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A short week but a great week!

We are continuing to celebrate and learn more about families. I love hearing about all the special things your families do together. It is wonderful to see your children’s faces light up when they talk about their families. Please continue to send in family photos or send me a digital file of your family so I can print it.

As you can see, our bulletin of family photos is really coming together!

2’s Day

Your child may have told you about “Twosday” which was a special day because it was Tuesday Feb. (02) 22, 2022. We celebrated by doing “#2” activities. We counted by 2s, brainstormed things that come in pairs, and read “Two Too many”.

Pink Shirt Day

We recognized Pink Shirt Day by drawing ways we can be kind friends on our own paper pink shirts and wore them all day long.

Our Alphabet Letter Exchange

I thought I would share a photo of our completed Alphabet Letter Exchange Bulletin board. Every one of these letters arrived in the mail. We sent the letter Z to 25 classes and, in turn, they sent us a special letter too. This has been such an awesome project!

Our Art work will be in a show!

A teacher at Alpha Secondary asked Kindergarten teachers if we could contribute art work for the Drama class’ set design of the performance “Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten”. Well, of course, I was so excited to offer some artwork from our classroom for their set design. I look forward to sharing photos of the completed set!

Friday Feb. 25 is a Pro-D Day-No school for students

See you on Monday!

Family Day weekend

I just want to remind everyone that Monday, Feb. 21 is Family day so school will be closed. I hope you are able to spend some special time with your children on this day.

Family photo request

As a part of our unit learning about families, students are welcome to bring a photo of their family to share with the class. If you do not have a hard copy, feel free to email me a digital image and I can try to print it on my colour printer. Family day would be a great opportunity to take a family selfie!

Story Workshop Lessons with Ms. Dias

Our class is very fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in a series of “Story Workshop” lessons where the students are encouraged to take an active role in creating stories using hands on materials.

They have also had the opportunity to become the characters in the stories. Thanks to Ms. Tang for the photos!

Valentine’s day in our classroom

Many students distributed Valentine cards on Monday. The kids had a great time reading their cards from their friends.

Outdoor Learning Parent Volunteer Request

After Spring break, I am hoping to have weekly outdoor lessons with the class. Outdoor learning provides extremely rich learning opportunities that cannot be replicated indoors. In order for this to happen, I will require one or two parent volunteers to accompany us for supervision. We will be walking to the park area just north of Brantford School.

If you are able to accompany our class any Wednesday from 1pm to 2:45 , please email me with the dates you are available. Even if you are able to join once, I would be very grateful!

Have a lovely long weekend!

Ms.C.

Hello families!

This week many of our lessons focused on what it means to “be a good friend”. Your children can read this poem “Friends at School” very well!

Walk to the mailbox

Hopefully, you have received a special surprise from your child in your mailbox! They were so excited to walk to the mailbox and personally mail it to their families! Thanks to Ms. K for joining us on our walk!

Valentine Friends

Valentine’s Day

Students are welcome to wear red, pink, and/or white on Monday.

Please remember that if your child chooses to bring Valentine cards, no treats/goodies should be attached.

We have made Valentine mailboxes so the students can personally deliver the Valentine cards to their classmates.

A few dates to remember:

Monday Feb. 21 – Family Day – School closed

Wednesday Feb. 23 – Pink shirt day (students are welcome to wear pink.)

Friday Feb. 25 – Pro-D Day. No school for students.

Enjoy the lovely weather this weekend!

Lunar new year and Canada at the Olympics

February always brings so many special holidays and memorable events.  The first week of February has lived up to the expectation!

In addition to celebrating Lunar new year this week, we brought team spirit to Brantford school to cheer on Team Canada at the Olympics. We spoke about the athletes’ accomplishments and all of the hard work that it took to for them to compete at the Olympics.

Number Blocks

I am usually not a supporter of screen time for young learners, BUT I have discovered Number Blocks (on netflix and youtube). It is an amazing show to introduce math concepts and reinforce learned skills. You may have heard your child talk about this show because I have been showing them some episodes to support our lessons in class.  I could not resist ordering the Number Blocks friends for our class! Here they are!

Grade Ones are focusing on subtraction and addition to 18.

Kindergarten students are learning to break apart a number in 2 parts (example, 7 can break into 3 and 4).

