Hi KA families,

I have to start with an apology. I had made a typo on the Dates to Remember portion of the weekly update a few weeks ago, and I just caught it this morning, so it has been incorrect all along. The Christmas Concert is December 17, and the storm date is December 18. I had mistakenly posted the 18th and 19th. I’m very sorry for the mixup especially if anyone has already made arrangements for that date. It is now corrected below in today’s update.

On Monday students completed some Halloween Art that has been displayed on our door for the West Kent door decorating contest. We used negative space to express our images and students made their art pieces using Q Tips to help their fine motor development.

At Library this week, Ms Graham showed us the composting bin with worms turning our old food into soil. We will check in on the worms more through the year.

On Thursday, our class was invited to a special performance in the Music room put on by some Grade 6 students. KA’s fantastic audience skills have been serving them well!

Our Learning Centers this week focused on making letters in sand, counting on using dice, building patterns and identifying tens frames.

We also completed some FunDations assessments to measure how well students have been learning the first half of our first FunDations unit. These assessments demonstrated that overall the KA class has a solid understanding of the letter names and sounds and can identify the letters that they’ve been taught so far. It has also revealed that we need to do more work on proper letter formation. Putting the work into proper letter formation now will build strong habits that will pay off in later grades if the mechanics of writing are easy so that students can dedicate their energy to organizing their ideas.

We also learned two new FunDations letters this week Ee and Rr. Students were very excited to have learned more than half of the alphabet now!

Friday was a full day of Halloween activities! There was a parade of costumes around the school in the morning so that the entire student population could see each other’s costumes. We were then invited to a dance party in the gym after lunch, and near the end of the day we participated in Halloween BINGO over the PA system., which we won three times A fun day of excitement!!

Occupational Therapy message:

Dear Kindergarten parents!

This week’s video involves cutting with scissors! Using scissors is a great two-handed task that works on hand strengthening and coordinating two hands to work together which is very important for developing eye-hand coordination skills! Please watch the video and use the fun strategies at home with your children. Remember, if your child is left-handed, use left-handed scissors as the blades are different on left-handed scissors, making it easier to cut.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Sandra Aguila

Occupational Therapist

sandraaguila@ihis.org

Thank you,

Sandra, OT

Save the Date:

November 12 – Picture Retakes

December 17 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 18)

Next week in KA:

Monday, November 2, Day 2 – Phys. Ed.

Tuesday,November 3, Day 3 – Music & Mrs. Mac

Wednesday, November 4, Day 4 – Phys. Ed. and Book Buddies

Thursday, November 5 – PD Day (NO CLASSES)

Friday, November 6 – PD Day (NO CLASSES)

Have a spooky weekend,

Lisa 🎃

Hi KA grown-ups,

This week was five days full of activities and learning. The chicks hatched in the library, and we were able to visit them on Tuesday and learn about what they need at this stage of development. Some of the chicks visited our classroom as well, and we got the chance to name one of them. After everyone had the opportunity to suggest a name, the class voted and the winning name was Chickadee! Also in the library, we watched a story about a pumpkin’s full life cycle from a Jack-o-lantern that rots into the ground and regrows. In the library there is currently a pumpkin in soil that came from last year’s pumpkin that we will have the chance to watch as it decomposes and starts to regrow.

On Wednesday we had our Teddy Bear sleepover. Although there was lots of cuteness when the Teddies arrived on Wednesday, including our teddy bear picnic at snack time, the real excitement was on Thursday morning when we looked at the ‘security footage’ of all the mischief that the teddies got into overnight. The energy was high all day Thursday as students talked about the shenanigans that the teddies had gotten into the night before.

In FunDations we worked on rhyming with some stories and games and we also learned Dd and Ss. Next week, we will focus on checking student learning at this halfway point of learning the lower case letters.

On Friday, we had shared playtime with KB and KC where students could choose to play at different activities in any of the three classrooms. This is a great chance for students to get to know their peers outside of our class better, and something we hope to repeat every 1-2 months.

KA Scientist conducted an experiment this week to test whether a pumpkin can float and tested different sizes to explore if the size and weight made a difference in the result. First they made a prediction, then they experimented, then they asked other ‘what if” questions to extend their learning.

