Jive independently!
Thinking of some excellent inquiry questions about penguins on our “Wonder Wall”

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
Wow, January is nearly over! February is going to be a fun-filled, busy month of special events! Please be sure to read the paper newsletter that was sent home Friday, February 3rd for info. about Valentine’s Day and 100th Day. Families are asked to work with their child to create a Valentine's “mailbox” to bring to school with his/her Valentines on Feb. 14th. On Friday, Feb. 3rd, the children will bring home a brown paper lunch bag and a “heart animal” to colour, cut, and glue on their lunch bag (assembly directions will be included).

We will be celebrating Groundhog Day this week. This week’s Jolly Phonics letter is Ll. In phonics, the kids have loved playing “Musical Letters” and were introduced to the game “The Quiet Machine” on the Smartboard (http://pbskids.org/lions/games/) to identifying the first sound and letter we hear in words. In Printing, we will continue working on more “frog jump capital letters”: P, B, R. We will also practice printing “8”.

In Math, we are continuing to work with numbers (greater than/less than) and graph our predictions about penguins and Groundhog Day! We are continuing with our theme of Penguins as well. The students each thought of their own unique wonder to guide our inquiry about penguins. As we begin reading and exploring about these animals, we will write down answers to each of their questions. Next week, we will begin a new learning theme about Healthy Living & Healthy Hearts (positive/caring relationships, family, nutrition, exercise, parts of the body).

REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:

Remember to hand in your completed challenge “Unplug and Play” forms this week so your child can be entered in a draw for a prize. Forms must be returned this week.
Students need to STAY OFF THE SNOW PILES (no playing “King of the Hill” and trying to push others off, etc.), to use sidewalks and crosswalks (NOT WALK THROUGH PARKING LOTS), and to leave ALL SNOW ON THE GROUND (no throwing snowballs) BEFORE, DURING, or AFTER SCHOOL
Friendly reminder if your child arrives late (after 8:30am), you must sign him/her in at the office and our secretary will hand your child a popsicle stick (this stick is given to the teacher so we know the student has been accounted for in the computer attendance system).

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday –
Tuesday – January Scholastic Book Orders due
Wednesday – Library
- P.E. with Ms. Hall
Thursday – Groundhog Day
- A & W lunch
Friday - P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy visit with Wayne
- Valentine Cookie-gram orders due

UPCOMING EVENTS:
- February 13th - Family Day (NO SCHOOL)
-February 14th -Valentine's Day, Cookie-grams delivered (more info. In Friday’s paper newsletter)
-February 23rd - Early Dismissal @ 12:30pm
-February 24th - Pro-D Day (No school)
-February 27th - 100th Day of Kindergarten (more info. In Friday’s paper newsletter)

See you Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell :)

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Spring Break Petition

1/23/2017

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I'm sure most of you are already aware, School District #73 Trustees recently voted 4/3 against the motion to continue with the two-week spring break; thus, essentially ending the extended spring break beyond this school year (for the 2017-18 school year).

Many partner groups (SD#73 teachers and support staff, parents, Kamloops citizens) participated in surveys regarding the continuation of the extended spring break. All partner groups indicated a large majority of support for the continuation of the longer break. In particular, teachers indicated the extended break had a positive effect on the education of students:

as children were more rested and prepared for instruction
it addresses issues of children missing instruction when they are taken on holidays during the week prior to or after spring break
with the greater demands of delivering an educational program (with new curriculum and assessment), many teachers use part of the extended break to catch-up with lesson preparation, assessment and reporting

Kamloops Thompson Teachers' Association is requesting that the SD#73 Board of Education re-engage the partner groups in good faith and negotiate a continuation of the extended Spring Break period.

If you are also in favour of trying to have the two-week Spring Break continue, please sign a petition (it will need to be after 2:30pm - so Ms. Gartrell is "off-the-clock") by Friday January 27th. I will post this petition on a bright piece of paper above the students chubby shelves.

