Just a big reminder to everyone that we are in full Lego Drive mode!  We are looking to build a Ridgeview Lego Collection and we’re asking all students to consider bringing a cup or Lego from their own collections.  We have a fabulous table for building that will be housed in the Library.  We’re graphing all the donations from each Grade so please consider making a donation!

We took a little swim this week with our “o is an octopus” craft.  We  had lots of “ooohs” and “aahhhhs” for this cutie-pie craft.  The children did a lovely job of their printing as well.  The “o” formation (around and close) is the basis for many letters.  A reminder for all parents as you’re watching your children print, the children should be starting at the top of the “o” and going around counter-clockwise; the join should be barely noticeable at the top of the “o.”  Printing is all about precision so letters should be sitting on the line (except for the tails of letters such as g, j, p, q, y).  

**Please remember we DO NOT colour in the centre of the “o.”  Ever.

We’re carrying on with our Math Rotations for 1 this week.  In addition to creating number sets and exploring with manipulatives, we’ve added a written component for the children to practise tracing their numbers and printing the number words.

Christy and I are attending a series of Math Workshops on Balanced Numeracy this term.  We are examining the development of Number Sense for our Kindergarten children, and learning some new instructional practises for extending numerical understanding.  

A fun game we learned is called “Splat,” which looks at part-whole relationships of number.  We showed the children a whole number but only part of the number.  The other part of the number was hidden by the splat.  We ask them to think about not only what part is missing (the number), but how did they figure how much was missing?

-we can count on – we see 3 counters and count on to 5 (4, 5)

-we can take away – we know there is 5, we see 3 counters (5-3=2)

We had no sooner hung up our stunning Winter Perspective paintings than we decided to have some close-up winter fun by making these adorable snow globes!

It’s just a fun craft, incorporating many craft skills for Kindergarten such as cutting, pasting, drawing and most importantly the feeling of independence when completing something “all by myself!”

In Primary Singing, we are learning how to sing “Rounds.”  Mrs. Soderling starts singing and then the children begin singing after.  The song goes “round and round.”  They tried it both ways, teacher first, then students; then students starting and teacher going second.  It was challenging of course, but the children gradually improved and they can almost hold their part.  We were really proud of them!

Next week is a very busy week with DancePlay.  We realize all children do not enjoy dancing.  There will be a lot of instruction, remembering dance steps and sequences, and listening skills, focus and self-regulation will be in high demand.  Please ensure your child is getting lots of sleep and we will try to encourage them to be eating well at lunch and snack so our week of dance is successful!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Library Book Exchange is on Monday.

We will NOT be participating in this week’s popcorn sale.  Our children will be in the Dance Celebration for the afternoon and they will not have an opportunity to eat it.  Our children are not able to manage the bag of popcorn on the playground with the other 400 students swarming around them.

Parents are welcome to attend the Dance Celebration but please note that space will be very limited.

How fortunate we were to enjoy some beautiful days of winter sunshine and light this week before the rains came down again.  Of course, here in the Kindergarten, there is light and sparkle as we settle in for our winter work.

One of our most favourite alphabet crafts is “n is the night sky,” a pretty collection of moon and stars on a dark blue sky.  We’re officially halfway through the alphabet now and observing the mature changes we see in the children’s printing. Their upper body strength has improved with time spent on the swings and monkey bars, which has enabled them to have better control of their arm, hand and finger movements.  As a result, we see much improved letter formation and fine motor development.

We’re still waiting for snow, but at least enjoying it through some beautiful picture books.  We took some time this week to write our own Winter big book about what we see during this chilly season.

During Math this term, we’re developing number sense through a variety of math centres.  We’ve organised the children into cooperative groups and they are making their way through exploring, creating, comparing and counting number sets from 1-10.  We’re adding a written component as well, and teaching the children the correct formation for numerals and practising the printing of number words.

