Happy Tuesday KA families,

The forecast for tomorrow is looking great and we have all the permission forms back, so we are all set for our first walk to Victoria Park tomorrow. Although it should be a sunny day, it will be on the cooler side, so please dress your child in layers and with footwear suitable for the walk to and around the park.

Have a great day,

Lisa 🙂

Hello KA families,

It was great to have a five day week in class! On Wednesday, we harvested our crops from our mini garden in class. We had a variety of reactions to the taste test, but regardless of the flavour preferences, students were proud of their harvest. On Thursday, we started sunflower seeds and we will monitor their growth over the next few weeks. 

This week we read What To Do With A Problem and brainstormed ideas on problem solving skills. We wrote about our own problems and the problem solving skills and I got to see some of these strategies in action. We will continue to encourage independent problem solving skills and using art and literature to do so is a powerful way for young children to feel in control.

 We also read Ahoy, Mate, Ahoy! Miss Molly Molloy by local PEI author (and teacher) Lisa Carmody Doiron and illustrated by fellow Islander Patrick Guindon. Lisa kindly donated this book to West Kent and she included an information sheet for students to take home that were sent home in the homework bags today. It was truly a beautiful story with bold and engaging illustrations. The class really enjoyed this book and connected with the themes of family and the connections to our home Island. We completed a reaction activity imagining what was below the waves. Students used their imagination and what they know about the sea to complete this activity and we displayed it in the hallway. 

Soon, we will start our walks to Victoria Park. Permission forms were sent home earlier this week in the homework bags to be filled out and returned to school by Monday. Thank you to those who have already returned them. We hope to walk over once per week to explore the environment and observe seasonal changes. If the weather cooperates, we will walk over for the first time on Earth Day, which is next Wednesday. I will let you know early next week if we can use that plan. 

Next week in KA:

Monday, April 20, Day 1: Music & Introspection

Tuesday, April 21, Day 2:  Mrs. Mac,  Phys. Ed & Library

Wednesday, April 22, Day 3: Music & Earth Day

Thursday, April 23, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed

Friday, April 24, Day 5: Music

Have a great weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hi Team KA,

Well it was another short week here at West Kent. But, we only have three more four day school weeks scheduled this school year. It’s hard to believe how quickly the year is passing, and we are busy planning on some fun celebration activities for June. 

When we returned on Tuesday we were greeted with growth in our mini classroom farm. We have been observing and measuring the growth each day and we hope to taste test our harvest next week. 

In FunDations we have been learning Trick Words, words that cannot be decoded by tapping. This is helping students read texts more fluently and is something that we practice in various ways each day. We also continue to practice our decoding skills in order to become strong readers.

We have also been learning about 3D objects. We’ve learned about faces, edges, vertices, classifying based on rolling ability and names of some of the more common objects. We will continue to practice this new learning in the coming weeks. 

Thursday afternoon was very exciting at WK with our Pie in the Face fundraiser assembly. The energy (and noise) was high as one by one students’ names were drawn from each class and they chose a staff member to pie in the face. There were lots of laughs and it was a fun way to end the week. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets. 

Our school’s Occupational Therapist (OT) Sandra has kindly offered to come to KA to offer the Introspection program. This is a fantastic opportunity for our class to learn skills to help us pay attention to what is happening inside our bodies. A note explaining the program further will be sent home in homework bags Monday and Sandra will be joining us for the next five cycles to complete this program with the class. 

Next week in KA:

Monday, April 13, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Tuesday, April 14, Day 3: Music

Wednesday, April 15, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Thursday, April 16, Day 5: Music

Friday, April 17, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Enjoy the weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hello again KA families, 

It ended up being a very short week this week, but we still squeezed in lots of learning and laughs. This week we planted an in-class garden. We planted split peas and radishes. We hope to be able to harvest them in about two weeks and taste test our own grown produce. We will be watching closely to observe changes and growth. 

This week we learned more about 3D objects. We counted faces, edges and vertices and next we will be learning their names.

We started new learning centers this week with a focus on fine motor skills, trick words and numeracy skills. We will continue these centers next week as well so that everyone has a chance to use them, and the centers that come after that will focus on the same types of skills. 

