Happy Holidays!

Dear Salle 101 families,
It was a fun week in our classroom. As part of our daily kind gestures, we made little bell and chocolate decorations to gift to our neighbours, we cleaned up our classroom and cubbies in preparation for the holidays, we made a card for our librarian and we baked cookies for the office and caretaking staff.

Thanks for attending our kindergarten art hour last Tuesday. Each class had a lovely display and we kept the hot chocolate coming!

Our class presented our paintings on glass, which we've now wrapped up to offer as a gift, and 3D representations of the 4 seasons. We worked in small groups to craft these and did a great job of sharing and putting together ideas using the materials provided.

This week, we were also invited up to Salle 216 to watch our reading buddies perform 3 short plays including "La petite poule rousse" and "Le bonhomme en pain d'épice". As a thank you for their work with us, we gifted them the game Yahtzee, which they were really exited about.

A couple weeks ago, we wrote a letter to le Père Noël, and this week we got a letter in return. With the letter, we received a package of sunflower seeds that we can plant in the spring!

We have continued doing activities with shapes, including puzzles, writing and pictures, and we have done lots of building, digging and playing outside in this warm December weather.

We finished off this last week of school with a lovely sing-along in the gym and some gifts. Thank you for the lovely cards and generous gifts and for including both Mlle Sofia and Mlle Diamond. It was very kind of you! I gave each student a book that I hope they really enjoy.
Thursday, I sent home the calendar for January. You'll notice the changes to our schedule at the bottom. I wish your families a very fun, happy and hopefully relaxing break. See you on January 7th 2019!

Science!!

Dear families,
I'm sorry, I've been slow posting updates the last few weeks. Such a busy time of year!

We have been busy with lots of things at school, but currently we are focused on being ready to display our work next Tuesday at the Kindergarten Art Hour. I think this event will be really fun for all, so do plan to stop by. You received the following flyer with all the info last week:

Yesterday morning, registered students went to the hearing/vision clinic. I have sent the results home in pochettes today. Yesterday afternoon, we walked to the Public Library and listened to lots of stories. The books all shared a common theme of things not being as they appear. For instance, "This is a Ball", "Duck! Rabbit!" and "The book with no pictures". The kids had a great time correcting the librarian!

Monday morning, we had a great science workshop with Scientist Tamara (there's another one!!). We became physicists and learned about how machines make jobs easier. We had 5 centres on the go, and students got to try them all.

Mlle Sofia ran a centre about wedges. "If it has an edge, it's a wedge!" We tried to scoop corn with different tools and found that all the tools that were effective had some kind of edge. We also had a zippering/buttoning race and found that zippers are much faster, and they use wedges both on the way up, and on the way down!

At Michelle's centre, we got to explore gears. We did an experiment stirring up bubbles with a spoon, and then with old-fashioned egg beaters with visible gears. The egg-beaters made more bubbles WAY faster.

At Mlle Sharma's centre, we experimented with inclined planes. We made predictions about how different objects would travel down the ramp, and we observed that most objects either rolled or slid. Objects that rolled always went faster and farther. The height of the ramp and weight of the object going down also made a difference. After doing several tests, students got to select their own objects to test on the ramps.

At Amanda's centre, we investigated pivots and levers through some teeter-totter problems.

Finally, at Scientist Tamara's centre, we learned about the wheel and axle, and did some experiments that got us thinking about weight distribution. Ask your scientist what they remember or what their favourite centre was. Are there any simple machines they can remember, or that you have in your home to make daily jobs faster?

We have been continuing on with our kindness calendar this week. 

Recently, we have picked up garbage from our school yard, 

made coupons for a free hug to give to our friends or family 

and written a class letter to le Père Noël. Everyone helped!

Some were inspired to write their own personal letters to Santa...

One of our kind acts, which we are still trying to do, is to ask teachers how we can help. The other day, several students really helped me by leading some poems on the carpet while they waited for me to help others. What a great use of time, and display of leadership!

We have learned a few new poems recently. Ask about "Patapi, Patapiège", "En haut de la chandelle" and "Sur mon pied il y a une mouche". Last week, I taught the class part of a cute Christmas song. We learned it in record time and sang it for Mr. Greene, who loved it! Click here to see a YouTube video of the full song that you can sing along to!

We have been learning how to ask many of our frequently-asked questions in French. Most begin with "est-ce que". Maybe students could ask these questions in French at home too!

Est-ce que…?

- je peux avoir du papier?

