Exciting News!

Miss Araujo got engaged last night!! So exciting!!

Today

We went to library to return books and hear a story.  We did not check out any books over the holidays.

We attended the grade 1 Nativity Liturgy in the gym this morning. The grade ones did an awesome job.  Our kids enjoyed seeing their former classmates and some saw their siblings.

Thank You

A big thank you to all the families who came out to our Christmas play today.  The children did an amazing job!  We were so proud of them!
We hope you enjoy the special Christmas crafts that your child made for you.  The snowman family craft can be used as a hot plate as it is sprayed with a glaze, however, I  wouldn't put anything too hot on it.

This week

We have a busy week coming up! Our play is Tuesday at 2pm in the forum.   Please sign in at the table in the hall and go directly to the forum.  If you plan on taking your child home after the show please make sure you let me or Miss Araujo know. 

There is no PAT or Snuggle Up this week.

Fun Friday

Pajama Day was a lot of fun! Everyone looked so cozy. We had our ice cream sandwiches while watching a couple Christmas movies. We sent the pizza day cookies home as we thought pizza, cookies and ice cream might make for some sore tummies.

Pajama Day Tomorrow

Rosary Apostolate

We had our third Rosary Apostolate visit yesterday.  We talked about the  3rd Joyful Mystery which is the Nativity.  The children were able to answer lots of the questions about the Nativity such as Jesus was born in a stable, his cradle was a manger, He was born in Bethlehem and the 3 kings or wisemen came to visit.  Our kids are awesome!

This week

Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Advent. We light the pink candle on the Advent wreath.

We have been very busy in our room. The children have been like little elves, making Christmas crafts for their families and practicing the songs for the play.  We plan to have everything completed so that we can send them home with you on December 20th, when you come in for the play.

PAJAMA DAY
This Friday December 16th we will be having Pajama Day AND our ice cream and movie party! The movie and ice cream is our dance a thon prize.  Should be a fun day!!

PAT
This week is the letter E.

Healthy Snack

This is a picture of our healthy snack that was delivered to each class! So festive!!

Lice

As you know we had a couple cases of lice in our class ( not fun I know my kids had it too many years ago). It was suggested by the We Care nurse that the girls keep their hair tied back in a tight ponytail and that the boys put some gel in their hair.

Keep smiling, Christmas is almost here!

Letter K this week for PAT

Advent Family Mass

The Advent Family Mass takes place this Tuesday December 6th at 7pm at Mary Mother of God church.  Hope to see you there!

Tree of Light

We will be collecting gift cards for our Tree of Light Campaign to support the St. Vincent de Paul society.  The campaign runs from Monday December 5th-Friday December 9th.
If your child brings in a gift card (Walmart and Superstore preferred) they will be able to hang a special ornament on our Tree of Light in the office.  Any amount is welcomed.  Thanks for helping to support those in need at this special time of year.

Santa's Workshop

Our drama centre is now Santa's Workshop, complete with a wrapping station!  There is even a map of Oakville so Santa knows where everyone lives.  The elves have been busy!.

Advent

Our prayer table is set up for Advent.

Brown Bear

Yesterday we had our field trip to see  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Other Treasured Stories by Eric Carle".  The children enjoyed seeing "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See"' "Papa, Please get the Moon for Me" and " The Hungry Caterpillar" brought to life through puppets.

The children were fantastic audience members.  Thanks so much to our parent volunteers for accompanying us on our trip.

1st Sunday of Advent

Today  is the first Sunday of Advent. Your child has brought home an Advent wreath which is made from their handprint. Please have your child colour the flame yellow on one purple candle.   On the inside of the Advent package are prayers that you can use for the four weeks of Advent.  Also included is an advent calendar that begins on December 1.

 Beginning this week, we will be  sending home a special Advent bag with a different child each day. Inside the bag is a Nativity story, activity and Advent journal. Please take time to enjoy the contents of the bag and to help your child complete a page in the journal. They will share their journal entry with the class the next day.  The Advent bag is to be kept for 1 night only so that a different child can take it home the next day.

