Hi KA grown-ups, 

We had a bit of an interrupted week here with the snow day on Tuesday and the early dismissal on Monday. I owe you all a debt of gratitude for Monday: that was the easiest/smoothest early dismissal that I have experienced in my career. Everyone followed the plan that was made in September and was right on time. It really makes everything at the school so much less chaotic when that happens. So, thank you!

On Thursday we had our Best Kent Assembly with the rest of the school, we celebrated those who demonstrated excellent skills in Encouraging Others (our last school-wide skill to focus on), and we had a presentation about Responsibility (our next school-wide skill). 

Even though our Dress Like our Favorite Book Character day was postponed due to the storm, we had fantastic participation and all students were able to talk about their favorite character. Many also talked about doing the literacy scavenger hunt at home on the snow. Thanks for helping promote a love of literacy that will carry your children far in life. 

This week we continued to strengthen our decoding skills to read books independently. Next week we will also add some writing center time and become authors! We are very excited to reach this next learning milestone! 

This morning we made predictions for Groundhog Day that is coming up on Monday. This helped us make a graph in order to organize and interpret data, and we will be able to compare the result against our predictions next week. In case the weather prevents us from checking on Shubenacadie Sam’s Prediction at school on Monday, this is the link that you can watch at home. 

The most exciting part of the week was the addition of our class member: Blue the Betta Fish! Blue was added to our class on Friday and students were very excited to meet him and to learn about him. His name was voted on by the class and they were very eager to introduce him to anyone who stopped by our class today. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, February 2, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Tuesday, February 3, Day 3: Music

Wednesday, February 4, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Thursday, February 5, Day 5: Music

Friday, February 6, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Have a great weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hi everyone,

I don’t always resend information that the main office has already sent, but there are three important points I don’t want people to miss out on. Please read below:

Since school was cancelled today, we will have our dress as your favorite book character day tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28^th.

There have been several confirmed cases of head lice at our school. Notices were sent out in homework bags yesterday. Please remind students to not share combs, hairbrushes, hats or hair accessories. Contact the office if you do find your child has head lice or if you have any questions or need support. For more information on head lice visit the Canadian Pediatric Society, Caring for Kids Website.

On Monday February 2 until February 18, we will be collecting gently used books for a used book sale on Friday, February 20^th. We ask that books are in good condition and are for grades K-6 level. All books will cost $1 to $2 and money raised will go to Easter Seals.

I hope you all have a good snow day,

Lisa 🙂

Welcome to our first early closure! We will be dismissing at 12:20 and we will be following the early closure plans that you filled out in September. I hope everyone has are travels today!

Happy Friday Team KA, 

Today West Kent tried a new form of Morning Announcements where each class could see Ms. Waye and Ms. MacKenzie on the Smart Boards in each classroom. They even hosted a song contest on the announcements and the KA class won. Our prize was TimBits at snack time! But more importantly, it really lifted the energy on a raining morning.

We are so lucky to start the new year off with two full weeks of learning. This is setting us up for a strong winter learning term, and this is arguably the most important learning time. Soon, students will put their tapping/decoding skills to use and start reading simple books. This is always an exciting time that I celebrate with each student when they experience this big learning milestone. I do my best to introduce book reading to each student at a time that is best for them in order to build their confidence and self image as a reader, so the timeline will differ for each student. I am confident that each student will reach this milestone by the beginning of March. 

This group has been working hard to grow their numeracy skills. Our focus has been on accumulating different strategies and learning when to use different strategies. This is an exciting but messy time of learning. Students are aware of many different strategies but can often confuse the difference between strategies and they aren’t great yet at knowing when to use certain ones. This is a totally normal part of learning, and with more practice over the next few weeks they will begin to select strategies more independently and accurately. It’s still important to ask your child to show off their learning at home, but don’t be alarmed if their counting and number work seems messy right now. It’s not that your child is struggling, it’s just the stage of learning that we’re at. 

Our West Kent hallway challenge finished up this week. Our class did a fantastic job of keeping our coat hooks tidy and organized the entire time. We had a respectable showing in the Wessy points, but we were not the popcorn party winners. The students in our class (and others) were very invested in this friendly competition and checked the scoreboard in the hallway regularly. This was a fantastic opportunity for students to practice their counting and comparing skills independently. I was most impressed with how students from our class would talk about how it was important to continue these good organizational habits after the challenge. Their social awareness and sense of responsibility is impressive and I’m so lucky to spend each day with such a conscientious group of students. 

This coming Friday will be our rescheduled Wild Child session. Please keep your fingers crossed that the weather is more cooperative for us this time. 