- tu peux m'aider?

- tu peux l’ouvrir?

- je peux ranger mon déjeuner?

- tu peux jouer avec moi?

As we continue our intro to geometry, students are doing some independent writing where they draw a shape, colour it, and then write, for example, Voici un cercle  violet. Our writers don't need my help with the shape or colour words, as we have posted those words in our classroom and we know where to look. Some have also continued to make shape designs during our centre time.

You may have seen the "Peace Tree" in the entry to Dewson. It is being decorated by all classes with symbols of peace from across many cultures. Mlle Sofia has been working with interested students (almost everyone), to read about and craft different peace symbols. It is lovely to see students show an interest in and want to make symbols that don't necessarily represent their own background. Check out all the beautiful decorations on this tree when you visit Dewson next Tuesday.

At this time of year, I know that many students like to get their teacher a holiday gift. I want to say, first of all, that this is not at all necessary. Please don't feel you need to get me anything. However, if you would like to get something, my suggestion is to get a gift for our classroom. We have a great selection of toys, but we can always use more crayons, markers and French books. Moon sand, play dough or old costume accessories are also great donations that won't cost you much money. I would also like to remind you that Mlle Sofia has been with us EVERY morning since September and has been right in there supporting our students and leading activities the way an ECE would, though she is not getting paid! Please consider her as well if you are making cards or offering gifts. Again, your support is really the best gift!

Please return your green bags Monday morning. We will begin our next set of (all new!) activity bags in January.

New Schedule

Dear parents,
So much to say and so little time!
As expected, our schedule has undergone some massive changes. This was necessary as our movement/gym teacher has changed. As I try to wrap my mind around our new routines, there are some silver linings for the kids. First, we are thrilled to welcome Mlle Sharma, who teaches dance to the rest of the school, to the kindergarten team. Our students will now receive lots of dance/movement time with her during the time that used to be allotted to drama/dance/visual arts. Students should have gym shoes at school each day, as even if our classes are not in the gym, we have dance/movement with Mlle Sharma 6 days out of 10. In addition, we will get to see our school's music teacher, the amazing Mr. Greene, every week. Our first class was today and we loved it!
The changes to our schedule mean that we sometimes have other classes pretty early in the day. On day 4, we will likely come into the school right away, and have our outdoor play later. On days 6 and 10, either Mlle Sharma or Mr. Greene will be picking up the kids, and may or may not stay outside with them. If you are dropping off late on a day 4, 6 or 10, please make sure that your student has found us before you leave.

The next two weeks before the winter break are jam packed. Next Thursday, those students who registered for the hearing/vision clinic will have their check ups first thing in the morning. In the afternoon, we will be walking to College/Shaw library. The following Tuesday (Dec. 18), you are invited to our Kindergarten Art Hour. Please plan to stop by the gym between 3:30-4:30 pm to admire art work by all the kindergarten classes. There will also be art activities for the kids to try, and hot chocolate to enjoy as you mingle. Finally, this coming Monday, Dec. 10, our Scientist-in-School workshop begins at 9 am sharp. Please be on time for school!

This month, we are doing a little introduction to geometry. This week, our guided activity was to make a picture out of shapes, trace them and label them. We have found some shapes in our classroom, for example the clock, the windows, we even have a cool hexagon storage bin. Ask your student to point out the shapes they see at home and in the community.

Here are the shape we labeled in our drawings this week:

Un cercle

Un carré

Un triangle

Un rectangle

Un hexagone

We have continued exploring the sounds and French names of consonants. We have reviewed c, s, j, g, m, n, r and t. This week, we went on a letter hunt outside, at first just looking for sticks shaped like letters, but eventually we found that we could see letter shapes in the bark of trees, objects in our yard, and even the trees themselves are often shaped like Ys. Here are some examples of what we spotted...

It is the holiday season. This week, we read about Hanukkah and made some menorahs. Teddy very kindly brought in some latkes for us to taste. Merci!

At this time of year, we think of peace, giving and caring for others. In keeping with this, our class is trying to focus on doing one kind act each day for the month of December. Every morning, we pull a card out of our kindness calendar and read the task. So far, we have made a card for Mme Diamond on her last day, focused on saying "s'il te plaît" and "merci", held the door for others, and we sang two songs for Mr. Greene to start off our first music class. 

Don't forget that this Friday is a PA day. Please return your green activity bags on Monday. You will receive one last activity in 2018.

Have a great weekend!

(Above: a leaf pattern on a bracelet!)