Reading at Home

At this time of the year, the Grade One students’ reading skills are developing immensely. Continue with reading as much as possible at home.  The more they read the better readers they become! If you need more books or your RAZ kids password just email me.

Kindergarten students brought home their “Alphabet Books” today. Please keep this book in a special place to read and read again often. On each page, they can draw 2 pictures of objects that begin with that letter.

Valentine’s Day

On Monday Feb. 14, we will celebrate friendship on Valentine’s Day. Students are welcome to bring Valentine cards for their classmates. Valentine cards can be store bought or home made. As a school. we have decided that we do not want to have food/goodies/treats/toys attached to the Valentine cards. Receiving the card is more than enough fun-let’s keep this simple!

So if your child chooses to distribute Valentine cards on Feb. 14, please ensure there is one for every classmate, only send the cards, and encourage your child to write the names of their classmates on the cards themselves.

Please add Selihom’s name to the “Frienship List” that was sent earlier in the year. There are 20 students in our class.

Have a lovely weekend!

It’s great to be back!

It felt wonderful to be back in the classroom with the students this week. I am blown away with their progress since December. There is noticable growth in all areas inlcuding reading, math, socializing, following routines, and overall independence.

Foxy and Friends

This week we began to look at the parts of a story using a series of locally written books about a character called Foxy. We have really enjoyed created our own stories with all of the animal characters.

Family Celebration/Show and Tell

You will have noticed that your child came home with a February calendar, a yellow notice and a large white paper titled “Cultural Celebrations.” Please take a moment to read the notice and make a note of your child’s designated “show and tell” date. If you have any questions about this project, please email me.

Mitten Math

We are practicing counting by 2s. We had fun counting our mittens! Try counting your socks by 2s at home!

Hockey skills in gym

We were lucky to have Julianna lead us in some hockey skills development this week. It is always fun to try new equipment! Thanks Julianna!

Kindergarten Reading

The Kindergarten students are becoming superstar rhymers. Using their rhyming skills they were able to read 10 words that rhyme with cat. They know how to blend a first sound with “-at”. Amazing to see this develpment happen!

We are almost finished learning about every letter of the alphabet. Please review letter sounds with your children when you are reading together. The more practice the better!

Wednesdays in February

For the month of February, Ms. Tang will be teaching our class every Wednesday. The class knows her and she is very excited to work with this amazing group. I need to attend some appointments with my own children so I have found that it is best to have a set day of the week to work with.

Valentine’s Day

On Monday Feb. 14, we will celebrate friendship on Valentine’s Day. Students are welcome to bring Valentine cards for their classmates. Valentine cards can be store bought or home made. As a school. we have decided that we do not want to have food/goodies/treats/toys attached to the Valentine cards. Receiving the card is more than enough fun-let’s keep this simple!

So if your child chooses to distribute Valentine cards on Feb. 14, please ensure there is one for every classmate, only send the cards, and encourage your child to write the names of their classmates on the cards themselves.

Please add Selihom’s name to the “Frienship List” that was sent earlier in the year. There are 20 students in our class.

Our decomposing pumpkin

It has been very interesting to watch our pumpkin decompose. Have a look if you are walking through the schoolyard.

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms.C.

I am so excited to welcome back our class on Monday, Jan. 10!

This week we have been working on creating a safer school environment and preparing for various scenarios that may arise.

Our new classroom layout

I have tried to create more space between students especially for eating times.  The 3 large rectangular tables will be for the K students only and the Grade 1 students will be assigned to separate desks and other tables in the room. Every one will have an assigned spot.  The Grade 1s will use their own supplies and Ks will share with only one other student. In order to create this layout, I was sad to remove some of our play spaces but I know it was necessary to keep our students healthy.

New Daily Health Check

Before you arrive at school each day, please check your child for the following symptoms. I will ask each of them about these symptoms before entering the school.  Please note that your child will be sent home if any of these symptoms are apparent. As we have learned, the best way to prevent the spread of COVID19 in our school is to stop it from entering the building in the first place.

Extra masks

Please ensure that you child has an extra mask (or 2) in a ziploc bag stored in their backpack.  I highly recommend having your child use a landyard to clip their mask onto. When they remove their mask to eat, the chances of it falling on the floor are reduced.