Thanks in advance for your support!
-Ms. Gartrell

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January 23-27

1/21/2017

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:

Printing our very best “E”s and 6’s in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks (HWT)!
Seeing Mrs. Sweeney when Ms. Gartrell was at a teacher training workshop
Visiting with Baby Thomas - who is 6 months and can sit up all by himself now! :D
Gaining independence in putting on our snow-gear
Wowing Ms. Gartrell with how many letter names and sounds we know now!
Learning about last week’s Star Student and passing Katie Koala onto someone new on Thursday

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week is Literacy week, which means there are events going on throughout the school and Kamloops. Students are encouraged to use the “Unplug and Play” challenge booklets from Monday-Friday this week. The booklets were sent home in Back and Forth Folders on Friday, Remember to hand in your completed challenge forms by the end of January so your child can be entered in the prize draw! Also be sure to check inside the "Unplug and Play" challenge handout for special events happening in the community. See our Week’s Schedule below to read about in-class Literacy week activities we can look forward to.

In addition to, Literacy Week, this week is also the Great Kindness Challenge. We will review what it means to be a Bucket Filler and see how many bucket-filling kindness acts we can do next week.

Our new Jolly Phonics letter this week is Uu - a special vowel letter! In phonics, we are working on identifying the first sound and letter we hear in words. We will also been segmenting (“stretching out” = c - a - t) and blending words with big letter cards and Ms. Gartrell’s “sound wand”. In Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) Printing, we will continue working on “Frog Jump Capitals”. So far, we have practiced F and E, this week we will learn how to print D.

In Math, we are continuing to work on printing number 7 in our HWT book and are getting ready for a visit from Zero the Hero for our 80th day of school! We will continue to learn more about opposites and prepositions (up, down, under, over, etc.). Please remember to have your child practice reading each mini-book that is sent home. This week’s book is about penguins and prepositions. Last week was a busy, short week so we ran out of time to introduce our Penguin learning theme; we will begin investigating and researching penguins this week instead.

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday – Read to a Stuffy (children can bring a stuffed animal that fits in their backpack)
              - Pizza Orders due
Tuesday – How to Retell a Story with Mrs. Buchart (our school Literacy Coordinator)
- P.E. with Ms. Hall
Wednesday - Wear a Word Day (Ms. Gartrell will provide the word name tags)
                  - Buddy Reading with Ms. Quast’s Grade 1 students (working on fluency, Ks will be reading an "ABC Jive" mini-book)
   - Library with Mrs. Gorman
Thursday – More Story Retelling with Mrs. Buchart
- playing a new phonics game “Musical Letters”
- 80th Day of Kindergarten!
Friday -Reading Rocks So Wear Funky Socks (Kindies are encouraged to wear fun socks)
- Buddy Reading with Mrs. Montalbetti’s grade ⅘ students
- Pizza PAC lunch
- A&W Orders due
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy visit with Wayne

REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:

January 31st - Scholastic Book Orders due
February 3rd -PAC Valentine’s Cookie Grams orders due
Sign and return your child’s report card envelope (Yes, I am still waiting for envelopes to be returned so I can reuse them for Term 2’s report card :S)

Dress appropriate for the cold/wet weather -bringing/leaving extra clothing and socks at school is also encouraged
Friendly reminder if your child arrives late (after 8:30am), you must sign him/her in at the office and our secretary will hand your child a popsicle stick (this stick is given to the teacher so we know the student has been accounted for in the computer attendance system).
Students need to STAY OFF THE SNOW PILES adjacent to our parking lots, to use sidewalks and crosswalks (NOT WALK THROUGH PARKING LOTS), and to leave ALL SNOW ON THE GROUND (no throwing snowballs) BEFORE, DURING, or AFTER SCHOOL

UPCOMING EVENTS:
- February 13th - Family Day (No School)
- February 23rd - Early Dismissal @ 12:30pm (info. about parent-teacher-student interview format TBA)
- February 24th - Pro-D Day (No School)

See you Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell :)

