Newsletter #4

 December 19^th Edition of

The Kindergarten Class News

Hello Everyone!

Here is our last newsletter before the break!

 

December has been a busy month, full of festive events! The Winter concert was a highlight! Thank you to everyone who came out to support the kids. They worked hard! 

 

The Re-Gift Fest was another wonderful event, and I hope you all enjoy your gift that was thoughtfully picked out by your child.

 

We decorated the school Christmas tree and had so much fun decorating (and eating) gingerbread cookies!

 

We have been learning more about patterns and shapes with Sue and I hope you enjoyed the little pattern books that went home. 

 

On Thursday we had our first Read-In! Kids signed up to hear holiday stories and went to hear them in multi-aged groups. 

 

In the midst of all of the fun, the children have continued learning all about reading and writing and have shown amazing growth! I’m so proud of all their progress and thank you for helping at home.

 

Green art folders were sent home. If you can send the folders back to be re-filled, that would be great!  

 

Important Dates to Remember:

January 6 School re-opens.

 

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday and we will see you next year!

 

Warmly,

Ara Van Riel 

avanriel@sd64.org

Water play!

Making cards

Christmas trees out of nature

Decorating!

Gingerbread!

Getting gifts wrapped at the Re-Gift Fest

Making our pattern books

On our way to the Winter Concert!

We made nature wands

 

Newsletter #3

 November 28th Edition of

The Kindergarten Class News

Hello Everyone! Here is your monthly update.

Over the last month we have done a lot! We have moved on from counting collections to skip counting and learning about shapes and patterns. Our district math teacher, Sue Robinson, has started coming in every Thursday morning at 9am to help facilitate math exploration. 

 

Our UFLI literacy program is going very well. This structured approach of guided literacy is teaching the kids how to link sounds to letters and words, sight words and printing. They are all doing so well! 

 

We have also been learning about rhyming, categories, descriptive language and turn taking in our Oral language groups every Monday. These skills are the building blocks of reading and writing. 

 

Speaking of reading, thank you to everyone who has embraced the home reading program! I appreciate the extra support and the kids are feeling proud of their extra practice! Our in school reading time is going well and everyone is learning good strategies. 

 

We have finished up our unit on hibernation and continue to notice seasonal changes happening around us.    

 

We have been working hard practicing our song for the Winter Concert. The class will be preforming the song, “Old Toy Trains”. The concert takes place on the evening of the 18^th.

 

Our annual Re-Gift Fest is coming up on December 12th! This is a special Fulford tradition. Please remember to bring in any lightly used items to the office starting Monday, December 5th. We encourage families to donate the same number of items as the number of people in their immediate family. Each class will get to go and choose a gift to wrap and bring home to give to immediate family members on Christmas (or other special time if you don’t participate in Christmas). It’s a nice lesson on giving that we all enjoy every year. If any of you would like to help wrap presents, please email fulfordpac@gmail.com

 

Important Dates to Remember:

December 4 Kindergarten hearing screening

December 9-11 Re-gift Fest donations brought in.

December 12 Re-gift Fest “shop”

December 18 Winter Concert 

December 20 Winter Break begins

January 6 School back in session 

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Warmly,

Ara Van Riel

avanriel@sd64.org

One of our literacy stations

tessellating turtles

balance 

Counting how many "nuts" the squirrels collected for winter!

Another literacy centre.

Creating shape art

Newsletter #2

 October 31^st Edition of

The Kindergarten Class News

Happy Halloween!

Another month goes by, and it was full of fun learning! The classmates continue to bond and have formed a very cohesive group. 

 

We launched a structured literacy program called, UFLI which has been focusing on letter sounds and formation. We will have a sound wall to refer to while the children learn to write. We have also continued to focus on letter identification and the beginning sound. We will soon start our home reading program, stay tuned!

 

In math the children have started learning about counting collections. This provides an opportunity to estimate, learn about different tools such as finger counting, number lines and tens frames. The engage in hands on counting that promotes one to one correspondence, collaboration and number formation. We have also begun skip counting, continue with patterns and many other fun math games.

 

In October we learned a lot about pumpkins! We examined the life cycle, different uses and even visited the pumpkin patch! This was a highlight for sure. 

 

We have just about finished preparing our garden for the winter months. We will get back to work come spring. 

 

School photos were sent home. Orders can be done online and are due by Nov. 7. Retakes should be on Nov. 15.

 

Today is Halloween! We all enjoyed dressing up and showing off our costumes at our costume parade. There was a haunted hallway, a shadow story and more class fun! Thanks to those who sent in snacks to share, we had a great time. 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:

November 7^th – Remembrance Day Ceremony at school 

November 11^th Remembrance Day-No school

November 13th UVIC science presentation

November 14^th - Picture Retakes 

November 15^th - School in session

 

Have a lovely weekend and Happy Halloween!

 

Warmly,

Ara Van Riel

avanriel@sd64.org

 We all have a favourite tree!

 We made apple crumble for the Garden Harvest Lunch!

 Working on literacy and numeracy stations

 Learning about colours and leaves

 Our tour of the fire truck!

 Gym time

 "Mr. Cucumber" is teaching us about pole carving

Our trip to the pumpkin patch!

Counting collections

Halloween!