We’ve had a very fun first week back at school.  We were so happy to see all of our children return happy and healthy from the Christmas Break.  

We have spent our first few days of school reviewing the health and safety protocols to keep everyone safe.  Diligent handwashing, hand sanitising, two to three children at a Centre and social distancing to the best of our ability are essential to maintaining a healthy classroom for students and school staff.  We are favouring hand-washing over hand sanitising in the classroom, and taking the time to review constantly and consistently how this skill is to be completed.  It’s important that the children understand that hand-washing is a school expectation and are compliant when following the school rules.

The children settled in well to our regular classroom routines, focusing on the teacher and listening carefully to instructions.  We’re continuing our work on self-regulation, and taking the time to practise our breathing and reflect while listening to quiet music.  These strategies leave us feeling calm, relaxed and refreshed before we begin our learning activities.

This week a third Hot Lunch meal (pizza) is being offered for Friday.  Please note that if your child orders pizza, he or she must bring the pizza box home to recycle.  If your child orders sushi, chicken strips or hot dogs on Wednesday and Thursday, please remember to send a large ziploc bag to bring home the packaging.

The children brought home three Library Books this week so please keep track as it will be a big return day in two weeks.

We were busy this week with our Alphabet work on the letter k.  We made some cute K kites and drew patterns and symbols for decoration.

As we begin every month, the children drew their January self-portraits.  We continue to be amazed at how well they have progressed in their directed line drawing and use of five colours or more to make a beautiful presentation.

We made the most wonderful multi-media snowglobes at the end of the week.  The children have become accustomed to using a variety of art materials.  They enjoy learning about the differences between crayons, felt pens and pastels and their specific functions; using their scissors for cutting shapes; and observing how special tools (snowflake hole punch) and finishes (Sparkle Mod Podge) can create interesting effects.

This term we are working on Numeracy and counting.  We’ve spent some already working on subitizing (recognizing how many in a set eg., dice formations) and now we are learning about Part-Whole relationships and Number Conservation.  Ours is a play-based, manipulative math program so the use of a variety of manipulative items for counting, sorting, patterning, and creating sets is essential.  We spend several days before beginning each new unit of instruction in free exploration so the children are familiar with the manipulatives and ready to receive our instructions for their learning tasks.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Sharing and Special Helper:  The next round of Sharing and Special Helper begins in a couple more weeks.  Our theme will be “Family.”  We’d like each child to bring in 1-3 photos of their family and be ready to talk about their family’s three favourite activities to do together.  We will send home an example through Remind in the next couple of days so you can help your child to prepare.