This week we unveiled the children’s beautiful Alphabet Books to them.  We have been drawing and labelling pictures, and practising printing upper and lowercase letters, for each Letter of the Week.  We’ve been sending home the weekly Itchy’s Alphabet pages and the letter craft, but we keep the “formal” printing pages here at school.  Up until this point, all of the children’s work had been completed on individual sheets until they were used to our routine.  Four letters later, we’ve collated everybody’s work into their individual books so now each child will work out of his or her own book.

We’ve explained to the children we want them to care for their Alphabet Book, and to love it by taking pride in doing their very best work, turning the pages gently and follow the teacher’s instructions.  When they have finished learning all of the letters, the children can take proudly bring their Alphabet Book home as a wonderful keepsake from Kindergarten.

We’ve had a rough go of weather this month and this last week of October has been a doozy.  Generally, our students have been managing quite well with boots, raincoats and wet socks.  They’ve become much better using their zippers and remembering to put their hood on (although we still have a few wet heads).  Thank you for supporting us in sending indoor shoes along with boots and changes of clothing.  We’ve been told it’s going to be a wet winter with warmer temperatures so all of this practise is going to make perfect.

We’re keeping busy with a variety of Hallowe’en activities.  This week we worked on our Hallowe’en word bank vocabulary, painted bats as a fun craft and completed these adorable faces for the painted pumpkins we made last week.

We also saw our Big Buddies, who each brought a Hallowe’en picture book (or two or three) to read aloud to the Little Buddies.  There was a lot of enthusiastic reading and follow-up discussions.

We’re sending home the November Scholastic Order Form today, along with the November Homework Calendar.  We don’t want to forget to give these out on Monday when we will definitely have other things on our mind.

Speaking of next Monday, Ridgeview continues its annual tradition of a Hallowe’en Parade and Assembly.  Our children are invited to wear their costumes to school; please have your children wear their regular clothes underneath their costume as we will be removing costumes promptly after the Assembly.  Please note that no weapons (swords, lightsabres) may be brought to school.  School begins at the usual time (8:50 am), and following the singing of “O Canada” and the morning announcements, Primary students participate in a parade led by our Principal, Mrs. Brady.  Parents are welcome to line the hallways to watch.  We will be sending home an information letter on paper with further details.

Centre Time will take place after recess, and we will add a few Hallowe’en Centres for some fun!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

The Earthquake Student Release will be taking place on Thursday, November 3rd.  An information letter was sent home with Thursday’s e-bulletin so please review the procedure.  The pick up time for ALL Kindergarten students is 1:45 pm.  If you are unable to pick up your child at this time, please arrange for the alternate guardian to do so.  This is the person or persons you designated on your emergency forms at the beginning of the school year.   It is important that you or your alternate guardian bring photo ID with you when you pick up your child.   The Student Release Centre / Parent and Student Reunion Area will be established near the portable area. You (or approved Alternate) are asked to report to the east undercover area at the designated times (1:45 for K). We suggest you walk to the school, as you would after an earthquake. Please DO NOT park in the school parking lot or bring your dog.

Hallowe’en Candy Collection: One of the many Ridgeview traditions is to make candy-filled Christmas crackers at Christmas time.  These crackers are then donated to several organizations such as our sister school, Grandview Elementary, Covenant House, and the North Shore Crisis Centre.  For the crackers, we ask that each student donate some of their Halloween candy.  Please support us by having your child choose some candy to bring into school during the first week of November (please no Halloween-themed candy).

On Monday, November 7, 2016, the Grade 7 students will be holding their first Popcorn Sale of the year.  This event is always a big hit with the Kindergarten.  We usually all purchase a bag and then enjoy munching on our popcorn treat outside, sitting on the benches and socializing with our friends.  Popcorn is $1 per bag and all proceeds go to the Grade 7 Grad year-end activities.

Photo Retakes will take place on Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Please return your November Homework calendar for a sticker

November Scholastic Orders are due Tuesday, November 8, 2016.  There are lots of wonderful Christmas books for purchase.  If you are purchasing some books as gifts please make a note on your order form.  We will then bag up your order and deliver it to you discreetly so no little Kindergarten eyes will see!

