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