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 will be sent home Friday, February 2nd 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. 2nd, 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). This would be a wonderful activity to make together on Family Day (Feb. 12th)!
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week’s Jolly Phonics letter is “Ll”. We have begun segmenting (“stretching out” = c - a - t) and blending (“pushing letters” back together =cat) words. We will also play the game “The Quiet Machine” on the Smartboard (free at http://pbskids.org/lions/games/) to identifying the first sound and letter we hear in words. The kids are very excited to begin reading on their own! Please have your child read the mini-books that are sent home in the Back & Forth folder (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. In Printing, we will continue working on more “Starting Corner Capitals”: X, Y, Z.
In Math, we are continuing to work with numbers and graph our predictions about Groundhog Day! We will begin a new learning theme about Healthy Living & Healthy Hearts (positive/caring relationships, family, nutrition, exercise, parts of the body) this week and continue with the theme for the month of February.
Star Student of the week begins on Monday with our first special kid! Remember, when it is your child’s turn to be the Star Student of the week he/she will bring home the Star Student Bag on Friday (or Thursday if there is a holiday/Pro-D Day, etc). Please carefully read the info. sheets in the bag and the class journal as soon as your child brings the bag home. 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 to share with the class on Monday. The Star Student also gets to look after our class stuffed animal for the week (Katie the Koala) and journal about what they did together. The class stuffie and journal 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 (or Thursday if there is a holiday/Pro-D Day, etc).
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday –
Tuesday – Roots of Empathy visit with Wayne (if he is feeling better - he was very sick and missed last week)
Wednesday – Library with Mrs. Bond
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
Thursday – P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
-Hot Dog Day
Friday - Kindergarten Vision Screening (see white newsletter that was sent home Friday 26th)
-P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
-Groundhog Day
REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:
UPCOMING EVENTS:
See you all Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:
- Printing our very best U, V, Ws in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks (HWT)!
- Celebrating Literacy Week with lots of fun activities (graphing our “Funky Socks”, Big Buddy Reading, Wear a Word, using big letter cards and Ms. Gartrell’s special “sound wand” to segment and blend words, playing “I have __letter, Who has ___” card game, new literacy centers, and more!)
- Beginning to use our new “Stamina Book Bags” and Ms. Gartrell’s handmade special “Reading Turtle Cushions” for quiet Read-to-Self time each day
- Making a class book about the fun things we imagine snowman do at night
- Wowing Ms. Gartrell by reading most of Alphabet Jive independently!
- Seeing what Ms. Gartrell shared when she was the Star Student (her pointe shoes were a hit)
- Zero the Hero brought a new dice game to play with our Big Buddies and our families (Roll and Cover Snowmen - roll 2 dice, add sum then cover the corresponding number on the paper. You can use pieces of cereal/candies for a special treat ;) )
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
This week’s Jolly Phonics letter is “Ll”. We have begun segmenting (“stretching out” = c - a - t) and blending (“pushing letters” back together =cat) words. We will also play the game “The Quiet Machine” on the Smartboard (free at http://pbskids.org/lions/games/) to identifying the first sound and letter we hear in words. The kids are very excited to begin reading on their own! Please have your child read the mini-books that are sent home in the Back & Forth folder (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. In Printing, we will continue working on more “Starting Corner Capitals”: X, Y, Z.
In Math, we are continuing to work with numbers and graph our predictions about Groundhog Day! We will begin a new learning theme about Healthy Living & Healthy Hearts (positive/caring relationships, family, nutrition, exercise, parts of the body) this week and continue with the theme for the month of February.
Star Student of the week begins on Monday with our first special kid! Remember, when it is your child’s turn to be the Star Student of the week he/she will bring home the Star Student Bag on Friday (or Thursday if there is a holiday/Pro-D Day, etc). Please carefully read the info. sheets in the bag and the class journal as soon as your child brings the bag home. 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 to share with the class on Monday. The Star Student also gets to look after our class stuffed animal for the week (Katie the Koala) and journal about what they did together. The class stuffie and journal 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 (or Thursday if there is a holiday/Pro-D Day, etc).
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday –
Tuesday – Roots of Empathy visit with Wayne (if he is feeling better - he was very sick and missed last week)
Wednesday – Library with Mrs. Bond
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
Thursday – P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
-Hot Dog Day
Friday - Kindergarten Vision Screening (see white newsletter that was sent home Friday 26th)
-P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
-Groundhog Day
REMINDERS/HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:
- Send/leave a water bottle at school so students can refill it from our new water purifier!
- Reminder: Scholastic Book Orders are CHEQUE or ONLINE PAYMENTS only (as I cannot send cash in the mail)
- 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)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Feb. 6 -PAC Valentine’s Cookie Grams orders due
- Feb. 12 -Family Day (NO SCHOOL)
- Feb. 13-16 - Kindergarten Registration for the 2018-2019 school-year. Please have proof of address, birth certificate and Care Card for your child. See this website for more information: http://www3.sd73.bc.ca/general/content/kindergarten-registration
- Feb. 14 - Valentine’s Day. PAC Cookie-grams delivered (more info. on paper newsletter that will be sent home Friday 2nd)
- Feb. 15 - Panago Pizza Day
- Feb. 21 - 100th Day of Kindergarten (more info. In Friday’s paper newsletter)
- Feb. 22 - Pro-D Day (NO SCHOOL)
- Feb. 23 - Pro-D Day (NO SCHOOL)
- Feb. 28 - Pink Shirt/Anti-Bully Awareness Day (wear a pink shirt to encourage tolerance, acceptance and kindness) & Subway lunch
See you all Monday!
-Ms. Gartrell