Family Literacy Day will take place on Tuesday, January 27. At West Kent, one of the ways we celebrate this day is by inviting students and staff to dress as their favorite book character for the day. This will help strengthen student’s connections and engagement in literacy which provides a strong foundation for their current and future education. Please keep in mind that costumes should be something that students can manage independently, that are appropriate for recess and Phys Ed, and little pieces/accessories are better left safely at home so that they have less chance of getting lost. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, January 19, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed

Tuesday, January 20, Day 1: Music

Wednesday, January 21, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Thursday, January 22, Day 3: Music

Friday, January 23, Day 4: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Wild Child

Lisa 😊

Happy New Year to all the KA families, 

We spent the week celebrating the start of 2026 here in KA. We wore our New Year’s best on Monday and participated in the school-wide countdown. Our literacy centers followed along with the New Year’s theme and we wrote a New Year’s acrostic poem together as a class. Students made resolutions and we posted them in our hallway. It has been a fantastic start to the year and I am so excited to get to work with this group of students.

As part of our numeracy learning, we have started to learn the part part whole strategy. This strategy is a building block for future addition and subtraction. We have been using cube links to practice this strategy and will continue to focus on this strategy for the next several weeks. Students will have a stronger grasp of the vocabulary after next week’s lessons, but this week they were introduced to the format of this strategy. If you would like a better understanding of how this strategy works, this is a quick video that explains to help you talk to your child about their learning.

Students were introduced to tapping as a decoding strategy this week in FunDations. This is a strategy to help students use each individual sound in a word to help decode (read) and code (write) CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. We have practiced this strategy each day this week and will continue to practice this for the next several weeks. You can encourage your child to tap out simple CVC words you see around your home as a way for them to practice, show-off and celebrate their new learning. This video gives you a better understanding of how tapping works. 

West Kent is in the middle of a hallway challenge, and the students have really bought into this challenge. In order to encourage tidiness, organization and safe hallways, each class is competing against other classes on their floor for the neatest coat hooks. Classes are awarded points for tidy coat hooks throughout the day with small Wessy’s on a scoreboard in the hall. Students have been very motivated to keep their hooks tidy and check the scoreboard regularly. A popcorn party will be awarded to a class on each floor next Friday if they have the highest amount of points. 

Wild Child has rescheduled our session that was cancelled before the Christmas break due to weather. It will now take place in the afternoon of Friday, January 23. The permission forms that you signed in December are still applicable for this new date. I will send out reminders as we get closer to that date so that families can make sure that students are well prepared for an afternoon of outdoor learning. 

Family Literacy Day will take place on Tuesday, January 27. At West Kent, one of the ways we celebrate this day is by inviting students and staff to dress as their favorite book character for the day. This will help strengthen student’s connections and engagement in literacy which provides a strong foundation for their current and future education. Please keep in mind that costumes should be something that students can manage independently, that are appropriate for recess and Phys Ed, and little pieces/accessories are better left safely at home so that they have less chance of getting lost. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, January 12, Day 1: Music

Tuesday, January 13, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Wednesday, January 14, Day 3: Music

Thursday, January 15, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed

Friday, January 16, Day 5: Music

Be sure to check the homework bags to find examples of some of our center work from this week and to make room for other items to come in the future.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and please continue to reach out with any questions. Children thrive best when home and school are one team together. 

Lisa 😊

Hello again KA families,

We had an incredible last week of the school year filled with holiday traditions and cheer. Following our last snow day of 2025, we went to the Holiday Shoppe to pick out gifts for you from your children. I can tell you that each one of them really took the time to think of what you like and/or what reminded them of you to choose what gift to get you. They helped pick out the wrapping paper and ribbons and filled out the gift tag. They spent the rest of the day so excited to give you their gifts. I hope you enjoy them! 

We read some holiday books and enjoyed some special treats this week as well. During their time with Mrs. Mac, students decorated gingerbread men after reading multiple books about gingerbread together. Students enjoyed a mug of hot chocolate while I read The Polar Express, Ms. Waye and Ms. MacKenzie took candy canes, apples and oranges around to all the classes, Ms. Karen took in some homemade cookies after the concert for the school, and some friends in class took some treats in to share as well. It was a delicious week!

We also of course had our Holiday Concert on Thursday. It was a big day for students as they performed in the morning for the school and in the afternoon for the families. They did a fantastic job and I am so proud of them all. And a big thank you to Mme. Morgan for helping your children’s talent shine! I hope you enjoyed it as well.

We also had holiday themed learning centers this week in class. The centers that used paper copies were sent home in the homework bags on Wednesday. This week our learning centers practiced number recognition in various forms, spatial awareness, composing numbers, hand strength and dexterity, letter finding and matching, word matching and syllable counting. 

On Friday, Mrs. Szwarc invited us to special activities in the gym and we were able to participate in glow bowling, face painting, table hockey and other fun games for some end of the year fun. 

And on Friday afternoon, we were treated to a surprise visit from Santa! Excitement was high and hearts were full!

Please check backpacks and homework bags. In their backpack is a small gift from the KA class to each student and in the homework bag is the Santa letter they wrote asking for something for a loved one. Also, the holiday break is a good time to clean out any extra papers that were sent home over the past couple of weeks.

Next Year in KA:

Monday, January 5, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Tuesday, January 6, Day 3: Music

Wednesday, January 7, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed

Thursday, January 8, Day 5: Music

Friday, January 9, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed

Wishing all the families of KA a wonderful holiday vacation and I look forward to seeing everyone again in the New Year! 