We also finished reading “Your Fantastic Elastic Brain” this week. We will continue to talk about and use what we have learned from this book in order to promote a healthy growth mindset and encourage students to actively choose to grow and strengthen their brains in a variety of ways.

We finished learning the ASL version of O’Canada in class this week and will continue to practice it until we all feel confident and fluent. The entire school will perform it together at our Remembrance Day Assembly in a few weeks. We also had Ms. Sandra (OT) in this week to help with some cutting skills and she taught a mini-lesson on packing a backpack efficiently. The more that students practice packing their own backpacks, the faster they’ll become independent at this skill!

Next Friday, October 30, students are invited to wear orange and black or a Halloween costume to school. There are many fun activities planned for the day. Costumes with blood and gore are not allowed at school, and it is recommended that students leave costume accessories safe at home so that they aren’t forgotten at school and missing for Trick-or-Treating on Saturday.

Our weekly OT update:

Dear Kindergarten parents!

I hope everyone was able to watch the 2 videos that were sent out on hand strengthening and functional pencil grasp! These are important skills for your children to have as they move through kindergarten!

This week’s video is on Pre-writing Skills – practicing how to draw shapes such as circles, squares and triangles! These shapes are important for drawing skills and forming the letters of the alphabet – e.g. O, A, b and k all start with shapes! The suggestions in the video can also be used when your children are practicing “Fundations” printing at home!

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Sandra Aguila

Occupational Therapist

sandraaguila@ihis.org

Save the Date:

December 18 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 19)

Next week in KA:

Monday, October 26, Day 3 – Music, Mrs. Mac

Tuesday,October 27, Day 4 – Phys. Ed., Book Buddies & Bake Sale

Wednesday, October 28, Day 5 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Library

Thursday, October 29, Day 6 – Phys. Ed.

Friday, October 30, Day 1 – Music & Mrs. Mac & Costumes or wear Orange and Black

Have a great weekend,

Lisa 😊

Hi KA families,

As usual, we had a fantastic week of learning here together. This week in FunDations we learned the letters Aa and Gg. These two letters can be challenging because of the fancy typed versions that exist: a & g So we worked hard to train our brains to recognize these letters in their different forms.

We introduced some new learning and literacy centers this week. We focused on fine motor skills, letter formation and recognition and numeracy representation.

This week also had a focus on safety. As you know from the notes that got sent home earlier this week, our school will be doing a Lockdown practice next week. We had a couple practices in class so that we’re ready for the school-wide drill. We also had a bus evacuation drill on Friday as well. We will be very safety prepared from here on out!

Next week, we will be having our traditional Teddy Bear Sleepover! Each student is invited to take a teddy/stuffy from home to school on Wednesday, October 21 to participate in the sleepover. Teddies will go back home on Thursday, the 22nd. Pro tip: leave the favorite, bedtime teddy at home. Send a B list teddy that won’t be missed at bedtime.

Please see the note below from Sandra, our school OT:

Dear Kindergarten parents!

I hope everyone was able to open the link and watch the video on hand strengthening! Please continue to work on your child’s hand strength throughout the school year as it is very important when doing anything with their hands – using a utensil, playing with toys or getting dressed!

This week’s video is about Pencil Grasp! Kindergarten students are starting to use pencils, crayons and markers every day in school. Holding these tools with a functional pencil grasp will make the activities of colouring within the lines and printing letters and numbers much easier. Please watch this video and work on the activities at home to help develop their pencil grasp.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Sandra Aguila

Occupational Therapist

sandraaguila@ihis.org

Overheard in KA:

Part of spending my days with Kindergarten students is getting to overhear hilarious antidotes. When I can, I will share them with you all to share the smiles I get to experience each day. They will always be shared with anonymity and respect. This week’s gem:

Child 1 – “My dog is getting old so he doesn’t know where to poop. He’s 41.”

Child 2 – “Well my mom is 41 and she still knows where to poop!”