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January 16-20

1/14/2017

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There will be no school on Friday as teachers will be participating in a Professional Development Day to learn more about our new curriculum. I will also be away at a Pro-D workshop on Tuesday, so Mrs. Sweeney will be in for the day!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:

Printing our very best “F”s in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks (HWT)! Please read the info that was sent home last Friday
The Kindies read an entire mini-book to our Big Buddies by themselves!
Starting the “Listening Centre” (students can listen to books read aloud on CDs) and taking turns in the “Kitchen/House Centre”
Learning a new dice game called, “Dice Baseball” (rolling 2 dice, adding the sum, and locating the numeral on the board)
Being scientist, hypothesizing and observing which melts the fastest (loose snow, packed snow, ice). We also saw how dirty snow from the ground can be….and talked about not eating it! ;)
Learning about last week’s Star Student and passing Katie Koala onto someone new on Friday

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week, we will focus on the letter “Oo”. The kids were very excited to begin reading on their own! We have begun segmenting (“stretching out” = c - a - t) and blending (“pushing letters” back together =cat) words. During Literacy Week (Jan. 23-27) we will use big letter cards and Ms. Gartrell’s special “sound wand”! The Kindergartens read a mini-book “The Snowy Day” to our Big Buddy class (Mrs. Montalbetti’s grade 4/5) class last Friday! Please have your child read the mini-books that are sent home in the agenda (we usually practice reading a new book every week or two). I think you will be amazed by what wonderful “word/letter detectives” the kids are becoming. The students are doing well with printing their first names first thing in the morning. Please look through the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) newsletter I sent home last Friday so you can help support your child to write his/her name with proper formation using an initial capital letter followed by lowercase letters. Let’s work together to help the kindies establish proper writing happens early on! :)

In Math, we will learn about opposites and prepositions (up, down, under, over, etc.) and work on sequencing events (first, second, third, etc.). We will begin investigating and researching PENGUINS this week. We will tie our “penguin learning” into Science, Math, Language Arts and Fine Arts.

The Kindies are loving learning more about each “Star Student of the Week”. This week’s Star Student will share his/her special things/books/memories with the class and take care of our class stuffie Katie until Thursday (as there is no school on Friday). A new child will take the Star Student bag home Thursday afternoon. When it is your child’s turn, please carefully read the info. sheets in the Star Student Bag and the class journal as soon as your child brings home the bag. Please remember, in order for all children to have their special week before the end of the school year, we need to ensure the bag, journal, and stuffie are all returned to school and ready to go home with the next child every Friday (or Thurs. if there is a Pro-D day or holiday).

REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:

Dress appropriate for the cold weather -inside/outside days are decided at recess and lunchtime each day, it is crucial children have all the necessary snowgear as most of our recess times have been “outside days” and we only had a few “inside” recess and lunch breaks last week.
Friendly reminder to arrive to school on time (school doors open at 8:20am, warning bell at 8:25am) as attendance is taken promptly at 8:30am. If you do arrive late, you must sign your child in at the office and our secretary will hand your child a popsicle stick (this stick is given to the teacher so we know the student has been accounted for in the computer attendance system).
Sign and return your child’s report card envelope (Yes, I am still waiting for envelopes to be returned so I can reuse them for Term 2’s report card :S)
Students need to STAY OFF THE SNOW PILES adjacent to our parking lots, to use sidewalks and crosswalks (NOT WALK THROUGH PARKING LOTS), and to leave ALL SNOW ON THE GROUND (no throwing snowballs before, during or after school)

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday – P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic (as Friday is Pro-D)
Tuesday – Mrs. Sweeney will be here for Ms. Gartrell!
- P.E. with Ms. Hall
Wednesday – Library with Mrs. Gorman
- Roots of Empathy with Wayne and Baby Thomas!
Thursday –
Friday - Pro-D Day (No School)

UPCOMING EVENTS:
-January 23rd - Pizza Orders due
-January 27th - Pizza Day
-January 21-28th - Literacy Week: Unplug and Play
- Monday, 23: Read To A Stuffie - kids can bring a stuffie (must fit into backpack) to school for the day
- Friday, 27: “Reading Rocks, So Wear Funky Socks” in our classroom -your child can wear some fun socks to school that day if he/she wishes. Special booklets to “log” your child’s “unplugged” time will also be sent home soon. The booklets should have a list of local special events happening during Literacy Week.

