Welcome to October...

It sure feels like Autumn is here...just a few reminders for a few things coming up in Kindergarten...

• Scholastic Order Forms for October are due on Tuesday, October 1st.  Thank you for your orders!
• Pumpkin Patch Driver Forms are also due back on Tuesday, October 1st so we can see if we have enough drivers for our fieldtrip.  Thank you to everyone who has already returned their form.  If we have enough drivers, your child will receive a permission form later this week :o)
• On Friday, October 4th, we will once again ask for you to send in the amount your child has in walkathon pledges so far...there will be a little note in their blue folder that should be returned on Friday.  As of Thursday, September 26th, our class had $410 which is a GREAT start!  THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!  For every $20 your child brings in, their name is entered into our prize draw (For example, $60 means 3 entries) and students reaching $40 receive a Lego Figure.  We are really hoping that each child can try to reach the goal of $60 each but please note that any amount is greatly appreciated and our walkathon would not be a success without all of you.  Thank you for all your hard work and for supporting CCS!
• I sent home our October Calendar...I attached some little cards that could be used as Math Flashcards at home if you are interested.  We are beginning to focus on number names, 10 frames and using our fingers to show numbers so I thought you may want to review with your child at home as well.  Even calling our a number and having your child raise that many fingers is a good skill so that it becomes more automatic.  If you have any questions, please let me know but Mrs. Lewis and myself have been quite pleased with how well our students know their numbers from 1 to 10 already.  Thank you!
• Our Letter of the Week is 'Cc.'  Thank you to everyone who has been sending in pictures or photos of items that start with our Letter of the Week as the students love to see their work on the wall.  I will also be sending home a review sheet of how I teach letters and sounds in our classroom, just so you know how I do it.  I try to teach all the sounds that each letter makes and often parents want to be able to review these sounds at home so I thought it would be helpful for you to see my approach.  Again, any questions, please let me know:o)
• We had our first 'real' Fire Drill last week (with the real fire bell) and the students did great!  We have been talking about Fire Safety at school but I would also encourage you to discuss Fire Safety at home.  October 6-12th is Fire Safety Week so I will be sending home some information for you to do at home with your child so please take some time to discuss this important safety topic with your child.  Thank you!  We have also started to practice Earthquake drills at school too so you may also want to address this with your child for home.

I think that is it!  Please keep in mind if our weather is not so great this week, to send rain jackets and rain boots if possible as we need to go outside when we go to the gym and on Fridays, we always go outside, rain or shine.  We have had a few students not have jackets on rainy days so please help them to remember.  And, of course, PLEASE remember to label all items that come to school.  Have a wonderful week and God bless you!

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Can you believe that we are entering our FOURTH WEEK already?  Last week, we started some of our regular class routines that will go on for most of our year together.  There were lots of new things to do and learn and the students did SO WELL!  Mrs. Lewis and I were commenting on how well the children are adapting to all the things being asked of them and we can't believe how smooth the transition has been so far.  Wow!  Way to go, Kindergarten!  All that being said, it was very clear by the end of the week that we had many TIRED students (we had a few silent times during the days where no one talked and that is NOT typical...haha!  They were even too tired to talk!)  I would HIGHLY recommend students going to be early and trying to get as much sleep as they can for this next little while.  It certainly does get easier as they adjust but there are a lot of demands being made on them and while they are doing EVERYTHING we are asking them to do, I am sure it is taking a toil on them.  I encourage families to try to keep things very simple at home, after school and in the evening.  I know many students are involved in other activities, such as soccer, swimming or ballet but it is a good idea to limit activities until they adjust to being at school for our full days.  If you notice your child is having a more difficult time adjusting to being at school all day, please let me know and if I see any challenges at school, I will contact you.  But truly, Mrs. Lewis and I are very impressed with this group and are thrilled to see them doing so well with our full days already...it really does get easier as we go along:o)

A BIG thank you to everyone who sent in money for our Terry Fox Walk last week...our school raised over $1200, which is more than we have done EVER!  What a great lesson for our students!  Also, a BIG thank you to our Kindergarten students who helped sort ALL the coins on Thursday morning:o)  We spent a big chunk of our morning sorting the coins into different bins and talking about money so a great teachable moment plus a wonderful service to our school.  Way to go, Kindergarten!

