The weather has been wet and wild, but inside the Kindergarten all is cosy and warm.  We’re so proud of our classes and the way in which they’ve settled very comfortably into the classroom routines.  The children are becoming more confident in selecting their own morning centres, joining groups of friends and asking if a closed centre can be opened just for them (we almost always say “yes”). 

This week we read the perennial favourite Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as our Alphabet kick-off story to the letter D.  We take our time when printing lowercase “d” as we want to differentiate from printing lowercase “b.”  As we teach each new letter, we are supporting the children in using the lowercase letters they know when printing their names.  At this time, we are reminding them to print lowercase a, b, c and d as these are the letters we have taught in class.  We’re teaching e this week.

Do we ever love math patterns!  We’ve been exploring, copying and creating patterns with math manipulatives since the first week of school.  We always begin with manipulatives as it’s concrete and the children can physically show us their thinking and learning.  Now, we’re moving onto the connecting level as the children are connecting the concrete with the abstract. 

Here, you can see the children have made their multilink trains in an AB pattern.  This is a concrete representation of the pattern.  And now we’ve asked them to connect their understanding and represent their learning by colouring in the squares to match their trains.  Amazing!

We started one of several Hallowe’en art projects this week with drawing a beautiful pumpkin and colour mixing orange, red and yellow paint to fill in the spaces between the ribs.  This was a great opportunity to reinforce the BIG in our criteria of BIG, BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL when creating art.

BIG means to fill you space

BRIGHT means to use five colours or more

BEAUTIFUL means to do your personal best

We will finish our pumpkins with stems, leaves and faces in the days ahead.

On Thursday, we were confidently informed by our classes that they knew exactly what to do for Shakeout BC and they did exceedingly well during our earthquake drill.  As a matter-of-fact, as soon as we mentioned “earthquake” several children chimed in with “oh, under the tables.” When queried about how they knew what to do, their unison answer was “preschool.”  We practised our Duck, Cover and Hold so when the “earthquake” came on via the PA system, we quickly (and safely) moved into action.  

For this practise, our building was deemed “safe” and we did not need to exit the school.

We saw our Big Buddies on Friday to work on our Hallowe’en wreaths.  Our Buddies are learning to encourage the Little Buddies to take more responsibility for the drawing, cutting and gluing parts in our crafts.  The Little Buddies are enjoying this time in our week as they are very much adored and certainly the centre of their Big Buddies’ attention.

Last year we had a big LEGO drive at Ridgeview to create a mobile LEGO cart in the Library.  Many children donated a cup of LEGO from their personal collection. Now, teachers are able to book a special time for their classes and that’s just what we did for a rainy Friday afternoon.  We were absolutely impressed with the dexterity and creativity of our children to build their models.  

The rainy weather has meant that the Kindergarten children have been taking recess outdoors.  They are real troopers, changing into boots and raincoats, sometimes up to three times a day. Their independence in taking their shoes and boots on and off, and doing up snaps and zippers has increased tremendously.  

There’s been a lot of puddle play (including falling into some rather large ones), flying down wet slides and lots of wet clothes.  The children have an opportunity to change their clothes, but we also ask you to send along an extra pair of socks (or two) so their feet are comfortable all day.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Monday, October 21:  Please remember to have the children’s inside running shoes at school for PE.

Tuesday, October 22:  Library Book Exchange

Friday, October 25:  Provincial Professional Development Day – school is not in session for students

Save the Date:  Thursday, October 31 is our Hallowe’en Parade.  Parents will be able to watch us walk through Ridgeview’s spooky hallways!  The parade will start shortly after the morning bell. Please come by our classrooms to help take off your child’s costume, or send a bag that we can safety pack it into if you are unable to make it to school.

During Thanksgiving week, our children talked about everything they are thankful for:

My family

My mom when she makes food for me

Holidays

My birthday

Church

My friends

Animals

My dog living so long

My cat

My stuffed dog

Nature

My garden

The colourful flowers

The seasons

Being at school

Making crafts at school

Coming to school everyday

Staying at school all day

Reading books 

My teachers

We are so thankful to be blessed with our families, friends and the dear Kindergarten children and their families in our care this school year.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Love from, your Kindergarten Teachers

It was a quiet week in the Kindergarten, the kind where we notice how well the children are settling into their classrooms, remembering different routines (print your name with a pencil, tidy up after you finish eating, shoes and boots go into the cubbies) and encouraging and supporting one another.  Most children are entering the classroom easily and enjoy selecting their playtime Centres. It is a joy to watch the children ask each other to play and the cooperative fun that ensures. They have become more comfortable joining groups of children in play, and feel confident they can share and take turns with their friends.  It is a very sweet time for us, as teachers and students.

The Alphabet continues to take shape as we finished up with the letter B.  The children are having fun with our Alphabet activities from listening to stories to printing letters to brainstorming words that begin with the letter/sound of the week.  We’re doing a lot of phonological awareness activities to train the ear to listen to words and syllables.  

In Math this week, we explored our new pattern for October, ABC.  The children also made a graph of their birthdays so we could see where everybody was born during the year.  They were able to analyse the data to notice which months had the most, the fewest or no birthdays at all.

ELL classes also started this week for students receiving this service.  

As always, this week’s most anticipated event was seeing our Big Grade 7 Buddies for apple weaving.  Our children are very much enjoying this personal, one-on-one (sometimes two, as some children have two Big Buddies) time with their Buddy to make crafts, talk and listen to stories.  We’re looking forward to seeing our Buddies again on Friday for a special Thanksgiving craft!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Monday, October 7 is Photo Day!  Kindergarten children will be photographed first while they are still neat and tidy.  

Tuesday is Library Book Exchange.  Please return your book so you can take out a new one.

Wednesday and Thursday is early dismissal for all grades for Parent Teacher Conferences.  The children will be dismissed at 2 pm. If your child attends Camp Ridgeview, please let them know of the change in our school day.