The Pie in the Face Easter Seals fundraiser continues. Our assembly was postponed by a week in order to give students more opportunity to purchase ballots.  Students can purchase ballots up until the assembly this coming Thursday. Thank you to everyone who has supported this initiative. 

Next week in KA:

Monday, April 6: Easter Monday – NO CLASSES

Tuesday, April 7, Day 5: Music

Wednesday, April 8, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Thursday, April 9, Day 1: Music & Pie in the Face Assembly 

Friday, April 10: PD Day – NO CLASSES

Wishing you all a great Easter Weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Welcome back from the break!

Although it is now Spring, the Winter weather persists and students are still enjoying the snow. Once the Spring weather truly begins, the mud will start too. Splash pants, extra socks and mitts are helpful once the weather turns. 

We started the week with Francofolie. This was an afternoon activity that the entire school participated in and was originally intended to be the grand finale of French Week before March Break. Due to the storm day, the celebration was moved to this past Monday and students enjoyed the various activities around the school promoting the French language and culture. 

Our theme this week to welcome Spring was Rainbows! We did some rainbow art and read some rainbow themed read-alouds. We participated in the Scientific Inquiry Process by listing what we already knew about rainbows, asking questions about them, and then conducting experiments. We used Skittles to make rainbows, we tried two water walking experiments, and we used a flashlight with mirrors and prisms. We also tried to make rainbow crystals with sugar and baking soda. We learned that some experiments don’t work as expected and that we can still learn from them as well. Students were highly engaged in all the activities and seemed to enjoy the process.

Some student chose to extend their learning about rainbows to our playtime as well.

We were also happy to welcome two new students to KA this week! I was very proud of how welcoming all of our students were and how they helped the new students learn the ways of KA.

Students continue to work hard when practicing their reading and writing skills. They are filling their writing portfolios with many pieces and are learning about editing and revising their work now.

The Pie in the Face Easter Seals fundraiser continues. Students can purchase ballots up until the assembly this coming Thursday. Thank you to everyone who has supported this initiative. 

Next week in KA:

Monday, March 30, Day 2: Mrs. Mac, Phys. Ed & Library

Tuesday, March 31, Day 3: Music

Wednesday, April 1, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Thursday, April 2, Day 5: Music

Friday, April 3: Good Friday – NO CLASSES

Enjoy the weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Welcome back from March Break!

Please see the poster below about an Easter Seals fundraiser that students are very excited for! Students are allowed to purchase as many ballots as they would like.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24.

Hello KA grown-ups, 

It’s hard to believe that we are already at March Break. We had a great week here at school with an assembly where certificates were awarded for showing responsibility. We learned about thinking safely and how to be safe while playing at school. We also had many fun French week activities such as the school-wide BINGO on Wednesday, and a Tintramar (Acadian style parade with noisemakers) on Thursday. French phrases were taught on the morning announcements, and students won prizes for speaking in French. Our Francofolie that was scheduled for Friday will now happen after the break.

We also learned more about the Paralympics and PEI’s own Mark Arendz. We tracked the Canadian medals won and watched some wheelchair curling, sit skiing, guided skiing and sledge hockey. We will update our chart when we get back from March Break with the second week of medals.

Our KA authors continued to build their skills. Last week we read The Snowman (which has no words, only pictures) and then told our stories solely through illustrations. This week, we read The Book With No Pictures, and wrote without using illustrations. We then compared our two pieces and had a discussion about what we liked better as an author/illustrator and as a reader. 

We were also invited to 1A on Wednesday to see some animal writing projects. KA students were so attentive and respectful while visiting 1A and some were inspired by their grade one friends. 

The Bike Bus registration form deadline has been extended to March 23 due to the storm day today.

Thank you to those who have completed the survey regarding the Student-Led Interviews. If you have not yet had a chance to fill it out, I will leave it open for a few more days. Knowing how parents felt about the experience really helps me make decisions for next year and I really appreciate all the guidance in that area. 