PAT Letter is C this week

Christian Meditation

Today was our second time doing Christian Meditation as a whole school. The kids were awesome! They sat still and quiet for two minutes.  I asked how they felt after and here is a sampling of the responses.
" I heard God and it made me feel calm"
"Calm"
"Like Jesus was talking to me"
"Pleasing God"
"Jesus was loving me"
"God talked to me"
"Angels singing "
"So relaxed that God blessed me".

So beautiful, we were so proud of our kids!

New to Our Class

We have a new friend in our class! We call him Flash!! He lives under water.  The kids are enjoying having a new class pet and it has sparked an inquiry.   Here is a sampling of what the kids want to learn  about Betta fish.

Important Dates

This Friday November 25th is a PA Day. 

Save the Date
Tuesday December 20th at 2pm is our class Christmas play. More info will follow but we wanted to give you lots of notice.

Book Fair

This week is our school's Scholastic Book fair, so there is no library book exchange this week.  Please feel free to keep the book an extra week.
All classes will have the opportunity to preview books at the book fair and create a"wish list" of books they would like.
Our class viewing day is Wednesday November 23rd. Your child will come home with a wish list that day. If you would like to purchase the book on their list please send in the money on Thursday November 24th. You are under no obligation to purchase the books on your child's wish list. We will be discussing with the children that a wish list does not mean they are going to get the book.

Observations

It was great seeing so many of you last week during observations. We hope you enjoyed sharing this special time with your child.  We have a few more observations this week so we look forward to seeing those parents too!

Found Junk

Our children love to create at the art centre so we are always looking for donations of "found junk".  This can be things like:
water bottle lids
junk mail envelopes
old greeting cards (names removed)
buttons
ribbon or yarn
material scraps
empty paper towel rolls
paper egg cartons
old wrapping paper or bows
anything you don't need and think would useful.....

The children never cease to amaze us with their creativity!

As always with art, we encourage the process of creating, not the final product.

Rosary Apostolate

Today we had our second session of the Rosary Apostolate.  Today the children learned about the Second Joyful Mystery: The Visitation.
This is where Mary visits St. Elizabeth and helps her until she gives birth to St. John the Baptist.
We talked about our Rosaries that we were given and how special they are. They are to be kept in a special place at home and only used when praying.

Brrrr the Weather is Changing

We have been blessed with a beautiful fall this year, however the weather is starting to get cooler.
We strive to promote independence in the children which includes having them do up their own zippers. Please practice with your child to make sure they can zip their own jackets.
Also, mittens are better than gloves as they keep their little hands warmer and they can put them on independently.
Please label all hats and mitts as we have 29 children with many of the same items.
Thanks

Peace

We have been talking about peace this week in honour of Remembrance Day.  We read several books and then the SK'S wrote about what peace means to them.  We asked the JK's what peace means and then we created a chart.  

The children also did some beautiful poppy art.

Have a look when you are in next week.

We Scare Hunger -Thanks we collected 137 food items!!!!

Snuggle Up and Read SK ONLY

The Snuggle up and Read program for the SK students begins today, Nov. 8th.  Books will come home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Please have your child read to you. Please return the books Wednesday and Friday so that books can be exchanged.  Please sign next to the book read that day or I will assume you did not read it and will send the same book back.

The JK reading will begin in January.

Sea Monster and the Bossy Fish

We read a story about a fish who was very bossy and didn't want to share the toys and sometimes didn't include others.
These stories are a great way to reinforce kindness and including others in our play.  We always tell the kids that their number one job is to "show God's Love".

Letter Ii next week for PAT

MOVIE AND ICE CREAM PARTY

Our class won second prize for raising $1332 for the dance a thon!! Thanks so much to all of you for your donations.  As a school we raised over $20,000. 
Our prize is ice cream (peanut free ) and a movie! The kids were excited to learn we had won. 

Classroom

Our drama centre is currently a classroom, complete with a wordwall, alphabet, colours and the question of the day!

