We had a lovely Remembrance Day Assembly on Tuesday and we were so pleased with the children’s self-regulation during this solemn time.  Thank you so much to Mr. Zerbe and Mr. Parslow, our fab admin team, for putting together such a meaningful video for our virtual assembly.

You would have seen some of the Kindergarten art work, including our Canada flags and peace doves, featured in the video.  We are very proud of our students for their artistic contributions of these iconic symbols.

We are coming to the end of our first theme for Sharing and Special Helper.  We were just so delighted with the response!  Thank you to all the families for your support and diligence in helping your child to be prepared.   Being the Special Helper is a real leadership opportunity for the children and they have done so well with their Sharing and speaking aloud.  We’ve noticed an increase in confidence when the children are leading the class during Calendar time, and their understanding of patterns and counting.

We start our new Sharing and Special Helper theme, “All About Me,” this week.  Please check your Reminds from this week for the information chart and calendars for your child’s Special Helper Day.

This week we finished the letter “f” and worked on the formation for “5.”  We’ll be sending home these activities in the next day or so.  We also made our November self-portraits and created ABC patterns around our names.

We have created some beautiful laminated envelopes with the children to bring home their special schoolwork from September and October.  You will be absolutely thrilled with your child’s treasures, and you’ll be able to see their growth over the past number of weeks in their drawing, colour and printing.  The envelopes will need to be returned back to school so we can use them again at the beginning of December.  

Ridgeview School tries to support the local community for those in need as much as possible during the school year.  Due to COVID-19, we’ve been unable to do some of our traditional charitable activities, such as the Hallowe’en Candy Collection to make Candy Gift Bags at Christmas.  However, after much careful thought and planning for health and safety, Mrs. Meldrum’s Grade 4 Class is organising a Glove, Toque and Sock Drive.  They will be collecting NEW Adult size gloves and mitten, toques and socks.  We have a donation bag in our classrooms; donations will be collected by the Grade 4 children.  Kindergarten children wishing to donate will bring their contribution and place it in the bag.  Children who donate will have their name recorded on a paper “sock” which is “hung” on the Sock Drive Clothesline.  We will send a photo along on Remind as the  contributions are made and socks are hung. 

As much as we have enjoyed having a quick word with you on the playground, with the dropping temperatures it’s getting chilly outside to be chatting!   We’re going to maintain ourwelcome to each child as he or she enters the classroom, and our good-bye to each one at the end of the day.  Please send us an email if you have any questions or want to let us know something eg., a change in pick-up.  We will try to get to you as soon as we can.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

We’re expecting a serious week of rain this week, so here are some things you can practise at home if your child is not independent with rain wear and rain boots, and a few useful reminders:

-when the teachers ask students to wear a coat, we are doing so to keep them comfortable for the remaining portions of the day; we both have students trying to line up continually without coats and/or boots and this slows the entire class down while we wait for them to change and go outside

-please check-in with your child regularly that their boots still fit; we will try to let you know when they are starting to struggle with putting them on

-practise a working sequence of getting ready:  rain pants, rain boots, coat, zip  or button up your coat, hats, and then gloves and mittens.  When gloves are the first thing to be pulled on, we are inevitably called to help with coats, rain pants and boots. 

-pulling out the sleeves from wet coats, and sleeves and legs of a muddy buddy, after they’ve taken it off to dry for the next playtime.

This week we began talking about Remembrance Day with our children.  We read several books and discussed some of the iconic symbols such as the poppy and peace doves, and the concepts of peace and freedom.  Our emphasis is what does peace mean to each of us on a personal level and how that makes us feel.

We were truly moved by some of the charming thoughts the children had about peace.  This poem by the Kindergarten children is inspired by The Peace Book by Todd Parr.

Peace is my home.

Peace is playing with my friends.

Peace is making a new friend.

Peace is helping others.

Peace is taking a nap.

Peace is being creative with my mom and dad.

Peace is being with my family.

Peace is watching nature.

Peace is growing a garden.

Peace is planting flowers.

Peace is snuggling with my dad.

Peace is speaking kindly.

Peace is playing kindly with my friends.

Peace is helping others.

Peace is spending time with my family.

Peace is sharing a meal.

Peace is a clean ocean for the dolphins.

Peace is my fish.

Peace is playing soccer with my friends.

Peace is swimming in the pool with my friends.

Peace is having good dreams when I sleep.

What a beautiful world we have, and a bright future ahead of us, with these thoughtful and inspirational ideas about peace from our Kindergarten children!

We are having our virtual Remembrance Day assembly in our own classrooms on Tuesday, November 10 at 11 am.  Mr. Zerbe and Mr. Parslow have prepared a special video for us to watch.  We will give the children their poppies to wear for the class ceremony; we are collecting a small donation for the poppies – $2 would be a fine amount.  Please send this next week if you can.  Thank you.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Wednesday, November 11:  Remembrance Day – school is not in session

Tuesday, November 17:  Kindergarten Physical Literacy assessments – all students need to wear runners to complete their locomotor assessments.

We had a lot of Hallowe’en fun this week with our Kindergarten children!  

We worked hard to keep our activities and crafts in line with COVID-19 restrictions.  The children have been diligently washing their hands before, during and after Centre time.  We were pleased that during Art, and for crafts, all children can use individual paintbrushes and pastels.  And our classroom parents really supported us in providing special Hallowe’en snacks for their own children in the afternoon.  It was a lot of organisation for our parents on Friday (costumes, regular snack and lunch, special snack, library books) and we thank everyone so much for their efforts.  We will get through this together as we are all in it together.

We finished our cute spooky bats which the children brought home with them for the weekend.

We painted beautiful jack-o-lanterns, inspired by Patti Palmer and her amazing website for teachers and parents, Deep Space Sparkle.

We tried a new craft this year, project Candy Corn, which was great fun, using cut tissue squares (developing good fine motor skills as the children had to separate the squares and glue them on individually) and a candy corn template.  We topped the candy corn with Sparkle Mod Podge and crystal glitter for a beautiful finish (more glitter = more fun).

The children dressed up in their best Hallowe’en costumes (oh so cute!) and everyone brought their own special snack for a treat while we watched “Room on the Broom,” from the book Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.  Did you know that “Room on the Broom” won an International Emmy Award in 2013 for Kids: Animation?  This movie is recommended for children 3-7 years old.  It is absolutely delightful, voiced by a stellar British cast.

The excitement of Hallowe’en is always followed by a more sombre time, as we prepare for Remembrance Day at school.  Our focus will be on peace, and what peace means for each of us on a personal level.  We will also talk about the poppy and its significance, and what it means to be a Canadian.  

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Please return your October Homework Calendar.  November Homework Calendars were sent home last week.

Monday, November 3:  Photo Retakes – please advise your teacher if your child is having a photo retake so we do not miss anyone.

Wednesday, November 11:  Remembrance Day:  school is not in session