Washing hands

Please review thorough hand washing with your child.  I like to remind them to sing TWINKLE LITTLE STAR 2x so they know how long to scrub their hands.

Please remember to send your child back to school with their ziploc bag of extra clothing, inside shoes, and report card envelope.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday!!!!

Last day of school before the holidays:

Today we had some special “last day of school” activities. Here are the students reading Christmas books. They did so well “reading the pictures”, sharing the books, and taking care of the books. We also watched “Stickman” and enjoyed popcorn provided by the PAC!

After the holidays, please return your child’s report card envelope.

Thank you for all of your well wishes! My heart feels so full! I absolutely LOVE coming to school everyday because your children bring so much joy to my days!

I hope you all have a lovely break! Stay safe! Stay healthy! See you in 2022 (Tues. Jan.4)! xo Ms. C.

Hello families!

Students are welcome to wear pajamas and bring a stuffie tomorrow!  We will be watching a short movie tomorrow and the PAC will be providing popcorn.

Everyone has brought home their report card today.  They have all grown so much this term! They should all be so proud of themselves! You can keep the paper from the envelope but PLEASE RETURN THE SIGNED ENVELOPE ASAP.

Please send a re-usable grocery style bag tomorrow so they can carry their belongings home.  I will be sending home their “extra clothing” and inside shoes.  Please replenish the ziploc bag with extra pants, shirt, socks, and underwear. Please also check to make sure their inside shoes still fit. Then resend these items after the holidays.

Note about gifts/cards to each other:  Please do not feel that you need to send cards and/or gifts for classmates.  This is not an expectation.  I know the kids are so excited to hand out things to their classmates but it is not expected.

If you choose to send something tomorrow please hand it out after school because it takes so much class time for me to organize the handing out of these items.

Thank you!

One more day!

Snow, Gingerbread and Concert Songs

How lucky were we to have a beautiful day of snow!!! Fortunately, we were able to get outside for some extra snowy playtime!

Concert Filming

Thank you to Ms. Loo who organized a beautiful holiday concert. The link will be sent to families later next week so you can view the concert in its’ entirety at home.

Thank you to everyone for sending your child prepared for filming. They looked fabulous!

The Gingerbread Man Escaped!

When we baked our gingerbread man, he popped out of the oven!!!  He left clues all over the school so that we could find him! Fortunately, we found him in our classroom waiting with gingerbread friends for all of us!

Today we worked together to build a gingerbread home for the Gingerbread man.

Dates to Remember:

Tuesday Dec. 14 – “Look Alike” day – our class is welcome to wear red, gree, white and black so we can all look alike!

Friday Dec. 17 – Pajama and stuffie day – Our class is welcome to wear pajamas and bring a stuffie to cuddle with.  We will be having “cozy reading time” and watch a short movie in the afternoon. Last day of school before holidays!

Tues. Jan. 4 – School re-opens after the holidays

Have a lovely weekend!!!!

Let’s enjoy these beautiful sunny days while they last! Snow is in the weather forecast so perhaps we will have some snowy adventures this weekend!

Gingerbread Man Activities

So many of our activities this week have been inspired by the classic story “Gingerbread Man”. So far we have read 4 versions of the story and compared them (see the chart for the similarities and differences).

We have been creating more challenging patterns using christmas and gingerbread shapes.

We love puzzles, especially Gimgerbread Man puzzles.

and check out our Gingerbread Bakery!

Jingle Bell Walk

Thank you to all the parents who joined our class for the Jingle Bell Walk on Monday. What an amazing response from our community! Here is a photo of our class with donations that arrived just today! All the other donations are bring sorted by older students. A final donation amount has not been announced but I feel that this year’s Jingle Bell Walk may have resulted in the most donations ever at Brantford!

Recording our song

On Thursday Dec. 9, Ms. Loo will be recording our class singing a special song. She has requested that our class wear WHITE/RED TOPS and DARK BOTTOMS for the recording.  We will also make special headbands to wear for our song.  Please do not buy these items if you do not have items of these colours; I will bring some extra pieces of clothing for those who need to borrow an item.

Have a lovely weekend!

Special note:

Gr. 1s-please please send your Home reading book bags to school on Fridays to get new books!!!