Last Week of February

In Preparation for Lent:  This week we began our discussion on Lent and began to explore how Lent is our preparation time for Easter. We created caterpillars to represent the understanding of our wait for Jesus' coming at Easter. Our Caterpillars will change in to beautiful butterflies with the coming of Jesus.

As our Lenten Journey begins next week we will be looking at daily reminders of Lent and how we can prepare our hearts. Everyday your child will pick from our special Lenten Promise jar something to give up for the day or something special to do. We will be recording these acts and discussing them daily, so be sure to ask your child what their special Lenten Promise was for the day.

Anti-Bully Day
On Wednesday we participated in Anti-Bully Stations with the Kindergartens, Grade 1's, 2's and 3's! We listened to a story on how to be a great friend, created our own Anti-Bully day T-shirts, made Ants on a Log, watched The Ant Bully Movie and even learned a fun Anti-Bully Day dance. It was a super fun filled day! We talked about what being a good friend means and even what to do sometimes when we disagree with our friends.

Healthy Bodies Unit!

We have begun our Healthy Bodies Unit this week looking at the different food groups and discovering many new types of food! We learned there are 4 food groups: Dairy, Meats and Alternatives, Fruits and Vegetables and Grains. We also made a "?" Food group for the foods that we call a "sometimes" food and are not really the healthiest choices. These items include cookies, chips...etc.

In the next few weeks we will be looking at healthy and non-healthy food choices and recording our own foods in a snack log to chart the different foods we eat for snack. To promote healthy eating in our classroom, please encourage your child to choose their own snacks (if possible!) so they feel inspired to make healthy choices.

I am also again reminding any parents who have food flyers at home to send them in for an upcoming project.

Skating:
Please remember to send in your skating forms if you already have not done so!

Upcoming Reminders:

• A March Calendar is being sent home today. Please check your child's blue folder.
• March 4th: Pancake Breakfast 
• March 5th : Ash Wednesday
• March 6th: Ice Skating 10:45am
• March 7th: In-class Speech Arts Presentation and Afternoon Family Reading

The Week ahead:

Reading Fair and Student Led Conferences:

Thank you to all parents and students for attending the Student Led Conferences on Thursday and Friday last week. Your children were very proud to show you all their hard word so far in Kindergarten.
If you have not handed in your green feedback forms for the student conferences please send them in with your child in their blue folder this week. I will be sitting down with each student to discuss the event and talk about your feedback.

A great big thank you to Mrs Fonseca for organizing the Reading Fair! It was a fun filled event with many games, activities, a storybook reading from Mr Borkowski and a beautiful display of all the CCS students' reading projects! I hope everyone enjoyed the big beautiful "Tiny Seed" and "Grouchy Ladybug" display from the Kindergarten classes!

SNOW!!
As a reminder please send your child to school with appropriate snow gear (snow pants, boots and jacket) as we would like to play in the snow during recess and lunch time!

Poetry Reading Presentation ** Change**

There will be a change to our calendar this week. We will be postponing the In-Class Poetry presentations until March due to the limited time we have had in class to practice over the last few weeks. Although the students have learned the poem "My Elephant Thinks I'm Wonderful" I would like them to practice a few more times to gain confidence.
I will post on the March calendar the Local Festival Date (whole school attendance) and when we will have our in class reading presentation. Be sure to check the March Calendar.

Star of the Week:
Last week our star of the week was Mrs Lemire! Here are a few things that the Kindergartens had to say about Mrs Lemire:

She is a great teacher!

She is awesome!

She likes to smile!

She likes everybody!

She knows how to spell good!

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday : Anti-Bully day - non-uniform day- students may wear any color they choose.

Friday: March Calendar's will be sent home 

Food Unit: We will be looking at the theme of Healthy Bodies over the next month to tie into the upcoming Lenten season of new beginnings. I am asking for parents to please send in any food flyers that you have collected at home for upcoming projects. Thank you!

Upcoming Events for March: 
(Please refer to the calendar for dates)
K of C Pancake Breakfast
Skating !
Ash Wednesday Mass
Spring Break!
Poetry Reading Presentations

Dress up day!

Just a reminder that tomorrow is dress up as your favorite book character day!