School will not be in session on Friday, November 11, 2016 for Remembrance Day.  We will be having a school wide assembly to honour this day on Thursday, November 10th.

School will not be in session on Monday, November 14, 2016 for a Non-Instructional Day.

For only four days this week we were certainly very busy! Fine motor skill work was certainly at the forefront of everything we did during this rainy October week.

We finished the letter D in our Alphabet Books, and made these super cute diamond D’s as our craft. We will send home the children’s printing sheet and their craft in the next few days.

The children learned about colour mixing yellow, orange and red to make various versions of orange for our Painted Pumpkins. We started by using introducing pastels to the children which they love, because they are so smooth and give lots of colour without having to press too hard. After drawing the outline and ribs of the pumpkin as a full group, they mixed their colours using their pumpkin drawing as a palette. We want to provide multiple opportunities to use a variety of art tools and materials for our students to discover ways to creatively express themselves individually and as a group, and to see their work as a means of connecting with, and communicating their ideas, with the greater community. This project is from Deep Space Sparkle, our favourite Art website by Patty Palmer. Patty is a true inspiration for teachers and students alike!

Wednesday is the most highly anticipated day of the week as it’s Buddy Time in the afternoon. We’re starting to get ready for Halloweèen, so each Little Buddy made a Hallowe’en wreath supported by his or her Big Buddy. Our children are beginning to use a variety of tracers and templates – manageable for small hands, using both hands at the same time (writing hand, helping hand), and LOTS of scissor and gluestick work. A few stickers and a pretty bow make these little wreaths something very special!

We are really pleased with the children’s developing independence at managing their raincoats and boots. On a really rainy day, your child is changing their shoes 4 times – at morning recess, after morning recess, at lunch recess and after lunch recess. Needless to say, they’ve all become quite proficient with their boots after the downpours we’ve been having this week. You can see why slip-on shoes work best for us. We’ve been trying to help the children pull their sleeves back through their jackets before hanging them up. Admittedly, we’ve been having quite a bit of fun watching the teachers put their arms through the sleeves and flap around like a bird, but any teaching you can do at home would be very helpful! Thank you.

On Thursday, along with many others, Ridgeview conducted an Earthquake Preparedness Emergency Drill. In class, we told our children ahead of time this event was going to occur and that we need to practise so that in the event of a real emergency, we would be ready. We reviewed “Drop, Cover, Hold” moving quickly but calmly to the tables to crawl underneath, and counted to 60 as instructed. Here was another valuable opportunity for us to focus on the importance of our self-regulation; as the teacher counted, children could count as well (and many did) or they could focus on their breathing as a means of helping them to stay calm and focused. We reassured the children that although they may feel scared and want their parents, we were very experienced in looking after our classes during these sorts of drills and would take very good care of them if there was ever a real emergency.

Upcoming Events and Reminders
Early Dismissal next week for Parent/Teacher Conferences on Monday, Oct. 24th and Thursday, Oct. 27th at 2pm. Please pick up your child promptly at 2pm as we start our conferences
right away. If you have not already signed up for a conference time please do so Monday.

October 31st we will hold our annual Hallowe’en Parade. The students are allowed to wear their costumes for the parade. Parents are invited to watch the parade in the hallways. We ask that costumes not be too scary as this can be extremely frightening for some students. Swords, wands, or other costumes accessories that need to carried should be left at home. After the parade students will change out of their costumes into their regular clothes.

Ridgeview is also participating in the “We Scare Hunger Campaign”. We will be collecting non-perishable food items for our sister school, Grandview Elementary. Grandview is an inner-city school in Vancouver. The school has a food bank directly in their school that parents and students often visit daily. When choosing items to donate please encourage your child to help pick a few things they might really enjoy themselves. Our hope is to fill Ms. Wilson’s (our grade 7 buddy teacher) truck full of donated food!

In our Alphabet work, we are listening to alphabet stories, brainstorming words that begin with the letter of the week, and teaching the alphabet sounds and the correct letter formation for the upper and lowercase letters.

“C” is our letter of the week.  We made our delightful caterpillar “c’s” which we will send home next week.  We will profile each letter we worked on in the newsletter, but the children’s alphabet craft and printing sheet will not come home until the following week.