Just a few reminders for next week...

• Our theme next week will be LEAVES so I am asking for students to start bringing in different types of leaves.  We are hoping for a variety so it would be great if they could bring in a few leaves of different shapes, colours and sizes.  We will also be talking about signs of Autumn, including leaves that change colour and fall so be on the lookout for falling leaves :o)
• Our students took home their first Library Book on Thursday.  Please ensure they bring back their book AND book on either Wednesday or Thursday morning at the latest.  If they do not return their book, they do not get a new one, which is always disappointing for our students so please help them to remember to return their book.  Thank you!
• Students also brought home their Walkathon Pledge forms on Friday.  Our walkathon will be on October 11th and we are asking each of our Kindergarten students to aim for raising $60 in pledges.  Our class goal is $1200.  The walkathon is one of our schools biggest fundraisers for the year so we really ask that everyone helps in any way possible for this event.  We are in need of finding more space for our school so the money we raise will be a huge help in making CCS a bigger and better place.  We will also need parent helpers to walk with us on the day of our walkathon.  We encourage our students to talk to family and friends about getting pledges and our school sincerely appreciates all efforts made in supporting our school.  Students also were invited to participate in a contest that fits into our Lego Theme for this year's walkathon as we are trying to "BUILD OUR SCHOOL ONE BRICK AT A TIME."  Each child was asked to design a Lego Figure and submit their entries by Thursday, September 26th.  If you child is participating, please ensure their write their name and grade on their paper so Mr. Borkowski will know who created the figure and then return it to school in our blue folder.  Thank you and good luck with those pledges!
• Thank you also to everyone who has been making sure to send in their absentee notes if their child has been away from school.  Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to email the school office (or if you email me, you can send a copy to the office or I can forward it) so they will have it on record.  Any time your child is away, we need a written note explaining their absence and the sooner your note is in, the better it is for our office staff so please consider emailing or sending a note on the day your child returns.  Thank you for your help with this.
• There is NO SCHOOL this Friday, September 27th and our staff will be attending a Faith Development Day at Holy Cross.  It should be a nice break for our Kindergarten students to have a longer weekend, and hopefully, for all of you as well.  Enjoy the long weekend!

Thank you for your continued support and help...our year so far is going so smoothly and I know that is due to all of our families!  If you have any questions or concerns at anytime, please let me know but our students have been happy, polite and hard working in our classroom and I am thrilled with their progress so far.  You all are making my job very easy!  Enjoy the week and may God bless you all.

WEEK 3

Can you believe we are already starting our third week of school?  Our Kindergarten class did SO WELL adjusting to our full day of school last week...Mrs. Lewis and I were amazed!  Even in the heat, the students really started to get into our routines and were able to last ALL DAY:o)  It does get easier as we go along so hopefully, the children will find this week a little more relaxing and comfortable. 

But we are starting our Letter of the Week routine on Monday...this routine will go on for the next 26 weeks so it can be a little challenging at first, but I think the students are ready!  This week, we will focus on the letter 'Aa' and I would invite everyone to send in photos of anything that starts with the letter 'Aa.'  We keep a picture wall for our Letter of the Week so we welcome pictures that are drawn, cut out from newspapers or fliers, printed from the internet or even the words written down by any of our Kindergarten students who feel like printing:o)  We do this every week so please feel free to send in pictures every Monday and your child can present their picture to the class.  They are usually pretty excited to show their picture and the class is usually excited to guess the word so it's fun for all. Thank you in advance! 