Book Fair:
Please do not send money with your child to school for the book fair, as we will not be visiting the Book Fair during the day. If you would like to purchase books at the Book Fair please attend after school with your child.
Thank You!

Olympics, Valentines and Book Fair Oh My!

After a very short and busy week last week, we are starting another busy week!

Last Week:
Tuesday was filled with Olympic activities in our own classroom as well as activities wihtin the whole school. We celebrated our own mini-Olympics with a torch relay, the singing of Oh Canada, and a visit from the mascots "'Snowflake' (Miss Kranabetter) and 'Ray of Light' (Mr. Klaponski). We participated in our own version of the Olympic Sports such as speed skating (on paper plates) and the luge (on rollers). Thank you to Christian's mom for our own edible gold medals!

Wednesday we also had another busy day with our Valentines Celebrations! Thank you to Gabrielle's mom for providing cupcakes! We decorated cookies made by Mrs Lemire (I do not think many of these cookies made it home !) and created a heart man craft with Mrs Olaybel's class. We also finished off the day with a popcorn sale and watching the "Madagascar 3" movie with the rest of the school in the gym! What a day!

Star of the Week:
Since we had a super short week last week we were able to finish up our Star of the Week duties with Christian! Here's what our Kindergarten class had to say about Christian:

 He is awesome!

He is super cool!

He likes to play with everyone.

He is a good friend.

He likes sharing.

Way to go Christian! This week our Star of the Week will be .... Mrs Lemire !

IMPORTANT!!! Hot Lunch last Wednesday:
Last Wednesday there was a mix up with the Hot Lunch order's as many students did not receive their lunch. Our Hot Lunch Coordinator has contacted Mavalicious Kids and will be submitting a list of all the students who did not receive their Hot Lunch. If your child did not receive their Hot Lunch please email me as soon as possible so I can send your name to our coordinator.


Here's a look at the week ahead:

Letter of the Week: S

Theme: We will be continuing our Olympic theme, so please continue bringing in articles and images for the classroom!

Reading Fair: Thursday Feb 20th and Friday Feb 21st

Student Led Conferences: Feb 20th 3-5pm  (by appointment) & 5-8pm (Open House)and Feb 21st 9-12pm (by appointment)


100 Day celebrations!!

We had a super fun day today celebrating 100 days of school!
We are all now 100 days smarter! Mrs Lemire,Mrs Lewis,  Miss Da Cruz and Mrs Olaybel all dressed up as 100 year old ladies to keep fun going.

In the afternoon we celebrated with 4 different fun games and stations including making headbands, creating fruit loop necklaces, practicing 100 day math, and finishing off with a 100 day number hunt!

We are still presenting our 100 day posters in class so if your child has not yet brought in their 100 day poster, please make sure they do so this week.

Reading Fair:
We are having the reading fair this week on Thursday and Friday. To celebrate reading Thursday students an dress as their favorite book character!

At the Book Fair you are able to purchase books for your child. We will not be attending the book fair as a class, so if you would like to bring your child to view the book fair please do so  on Wednesday or Thursday.

Germs Germs Germs...

We have had many students sick over the last few weeks at school. As much as the students are washing their hands we still seem to be spreading around our germs. If your child is sick, please keep them at home so we do not continue to spread sickness throughout our classroom. Thank You!!

Student Led Conferences:

We will be having Student Led Conferences on Thursday (20th) and Friday (21st) this week. If you have returned the form indicating your preferred time slot I will schedule you and send you home a time tomorrow. If you have not sent in a form I have scheduled you and your child for the Open house time 5-8pm on Thursday.

Please remember this is a time where your child will show you a variety of their work, favorite activities, and be able to teach you a few of the things they have been learning. There are a fe parent participation activities so bring your smile and busy hands!



A message from the PFG

The annual CCS 'Stayin' Alive' auction is coming up fast!  If you would like to get ahead on your volunteer hours, there are plenty to be had that night!  Shifts are availalable in either two or four hour slots on Saturday, March 1st, from 5 - 7pm, 7 - 9pm, 9 - 11pm, 11 - 1pm, 5 - 9pm, or 9pm - 1am.  You can sign up by either returning the form that was sent home with students yesterday, or emailing fundraising@ccsunited.ca.