But we’re not just teaching the Alphabet.  As part of our balanced approach to literacy instruction, we’re developing the children’s phonological awareness in the areas of sounds, syllables, rhymes and words.  Over the past few weeks we’ve been working on words, specifically focusing on syllables or parts of words.  Right now, the children are listening to the teacher say the parts (syllables) of words, then blending them together to say the complete word (eg., kit-chen = kitchen).  This is all part of oral language instruction which includes read-aloud books and storytelling, shared reading experiences such as poems, songs and chants and our teaching of the individual alphabet letters and sounds.  When we’re talking about sounds, we mean phonemic awareness, or the awareness that speech is made up of sounds in a specific sequence.  For more on phonemic awareness and phonological awareness click here.

You can imagine how important the children’s self-regulation is during oral language instruction.  It’s why we work so hard with our students all through the year on their listening skills; calming strategies to prepare themselves for instruction; mindfulness to focus and concentrate on the lesson and a positive attitude to foster a lifelong love of learning.  We listen to calming music, practise deep breathing and mindfulness daily, so that we are feeling relaxed, happy and in the green zone — ready to learn!

In Math, we are creating AB and ABC pattern multilink trains.  The children are learning a pattern needs to be repeated three times (eg., ABABAB) to show it is indeed, a pattern.

The children saw their beloved Grade 7 Big Buddies on Wednesday.  We’re beginning a new seasonal activity in Buddy Reading where our Big Buddies will select picture books to read aloud to their Little Buddies.  Then the children will work on some literary awareness skills (title, directionality, one-to-one word correspondence) and finally, draw a picture and talk about their favourite part.  We had a practise run this week, and will start officially with a fun Hallowe’en picture book in a couple of weeks.

Thank you so much to everyone for sending along rainboots and raincoats this week.  The children have achieved a high level of independence in changing into their boots and coats, necessary for Westcoast living.  Although we still have lots of inside-out sleeves (they make fun wings), we’ve made significant progress since September.  Please remember that if your child wears shoes with laces to school, he or she should know how to tie those laces.  Tying laces is not a skill we teach in the Kindergarten.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

We will be adding a sharing component to our Special Helper program next week. In addition to the daily Special Helper duties, the Special Helper will have the opportunity to bring in a special sharing.  Our sharing always has a theme and for the month of October and November our theme is “I Like Me”.  The students are asked to bring in three objects that tell about him or herself.  These objects should fit into a small Ziploc bag. There is more information posted on the parent boards and a sample Ziploc bag. The student calendar is also posted. Please help your child gather these items a few days prior to their Special Helper day and have them practice “sharing” with you.

Monday, October 17:  Parent Teacher Conference Sign-up.  The sign up sheets will be posted outside of the office.

Friday, October 21:  Provincial Professional Day.  School is not in session for students.

Monday, October 24 and Thursday, October 27:  2:00 Early Dismissal for Parent Teacher Conferences – please be on time to pick up your child as we start our conferences promptly at 2:10 pm.

It’s Thanksgiving Week in the Kindergarten and we’ve been doing all things Turkey.

We’ve read a variety of Thanksgiving stories, including some of our long-time favourites, Franklin’s Thanksgiving (Paulette Bourgeois) and The Thankful Book (Todd Parr).  We brainstormed the many, many things we are thankful for; it’s a special list which we will share with you on Sunday.  From these ideas, each child made a thankful leaf.  They independently drew their own pictures and the teachers scribed their wonderful ideas.

It was time to see our Big Buddies on Wednesday.  It’s become a tradition to make a Thanksgiving centrepiece in Kindergarten so we made our very fun, adorable turkeys.  Each child brought his or hers home for the holiday table.  One of the most fun things Christy and I have been doing is teaching Kindergarten long enough so that our former Kindergarten students are now our Big Grade 7 Buddies.  Many of the senior students had a huge smile when they saw the familiar turkey craft and shared that they still had theirs at home.

We’ve been learning about Patterns in Mathematics.  Patterning, sorting and classifying are part of our foundation teaching in Math.  We’re teaching our children how patterns can be found in daily living, nature and surrounding environment.  Sorting and classifying objects helps us to organise, categorise and group together similar concepts.  Our September pattern was AB and now it’s AAB for October.  We’ve been using a variety of math manipulatives to explore and create patterns, and during our daily Math Their Way calendar we are extending our monthly patterns every day.  For Thanksgiving, we coloured turkeys using warm colours and selected our own pattern for the feathers.