After March Break in KA:

Monday, March 23, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Tuesday, March 24, Day 5: Music

Wednesday, March 25, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Thursday, March 26, Day 1: Music

Friday, March 27, Day 2: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

I hope you all have a fabulous March Break, 

Lisa 😊

Hello KA families, 

Thank you all for attending the Student-Led conferences. I always look forward to an opportunity to share your child’s learning with you, and this time felt extra special because you were able to see for yourself how much your child has learned. Since this is my first time using Student-Led Conferences, I am asking you to complete a short survey that is linked at the end of this paragraph (9 questions and it should take less than 5mins) in order to provide me with some feedback. I am really looking forward to hearing your honest opinions about this format so that I can make the best decisions for how I present student learning to parents in the future. Also, if you have any feedback that the survey does not cover, please feel free to email me. Thanks for helping me get a better idea of how to proceed with these in the future. Click here for survey link

Even though this week was very short, we had a big celebration on Thursday, our 100th day of school! The number 100 was our Number of the Day and our Magic Number. Our Body Breaks involved counting to 100, we made a necklace with 100 Fruit Loops and had a special snack using 10 groups of 10. 

Next Thursday, March 12, students are invited to pay $2 to wear West Kent colors to school as part of an Easter Seals fundraiser. Students are also invited to wear Green on Friday, March 13 since we won’t be in class on St. Patrick’s Day.

Next week West Kent will be hosting French Week as a way to celebrate the language and culture. There will be some special activities that all students will be able to participate in, and we will be learning some common French phrases on the morning announcements each day. We have already started learning the French version of O’Canada so that we can sing along in the mornings where French and bilingual versions are played. 

On Thursday, forms went home in the homework bags about West Kent’s Spring Bike Bus. If you are interested in participating in this, please complete and return the forms by the due date indicated. That deadline is set by the City of Charlottetown and isn’t flexible. I would hate to see anyone miss out on the opportunity if they are interested. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, March 9, Day 5: Music

Tuesday, March 10, Day 6: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Wednesday, March 11, Day 1: Music 

Thursday, March 12, Day 2: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed & Dress in WK colors ($1 for Easter Seals)

Friday, March 13, Day 3: Music and Dress in Green

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hi everyone,

Report Cards were scheduled to be sent home today in the Homework Bags. Because of the snow day, they will go home tomorrow, Thursday, March 5. The report card is yours to keep. Please sign the envelope and return it to school in the Homework Bag to be used again in June.

Thanks,

Lisa 🙂

Hello KA families, 

This week we celebrated Pink Shirt Day. We read ‘Have you Filled a Bucket Today’ and we colored some pink shirts and drew kind acts on buckets to hang on the wall as a reminder that we are working to make everyone feel safe and welcome in KA. We also learned about Ramadan and focused on the lessons of doing kind acts which was relevant with Pink Shirt Day.  

Students have been working very hard on their writing. Some of our writing goals include writing all the sounds that they hear, using environmental print, using finger spaces and adding details after a second or third read through. They have also been collaborating with others in the class to help them judge the readability of their writing.

Next Thursday (weather pending) will be our 100th Day of school (our count may not have lined up with some other classes)! Today I sent home some homework in the homework bags in order to prepare for the day. Students are asked to bring in 100 items. There is a small bag attached to the paper in the homework bag, so all 100 items need to be small enough to fit in the bag. They can bring this back to school on Thursday to share with the class. 

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming back to West Kent next week. Our class will do our Book Fair shopping on Monday. Flyers were sent home last week in the homework bags if you would like to have a sneak peek at what is available. If you plan to send money on Monday, please make sure it is labelled so that it doesn’t get mixed up with another student.  The book fair will be open for parents to shop on Thursday evening during Parent-Teacher Interviews. 

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for a time for your child’s Student-Led Interview. I’m excited to try this new format and for your child to have the opportunity to show you what they’ve been learning. After the interviews next week I will be sending out a short survey in order to get your feedback on this new format. 

Next Week in KA:

Monday, March 2, Day 1: Music & Book Fair

Tuesday, March 3, Day 2: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Wednesday, March 4, Day 3: Music & Report Cards go home

Thursday, March 5, Day 4: Mrs. Mac & Phys. Ed 

Friday, March 6: Parent-Teacher Interviews (NO CLASSES)

Have a great weekend, 

Lisa 😊