Climbing Pics

Hi parents,
Thanks so much to everyone who came out to Boulderz with us this morning. The kids had lots of fun and had lots of tries climbing higher and higher up those walls. Check out the many pics below!

You should have received a blue June calendar at the beginning of this week. I'm sure you've noticed how jam packed the next few weeks will be, and there are more activities still being planned. Here are a few reminders:
- If you'd like to purchase festival tickets or wristbands using the pink form we sent home, please return that to me by Monday. You can also order online. Early next week, I will post again reminding you of the pick-up situation on festival day. I will want to know if your arrangements have changed.
- Final Scholastic orders are due next Wednesday.
- There are at least 3 more opportunities to volunteer this year: June 18th is our final library trip (a note will come home); June 26th we plan to spend the day at Dufferin Grove Park (a note will come home in advance); and on June 13-14 we are planning an art project for all the kindergarten classes. If you are available on the afternoons of June 13-15, we could use your help. The kids will be painting fish to mount on the fence, and we are looking for parents to help out during the activity, and help apply the spray sealer and mount them after (15th). Please let me know if you are available. Thanks!
- To our daily book-exchangers, with the many interruptions to our class time and the heat in our classroom, it has been difficult to meet to exchange our books each day. For June, we will all exchange only on Fridays. Our last book exchange date will be on the 15th, after which we will collect all school books. I will encourage daily exchangers to take 2 books on the next 3 Fridays to get you through the weeks.

Thursday Reminders

Dear families,
This Thursday morning is our exciting excursion to Boulderz Climbing Centre (owned, if you didn't know, by our own Dalila's parents). Many parents are coming along, which we are very grateful for. To save time, please ensure that you have completed your adult waiver online, otherwise you will be asked to complete one on arrival, before entering the facility.
It will be a long morning with a lot of travel time, a workout while there and a very late lunch. I will ask students to make sure they have a healthy, substantial breakfast before school. They should also come in gym-appropriate clothing and running shoes. Most importantly, please be on time, or even a few minutes early for school. We would like to leave as close to 9am as possible so that we can enjoy the maximum time at Boulderz.

This morning, we welcomed next years kindergarten students to Dewson. Our whole class helped me prepare for this. Several students coloured a huge "Bienvenue" banner to put up in our classroom, many students helped tidy our class and organize our centres, and one group agreed to give up their outdoor play in order to be in class with me introducing the new students to some of our regular activities.

This afternoon, we learned 2 new poems. One, "La maison que Jacques a construit" is a translation of an English poem, and will take a few repetitions to learn. The other, "Kati katère" is short and fun. We sit in a circle and tickle each others' backs while we do it. Ask your student to share this with you!

Outside, yikes, some bakers concocted some birthday cakes and cookies for me featuring rocks, leaves and worms. Yum??

Festival!!

Hi Parents,
Yesterday, at the library, we watched a show called "The Monkey and the Crocodile". It was a pretty funny story about not believing everything you hear. Thanks to our parents who came with us!

I'd like to remind everyone that next week is bike to school week! We have discussed the most environmentally friendly ways of getting to school, and next week we will be charting how we all get to school every day.

Yesterday, we used some centre time to review our numbers and practice measuring some distances using straws as our unit. In pairs, our students raced cars down their ramp and then measured how far each car went. They had to count and write the results of both their partner and themselves. Ask your racer what their longest distance was!

I mentioned in a previous post that I was beginning to meet with each student to see how we are doing with our alphabet letters. I said I would let you know if I think further practice is needed in order to have a good start in grade 1, when true reading will begin in short order. Please check your student's pochette today. I have sent a small slip of pink paper with everyone to update you on how we did in our interview. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or would like some tips or resources for reviewing the French alphabet at home. 

Outside, we are still very interested in looking for bugs and worms, but we also have a group of gymnasts who practice regularly.

The Dewson Festival has snuck up on me! If you are new to Dewson this year, you are in for a treat on June 7th. From 2:30-6:30 pm, our yard will be transformed into a veritable carnival! We have bouncy castles, games, food, a silent auction and lots more. It's a ton of fun for the whole family!
In case you are not able to come, we will make sure that our students have time to enjoy the festival before the end of the school day. Pick-up will be in our kindergarten yard at 3:15, as always.
This week, you are receiving a hot pink ticket order form. One of the ways you can purchase tickets or wristbands is by returning this form and payment to me by June 4th. There are other ways listed on the sheet as well. I do recommend wristbands for the kids if you are going to stay in the evening. It's a pretty good value for what you get, and they are not easily lost. If you have any questions about this exciting event, you can definitely ask me, a member of parent council or the office staff. We always need tons of help on the day, so please consider signing up for a job. It has been suggested that our class could collect and donate items for a sports-themed raffle basket. If you can donate a skipping rope, balls, bat or other new sports-related item, that would be great (don't spend a lot of money). You can send any items directly to the office or to me for passing on. Thanks!

I will also send home the final Scholastic packages early next week. Orders will be due on June 6th. It would be a dream for all families to continue their amazing work of working on reading (or even just reviewing the French alphabet) over the summer. Here are some ideas for summer reading material from the French catalogue:
- #11F0, "Mes petits livres, Niveau A" - 24 simple books for $24! These are the same level as our borrow-a-books, and you get enough to last a while.
- #13F0, "Comptons les animaux de la ferme" - You get 50 little animal figurines that you can practice naming, counting, sorting and use to build patterns.
- #14F0, "Ensemble 3x10 plus de plaisir!" - They look funny, and you can practice your French counting!

Finally, at the beginning of the year, we barely knew each other and I felt a bit weird inviting you to my doo-wop show... although that didn't stop me, and Eliza made my night by showing up! Now, I am happy to share that our group, The Redeemers is performing again at the Gladstone Hotel's Melody Bar on Friday June 8th at 8pm. Yes, it's a little late for kids, but if you are into the doo-wop style of the 50s and 60s, you are guaranteed to have a good time. You can check out our group here!

Mots de la Semaine

la voiture

la course

une paille

vite

lentement