As always at the beginning of the month, we drew our monthly self-portraits according to our criteria of Big (fill your space), Bright (use five colours or more) and Beautiful (do your personal best).  We love the growth we see in our children as the school year moves along; they’ve become very attentive to the details in their drawings and working towards independently meeting the criteria.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Monday, October 10, is Thanksgiving Day, so schools are not in session.

October Scholastic orders are due Tuesday, October 11th. The online payment for parents is available now.

Family BINGO Night Order forms are due Wednesday October 12th

If you would like to order your child’s photo, please have the form handed into your child’s teacher no later than Tuesday, October 11th.

Parent/Teacher Interviews are scheduled to take place October 24th and 27th, and there will be a 2:00 pm early dismissal on these days.  Look for the sign-up sheets outside the library starting Monday, October 17th.

With the rainy days ahead, please ensure your child has shoes to wear inside, boots to wear outside and a rain jacket.

A is an apple

This week we finished work on our first letter of the Alphabet, “A.”  The children will bring home their alphabet craft each week along with the Itchy’s Alphabet printing page.  Please help your child to collect each of the alphabet letters in the kitchen or their bedroom for review and discussion about the letters.  At school we brainstorm words beginning with the letter of the week and are beginning to draw a picture and label those words in our Alphabet Books.  You can help your child by talking about letters beginning with the letter “B” for next week’s brainstorm.

We were a beautiful sea of Canada red and white as Ridgeview School ran in the memory of Terry Fox.  Thank you so much for helping your child gather together clothing to show their national pride.  We ran laps around the gravel field with our Big Buddies and had a short time together on the playground afterwards.

Marigold is ready to run, are you?

We really enjoyed the Axis Theatre production of “Robinson Crusoe.”  With great humour and some silly antics by a parrot puppet, the actors told the story of Robinson Crusoe and his lengthy stay stranded on an island.  They had a fabulous set, lots of songs and a remarkable number of props that really kept our children engaged.  We were delighted with the Kindergarten children’s audience behaviour.  They sat peacefully or about 45 minutes, listened well and showed their appreciation through polite applause at the end of the show.  Here are some of the expectations we shared with our children before attending the performance. Click here for the link.

Sometimes at the end of the school day, the children are very tired and not their usual calm selves when you see them at 2:55 pm.  They might seem teary, restless or hard to please.  The children are playing and working very hard at school, and “keeping it together” as best as they can to persevere through the long day.  The energy and self-regulation required to be friendly, kind, cooperative, and a good listener for six hours straight is probably far more than we realise or can remember as a child;  our students are five years old and we think they are amazing.  When your children see you and let loose the gamut of emotions they have been holding in all day, when they can finally truly relax in your safe arms and love, they might have an emotional outburst.  A West Vancouver teaching colleague sent this article our way which has some great ideas for what to do at the end of a long day with your little.  Click here for the link.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

If you have not yet completed the Online permission form please do so as soon as possible. Each students must have a form on file and this allows them to participate in any walking field trip where we leave the school grounds. Click here for the attached link

We still have a few families who have not yet completed their Verification forms.  Please return those signed forms to the classroom as soon as possible. We do not have any emergency information or contact information about your child if these forms are not yet completed.

Please remember to complete your child’s Comfort kit.  They will go into the emergency storage bins next week.

We have been blessed with some beautiful sunny weather these past few weeks! With that said, we know the rain is coming…. Please remember to leave a change of clothes in a drawstring bag on your child’s coat hook. Rain boots can also be left at school on a permanent basis so we always have them in case of a sudden shower.

It’s Walk to School Week starting Monday. If you live close to the school please try and walk every day next week. If you live too far away, try and park a block or two away and walk from there.

Our schedule next week:

Tuesday: Library and Music

Wednesday: Buddies (Turkey Fun)

Thursdays: Music

It goes without saying that the absolute highlight of our week was meeting our Big Grade 7 Buddies.  Mrs. Campbell’s class will buddy with Mr. Meldrum’s Grade 7s and Mrs. Daudlin’s class will buddy with Ms. Wilson’s class.  We meet once a week, usually on Wednesday afternoon, to socialise, make holiday crafts, play and enjoy each other’s companionship.  Next week, however, we will see our Buddies on Thursday for the Terry Fox Run.  We had a grand time filling out a reminder sheet for you with our Big Buddy’s name, and then a short playtime on the playground.

