FEBRUARY NEWS!

February / Février is the month that we celebrate friendship / l’amitié, caring and

love/l’amour.  In addition to the traditional activities that surround the ways we share our love and our feelings with our families and friends (e.g. valentines), children will be learning that their friendships are based not only on similarities, but on differences as well.  These differences are celebrated as gifts from God, and all traits are an important part of an interrelated community of friends.  We will emphasize the value of each human being, and the idea that friendship requires tolerance, patience and the acceptance of each other’s varied strengths and weaknesses.  Your children will discover that not everyone holds the same abilities but that all are valued members of our group.  

Language activities will continue to include a focus on letter recognition and the sounds that letters make (sound/symbol association).  They will also be encouraged to relate to stories by linking their own experiences to those of storybook characters.  Math activities will include various areas of measurement, such as using a scale to compare the weight of a variety of objects, as well as measuring the height of items with our hands or miscellaneous objects (non-standard measurement).

    French theme-related vocabulary includes:

   February/ février                 love/ amour            share/ partager            friendship/ amitié

       friend/ ami(e)                  heart/ coeur             St. Valentine’s Day/ le jour de la St. Valentin

    to like (love) / aimer         to play / jouer           to smile / sourire           to help / aider
        

On Tuesday, February 14th we ask that your child wear red, white, or pink clothing to celebrate Valentine's Day, when we will exchange valentine cards. Students are invited to bring in their valentines next week, so that we can distribute them ahead of time and open them on Tuesday. 

 *** Please include only the sender’s name  (i.e. your child’s) on the valentine card. ***  Do not address them to individual students.  This allows for simple distribution and ensures that no one is forgotten. 
The class numbers are: 
RED GROUP - 30, BLUE GROUP - 30, GREEN GROUP - 30, PURPLE GROUP - 30. 
[Also, please send the cards in a bag labeled with your child’s name.] 

Report cards will be sent home on February 16th.  Just a reminder that Kindergarten
report cards will be comprised of anecdotal* comments only.  (*Grades are not assigned.) Interviews will be by REQUEST ONLY. (Likely Feb 23 - date to be confirmed.)



** Please RETURN the report card envelope, as we will recycle it for the June reports.  

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!! READ, READ, READ!!

Family Literacy Day = Friday, January 27. 

Students are encouraged to bring in a book that they enjoy, and wear pyjamas or dress-up as their favourite character. 

JANUARY NEWS

Welcome back and Happy New Year! 

As the school year progresses, there will be growing expectations for students to demonstrate their knowledge of letter sounds, and recognition of basic sight words and short phrases. Students are encouraged to produce more written work, including the use of appropriately “sized” letters (lower case versus upper case).  Please reinforce an awareness of this at home, and in their world outside school, as much as you can. Good examples of environmental print are local street signs, food containers (cereal boxes, cans) household games, child-friendly websites, and simple recipes, etc.

      * Please continue to practise ‘popcorn’ (sight) words whenever possible.

Home suggestions to support classroom learning:

• Use pictures on the cover and/or the book’s title to predict what the story will be about. Check back during the story to see if they want to change their predictions as they are given more information through print and pictures (…be a story ‘detective’). * Also search for high-frequency sight words found in stories or the environment.
• Review the number of syllables in words (also described as ‘chunks of sound’ - e.g. rain/bow = 2).
• Practice printing lower case letters at all times (- except when a capital letter is called for). Encourage as much printing practice as possible: e.g. adding their name and labeling their drawings, as well as labeling items around the house (e.g. “bed” / “door” / “lamp”).
• Practice counting to 50 & beyond. Counting while walking around the house or brushing your teeth, etc.
• Use small items (e.g. marbles, lego) to practice adding & subtracting; start with 5 and work up to 10.
• Count in French how many steps it takes to get from your front door to the bedroom / kitchen / car / etc.
• Have your child identify (or teach you) colours, the weather, or other common words in French.
• Enjoy a ‘treasure hunt’ for shapes or patterns                 (e.g. dinner plate =circle; table = square; floor tiles = pattern).   

French vocabulary for 'Janvier':

winter/ hiver               snow/ neige              ice / glace         cold/ froid                 slide/ glisser       ski / skier       skate/ patiner         snowman/ bonhomme de neige                coat/ manteau           hat/ chapeau         mittens/ mitaines    boots/ bottes               snow pants/ pantalon  de neige         sled / traineau             snowflake/ flocon de neige


The SKs are learning to complete simple phrases, such as:

          Je veux _____. / Je peux _____.  / J'aime ______.  (glisser  /  patiner  /  skier  /   jouer)
          (I want _____.  /  I can______.  /   I like ______.)     (slide    /  skate     /  ski     / play)




Report cards will be sent home 
February 16th. There is a new format for Kindergarten report cards, which has been created by the Ministry of Education. 

The new report card will not contain any formal marks. It is designed with four frames for anecdotal comments under these headings:
- Belonging and Contributing
- Self-regulation and Well-being
- Demonstrating Mathematics and Literacy Behaviours
- Problem Solving and Innovating

As always, if you have any questions or concerns just give us a call. 

Sincerely,
The Kindergarten Teams

We wish everyone