See you Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell :)

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January 9-13

1/8/2017

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The children had an exciting first week back. They were very happy to see their school friends again. The kids are doing quite well with independently settling into morning routines and putting on their own snow gear. Reminder that snowboots must be carried down from the front door and left outside on the hallway boot racks.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:

Doing a lot of “Indoor Recess” activity breaks on Go Noodle and having our “exercise champ” grow
Starting the first page in our brand-new Handwriting Without Tears workbooks (HWT)! (more info will be sent home in a paper newsletter later this week)
Seeing what Ms. Gartrell shared when she was the Star Student (her pointe shoes were a hit)

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week, we will being Sound Group #3 with our new letter “Gg”. The kids are really loving our phonics program and are starting to sound out and blend 3-4 letter words! The students will begin printing their first names on our special “wipe-off sheet covers” first thing in the morning. We will also start using our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks to practice “frog jump letters” beginning with F. In Math, we will continue to focus on printing numbers 1 to 5 and representing those numbers through games and activities. The kids have been playing math board games in small groups and focusing on turn-taking and basic addition and subtraction skills. We will also celebrate our 70th day of school on Wednesday with a visit from Zero the Hero! Our themes this week will be winter (symmetrical snowflakes, properties of snow) and opposites (if not this week, then next :))

This week we have a new Star Student of the week (due to privacy policies, I cannot post which student it is...so you can come check it out on our class bulletin board!). Reminder that if it’s your child’s turn to be the Star Student, he/she will have brought home a zippered bag with butterflies on it home on FRIDAY (the original flowered one I planned to use has a big rip in it :(). Please carefully read the info. sheets in the Star Student Bag and the class journal as soon as your child brings home the bag. The Star Student will have the weekend to fill in his/her Star Student memory book page and plan what he/she will bring to school on Monday to share with the class. The Star Student also gets to look after our class stuffie (Katie the Koala) for the week and journal about what they did together. Katie the Koala can be brought back to school on Friday morning. In order for all children to have their special week before the end of the school year, we need to ensure the bag, journal, and stuffie are all returned to school and ready to go home with the next child every Friday.

All Parkcrest students are being asked to STAY OFF THE SNOW PILES adjacent to our parking lots, to use sidewalks and crosswalks (NOT WALK THROUGH PARKING LOTS), and to leave ALL SNOW ON THE GROUND (no throwing snowballs before, during or after school). Parking lots are no place for children to be playing. This is a serious safety concern and children who are not able to play safely outside will be sent to sit at the office for the remainder of lunch/recess. Please remind your child about these safety rules and off-limits areas. Thanks for reinforcing this at home, we appreciate your cooperation :)

REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:

Dress appropriate for the cold weather -inside/outside days are decided at recess and lunchtime each day, it is crucial children have all the necessary snowgear as most of our recess times have been “outside days” and we only had a few “inside” recess and lunch breaks last week.
Please arrive to school on time (school doors open at 8:20am, warning bell at 8:25am) as attendance is taken promptly at 8:30am. If you know your child will be late, please contact the Safe Arrival system prior to 8:30am, or the system will continue to call the numbers you have listed. If you do arrive late, you must sign your child in at the office and our secretary will hand your child a popsicle stick (this is given to the teacher so we know the student has been accounted for in the computer attendance system).
Sign and return your child’s report card envelope

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday –
Tuesday – P.E. with Ms. Hall
Wednesday – Library with Mrs. Gorman
Thursday –
Friday - P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy with Wayne
- Milk Orders due