We visited the Library again and borrowed our weekly books.  As you greet your children afterschool, please help them to place their library book in their backpack, or place in your own bag if it’s too big, to keep it safe and dry.  You will be billed for books which are lost or damaged.  As many of our hardback picture books are now out of print, it is very costly to try to find replacements.

As part of our “Personal Identity” Social Studies unit, we’ve been exploring our Name.  We read the delightful book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, and have gone on to talk about our names and nicknames.  We’ve made several name art projects, including Bean Names and Fruit Loop Initials.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Scholastic Book orders are due on Tuesday, September 27.

We will be watching the play “Robinson Crusoe” presented by Axis Theatre on Wednesday, September 28.

The Terry Fox Run will take place on Thursday, September 29. Kindergarten students will be running, hopping or skipping one or two laps around the gravel field with their Grade 7 Buddies, then meet with their teacher.  Please remember to wear red and white and show your Canadian spirit. Thank you to parents who volunteered to help marshal the road route for Grades 1-7.

We had a very big week with lots more firsts!

Our biggest accomplishment this week was three full days of Kindergarten.  The children were beginning to tire by the end of Thursday, and the warm temperatures in our classrooms made that more difficult.  But we ensured there were many opportunities for drinks of water, snacks, playtime inside and outdoors and practise for self-regulation strategies.

We had our first Music classes with Mrs. Taylor.  Our long-time Music teacher, Mrs. McKanna, has moved to continue her teaching career in the Maple Ridge School District to be closer to her family.  Many of your older children had Mrs. McKanna as their first school Music teacher and will remember her well.  We will really miss her and send along our best wishes!l

We visited the Library with our Teacher-Librarian, Mrs. Kennedy.  We were so fortunate to be able to take out a book on our first visit.  Mrs. Kennedy sets very clear boundaries regarding what baskets of books and library shelves we can select a book from, so right now our focus is on picture books. Here are Mrs. Kennedy’s top concerns about book care when looking after your Ridgeview library book at home:

• Keep your library book safe from food or water
• Remember that younger siblings can be destructive around books
• Keep your library book away from your pets (Note:  ask Mrs. Campbell what happened to her passport and math textbook the next time you see her)
• Turn book pages gently

We made our first self-portrait for September.  The children worked hard to draw their pictures according to our criteria of “Big,” “Bright” and “Beautiful.”  Big means to fill your space of paper, Bright is to use 5 colours or more and Beautiful is to do your personal best.  We really think they did!  It was also our first foray with using scissors and gluesticks and there were many determined faces as the children tried to cut stems and leaves independently.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

We still have quite a few outstanding cheques due for school supplies.  Please hand your cheque into the school office if you have not already done so. We do not keep track of the cheques so please enquire at the office if you cannot remember handing yours in.

Thank you to the families who have already submitted their child(ren)’s online Policy and Procedure form.  All Ridgeview families are asked to submit the District’s Policy and Procedure eForm each year and for each child in the family.  Without completion of this form, students may be unable to participate fully in classroom and school activities such as accompanying the class on walking outings in the neighbourhood of the School(i.e Terry Fox Run).

With a change in our beautiful weather expected, we would ask for each child to have a pair of rainboots that he or she can keep at school all year.  This way, if there is ever a sudden rain shower, your child always has boots he or she can wear on the playground.  We like to keep our classroom carpets clean as we sit on them frequently and dry shoes make all the difference.  Please write your children’s names clearly on their boots.

Children should also have an extra change of clothes to keep at school.  This year, we would ask you to place the clothes in a small bag with handles or a drawstring, marked with your child’s name, that can be hung on each child’s hook.  Some parents have already started to bring them in so you can see examples in the cloakroom.  Hanging up the extra clothes at school means your child’s backpack doesn’t seem so full.  Right now, we’re having trouble manoeuvring the lunch bags and water bottles in and out of the backpack so a separate clothing bag is ideal.

