We finished up the letter “k is for kick” in our Alphabet work this week.  We made it almost halfway through the Alphabet so we are well on target to finish teaching all of the letter names, letter sounds and letter formation shortly after Spring Break in March.

All of the Kindergarten participated in the Reindeer Games on Wednesday this week.  For the first time, Mrs. Campbell and I put all the children together in one classroom, and we spread over into the hallway and English Language Learning room.  We worked in small groups with children from both classes.  We’re so used to the rotations from Math Centres that transitions between the five activities went very smoothly.  The children’s self-regulation was excellent, considering some of them had stayed up late the previous evening making gingerbread houses.  Your child will have brought home everything they made over the past few days.  Thank you so very much to all the parents who came in to help us with our Christmas Centres.

We made Reindeer Gift bags to hold all of our treasures, particularly the sequin marshmallow deocration we made a few weeks ago with our Big Buddies.  We followed the recipe for Reindeer Food to feed the reindeer on Christmas Even, made a Christmas Reindeer placemat, did our best colouring in our Christmas activity books and cut out shapes with Christmas playdough.

Speaking of Gingerbread Houses, thank you to all the families who came out on Tuesday night to participate in our Second Annual Me to We Gingerbreadhouse Fundraiser.  As you know, our Grade 7 Me to We Team is fundraising to provide a Primary education (K-6) for a classroom of children in a developing country.  Families were able to purchase a gingerbread house kit, extra icing and candy.  The gingerbread house designs were fabulous, and no mess for you to clean up at home!  Our gym was filled with many happy children and families all working together.  We’re not just building gingerbread houses, we’re building a community.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Today was the last day to return the Report Card Envelopes. If you have not returned yours yet, please hang on to it and your child can return it in January.  In an effort to reduce paper consumption, we want to recycle the envelopes for your child’s Second and Third Term Reports.

December Homework Calendars can be completed over the holidays and returned in January.  We sent home the January Homework Calendars on Friday.

Vancouver Coastal Health will be visiting the Kindergarten on Wednesday, January 4 for the children’s hearing and vision screening.  Please be on time for school as we start promptly at 9 am.

Our first day back to school following the Winter Break will be Tuesday, January 3, 2016.  There will be no Special Helper or Sharing for the first few days when we return.  Instead, we will all take turns until the new schedule is posted and we have finalised our theme.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy this very special time with your child.  They are growing up very quickly and every day spent with them is precious.  We look forward to seeing you in January!