Thank you also to everyone who sent in Scholastic Book Orders-we had a great response and it is nice to see so many readers out there.  Also, thank you to everyone who returned the Highlights and Chirp Order Forms as well.  Please note that if you forgot, you can still send in Scholastic or the magazine order forms (even if you say NO as we still get free gifts for our classroom).  Please send these in by Monday afternoon at the latest.

On Wednesday, our school will be having our annual TERRY FOX WALK!  Terry Fox is such an inspiration on what one individual can accomplish, despite challenges as we want to celebrate him as well as carry on his dream.  All students are asked to send in as many coins as they can by Wednesday as we will be collecting the money in ice-cream buckets, just as they used to do while Terry ran and his helpers (usually his brother) would go along side to the people to collect donations.  It really is exciting for students to be able to put some coins in our bucket because we remind them that every coin helps to find a cure for cancer.  We want the students to get excited about this event and to realize that they too can make a difference and that they can help others.  Thank you in advance for any money you are able to send in...no donation is too small and we thank you for your support.  For our walk, we usually walk around our school track but they are predicting rain so please keep this in mind so that students have appropriate jackets for this day. 

And just a reminder that Friday is Photo Day so please ensure your child is in full uniform, including their red sweater. And thank you to everyone who returned the photo form, selecting your pose and background colour...that makes it much easier for me and the photographer :o)

Oops...I forgot to mention that every Friday, your child will be bringing home their yellow Mass/Gospel Duotang.  Every Friday, we talk about the Sunday Gospel and then we colour a picture that goes with it so we have some idea of what we will hear at Mass on Sunday.  By colouring a picture and discussing the story prior to Mass, it is amazing to see the students recognize some of the story or names when the priest is talking on Sunday.  My hope with this activity is that the Mass becomes a little more meaningful to our students and that they become just a little bit more involved with what is happening.  I always tell them to try to listen for the Gospel and then look for the Consecration of the Bread and Wine and just reminding them to do those two things can really help.  I do ask parents to also look at their duotang and to initial each week, just so I know you have seen it too.  It is funny but I find myself talking to my husband about the Gospel on the way to Mass every Sunday and he also asks me how I know these things...I tell him it is all because of the Kindergarten students :o)  They help me learn too!  Please make sure your child brings back their yellow duotang every Monday and thank you for your help and support with this...it is GREATLY appreciated!!!

And I believe I mentioned this SOMEWHERE in my writing but every Friday afternoon, we go outside for 'Outdoor Education.'  Sometimes we have a Science focus or an Art focus but we always try to be physical and active during this time. Because we are outside, we do want to ensure that our students are dressed appropriately.  Last week, we were lucky with the good weather but please note that we do go outside rain or shine (or snow if we are so lucky.)  Please keep this in mind when you send your child to school on Fridays and feel free to leave boots in our classroom if you would like.  Last year, I had quite a few students leave boots at school as our field can get quite soggy during the year.  So far, our students have been staying on the woodchips but next week, we will be playing on the field and track if we have outdoor recesses.  We are hoping  to join the rest of the school at recess by the end of October if things go as planned :o)

Thank you for all your are doing with your child to make our transition to the full day of school go so well.  I hope when the students go home, they are not too tried and that they are still happy.  It is a BIG CHANGE and it can be challenging.  They are asked to do many new things, sometimes things they like but sometimes things they do not like but we try to balance our days and we try to find things that everyone will enjoy.  As they become more familiar with our routines and expectations, it usually does get a LOT easier but I applaud all of our students on doing so well last week and I look forward to the week ahead and starting some of our regular routines.  Enjoy the week, everyone and God bless you all!

A MESSAGE FROM THE PFG

The Walkathon is on October 11th this year, and the PFG will be looking for a number of volunteers for different jobs on the day of the event.  A sign up sheet with more information will be coming home soon!

The next PFG meeting will be held on Monday, September 16th, at 7pm, in the Cenacle Room in the Parish Centre.  They are still looking for volunteers to complete their executive committee:

• The Co-Chair is responsible for arranging PEC meetings, and carries out the Chair's duties in their absence.
• The Volunteer Coordinator communicates with Parent Reps and the Family Service Coordinator to find and organise volunteers for PFG events.