Shape Monsters

We have been working on shape monsters for Halloween. The kids had to make a monster and then count the shapes they used.  Here are a few...

Halloween Candy

Please keep Halloween candy at home and not in children's snacks and lunches.

Halloween

Just a reminder that kids are encouraged to wear costumes tomorrow, however, masks and weapons are not permitted.

Kindergarten dances at 930 tomorrow, so feel free to join us in the gym! Wear your dancing shoes!

Letter T this week for PAT

We Scare Hunger

Our school is taking part in a food drive that starts today and runs until Friday November 4th. Please send in non-perishable food items. Some of the most needed items are:
Instant coffee
Cereal
Pancake mix
Syrup
Cookies
Crackers
Side dishes
Dry soups

Thanks

Pumpkin Investigation

We have been doing some pumpkin investigations.   Tomorrow we are going to carve our pumpkin.  The kids voted on the type of face and the scary face won!

Lock Down Drill

We had our first lockdown drill today. During a lockdown the children sit quietly in the cubby area. We turn out the lights and lock the classroom door and close the blinds. We tell the children we need to practice lockdown in case an animal gets into the school. We tell them we sit quietly with the lights out so that we don't frighten the animal in the hallway.  We explain that we have to practice this, just like we practice a firedrill.
The kids were awesome and very quiet.  We do two lockdown practices each year.

We are "Fall"owing Jesus

Have a look at our fall bulletin board!

Lost and Found

Is anyone missing any of these items?

PAT TIME

This week is the letter A.

Our first week of Pat went very well. Each child presented their item in front of the class.  We all usesd our "PAT hands" to sound out the word, then each child got a chance to choose one person to ask them a question about their object.  The purpose of this is to encourage asking good questions using who, what, when, where, why and how.  We want the children to ask questions that lead to "juicy answers" as opposed to simple yes and no answers.   For example, if someone brings in Superman, instead of a child asking "do you like it?", we want them to ask something like "what kind of power would you have if you were a superhero?"  Part of inquiry learning is asking good questions to deepen student thinking.
Practice the 5 W's (and how) with your child at home....have fun!

Rosary Apostolate

Today our class had our first visit from our Rosary Apostolate volunteer ( Mrs. Sparano) who will be coming in every month to teach the children about praying the Rosary.  This is something the whole school is taking part in.  Today the children learned  the Hail Mary using actions to go with the prayer.  In your child's mailbag is a Rosary for them to keep at home.  Each child was also given a colouring book that we will keep at school. This month we coloured the picture of the the first Joyful Mystery : The Annunciation of the Lord.  This is where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will be Jesus' mother.  We are very excited that our school will be taking part in this beautiful program!  Thanks Mrs. Sparano for doing such a great job teaching the kids today!

Sorting

The kids have been doing some sorting with natural materials and man-made materials.  Have your child sort objects around the house using different sorting rules (size, colour, shape etc.)

Leaf Investigation

This beautiful fall weather has prompted a lot of interest in leaves.  The children gathered some leaves from our playground and brought them inside to have a look at them.  This investigation captures what the children see, what they think about the leaves and what they still wonder about. This is the inquiry stance that we want to promote as children are naturally curious at this age. This type of investigation captures the children's observations, thinking and questions, which is what inquiry is all about.

Fog Inquiry

Today's foggy weather prompted a few of the students to want to do some research on fog.  Who knew that there were so many different types of fog: valley fog, ground fog, ice fog, steam fog

My Mouth is a Volcano

We  read this great story about a boy named Louis who thinks his thoughts are so important that he keeps interrupting everyone.  His teachers and parents tell him that he has a "volcano mouth".  It is a funny story that helps children understand the importance of listening to others and waiting for a turn to speak, because everyone should have a chance to be heard.

The Big Crunch

We had a lot of fun in the gym yesterday morning during The Big Crunch!  The entire school bit into an apple at the same time, WOW what a sound!  The purpose of the event was to promote healthy eating and what better way than to enjoy a perfect snack!  The apples were supplied by Halton Food For Thought.  Our class was amazing as the kids had to be really patient while over 700 apples were handed out to students, then we watched a short film about apples and then we counted down 3-2-1-CRUNCH!
We had great school spirit today with all the Blue Jay attire ....GO JAYS GO!