Save the Date:

October 21 – Teddy Bear Sleepover

December 18 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 19)

Next week in KA:

Monday, October 19, Day 4 – Phys. Ed. & Book Buddies

Tuesday,October 20, Day 5 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Library

Wednesday, October 21, Day 6 – Phys. Ed. and Teddy Bear Sleepover

Thursday, October 22, Day 1 – Music & Mrs. Mac

Friday, October 23, Day 2 – Phys. Ed.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Lisa 😊

A reminder that tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14 is picture day. I can’t wait to see all those smiles!

Hi KA families,

We’ve had a fun filled five day week of learning together in KA! We started the week off with our very first field trip to Wintermere Orchards where Farmer Mark taught us all about apple farming. He showed us how to protect young trees, how to properly pick an apple (eye to the sky), taught us about different varieties of apples and the life cycle of an apple. Then, each student got to pick a bag of apples to take home. We learned about pumpkins at their pumpkin patch as well.

Before they took their bag of apples home, each KA student took one apple out of the bag to leave at school. On Tuesday morning, we used those apples to make apple sauce. We worked together as a team, and each student cut up one apple to add to the crockpot. We learned about knife safety and healthy habits for food prep. We added a little bit of cinnamon and let our sauce simmer all day. Our classroom smelled delicious! At the end of the day, we each were able to taste our creation after first using our other four senses to make observations and describe our applesauce.

KA also had their first lesson with Ms. Ramsay this week. Ms. Ramsay is our School Counselor and she takes time each fall to deliver short, play based lessons to all of our Kindergarten classes as a way to get to know West Kent’s newest students and for them to get to know her. Her lessons are focused on social-emotional learning and will take place each Day 1 for the next several weeks. 

In FunDations this week, we learned the letters Oo and Cc. From a letter-formation perspective, Cc is one of our most important letters because it is the base to form many other letters, including some tricky ones. We continue to practice our previously taught letters in a variety of ways and students seem to be doing quite well with this learning. 

We continue to explore numeracy every day. As part of our afternoon math meeting, students analyze data from our question of the day, they represent a number between 0 and 5 in a variety of ways, they use different strategies to count how many days we’ve been in school, the Star of the Day leads a repeating pattern while other students need to identify and extend the pattern and then students estimate a group of objects. These young mathematicians are working hard and growing their numeracy confidence and understandings. 

On Friday we attended the Thanksgiving Assembly put on by older classes including our Book Buddies. We also used some fallen leaves to inspect and use for an art project where we made leaf people. 

Overheard in KA:

Part of spending my days with Kindergarten students is getting to overhear hilarious antidotes. When I can, I will share them with you all to share the smiles I get to experience each day. They will always be shared with anonymity and respect. This week’s gem:

“Kindergarten is so much gooder than daycare because in daycare we had to nap and I DO NOT like to nap!”

Save the Date:

October 14 – Picture Day

October 21 – Teddy Bear Sleepover (more info to come)

December 18 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 19)

Next week in KA:

Monday, October 12 – Thanksgiving Day (NO CLASSES)

Tuesday,October 13, Day 6 – Phys. Ed.

Wednesday, October 14, Day 1 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Ms. Ramsay and Picture Day

Thursday, October 15, Day 2 – Phys. Ed. 

Friday, October 16, Day 3 –  Music & Mrs. Mac 

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you all, 

Lisa 😊

Hi KA grownups,

Although it was a shorter week, we packed it full of learning together. We learned more about the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Treaty Day. Students are getting quite comfortable in their learning centers and we are starting to increase the level of independent work in the centers and the academic goals of center time. This week in FunDations we learned our first vowels, Ii and Uu. We had some discussion about what makes vowels special, and we will continue to work on this concept all through the school year. We also switched up our seating arrangement for the new month which has taken some getting used to.

On Thursday we visited the library and Ms.Graham showed us the chicken eggs in the incubator. We will be keeping a close eye on the eggs and in about 3 weeks we will watch them hatch and get to see the baby chicks. Ms. Graham also showed the class the decomposing pumpkin and the herbs she is growing. The library is much more than books at West Kent!

Thank you for raffle basket donations and for returning the sold tickets and money. You are all helping make this year’s Fall Fair a success!!