Although we’ve talked many times at school and ask frequently, sometimes the children are reluctant to use the washrooms.  Most often, it’s because they don’t want to miss out on what’s happening in the classroom.  We’re trying to encourage them to go to the bathroom during break times, listen to their body for the signs they might need to go and ask them to “check” just in case (not as well-received by the children but we’re going to keep trying).  The most important thing you can remind your children about  is to ask or tell us they are going to the bathroom (so we know where they at all times) preferably before it reaches the state of “emergency.”

We sent home the Scholastic Order Forms today.  If you are interested in purchasing any items please fill out the form, attach a cheque and return it to school by Tuesday, September 27th.

We enjoyed meeting everyone at the Intake Conferences.  If you were unable to make it this week, please speak to your classroom teacher to reschedule.  

Beginning next week, we will be on the regular school schedule.

First entry bell rings at 8:50 am.  Please wait until the bell rings before entering the building.

Second bell rings at 8:55 am.  School has officially begun.  If you are in the hallway and “O Canada” begins, please wait in the hallway or cloakroom until we have finished.

Dismissal bell rings at 2:55 pm.  We’re still adjusting to this part of the day so we apologise if we are a couple of minutes late to dismiss.  

Tuesday, September 20, is our individual student photo day.  Class photos are usually taken in the spring.  We try to have Kindergarten student photos taken first while we are all still looking “fresh.”

Friday, September 23 is a Professional Day.  Students are not in session.

A very warm welcome to all of our Kindergarten students and their families to Ridgeview Elementary!  We’re very excited to have started our Gradual Entry Program and meet all of our new children.  We are so pleased to see the children beginning to settle down into their routines.

We will be continuing with Gradual Entry for September 12-16.  Next week’s schedule is as follows:

Monday, September 12:  8:55 am-12 pm for all students.  Please bring a snack and a non-spill water bottle.  Intake Conferences for Kindergarten parents begin promptly at 12:10 pm.  

Tuesday, September 13:  8:55 am-2:55 pm for all students.  Please bring two snacks, lunch and a non-spill water bottle.  Please indicate to your child that one snack is for the afternoon.

Wednesday, September 14:  8:55-2:55 pm for all students.  Please bring two snacks, lunch and a non-spill water bottle.

Please Note:  “Meet My Teacher” for Grades 1-7 have an early dismissal at 2 pm.  Kindergarten is in session until 2:55 pm.  Kindergarten Families are encouraged to visit the sale of Ridgeview Spirit Wear and the Ice-Cream Social at the undercover area across from the portables after dismissal.

Thursday, September 15:  8:55 am-2:55 pm for all students.  Please bring two snacks, lunch and a non-spill water bottle.

Friday, September 16:  8:55 am-12 pm for all students.  Please bring a snack and a non-spill water bottle.  Intake Conferences for Kindergarten parents begin promptly at 12:10 pm.

Reminders and Upcoming Events

Please sign-up for your child’s Intake Conference if you have not have already done so.  Please be on time to pick-up your child as the teachers wish to start the conferences on time.  If your child attends Camp Ridgeview, please inform them to make arrangements for early pick-up and which classroom your child is enrolled.

We sent home our Developmental Questionnaire for you to fill out.  Please return at any time before your conference, or bring the questionnaire on your day.

We sent home the Kindergarten September Homework Calendar for some fun activities for you to do with your child.  Attached was the Ridgeview Traffic Safety Reminders from our Principal, Mrs. Brady. Please take some time to review this very important document as traffic safety  affects everyone, students and adults alike.

This newsletter has also been posted on our classroom website: theselfregulatedteacher.com.  All future newsletters will be posted on the website.  Please check it weekly.  We will send you a link on Remind when the newsletter is posted.

(We’ve made a few adjustments to our original letter for the purposes of this post.)

To Our Dear Kindergarten Children,

As we were preparing your slideshow and looking back at your adorable pictures from September until now, we’re amazed at how fast this year has gone by.  You have grown up so much, ready to leave Kindergarten and move ahead to Grade One.  You were small, shy children when we started and now you are confident, knowledgeable students.  We listen to your thoughtful questions, observe you sharing and taking turns even when it’s really hard and notice when you try to do the right thing by making a responsible choice or decision.