Apple Tasting

The class has voted....red apples are the favourite.  We are looking forward to the "Big Crunch" on Thursday. The whole school will be gathering in the gym and we will all be taking a bite from an apple at the same time.  Such fun!!

Week of October 11th

Tuesday October 11- Scholastic Book orders due
                                - Milk program starts

Thursday October 13- The Big Crunch--wear your favourite apple colour red, green or yellow
We will be doing some apple tasting this week!

Friday October 14- First pizza treat lunch if you ordered for your child
                             - our class reading buddies start.  Mr. Hundt's grade four students will be our  
                             reading buddies again this year.  They will join us after lunch every Friday to read
                             to our students

GO JAYS GO!!!

Feelings

 Last week we read a book called The Way I Feel.  We discussed  that all emotions are part of who we are. Sometimes we are happy or excited, but sometimes we feel sad, mad, frustrated or angry. We talked about our internal weather as being sunny or cloudy and then we talked about how we could change our internal weather when we have negative emotions.   One simple strategy is deep breathing. We breathe in slowly through our nose and out through our mouth, 10 times. This helps relax the body and calm the mind.
 Sometimes throughout the day, when the noise level gets too loud, we have the children stop what they are doing, sit quietly, close their eyes and we have a meditation minute.  This helps the children relax and refocus. We will be talking about other strategies in the future.

Busy Place

Our drive through and McDonald's have been a busy place!

This Week

 Our at home reading program begins on Monday, October 3rd.  The reading logs were sent home in your child's mail bag on Friday.  Each time you read a story to your child, please record it on the log. The log is to be returned on Thursday, November 3rd.  Happy Reading!

Friday October 7th is a PA day so there is no school for the children.

McDonald's

 Our drama centre is currently a McDonald's restaurant. The kids wrote a note to the store asking for some supplies. Miss Araujo delivered the note to one of our local stores and they were happy to provide us with some materials.   The children have been enjoying making their own hats and aprons and we even have a drive-through! 

Journals

We have begun writing in our journals with our SK students.  We talked about what good writers do and we created a chart to help remind our students.  The journals are a place where the kids can write about anything they want.  Our JK's have drawn a picture on their front covers and we will begin inviting the JK's to draw a picture inside and tell us about it.  

AT HOME

SK parents can work with their child at home by encouraging them to write notes to their friends or family, help write the grocery list or even label the items in their room.

JK parents can work with their child at home by helping them identify the letters in their name.  If they know all the letters in their name, then move on to family members.

Books we have been reading

During the month of September we spend a lot of time working on social skills.  Here are a couple of books that we read recently.  We also talk about our number one job which is to "show God's Love" and our number one rule is "safety first".

Self-Portraits

We had the children draw a picture of themselves this week.  First we listened to a song called "Mat Man", which talks about all the body parts you need to include and then we asked the children to draw themselves.  Look what a great job they did!

Where is God?

Our Religion theme in Kindergarten is Where is God?  Today we read a story called "That's Where We Find God" and then we asked each child where they find God. 

Schedule

Here is a copy of our class schedule.

International Dot Day

Here is the finished bulletin board from our dot day last week.

Fire Drill

On Friday we had our first school fire drill.  We prepared the children for it by reading a book about fire drills and we practiced lining up quietly.  The kids did an amazing job during the actual drill.  They lined up quietly, walked single file and stayed quiet while in line.  Miss Araujo and I were very proud of them.  We will be having a couple more drills this fall.

Another snack container

Does this belong to anyone?  Please label everything as the kids can't remember what their containers look like.  Thanks

Dot Day

Here are some photos of artists at work! 

International Dot Day

Tomorrow is International Dot day!  There is a story called "The Dot", written by Peter Reynolds that explores the idea that everyone can be creative and should be encouraged to "make their mark"!