Math Centres are a similar routine and structure the children are well familiar with, from math pattern centres in the fall, to our Hallowe’en and Christmas Centres Parties. We’re continually mixing up the groups so the children are able to socialise and work with everyone in the class (and often both Kindergarten classes together) as it’s important that we continue to foster new friendships while maintaining connections from their preschool days.

This week we painted and created winter trees for our “Here, Near and Far Trees” from our favourite website, deepspacesparkle.com.  The focus for our lesson was multi-fold, but we’d say the greatest emphasis was in developing perspective.

First we painted these stunning backgrounds, colour mixing blue and white paint to create tints.  Then, the children cut out three different sized trees on green paper from small to big, light to dark.  Pastel patterns and details were added.

Careful placement and gluing of the trees (light coloured trees are far away) from far to near was a very mindful activity.  We talked about the horizon, where the sky meets the earth, and how that affects where the trees could be placed.

Finally, our favourite part, painting in the details and adding glitter completed these very special studies in distance and perspective.  

The children started learning the melody and words for “I Can’t Wait to be King” from “The Lion King” musical our school will be putting on this spring.  Although this is a Grades 4-7 production, we’ve asked to have the primary children learn a few songs as well.

It’s never easy to talk about Lockdown practise in schools.  We have always regarded schools as one of the safest places you could be, and continue to believe that is so.  However, it’s also essential that we practise so as a class, and school, to be prepared for life’s uncertainties.  Your children were brave, calm and the very best of listeners throughout the entire procedure on Thursday. The trust we have in each other, as teacher and students, is strong and for that we are very blessed.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Scholastic Book Orders for January should be placed soon.

Library Book Exchange on Mondays, as usual.

Lego Drive:  we are hoping to collect one cup of Lego from each child in our school to build our Ridgeview Lego collection which will be housed in the Library.  

There is a Professional Development Day on Friday, January 25th so school will not be in session.

A warm welcome back to school and Happy New Year!  We are very happy to be back with our children at school!  They’ve grown so much in maturity,  they’re more settled, more regulated and very ready to learn.  

Following any lengthy time away from school, we start the week with a gentle review of the classroom routines and rules.  Little reminders you can talk about with your children include:

-select your storybook and walk to sit down quietly on the carpet after you enter the classroom in the morning

-raise your hand to speak without calling out the teacher’s name at the same time

-make eye contact with your teacher and your friends when speaking

-snack and lunch time are for eating; talking with friends can wait until afterwards

-listen to your body and ask to go to the bathroom when you need to

We love nothing more than “oohs” and “aahs” which came to us in spades as we showed the children the adorable “m is a mouse” craft for this week. How cute is that?

We thought the printed letter “m’s” were pretty awesome as well!

We’ve started our next unit in Social Studies:  Family.  We’re off to a great start with our Family Sharing.  Thank you to the children who’ve already brought in their Family photo.  Our first lesson focused on the people in our family.  The children did a great job with their brainstorming.

We’ve taken down all the Christmas decorations so we needed to get some Art up on the walls.

We made our January self-portraits on little mitten backgrounds.  Notice the use of detail, wide variety of colours and good sense of space and proportion the children are incorporating in their line drawings.

Our classrooms are not complete without something hanging from the ceiling:  Mitten snowman hangers!

Musical notes:  After some creative timetabling, we are able to offer our delightful Kindergarten-Grade One Singing with Mrs. Soderling for another term!  This means our children receive music instruction three times a week!  You probably noticed how wonderful the singing was at the Christmas Concert and this is due to the additional class.  We’re so pleased for our children to participate in this musical opportunity.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Library Book exchange is on Monday. Please remember to return your book.

We are continuing to collect LEGO for our LEGO Drive. If you have a cup to spare please bring it in and get your name displayed on the donation display.

Please make a note that the next Professional Development Day is Friday, January 25th.  No classes for students.

Parent Volunteerong Opportunity: A reminder to all interested parents of the Multi-Cultural Event Orientation meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 15th at 2 p.m. This meeting will be a time to review further details about this event and to work together as a parent community toward this school-wide celebration.  All parent volunteers and interested parents are welcome.