They are also looking for two Parent Representatives from each class.  Parent Reps liaise with the teacher and class parents regarding fundraising efforts, and help the Volunteer Coordinator recruit volunteers for PFG events.

Joining the PFG is a great way to fulfil your family service commitment (not including the mandatory maintenance hours) for the year.  For more information, please attend the meeting, or email: fundraising@ccsunited.ca

OOPS!

Photo Day is not THIS Friday but NEXT Friday, September 20th.  Make sure everyone brings their smile on that day:o)  THANK YOU!

OUR FIRST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL

I hope everyone has had a fun yet restful weekend.  It is a big adjustment being at school (especially for me, having  had two months off...haha!) and this upcoming week is usually the most challenging for transitions for our young students.  But I am confident it will all go well as the students did SO well making it through our first week.  We try to fill most of our day with play based activities but we will begin introducing some of our more common routines and even some 'work' times :o)  Having a good night's sleep is often the greatest advantage for students this week as adjusting to the full day can be very tiring so pleasure ensure your child is getting as much sleep as possible.  I will try to do the same :o)

Just a few reminders for our upcoming week:

• Our theme this week is APPLES.  Your child will bring home a note on Monday, asking if they can bring an apple to school for Tuesday.  We will be observing and comparing the different apples, discussing their life cycle and on Friday, we will be making apple sauce with our apples that they can then sample.  Please send an apple to school on Tuesday if possible. Thank you!
• On Monday, your child will also bring home a form that reminds us that it is PHOTO DAY on Friday.  It will ask you to select a background and a pose for your child so PLEASE indicate what you would like, write your child's name on the form and please return the following day.  If we do not have your form, they will do a standard pose and background.  Please note that they do their best to capture a great photo but if needed, there will be a re-take day  (to be announced.)  Students should be in complete uniform on Friday, including their red sweater.  I will try to see if we can have our photos taken right after Mass, BEFORE recess, as to keep ourselves tidy:o)  Thank you for returning the photo forms as soon as possible.
• On Tuesday, it is our traditional Meet the Staff Night but this year, we are trying to do something new with having a BBQ and making it more of a meet and greet with the entire school community.  You are invited to come with your family, explore the school, visit with the staff, look through the classrooms (especially our own) and enjoy the company of our other school families.  PLEASE ENSURE YOU VISIT OUR CLASSROOM TO PICK UP YOUR PARENT PACKAGE FROM YOUR CHILD'S TABLE.  This package explains our routines and expectations for the year and includes a Scholastic Book Order form, as well as two magazine forms.  There will also be a Phone/Email List for both Kindergarten classes attached so that you have contact information (and can set up those ever popular playdates:o)  We also sent home a form seeing which families are attending so we have a better idea on how much food we need to please send back your response by Monday morning so we can order the Hot Dogs and chips.  We are praying for good weather so we can enjoy some outside time but if we do have any rain, we will just bring our fun indoors.  Thank you and see you on Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30pm. 
• Scholastic Book Order Forms come home every month and will have the due date for the order written on the front page.  Scholastic often has a great variety of books at a great price.  (I think I have ordered something from Scholastic every month for the last 10 years!)  PLEASE do not feel obliged to order anything but depending on how many orders we get, Scholastic will send free books and gifts to our classroom.  Most of our classroom library are free books from Scholastic so for a teacher, it is a wonderful program and, of course, anything to promote reading:o)  OUR FIRST SCHOLASTIC ORDER FORMS ARE DUE BACK ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th.  Thank you!
• Chirp & Highlights are two magazines for children who send order forms to schools to see if families are interested in purchasing a subscription for the year.  As a perk for teachers, who pass out the forms, they offer to send free gifts, depending on how many forms are returned from families.  You do not need to order anything but if you return the forms-even if they say no to the subscription-they will send us free gifts.  As a teacher, anything free is exciting:o)  So PLEASE SIGN AND RETURN BOTH MAGAZINE FORMS (even if you say NO to them) by Friday, September 13th so we can get some free things for the classroom.  THANK YOU!
• We are also looking for a few families who may be interested in donating or making play dough for us.  I have a good recipe that makes great dough... 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of water (and feel free to add some food colouring as well) and then add a little cooking oil (NO PEANUT OIL).  The oil is the thing to watch and is the ingredient that will prevent the dough from hardening.  It will not need more than 1 Tbsp of oil but often, it needs much less so please check the texture as you knead it and add the oil as needed.  Then place in an airtight container (an old yogurt or margarine container works well) and send to school.  This is a great item to get in some time for work lieu hours and also a fun activity to do with your child.  They often feel very proud when we use THEIR play dough during our centers.  PLEASE do not feel like you MUST make play dough...this is only if you would like to at this point.  We accept play dough throughout the year so anytime during the year that you would like to make or send any, please feel free.  Thank you for your time and generousity.
• We also are looking for donations of any lego figures as well as dress up costumes, particularly community helper costumes.  We do not need any animal costumes and we have limited space to store our costumes but if you have an old firefighter rainjacket that you no longer want, a Cinderella costume that needs a new home or a cape that needs a superhero, please feel free to send it to school for us to use in our classroom.  We also accept pieces of fabric that students may use their imagination with to create a costume.  Again, PLEASE do not feel you need to send anything but as we get ready for the costume season (or even after Halloween when no one needs their costumes anymore), please know that we also enjoy new additions to our dress up center. THANK YOU!