We are asking the kids to wear something with dots on it and we will be reading the story and doing a fun art activity using dots.  Stay tuned to see the finished masterpieces.....!

Library Every Wednesday

Today was our first visit to the library. The kids are learning to line up single file and walk carefully up the stairs, taking one step at a time and use the handrail.  Mrs. Buttery (our librarian) reads the kids a story and then the children get to pick a book from the shelves.  

Our library day is every Wednesday.  Your child is coming home with a library book today that you can keep for the week.  Please ensure your child returns their book before the next library day so they can take out a new book.

The Kissing Hand

Today we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.  It is a story about a raccoon that is nervous to go to school because he is afraid he will miss his mommy.  The mom raccoon sends Chester to school with a "kissing hand" so that if he is missing his mom he can put his palm to his cheek and he can feel his mother's love.  Your "homework" tonight is to kiss your child's palm so that they can feel your love if they are feeling sad at school.  Missing home the first little bit of school is normal.  It is a big adjustment for everyone, but once they settle into the routines they will be fine.😊

Lost and Found

This was left behind from someone's snack on Friday.  Is anyone missing it?  Please send us a note if it is yours.  It really helps if you label or at least initial all your containers, It helps us get things back to you.  Thanks

Welcome

Welcome to our classroom blog!  Please bookmark this address so you can checkin and see what we are doing in class.  Our first two days went smoothly.  We were delighted to see our returning students and excited to meet our new ones.  We have 28 students this year, 15 SK's and 13 JK's.  We will spend the next couple weeks getting to know everyone and learning the routines.  A lot of information and paperwork comes home in the first few weeks so I am listing some important dates here:
September 14           all student information forms are due
September 16           Pizza order forms due ( pls  pay by cash online...form still needs to  be returned)
September 21          PICTURE DAY
September 22         Curriculum Night @ 6:30 in the gym
September 23         Milk orders due (form still to come )
    

FAMILY PHOTOS
We will be creating our class family tree so if you could send us in a family photo as soon as possible we would appreciate it.

SUPPLIES
We would appreciate it if you could send in a box of tissues with your child.  We like to have a supply on hand for when the cold season arrives.
Also if you have any "found junk" (ribbon, buttons, corks, empty paper towel rolls, cards, etc)
around the house we welcome it for our art station.  We are always amazed by the children's
creativity.

Looking forward to a great year!

Mrs. Harrison and Miss Araujo

Beauty and the Beast

Our class got to watch the whole production of Beauty and the Beast this morning and WOW what an amazing show!!!!  Our class loved it and they were an awesome audience.

Last Week for PAT

Have your child bring in something that is a 2D shape (circle, square, rectangle  etc) or a 3D solid (sphere, cube, cylinder etc)

The Play

Our kids did such a good job on the play yesterday,  we were so proud of how hard they worked to prepare  for the show and how beautifully they performed.  Thanks for coming out to watch!!

Reading Buddies

Our grade 4 Reading Buddies came today and gave each child a story book that they had written for them.  It was a school project they had to do for Language Arts.  They are for your child to keep!! So nice!

Thursday

It's Show Time!
Don't forget to dress your child in black or dark blue pants and a  white shirt for tomorrow.

Butterflies

Our butterflies arrived last week and we have been talking about the life cycle of the butterfly.  We are watching their progress each day,

This week letters WH

All library books are due back Monday June 6th.  We will not be doing a book exchange for the remainder of the year.

THURSDAY JUNE 9TH:  Our class performs in Beauty and the Beast at 1pm and 7pm.  Please send your child to school dressed in dark pants/skirt and white top.  Please let us know if your child will NOT be attending school for the evening performance.

Air Conditioning:  As you probably know, the air conditioner in the school is not working and will not be fixed until July.  We have a couple fans in the classroom and we have been keeping the lights off as much as possible.  Please continue to send your child to school with a re-fillable water bottle so they can re-fill it at the fountain.

It was great to see so many of you at the school BBQ!  We had a wonderful turnout and the weather was fantastic!!

