Newsletter #7

 October 26^th Edition of

The Kindergarten Class News

Greetings!

Another week goes by. The rains have finally arrived. Please insure your child has proper rain gear and boots when they come to school as we go out every day.

 

I have decided to try a slightly different format this week and just cover the highlights from the week rather than go over each day. Please let me know if you prefer the old format.

 

We have been learning about the core competencies: communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, personal awareness & cultural identity/responsibility and social awareness &responsibility. These big ideas are used in everything we do and the kids have been connecting to them in a variety of way.

 

I was impressed by everyone’s resilience and positive attitudes on our trip to the pumpkin patch! It was VERY wet and yet everyone had fun. Something to remember.

 

The Science World presentation was a lot of fun! They demonstrated how to create the forces of push, friction, pull and lift. It was very entertaining. 

 

Tuesday is Halloween! This will be an exciting and busy day for all of us. Children are welcome to wear costumes to school (please leave weapons aspects of the costume at home). If you would like to send in a healthy/non sugary snack to share, we are going to have a little party in the afternoon. There will be a costume parade and an optional haunted hallway to check out. I may show a short Halloween movie as energy is likely to be high. Please do not send kids with Halloween candy in lunches. As always, we appreciate candy treats to be saved for home.

 

Important Dates to Remember:

October 30^th - Picture Retakes 

October 31^st  - Halloween- dress up for school, class party!

November 2^nd Salt Spring Conservancy Fieldtrip

November 9^th – Remembrance Day Ceremony at school 

November 7^th -The Circle 

November 16^th Artist in the classroom, felting workshop

 

Have a lovely weekend and stay well.

 

Warmly,

Ara Van Riel

avanriel@sd64.org

Science World fun while we waited for the rest of the school to show up.

Off to the pumpkin patch!

Finding special paw print rocks hidden in the forest with "Mr. Cucumber" aka Quinten.

Learning about different life cycles.

 

Newsletter #6

 October 19^th Edition of

The K/1 Class News

Greetings Everyone!

We had another fun week! It was very wet some days and I have lent out rain gear to some of you. Please return to the school.

 

Monday, we worked on printing the lowercase letter ‘c’. The class also played a fun spider game in the gym, worked on story sequencing, and went to the forest. Monday is library day every week, and it was the first time books were signed out. Please send the books back on Monday so your child can take home a new book!

 

On Tuesday, we focused on the core competency, "Communication” and talked about different ways we can communicate. We also went to the Whole School Meeting. Later, the kids went to Music, and we went on a nature walk to visit the nearby bog. We will revisit the bog over the year to notice the seasonal changes. 

 

Wednesday, we worked on our reading and each child had a chance to read one on one with an adult. We all had fun learning the rhyme, “Five Little Pumpkins” and combined art and literacy in a fun craft.

 

Thursday, we had free-choice in the gym, worked on different ways to represent numbers, played a letter identification game and went to Music. We also had our first meet up with our Big Buddy class. We will be doing activities with them throughout the year. 

 

I have put together a class contact list. I know the kids all love connecting outside of school hours and “play dates” are great for this. It will be sent home in the planner bag next week.

 

Next week is Dd for Show and Tell.

 

Link to the district calendar again: https://www.sd64.bc.ca/page/959/instructional-calendar

 

Important Dates to Remember:

October 24^th Trip to the pumpkin patch! 

October 25^th  - Science World Presentation

October 25^th Fire drill (rescheduled again) 

October 26^th - Vision Screening

October 26^th – Early Dismissal for learning update 

October 30^th - Picture Retakes 

October 31^st  - Halloween- dress up for school, class party!

November 2^nd Salt Spring Conservancy Fieldtrip

November 9^th – Remembrance Day Ceremony at school 

November 7^th -The Circle 

November 16^th Artist in the classroom, felting workshop

 

Have a great weekend!

Ara Van Riel 

avanriel@sd64.org

A HUGE carrot for C week show and tell!

Playing with loose parts.

Our visit to the bog.

We play outside, rain or shine!

Fashion

Centres

 

Newsletter #5

 October 13^th Edition of

The K/1 Class News

Happy Friday Everyone!

We continue to enjoy the warm weather, even if it is slightly unusual for this time of year! 

 

Monday was Thanksgiving so the school was closed.

 

On Tuesday KK returned for another session of The Circle where we talked about different feelings. It was our turn to present at the Whole School Meeting and a few brave kiddos talked about our sunflower inquiry project.

 

Wednesday, we wrote about what we might dress up as for Halloween. The K’s went on a pumpkin themed math hunt and the 1’s worked on a “number of the day” activity. We made pumpkin window art and decorated the room with a few spooky props! 

 

On Thursday Members of the fire department welcomed everyone with a pancake breakfast which was a fun way to start the day! The kids had a visit from the firefighters and learned about fire safety. There will be an open house this Saturday at the Ganges fire hall. If you need a new smoke alarm, stop by and pick one up for free!  

 

Friday was a school day and PJ day!  We worked on our printing, had our Oral Language Groups and welcomed Quinten in to teach us about the hummingbird (our class mascot!). As always, we went outside to learn and play in nature. 

 

Scholastic Reading Club book orders were sent home. These affordable books are a great way to help our class raise money for our classroom library! 

 

Important Dates to Remember:

October 19^th – Fire drill 

October 23^rd  - Science World Presentation

October 24^th Trip to the pumpkin patch! 

October 25^th - Vision Screening

October 25^th – Early Dismissal for learning update 

October 30^th - Picture Retakes 

October 31^st  - Halloween- dress up for school, class party!

 

I hope you all have a very nice weekend.

 

Some fun photos from our week. Ask your child what we did.