HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST WEEK:
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday - Happy Thanksgiving - (No School)
Tuesday –Apples activities (Ms. Gartrell will be bringing some apples back from her family’s orchard in Summerland!)
Wednesday - Library with Mrs. Bond (return library books AND plastic Book Bag by Tuesday just to be safe ;) )
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
Thursday – PICTURE DAY (FYI: we are usually the first or second class to get photos)
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Ms. Gartrell will be at a school district Pro-D for the morning, but will be back after lunch
- Visit from Zero the Hero for Day 20 of Kindergarten!
Friday – P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy Program begins with Mr. Wayne Tresierra (More info. about the program will come after our first session)
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
We will focus on the letter "a" in Phonics, autumn leaves and APPLES (one of Ms. Gartrell’s favourite things as she was born and raised on a 125+ year-old apple orchard that is still run by her family!). We will focus on identifying and sequencing the numbers 1-10, when we read "Ten Apples Up on Top". This book will help us act out some "addition stories" (e.g. if Megan has 3 apples and Felix has 2 apples. How many apples are there all together) and will be our inspiration to make a class book. We will also read a wonderful book called Chrysanthemum, and identify and count the number of letters in each student's name. We will graph and sort our names as well. As you can see, I love reading books and making class big books. I find some of the most popular books in our class library are the ones the students have made themselves!
JOLLY PHONICS:
Last week, we began our Jolly Phonics program. I have used this program with Kindergarten students for the past 7 years and I’m thrilled each year by how much the students retain and how enthusiastic they are. Parental support is important to all children as they benefit from plenty of praise and encouragement while learning. The Jolly Phonics program uses a multisensory approach to introduce the forty-two main sounds of the English language with movement and music. The Jolly Phonics program focuses on developing phonemic awareness and emergent reading skills by integrating technology (using our class Smartboard) as well as pencil/paper activities. The forty-two sounds are divided into seven groups. Letters are introduced according to which sounds children can hear most easily, rather than in alphabetical order. The letters b and d are introduced in different groups to avoid confusion. Each sound has an action and song, which helps the children remember the letter(s) that represent it. One-two letter sounds will be taught each week. A corresponding activity sheet accompanies each sound. These worksheets will be completed during class time and will remain at school until the program has been completed in June. A family sheet with each sound’s action will be sent home once all sounds in a group have been taught. Please take time to review these actions and sounds with your child.
Upcoming PARENT-TEACHER INTERVIEWS on Thurs, Oct. 19th. Students will be dismissed at 12:30pm to accommodate Parent-Teacher interviews. I will contact those families (via a note in the Back & Forth Folder) who I have not yet met with/didn’t do a Welcome to K family interview with. I would like to give these families first priority for signing up for an interview. If you do not receive an interview request note from me this week, it means I am happy with your child’s progress thus far and do not feel we need to met right at this time. However, by all means, if you would like to sign up for an interview please do so after Oct. 13th.
Kindergarten Survey Data sheet - This will be sent home on Tuesday, Oct. 10th. Please complete and return to school ASAP. This information is added to your child’s file and is important data that is considered when Strong Starts and other early intervention program locations are decided on in Kamloops.
HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Happy Thanksgiving! See you Tuesday.
-Ms. Gartrell
- Singing, building and drawing MAT MAN and MAT WOMEN (from our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Program - more info. to come next month)
- Practicing proper pencil grip and strengthening our finger muscles with special foam grippers
- Rainbow Day - reading exciting books about rainbow and the magic of primary colours mixing into secondary colours , doing a rainbow dice dance game and printing Rainbow Names! (the kids also loved STARFALL.COM’s “coloured crayon” interactive stories)
- Finishing our Colour Booklet that we’ve been working on over the past 2 weeks
- Having our first visit from our BIG BUDDIES (gr. 4/5s from Mrs. Montelbetti’s class) and making Thanksgiving turkey hats
- Beginning Jolly Phonics! - letter S (see more info. below)
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Monday - Happy Thanksgiving - (No School)
Tuesday –Apples activities (Ms. Gartrell will be bringing some apples back from her family’s orchard in Summerland!)
Wednesday - Library with Mrs. Bond (return library books AND plastic Book Bag by Tuesday just to be safe ;) )
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
Thursday – PICTURE DAY (FYI: we are usually the first or second class to get photos)
- P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Ms. Gartrell will be at a school district Pro-D for the morning, but will be back after lunch
- Visit from Zero the Hero for Day 20 of Kindergarten!
Friday – P.E. with Mrs. Brkovic
- Roots of Empathy Program begins with Mr. Wayne Tresierra (More info. about the program will come after our first session)
WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
We will focus on the letter "a" in Phonics, autumn leaves and APPLES (one of Ms. Gartrell’s favourite things as she was born and raised on a 125+ year-old apple orchard that is still run by her family!). We will focus on identifying and sequencing the numbers 1-10, when we read "Ten Apples Up on Top". This book will help us act out some "addition stories" (e.g. if Megan has 3 apples and Felix has 2 apples. How many apples are there all together) and will be our inspiration to make a class book. We will also read a wonderful book called Chrysanthemum, and identify and count the number of letters in each student's name. We will graph and sort our names as well. As you can see, I love reading books and making class big books. I find some of the most popular books in our class library are the ones the students have made themselves!