UPCOMING EVENTS:
-January 20th - Pro-D Day (No school)
-January 23rd - Pizza Orders due
-January 21-28th - Literacy Week: Unplug and Play (info. about special events will be shared at a later date)

See you Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell :)

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January 2-6

1/2/2017

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Welcome back and Happy New Year! I can’t believe how quickly two weeks flew by! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and recovered from all those germs... of course I was sick for a week right after school finished :S. My apologies for the later post, we stayed in the Okanagan to soak up as much family time as possible :)

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK (before the winter holidays began!):

Looking for our class Elf’s hiding spot each day
Watching the “Elf of the Shelf” movie with Mrs. Lundgren’s class
Doing a wonderful job performing our songs at the Winter Concert!
Filling up the rest of the Christmas Countdown ornament tree
Having a visit with Baby Thomas and seeing that he is almost rolling over!

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week our letter is “Dd”. This is the last letter in Sound Group 2 (c/k, e, h, r, m, d)! In Math, we will continue to focus on printing numbers and representing those numbers through games and activities. Our themes this week will be discussing what we did over the holidays, reviewing school expectations, winter (snow), and reviewing the Jolly Phonics sounds we’ve learned so far. In the next two or three weeks, the students are going to begin focusing on printing their first names when they come in first thing in the morning. In mid-January, we will also being printing letters using the Handwriting Without Tears program (which we previously used for “Mat Man” and printing numbers). We are also going to begin reading our classmate's names each morning without the assistance of their picture beside their names!

It seems we are in for another week of cold weather. Most days, recess is an “outside” activity and during lunchtime there are “inside” options to choose from rather than playing outside. Mrs. Linfitt will make an announcement on days where it is too cold to go outside at any point. Please send your child with warm snow gear. Also know, myself and Ms. Bains ensure the kids are bundled up with zippers done up before they go outside.

One of my favourite times with the Kindies is Star Student of the Week, where one child is in the “spotlight” for the week and gets to share his/her special things/books/memories with the class. I will be introducing and modelling this fun activity for the kids this week. This Friday, one child will get to bring home the Star Student Bag (similar to the What Is It? sharing bag but RED with FLOWERS on it). The Star Student will have the weekend to read the information sheet inside the bag, fill in their Star Student memory book page, and plan what he/she will bring to school on Monday to share with the class. The Star Student also gets to look after our class stuffie (Katie the Koala) and class journal for the week and write about what they did together. Please carefully read the info. sheets in the Star Student Bag and the class journal as soon as your child brings home the bag on Friday. In order for all children to have their special week before the end of the school year, we need to ensure the bag, journal, and stuffie are all returned to school and ready to go home with the next child every Friday.

REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:

Please be sure to send back a change of clothes for your child (especially if you took clothing home to wash over the Christmas break)
Please check that your child's inside shoes still fit, as the children have done a lot of growing since September!
Please arrive to school on time (school doors open at 8:20am, warning bell at 8:25am) as attendance is taken promptly at 8:30am. If you know your child will be late, please contact the Safe Arrival system prior to 8:30am, or the system will continue to call the numbers you have listed.
I am encouraging parents to drop their child off at the classroom door (this will also help create a calmer start to our mornings). The students have had many months to learn our morning routines and we are continuing to work on developing independence. By all means, please come into the classroom in the morning if you need to speak with me.
Students AND adults take boots off at the front entrance and carry them down the hall to the classroom boot racks
Sign and return your child’s report card envelope

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday – No School
Tuesday – P.E. with Ms. Hall
Wednesday – Library with Mrs. Gorman
Thursday –
Friday - P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy with Wayne

UPCOMING EVENTS:
-January 20th - Pro-D Day (No school)

Let's have a fantastic first week of 2017!
-Ms. Gartrell :)

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January 30-February 3

Spring Break Petition

﻿January 23-27

﻿January 16-20

﻿January 9-13

﻿January 2-6

Archives

January 23-27

January 16-20

January 9-13

January 2-6