October newsletter

Dear families,

The year got off to a busy start! We had a lot of new students coming to our Kindergarten program and because of this our school was fortunate enough to gain another Kindergarten teacher! A few students from each class have moved into this new class and the children are settling in nicely and are all very eager to explore and learn. We hope your children have been sharing many stories of the fun learning happening in Kindergarten with you!

September Recap
During the month of September our greatest focus was on establishing routines. Routines include: entry, settling in with a book and other activities, listening when someone is speaking, raising a hand before speaking, washing hands before eating, cleaning up after yourself, lining up and walking together as a group, and dismissal routines. We have already seen significant growth in a very short time, and we ask that you reinforce our school rules at home.

Mathematics
In the area of mathematics, this month we have been working on sorting. We have discussed how we can sort in different ways such as by colour, type, size, etc. The children have had many opportunities to practice sorting at our math sorting centre. To reinforce these concepts at home, have your child help sort the laundry or sort a pile of toys into their appropriate bins. In October, we will continue to work on sorting and will begin our new focus of patterning.

Letters of the Alphabet
Throughout the school year we will be focusing on specific letters of the alphabet. This involves identifying the upper and lowercase letter by name, learning the sound that is represented by the letter, sorting word cards (begins with S/does not begin with S) and identifying words that begin with the letter. If you would like to help your child at home, send them on a treasure hunt around your home looking for objects that start with our letter of the week.

Friday Folders and Poem Books
Thank you for remembering to send back the Friday Folders and poem books each Monday. We hope your child has been enjoying reading the weekly poems to you over the weekend. Please remember to help your child to complete the short activities at the end of every poem. By the time the poem goes home on Friday, we have worked with the poem for 4-5 days. With your assistance, your child should be able to “read” the poem aloud. Try reading the poem together with your child or divide the poem up into 2 parts, one part for your child and one part for you. Taking the time to read these poems together will get your child excited about reading and give them the confidence that they can read!

Lunch and Snacks
Thank you all for your co-operation in getting the students familiar with their snacks and lunches. Labeling AM snack as #1, Lunch as #2 and PM snack as #3 is really helping! Just a gentle reminder that students should only be bringing water (no juice) to school. Also, please make sure to pack snacks and lunches in plastic, NOT glass, containers! Please remember that nut or nut products are NOT allowed at school! This includes Nutella. Please do not send snacks or lunches that contain any kinds of nuts as we do have students at school with life-threatening nut allergies.

Halloween
​We will be having a very small Halloween celebration in our classroom on October 31st. More information will be sent home on this soon, so please watch for that.

Important Dates:
October 8th – Thanksgiving Day. There is no school on this day.
October 18th – Photo Day Professionals will photograph each child and take a class photo. You will later be given a proof of your child’s photo and have the opportunity to purchase them if you are interested.
October 18th – Curriculum Night More info to follow
October 31st – Halloween Party More info to follow.

As always, thank you for your help and co-operation!

Sincerely,
The Kindergarten Team