Thank you to everyone for returning the field trip permission forms quickly. The students are very excited for their first field trip. This trip will go ahead rain or shine, so please make sure that students are dressed for the weather. We will be gone from school for the morning, so we ask that students bring a ‘pocket snack’ with them on Monday. This will be a snack that they can take with them in their pockets and don’t require utensils instead of bringing their entire lunch bag with them. Some examples could be granola bars, cheese strings, easy to eat fruit, etc… This will help make our field trip go much smoother. Also, it would be helpful if you explain which item is intended to be a pocket snack when you’re packing lunches together to help minimize confusion here on Monday morning. When we go on full day field trips later in the year, students will bring their backpacks with them, but we try to limit how much we are taking for part day trips. Thanks for helping with this 🙂

The big news of the week is that KA was the first class in the school to get a shout-out on the morning announcements! Our Friday announcements often take place via Google Meets on the Smartboard and usually involve some sort of special activity. Today, instead of a game or trivia, Ms. Waye and Ms. MacKenzie decided to call one class to give a special shout-out for being such hard workers and showing the BEST manners. Everyone was very excited when my phone rang and our class got the first school-wide shout-out and again when Ms. Waye dropped candies off to everyone. Also, students all through West Kent have been working to earn Wessy Sparkles (pom-poms) by doing good deeds. Our jar in the main lobby is now filled to the top, and as a reward the whole school got an extra 10 minutes of recess on Friday afternoon. Friday was definitely a day of celebration of all the great work everyone has been doing!

Overheard in KA:

Part of spending my days with Kindergarten students is getting to overhear hilarious antidotes. When I can, I will share them with you all to share the smiles I get to experience each day. They will always be shared with anonymity and respect. This week’s gem:

Child 1: “My mom’s very smarter than my dad.”

Child 2: “Well my mom can twist her tongue and Dad can’t!”

Save the Date:

October 14 – Picture Day

December 18 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 19)

Next week in KA:

Monday, October 5, Day 1 – Apple Picking Field Trip & Ms. Ramsay

Tuesday,October 6, Day 2 – Phys. Ed.

Wednesday, October 7, Day 3 – Music & Mrs. Mac

Thursday, October 8, Day 4 – Phys. Ed. & Book Buddies

Friday, October 9, Day 5 –  Music, Mrs. Mac & Library 

Hope to see you at Fall Fair this weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hi KA families,

Our first field trip will take place next Monday, October 5. Permission forms are going home in the homework bags today. We will be travelling by bus to Windermere Orchards in York to go apple picking. Students will take home a 3lb bag of apples with them. The cost for the apple picking is $4 and the cost of the bus is $5. Please return the signed permission form (3 signatures needed on the back side of the paper) and the $9 by Friday, October 3.

Have a great Tuesday,

Lisa 🙂

Hi KA families,

We had another great week learning together in KA. In FunDations we learned Nn and Mn. On Monday we will add two more letters to our repertoire. We also had our very first Book Buddies experience with the 3/4V class. We will read with our reading role models every Day 4, and the class is already looking forward to the next time and excitedly spotting their buddies around the school. In Numeracy we have been slowly adding new ways to count to 5 to our daily Math Meeting. Students are currently practicing tally marks, 10s frames, numerals, showing with fingers, drawing a certain number of objects and representing using dice.

This week we also learned more about Terry Fox and had our Terry Fox Run on Friday. Thank you all for sending in money that will go directly to the Terry Fox Foundation. We also started learning about Orange Shirt Day /National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We read Stolen Words and had a discussion about making Canada the best country that we can together. 

We also completed our ‘Bandaid’ activity this week to help explain fairness. Each student took a turn and was given a pretend illness/injury/situation. It might have been a toothache, a haircut, a new teddy or a stubbed toe. The first student had a cut on their arm, so was given a bandaid on their arm. Every other student was also given a bandaid on the same spot on their arm. Students quickly started to question my judgment and quickly realized that everyone getting the same treatment did not make sense. At the end, we found that fairness does not always mean that everyone gets the same thing. It does mean that everyone gets what they need. We took a picture of everyone’s arm with their bandaids and have it hanging in our classroom as reminder of that lesson.

