January 2016 News

January Kindergarten News

Dear Families,

I hope everybody had a restful holiday, and wish you all the best in the New Year!  I would also like to say a big “THANK YOU” to the parents who sent in the wonderful treats for our Christmas Party!  Once again- nobody went home hungry!

Through December we focused on the theme of “Christmas”.  The children had an opportunity to ……

-       Share their learning during student-led conferences

-       Participate in “Number of the Day” activities

-       Participate in shared poems, stories and songs

-       Develop book handling and early reading skills through shared reading

-       Explore independent writing

-       Learn about many letters (letter sounds, printing letters, letter detective)

-       Further practice printing using tools from the “Handwriting Without Tears” program

-       Make ABC and AABB patterns

-       Perform two songs at the Christmas Concert

-       Work on Christmas Crafts and activities

-       Take part in some special activities to raise money for Christmas Hampers

-       Participate in the “Jingle Bell Hop”

Through the month of January our themes will be “Winter” and “Snowmen”.  We will be doing a few activities and experiments involving snow and ice.  Weather permitting, some of the activities will be outdoors. We will also finish practicing printing the upper case letters, and begin practicing printing the lower case letters using the Handwriting Without Tears program. 

Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather at all times- i.e. hat, mittens, scarf, ski pants, winter boots- as we will continue to go out for recess almost every day.  The school division policy states that outdoor recess will happen providing the weather (including the wind chill factor) is not colder than -28 °C.  If the wind chill is between -25° C and      -28° C, students will not be outside for longer than 10 minutes.  Of course, if students are not dressed properly, they will not be permitted outside.  

Your child will begin bringing home some “early reader” books towards the end of this month.  These books are short and have repetitive texts, and will be from our Guided Reading Program, which will begin soon.  When you see these books come home, please read them with your child and then ensure your child’s books remain in their backpack so they can be used regularly at school.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call (889-6000) or email (afrye@sjsd.net).

Alison Frye