Yowzers!  I always think I don't have that much to say when I start to blog.  I hope you are able to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee while you read this :o)  Any questions or concerns, please let me know but please let me take this time to thank you for all that you have done for your child in preparing them for Kindergarten.  They really are doing so well and Mrs. Lewis and I were especially THRILLED to see them at Mass on Friday...they were so well behaved!  Looking forward to working with them as well as you!  Have a wonderful week and God bless!

OUR FIRST WEEK

WOW!  What an amazing week we have been having in Kindergarten!  I am so impressed with how well the students are adjusting to being at school...so many new routines but they are ALL doing do well!  THANK YOU!  We are getting prepared for next week as we being our FULL DAYS!  I know a few students have been feeling a little tired by the end of our day so it will be a challenge for the first little while to adjust to all day but I know they can do it.  Please ensure your child is getting plenty of sleep, especially for our first few weeks of full day classes.  If you have concerns or questions as we go along, please know that you can always contact me.

Tomorrow we will be going to Mass for the first time with our class and we will be sitting with our Grade 5 (Mrs. Tyrrell) Buddies.  We were able to meet our buddies today at recess, which was pretty exciting.  Please note that tomorrow is also a Food Bank Mass (the first Friday of every month is a Food Bank Mass) so we put a reminder in their blue folders and we hoping that students can bring in a non-perishable food item.  No worries if you are unable but we always tell the students that every item helps and we keep track each month, trying to beat our tally from the month before.  Thank you in advance for your generousity.

Another reminder for bringing in the following items to our classroom: a family photo, gym shoes, blanket/towel, stuffie, extra socks, shorts and underwear, water bottle and phone list.  If you have already sent in all your items, THANK YOU and if you have labelled everything, an even BIGGER THANK YOU!  Please send the items by tomorrow if you can:o)  We do have PE and Quiet Time on Monday so it would be nice if everyone had the things that the need.

Your child also brought home a Hot Lunch form as well as a notice about our CCS BBQ on Tuesday, September 10th. Hot Lunch forms are due by Friday but since it came late this week for our students, you can also submit it Monday morning.  Please also let us know if you are able to attend so we know how much food we need to order.  Thank you!

Looking forward to our first Friday together and wishing you all a Happy Weekend in advance. Thank you for all the work you have done with your child...they are doing so well and Mrs. Lewis and I are having a great time.  God bless!