Lisa 😊

Hello again KA families,

 This week we learned more about the brain and the five main sections and what they do (the amygdala, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the cerebrum and the prefrontal cortex). The goal isn’t for students to memorize the names and their functions, but to become aware that the brain is a complex structure and that different areas have different functions and that we can work to strengthen those areas. We refer to these areas in class often to help develop that understanding. 

We used math (ordering and comparing objects based on length) to build Christmas Trees to accompany our Candy Canes in the hallway. We displayed them in an AB pattern on the wall to practice our patterning outcome. We also used our literacy and numeracy center time to practice fine motor skills, patterning skills, spatial awareness, love of reading, love of writing and rhyming. 

Today we began writing letters to Santa, but instead of writing to ask for something for ourselves, each student chose one person they love and asked for something for that person. Students had to reflect on their loved one and decide what is more important and valuable to that person before they were able to decide on what to ask for. It was very sweet listening to their decision making process. We will finish these on Monday.

Unfortunately with the high winds this afternoon, Wild Child had to cancel our session today for safety. They will reschedule in the new year, and I will be sure to share the date with you all once it has been chosen. 

A reminder to send extra hats, socks and mittens/gloves in your child’s backpack. Students often have wet mitts/socks/hats after recess and it can be quite uncomfortable to put on wet outdoor gear. A backup in the backpack can save a lot of stress. Thanks!

Next week is a big week at West Kent. There is a theme to each day if your child would like to participate in our Spirit Week (the schedule is listed below). We will visit the Holiday Shoppe on Monday (remember to send $2) and our Holiday Concert is on Thursday (storm date, Friday, December 19). Please let me know before 9am on Thursday if you are planning to take your child home with you after the concert. If we don’t know beforehand, it can cause quite a bit of disruption at the office to organize students leaving early for the day and will delay your departure. Thanks for helping with this. 

Make sure you check out the Overheard in KA tab at the top of the blog for some light-hearted moments overheard in our class. I’ll continue to add to this throughout the year. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, December 15, Day 3: Music, PJ/Comfy Clothes Day & Holiday Shoppe

Tuesday, December 16, Day 4: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Dress in Holiday Colors Day

Wednesday, December 17, Day 5: Music & Holiday Sweaters Day

Thursday, December 18, Day 6: Holiday Socks Day & Concert

Friday, December 19, Day 1: Music & Holiday Hats/Headbands Day

Have a fantastic weekend,

Lisa 😊

Hi Team KA,

What an unexpectedly short week! Our K students experienced their first and second snow day in the same week. It is that time of year again, but hopefully we won’t miss too much time leading up to the Christmas break.

This week we made some candy cane art for our hallway. We used torn paper in order to strengthen fine motor muscles in students’ hands and used an AB pattern (that we’ve been learning about in Math) to create candy canes to hang in the hallway. Next week we will use non-standard units of measurement to create some Christmas Trees to hang alongside our candy canes.

We learned more about what ‘fair’ means this week. We participated in an activity where each student was assigned an imaginary injury or illness. It varied from small cuts, to feeling sleepy, coughs and upset bellies. Some students in this imaginary scenario were having totally normal days, and one even had an exciting event. As each student came up to get their scenario, they each got a band-aid on the same spot on their arm. They quickly realized that it didn’t make sense to have a band-aid on their arm to deal with a cough or belly problems. We were able to have a discussion about fair and that it doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same thing, rather that everyone gets what they need. We took a picture of all the band-aid arms and it will hang in our classroom as a reminder of what fair means.

We also started learning about how our brains work and how they learn. To do this, we began to read Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain. This book and lessons that go with will help your child lay a foundation of understanding about growth mindset. That although we all have our individual strengths, our brains can learn and grow with hard work. This attitude toward learning can help students achieve learning goals and can help lessen anxiety about tricky tasks. We just got started with it this week, but this will continue for the weeks to come.

A reminder to return the Wild Child permission forms that were sent home on Tuesday so that your child can participate in the fun activity on Friday.

Now that we have the first week of December behind us, heres’s a reminder of some of the important upcoming dates:

Friday, December 12: Wild Child activity – please return the permission form and send your child dressed for extra time outdoors.

Monday, December 15: Holiday Shoppe – please send $2 and students will shop for two gifts for parents/care-givers

Monday, December 15: PJ/Comfy Clothes Day

Tuesday, December 16: Dress in Holiday Colors Day

Wednesday, December 17: Holiday Sweaters Day

Thursday, December 18: Holiday Concert 12:15pm – please let me know in advance if you plan to take your child home with you after the concert

Thursday, December 18: Holiday Socks Day

Friday, December 19: Holiday Hats/Headbands Day

Next Week in KA:

Monday, December 8, Day 4 – Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed.

Tuesday, December 9, Day 5 – Music

Wednesday, December 10, Day 6 – Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed.

Thursday, December 11, Day 1 – Music

Friday, December 12, Day 2 – Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed., Library & Wild Child activity

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Lisa 😊