We are so proud of you.  Do you remember when we talked about what that meant?  It means we are so happy with what you are doing.  We’re so proud of how hard you worked on your self-regulation strategies, how you are thinking about the feelings of others, your knowledge and understanding of stories and much, much more.

We have loved teaching you this year.

We love how excited you are to have your Sharing and Special Helper Day.

We love reading stories aloud to you, and the sound of your laughter when we read the funny bits.  

We love the love you have for your Grade 7 Buddies as you play, craft, read and learn together.

We love your enjoyment of forest play and how you walk up and down the creek wearing your boots.

We love that you share our love of Sparkle Mod Podge and all things that glitter and sparkle.

We love the pride you demonstrate when sharing your schoolwork with your parents during our Student-led Conferences.

We love your enthusiasm for drawing with pastels and painting on a big scale.

We love your dedication to finishing all of the pages in your Alphabet Book.

We love all your stuffed animals, big and small, that you bring to play with in the House Corner.

…this is our greatest wish for you:  that you will be happy in every class, that you continue to find joy in your learning and that you follow your dreams to be everything that we know you can be.

We will miss you so much.  You are a very special group of children.  We are our own Kindergarten Fairy Tale that will “live happily ever after.” Have a wonderful summer!  It’s time for you to play, eat, read and sleep, and remember…take some time to breathe deeply every day…you know what to do!

Love, Your Kindergarten Teachers

On Monday we were fortunate to have Kathy Nowak, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and School Nutrition Educator for Kin’s Farm Market and COBS bread, come to our classrooms to speak to the children about nutrition.

Kathy covered a wide variety of topics, including the Canada Food Guide’s four food groups, healthy food choices and the dangers of pop.  She also discussed with the children why they should eat a good breakfast, and the class shared some of their ideas for the first meal of the day.  Kathy emphasised how important it is to have protein with breakfast as it helps them with their energy and alertness in class.  Dairy products, such as milk, yogurt and cheese, nuts and leftover beans or fish were some of the suggestions she gave us.

One of the most fun things Kathy did was explain the importance of eating a rainbow of colours, as each of these foods provide different nutrients.  Kathy brought along sliced fruits and veggies to sample, and yes, many of the children enjoyed eating the raw purple cabbage and took seconds!

We’re sending home an Activity Book to follow-up from our healthy food presentation.

We had an amazing day at the Vancouver Aquarium on Wednesday!  The sun was shining, the sea animals were swimming and we were ready for a wonderful day out with our classes.  We’ve been every year for the past five years with the Kindergarten, yet we continue to be amazed with this incredible teaching facility.  We learned so much from each exhibit, from the frog displays, to the beluga and porpoise training, to the beautiful Amazon area where the caiman had surfaced to greet us.

The children loved the new Sting Ray pools where these fast moving swimmers glided among our outstretched hands.  For many of the children, this exhibit was their absolute favourite.  They were able to use two fingers to gently touch the Rays, an experience they will never forget.

Who can imagine that eight short years ago, Christy and I taught the current Grade 7 students?  Now these young people are leaving Ridgeview as they continue their schooling at various high schools.  But before they do, the Grade 7s, our Big Buddies, will attend their Promotion Ceremony on Monday, June 27.  When the Grade 7s were in Kindergarten, they presented flowers to their Buddies.  Now, it is our children’s turn to give a flower to each of their Big Buddies.  We were asked, how long has the flower ceremony been a tradition at Ridgeview? It has been a tradition for at least 13 years, 3 years while we were teaching Grade One and the past ten years since we’ve been in Kindergarten.

We had a rehearsal on Thursday so the children know what to expect.  Please refer to the information letter we sent home on Thursday for appropriate attire for your Kindergartener.  You are welcome to join us to watch your child and see us with our Buddies.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Monday, June 27:  Grade 7 Promotion Ceremony. We sent home a letter earlier this week with detailed information about this event. Please let your teacher know if you have any questions.

Tuesday, June 28: Kindergarten “Beach Bubbles” Party. We’re going to have a fun day for our students with summer themed centres and a special snack. Our party takes place in both Kindergarten classrooms and the playground area between our rooms.

Wednesday, June 29:  Kindergarten students will be dismissed at 12 pm (the last day of school).