SK graduation is taking place on Thursday June 23rd @ 2pm.  Due to the fact that the AC is not working, we would like to keep the number of people to a minimum in the classroom.  Therefore, we are asking that only SK families attend the ceremony.  The JK's will have their moment next year when they are the one's graduating.

Grade One in Training

Your SK student may have come home yesterday and told you about their special badge.  We have "Grade One in Training" badges for our SK's as we get them ready for grade one.  We brainstormed with the kids about what grade one behaviour should look and sound like and what grade one work should look like.  See the great ideas that the kids came up with!  Every time we catch them doing an awesome job we remind them how ready they are for grade one.

Rub a Dub Dub!

Our babies are being washed in the water table. The children loved giving the babies a bath today!

Library

Please send all library books back Tuesday.   We will be going to the library some time this week to make up for missing it Monday.

SK Parents Only

Please send in a baby photo of your SK student. It will be returned.  Please put your child's name on the back.
Thanks

Vet Clinic

Our drama centre is now a vet clinic.   We have told the children they can bring in a stuffed animal to keep in the clinic if they want to. Please don't send in a favourite sleep time toy or something so special that your child would be devastated if something happened to it.  We talk about handling  the toys in our class with care, but sometimes things do happen so please keep that in mind.

DATE CORRECTION

The SK graduation date is Thursday June 23rd, not June 24th.  

Important dates for June

Just wanted to give you a heads up about some important dates in June..
June 2: school BBQ -form came home

June 9: our class Beauty and the Beast performance night-form sent home

June 21: field trip to Royal Botanical Gardens  -morning

June 23:  SK  Graduation at 2pm

More info will follow about trip and SK Graduation.

Coming home today. ..

Our school BBQ is June 2nd and our class Beauty and the Beast night is June 9th.  The order forms for both are coming home today. Please use cash online when ordering.   Thanks

Happy Mother's Day!!

This week we will do an A-Z letter review, so students can bring in an object that starts with any letter.

Miraculous Medal

The Catholic Church devotes the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In honour of Mary, each student was given a Miraculous Medal.  Wearing it shows your devotion to Mother Mary.  Inside the mail bags was a story explaining the significance of the medal.  Such a great way to end our Catholic  Education Week!

Mercy that Loves

We watched an animated parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) to help the children understand that God wants us to help those in need.  We discussed that a parable is a story with an important message.  

Today during our classroom activities each family member wrote on a heart one thing that they love about their child.  We made a beautiful bouquet of heart messages.

Mercy that Welcomes

Please see our bulletin board in the hallway for Catholic Education Week, celebrating Mercy that Welcomes. 

May School Calendar

The May School Calendar came home yesterday with last year's date.  It should have said "May 2016".  The information is correct.

Flower Shop

Our drama centre is now a flower shop.  We have real dirt, garden gloves and mini gardening tools!!! 

Our Earth Day Promise

Last week for Earth Week we made the earth using paint and marbles and then the children wrote their promise to help the earth.  Here is a sample below...

Brrrr It's Cold

Please remember to send your child to school with mitts and a hat. Many are coming without these items and they are cold. Our playground is very breezy.  Thanks

Number Talk

Today we put the number 3 on the white board and we asked the children to tell us about this number.  Below is a recording of what they said.  Their answers show their thinking and understanding of math concepts such as ordinals, quantity, time, counting, stable order of numbers and addition.  We really want the children to understand the importance and prevalence of math in our everyday lives.  

Save the Date

We will be inviting families to join us in the classroom on Tuesday may 3rd at 2pm for Catholic Education Week. More information will follow next week.

Earth Week Liturgy

We started Earth Week off with a classroom liturgy.  We discussed the importance of taking care of Mother Earth and how we are so thankful for all the beauty of God's creation.  We brought forth gifts of water, shells, seeds and soil to place on our front table as a symbol of God's gifts of creation.  We read  the creation story in Genesis, a lovely poem called The Seed and then we closed with the song He's Got the Whole World in his Hands.  The children were once again, respectful and reverent.   Great  job parents in raising such lovely children!