Thank you for coming out to Meet the Staff Thursday evening. I really enjoyed the chance to chat to everyone, even if I did have to rush things at the end. The class excitedly talked about the ice cream social on Friday morning, and seemed to have enjoyed the experience. Please reach out at any time with any questions or concerns. 

Save the Date:

October 14 – Picture Day

December 18 – Kindergarten Christmas Concert (storm date Dec. 19)

Next week in KA:

Monday, September 28, Day 3 – Music & Mrs. Mac

Tuesday, September 29, Day 4 – Phys. Ed., Book Buddies & WK Orange Shirt Day

Wednesday, September 30 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NO CLASSES)

Thursday, October 1, Day 5 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Library 

Friday, October 2, Day 6 – Phys. Ed. 

Enjoy the weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Hi Team KA,

We have successfully finished our first five day week in Kindergarten together!

This week in FunDations we learned letters Ff and Bb. We can now identify the letter name, sound and key word for three letters along with their proper formation. We will continue to learn each letter in this way until we have learned all 26 lowercase letters, then we will learn the uppercase letter formations at a faster pace. Students are gaining confidence and enthusiasm each FunDations lesson!

We also added some new literacy and learning centers to our days where students are working on fine motor skills, letter matching, and expression. They are also learning the structure of center time which will serve them well as our academic load increases through the year. 

This week KA students also experienced their first days with substitute teachers as I had to unexpectedly be away for two days. Mrs. Hogan and Ms. Roberts reported that the class listened really well and were great helpers while I was gone. I was so proud of them! We also experienced our first day of indoor recesses today (Friday) and the other teachers in the hallway were jealous of how quickly the KA team cleaned up the class! They really are an amazing bunch!

Please join us this Thursday evening for Meet the Staff night. At 6pm and 6:20pm there will be sessions in the classrooms led by teachers with some important information for the school year. Students will play outside under supervision of support staff (just like at recess) during this time. Around 6:40, all WK families are invited to an ice cream social on the playground. This is a great chance to meet other KA parents and more people in the WK community.

Normally I add some pictures to my blog posts so that you can have a sneak peek into what we are doing each day in KA (I never post students’ faces on the blog). I’m unable to post any photos until all Media Release forms have been submitted, and we are still missing quite a few. Please fill out and submit all 5 forms on PowerSchool as soon as you can. This is important information the school needs. Thanks for your cooperation!

 Please see the following message from our admin team at West Kent:

Hello Kindergarten parents and guardian,

               We are so impressed with how our new Kindergarten students have transitioned into school. As part of this transition, we would ask that if parents/guardian are dropping off their child in the morning, to please follow the steps below:

• Drop off your child’s school bag to their class line up at the main doors.
• Parents, a quick goodbye at the main door and then allowing the staff who are present to guide your child to the playground area.
• We ask that parents to not go over to the playground area.

Thank you for helping us to continue to build independence in our newest West Kent students. We appreciate your support.

Warmly,

West Kent Administration

Save the Date:

Thursday, September 24, 6pm – Meet the Staff & Ice Cream Social

December , 1pm – Kindergarten Christmas Concert

Next week in KA:

Monday, September 21, Day 4 – Phys. Ed. & Book Buddies

Tuesday, September 22, Day 5 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Library 

Wednesday, September 23, Day 6 – Phys. Ed. 

Thursday, September 24, Day 1 – Music, Mrs. Mac & Meet the Staff/Ice Cream Social

Friday, September 25, Day 2 – Phys. Ed. & Terry Fox Run

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, 

Lisa 😊

Kits for Kindness Free Snack Bags

Kits for Kindness is a program that provides a free, bi-weekly, bags of snack foods to be sent home in a child’s backpack each week to help support families experiencing food insecurity.

A snack bag is provided for each child in the household. The bags contain nut free snacks and quick foods for the week. Typical snack bags include foods such as granola bars, apple sauce, kraft dinner etc.

If you would like for your child to receive a free weekly bag of snacks, please let me know and their name will be added to our school list.

Bike Bus

If you’re planning on participating in the fall Bike Bus, your forms need to be in by Wednesday, September 16. No late forms will be accepted.

Have a great Monday,

Lisa 🙂