November newsletter

November Kindergarten News

Dear Families,

Our themes for the month of October were “Fall and Trees”.   We also talked about Thanksgiving and Halloween.  Throughout the past few weeks the children had an opportunity to…

-       Discuss what they are thankful for

-       Participate in shared songs, poems and stories

-       Take part in shared writing (i.e. lists, morning message)

-       Play letter recognition games and work on letter activities

-       Work in their printing books

-       Sing some new songs

-       Work on number of the day activities

-       Practice sorting by color and shape

-       Learn about the signs of fall

-       Observe their adopted tree in our school yard

-       Do some Halloween crafts

-       Learn about different lines, draw lines with pastels and paint with watercolours

-       Learn about the important parts of a tree

-       Examine a cross section of a tree and observe how the rings determine the age of the tree

-       Learn about what animals live in trees and what trees do for us

-       Learn about what grows on trees

-       Begin the home reading program

-       Work with various tools in the “Handwriting Without Tears” program

-       Work in their journals

-       Participate in Halloween Gym

-       Go on a Halloween Parade

-       Practice making Mat Man

-       Read with their Reading Buddies

During the month of November we will be studying spiders.  We will also talk about Remembrance Day, continue our study of Fall and begin looking at Getting Ready for Winter.  Finally, we will be preparing for our Student Led conferences at the end of November.

Thank you to all students who have returned their completed sheets for our Home Reading program. Please remember that you can record any books you read with your child at home.  They do not need to be books that come home from the school.  Once the sheet is complete, please return the sheet to school and I will send home a Boston Pizza coupon with a new recording sheet. Thank you for reading with your child!

Please take note of the following important dates:

Tuesday, November 10^th – 10:45 a.m.- Sansome School’s Remembrance Day Assembly

Wednesday, November 11^th- No School- Remembrance Day

Friday, November 13^th- No school- inservice

         Wednesday, November 25^th  - First term report cards come home

Friday, November 27^th- No School- Student-Led Conferences (These will also be happening during the afternoon and evening on Thursday, Nov. 26^th.  Regular kindergarten classes will take place on Thursday.

Wednesday, December 16^th- Kindergarten, Grade 2 and Grade 3  Holiday Concert (Dec. 17^th will be the Grades 1, 4 and 5 concert)

Please check out the school website for information on how to register for student led conferences on Nov 26^th and 27^th.  If you require any assistance, please contact the school office and talk with Mrs. K.

A special thank you to the families who brought in snacks or other important items for our Halloween Party.  Your contributions are very much appreciated!  Nobody went home hungry, I’m sure! 

We have been practicing printing letters using the “Handwriting Without Tears” program.  This program describes step-by-step instructions on how to print each letter, beginning with the “Frog Jump” letters, followed by “Starting Corner Capitals”, and then finally the “Center Starting Capitals”.  I will send home the specific instructions on how to print each letter soon.  Please practice the letters at home to help your child remember the proper way to print each letter.  If they learn to print their letters from the top-down following the directions, they will find letters easier and quicker to print.  Remembering these instructions will also decrease reversed letters and numbers, which are very common at this time in kindergarten.  Thank you for your help at home with this!

Mark your calendars- The Sansome School Holiday Concerts will take place on Wednesday, December 16^th  and Thursday, December 17th.  All kindergarten classes will perform during the December 16^th concert.  All kindergarten students are invited to perform at the afternoon concert (1:30 p.m.), and then again at the concert in the evening. Please look for further information to come in the near future.

If you have any questions or concerns, please stop by, email (afrye@sjsd.net) or call (204-889-6000).  Have a great month!

Alison Frye