We’ve had a fun-filled January with snow, Winter art and crafts, the start of our Math rotations for numeracy and a few treasured days of sunshine.

It was very exciting to be working on the letter “m” this week as we are now officially halfway through the alphabet.  We can see the growth in the children’s printing as they work diligently on correction with attention to size, shape and space.  

This week we made the adorable “m is a mouse.” We’ve begun a new Math unit in numeracy.  Our focus now is on exploring number, creating number sets, matching numerals to sets, counting with one-to-one correspondence and where do we see sets of 0-9 in our environment.  The children are working in small groups of 4 at different Math centres.  Sharing, speaking kindly, cooperating and turn-taking are the pro-social skills they continue to develop and practise and what we are reinforcing in class.

We have created so much beautiful Art this month.  From our January self-portraits to our whimsical snowglobes, the children love to draw, cut and glue, and use fun embellishments like Sparkle Mod Podge, punched out snowflakes, buttons and pompoms to decorate their work.  

For the upcoming RPAC Fundraiser, “theCardProject,” the Kindergarten classes are making Happy Penguins, a delightful mixed-media penguin posed against a colourful, rainbow background.  These projects will be photographed and turned into cards and journal covers, available to purchase later this year.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

We’ve got A LOT happening for February.

Mondays:  It’s our Library Book Exchange Day but we encourage you to return your book on Friday so you have an extra day in case you forget.  The children are very disappointed when they do not get to take home a book.  We have to be strict regarding book borrowing from our Library collection as you know books are very expensive to replace.

Tuesday, February 1:  Lunar New Year at Ridgeview.  Children are welcome to dress up in red and gold, or wear traditional Asian clothing.  We are going to make some special crafts at school this week to decorate our classroom.

Friday, February 11:  Crazy Hair Day.  The children are welcome to colour their hair, wear a fun hat or hair decoration.  If your child decides to participate, and based on our previous experience, please choose an idea that your child can manage throughout the day.  

Monday, February 14:  Valentine’s Day.  In Kindergarten, we encourage our classes to participate in a Valentine’s Day card exchange.  It’s fun and a nice opportunity to share a card and show some kindness to others.  We’re providing this information early so you have lots of time to prepare.

We realise this may be the first Valentine’s card exchange for quite a few children in our class.  We will send home a list of all the children’s names in our Divisions later this week.  Please write a card for either ALL of the girls, ALL of the boys or EVERYONE.  We want everyone to be included in the receiving of cards.  We will see Mrs. Kennedy for a Valentine story on Monday so the children can also write a card for her and deliver it in person.

Over the past few years, more of the children have made and addressed their Valentine cards with their family, and the Kindergarten have signed their names which is meaningful practise.

We will make Valentine cardholder bags with our classes.  During the week of February 7-11, the children can bring their cards to school and we will help them to place the cards into their classmates’ bags.  We prefer for the cards to come in earlier than the 14th, otherwise it’s very rushed to get the cards into the bags.

We are always asked if candy can be included with the cards.  Yes, candy and small non-edible treats can be included but please remember no nuts of any kind.  All candy must be pre-packed and individually wrapped; unfortunately, we are unable to have anything homemade to eat at this time.

On Valentine’s Day the children are welcome to wear pink, red, or white to celebrate the day!

Welcome back and Happy New Year to our Kindergarten Families!  Well, this week was certainly the week that was….snowy, rainy, sunny, and a focus again on the Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictions and health and safety protocols.

Masks are mandatory in schools, and we’re pleased to note that every child in Kindergarten is now wearing one.  Thank you also to the families who have been donating 3-ply children’s size masks to the classroom so we have enough for our students.  The children often need to change their masks throughout the day and we really appreciate having a good supply.

Hand-washing and sanitizing, personal space and reduced numbers of students at play time centres are just a few of the measures we continue to implement or maintain in our classrooms.  The children have been very cooperative.  Thank you for speaking openly with your child about the need for masks and good hygiene practise.  Most students understand and are able to articulate the importance of mask wearing and how we are all protecting and looking after one another.

When students are away, our usual practise is to keep their work at school.  Upon a child’s return to school, we decide together what we are going to try to complete in class and what we might send home to finish.  This varies, depending upon what we are currently teaching, and the class and school schedule.  We try very hard to finish our Alphabet craft in class so your child has a complete set of letters for their Alphabet wall at home.

This week we sent home the children’s Owl Envelopes with their November and December artwork for you to keep at home.  Enclosed was a large envelope containing materials for a health closure or functional school closure, if one was declared.  Please do not open this envelope until instructed to do so by your classroom teacher.

We also sent home an email on Wednesday with your child’s Google Classroom username and password.  Please sign-in to Google Classroom so we know that your child’s username and password are working correctly.  We’ve already had to fix one password.  We don’t want to be addressing numerous problems with usernames and passwords just prior to our having our first Google Meets in the next week or two, so it’s helpful if you can sign in sooner rather than later.  Our Google Classroom will only be used in the event of a health or functional school closure.  Right now we are providing in-person instruction.  We will give you a few days notice prior to having a Google Meets.  It’s another aspect of Google Classroom we need to know is functioning properly for all of our students.

You’ll also have noticed we included your child’s Math IXL username and password.  Please use the link we included to go to the West Vancouver School District  login.  Kindergarten is free to go ahead and start using the Patterns, Counting to 5 and Sorting, Ordering and Classifying topics under Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten for some fun practise.  Please note that this is optional and not a requirement.

In other school news, we welcome Mrs. Heather Soderling, our Music Teacher who is back from maternity leave.  Mrs. Soderling had a little girl last year, and we are delighted to have her back at Ridgeview.

Reminders and Upcoming Events

Monday, January 17:  Library Book Exchange.  Please return your book if you have not already done so.

Monday, January 24:  Professional Day.  Students are not in session