- Permission to Use Photos For Class Purposes: I enjoy taking photos of the children in our classroom and often use photos for projects like class-made books, art work, and nametags. If you would like me to refrain from taking your child’s photo for classroom-use, please let me know
JOLLY PHONICS:
Last week, we began our Jolly Phonics program. I have used this program with Kindergarten students for the past 7 years and I’m thrilled each year by how much the students retain and how enthusiastic they are. Parental support is important to all children as they benefit from plenty of praise and encouragement while learning. The Jolly Phonics program uses a multisensory approach to introduce the forty-two main sounds of the English language with movement and music. The Jolly Phonics program focuses on developing phonemic awareness and emergent reading skills by integrating technology (using our class Smartboard) as well as pencil/paper activities. The forty-two sounds are divided into seven groups. Letters are introduced according to which sounds children can hear most easily, rather than in alphabetical order. The letters b and d are introduced in different groups to avoid confusion. Each sound has an action and song, which helps the children remember the letter(s) that represent it. One-two letter sounds will be taught each week. A corresponding activity sheet accompanies each sound. These worksheets will be completed during class time and will remain at school until the program has been completed in June. A family sheet with each sound’s action will be sent home once all sounds in a group have been taught. Please take time to review these actions and sounds with your child.
Upcoming PARENT-TEACHER INTERVIEWS on Thurs, Oct. 19th. Students will be dismissed at 12:30pm to accommodate Parent-Teacher interviews. I will contact those families (via a note in the Back & Forth Folder) who I have not yet met with/didn’t do a Welcome to K family interview with. I would like to give these families first priority for signing up for an interview. If you do not receive an interview request note from me this week, it means I am happy with your child’s progress thus far and do not feel we need to met right at this time. However, by all means, if you would like to sign up for an interview please do so after Oct. 13th.
Kindergarten Survey Data sheet - This will be sent home on Tuesday, Oct. 10th. Please complete and return to school ASAP. This information is added to your child’s file and is important data that is considered when Strong Starts and other early intervention program locations are decided on in Kamloops.
HOW PARENTS CAN HELP:
- Complete and sign STUDENT VERIFICATION FORMS and return to school ASAP
- Return school fee forms and payment
- Daily Behaviour Calendar: At the end of each day, the Kindergarten students and I talk about their overall day and the choices they have made. Your child will record his/her behaviour by colouring a circle on their calendar each day. (these calendars stay in the Back and Forth folders until the end of the month). This will be a quick reference to how your child's day was. If there is something I would like to share with you about your child's day, I will write a quick note on the back of the calendar (there is also a space for you to write back to me). Please take time to discuss each day with your child and ask if they can recall specific examples of their “blue”, “green”, “yellow” or “red” choices. Remember every day is a fresh start and a chance to do our best! :)
- Parent Volunteers Required For: Please send me a note in the Back and Forth (B & F) folder if you are interested in helping.
- Art Project on Weds Oct. 11th (either 11:00-12:00 or 1:05-1:45) OR Thursday Oct. 12th (10:35-11:25AM OR 1:05-1:45pm): we need some help with painting the background of our Art Cards project (this is an upcoming PAC fundraiser where you can buy greeting cards with your child’s artwork on the front :) )
- Thurs. Oct. 26th - Field Trip to Sunset Valley Farm. We will be needing 4-5 parent volunteers to help supervise (sorry, no younger siblings can attend).
- Fri. Oct. 27th - Pumpkin Math Stations (in classroom) - 4-5 Parent Volunteers are required to run stations.
- Scrapbooks: volunteers for gluing/stapling student work into scrapbooks – they can be taken home with you or done at school (this will be an ongoing job so I usually have a parent help glue work in 1-2 times each month)
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Oct. 17th -Roots of Empathy Baby Maisie’s 1st visit!
- Oct. 18th –PAC Lunch Pizza Day (this was pre-ordered from orange online
order newsletter) - Oct. 19th - 12:30pm Early Dismissal for Parent-Teacher interviews
- Oct. 20th -Pro-D Day (No School)
- Oct. 23rd -Halloween Safety Talk with Constable Winkels
- Oct. 25th –PAC Lunch Subway Day
- Oct. 26th - Field Trip to Sunset Valley Farm and Pumpkin Patch @ 11:30am.
- Cost TBA: but my initial estimate is $9 which will include busing, corn maze, a tractor ride, and a pumpkin for each student to bring back to school. Pumpkins will stay at school for Friday’s math centers
- Oct. 27th- Pumpkin Math Centers and Parkcrest Clothing Orders due (remember PAC will be a FREE t-shirt for each Kindie that returns their order form with a size selected! THANKS PAC!!)
- Oct. 31st -Halloween
Happy Thanksgiving! See you Tuesday.
-Ms. Gartrell