Can you believe it’s already January 19?  The days are going by quickly as the children are growing up.  We’ve certainly seen quite a bit of growth in height, and stamina, since our return to school from the holidays.  Although there’s still that bit of tiredness that overcomes us in the afternoon, the children are certainly able to push through and finish the day in good spirits.

In the past two weeks we’ve completed alphabet letters N and O and lots of January favourites, such as our self-portraits, snowglobes and mitten and snowmen hangers.

“n” is night

octopus “o”

snowglobes

snowman mitten hangers

We’re delighted to say that the Kindergarten totally knows how to rock out, and that’s what they did when we welcomed The Bluesberries, an awesome blues/rock music group who came to play for Ridgeview students this past Tuesday.  The children danced to the Twist, listened to fan favourites by Jimi Hendrix  (Purple Haze), the White Stripes (Seven Nation Army) and The Beatles (Can’t Buy Me Love) and learned the 12 bar blues.   Thanks so much to our RPAC for sponsoring this school cultural event.  

We’ve started the third unit from Incredible Flexible You, the pro-social program we teach in Kindergarten.  This unit is called “Thinking With Your Eyes.”  The children are learning that their eyes gather information about what is going on around them and what other people are thinking and feeling.  They are showing others with their eyes what they are focusing on; thus, the importance of eye contact when speaking with teachers, family and friends. In other words, at any particular moment what we are looking at is what we are thinking about.  The children are learning to read their social context to understand the thoughts and feelings of others, and how to respond appropriately.

We had a special PE class on Thursday when West Vancouver School District’s Physical Literacy Teachers Amber Wilson and Erin Crawford came to teach a Durable Kid Workshop to both of our classes.  Proud does not even begin to describe how we feel about our children’s ability to participate in the movement preparation instruction.  They were complimented many times not only their physical skills (pivoting, skipping, planking) but on their listening and focus skills.  For Christy and I, this is where we see the benefits of teaching self-regulation strategies to our children and of front-end loading clear and explicit expectations for all lessons and activities.  Well done, boys and girls!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Library is on Wednesday so please remember to return books to the classroom before then

Our PE days are Tuesday for both classes. Thursday for Mrs. Campbell’s and Mrs. Zambon’s class and Friday for Mrs. Daudlin’s class. Please make sure your child has running shoes at school.   

Next Friday, January 26th is a District-wide Professional Day.  School will not be in session.

With rain in the forecast for the weeks to come please check that your child has a change of clothes and boots/indoor shoes that fit at school.  We’ve noticed some big growth spurts since the holidays!!