Tickets are on sale now, available by order form (also sent home yesterday) or directly from the school office, for $30 each!  They're going fast, so pick yours up quick or risk being disappointed!

Thank you for your support!

CCS PFG

Happy Family Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying spending time with their families today and that we are all thankful for our wonderful families that God has blessed us with.

Just a couple reminders for the week to come:

1) It is a non-uniform day tomorrow with the theme being Olympic Colors! Make sure your child is dressed in their favorite Olympic gear. 
We will also be having a school wide Olympic afternoon to celebrate the Olympics, packed with fun activities, games and even a visit from the Olympic mascots!

2) Wednesday is also a non uniform day with the theme being African Colors! 
We have not yet raised enough money for our class to provide a goat for families in need in Africa. The goal is $50 so let's join together to get a goat!

3) We will be having our Valentine's Day celebration on Wednesday. If your child is bringing in Valentine cards to their friends, please bring them in on Wednesday. 
If you would like to bring in goodies for our party please send me an email if you have already not done so.

4) Student Led Conferences are on Feb 20th and 21st. If you have not yet sent in your requests for meeting times, please do so immediately so teachers have time to schedule students according to families wishes.

Enjoy the rest of your Family Day weekend !

QUite a wonderful week!

The Wedding of Q and U

With the eventful and beautiful wedding of the letters Q and U on Monday, we celebrated the union with a touching ceremony complete with the throwing of flower petals and bubble blowing, gathered to take a group picture with all the letters of the alphabet in attendance, dined on cupcakes and even had a grand reception complete with dancing and singing!

It was a wonderful celebration to remember that the letters Q and U are united forever !

Olympics

We will be studying the Olympics during the next few weeks and have already begun to explore the different winter sports that are part of the Olympics. We have also looked at symbols for the Olympics such as the 5 rings and we now know why there are 5 rings! Ask your child what they mean! (They represent the 5 continents!)

I am also asking parents and students to find any pictures , images or articles of the Olympics and please send them in your child's blue folder. We are planning to create a classroom collage of all the Olympic events.

 

Next week:

We have a very short and busy week coming up. Please note the events:

February 10th - NO SCHOOL

February 11^th : Non- Uniform day (Olympic Colors)

February 12^th: Non-Uniform Day (African Colors)

                            Valentines Celebration

February 13th and 14th - NO SCHOOL

Cookies Cookies Cookies

For our Valentines Day Celebration we are planning to decorate sugar cookies!I would like to ask if there is a parent volunteer to make the cookies for our class. I have the recipe and heart cookie cutter so all that is needed is a wonderful baker!

If you are interested in baking these cookies for your child's class please let me know as soon as  possible. I will take the first two parents that volunteer for this sweet opportunity.
 Thank You!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Chinese New Year Celebrations!

During our Chinese New Year celebration on Friday the students created dragon masks to wear during our own Dragon Parade. 

We joined Miss Da Cruz, Mrs Olaybel, and Mrs Fonseca’s classes to sing and dance our way (and make lots of noise!) through the halls of CCS.

We finished off our celebrations with fortune cookies, red envelopes (Thanks Micah) and some follow the leader fun.

The Wedding of Q and U

On Monday, we will be celebrating the wedding of the letters Q and U in our classroom. This is to join the two letters together forever so that we can write and read ‘QU’ words.

Each student will represent a letter in the alphabet and join in the wedding celebration!

We will have a short ‘ceremony’ to marry Miss Q and Mr U in the afternoon, then have a celebration including dancing and snacks for our wedding reception!

Speech Arts Festival

We have begun our recitation of “My Elephant Thinks I’m Wonderful” at school. If you could please continue reading and memorizing the poem with your child it would be greatly beneficial to your child and their experience with the Speech Arts Festival.

We have practiced the first 6 lines already!

Printing Practice

I have extra printing practice take home sheets available for students if they would like to review their letters and writing. 

As they return the pages to me they will receive a sticker as an incentive to practice more. If you feel your child may benefit from extra practice please see me after school.

100 Day Posters

In preparation for our 100 days of school celebration I will be asking all students to complete a mini take home project. This project will be sent home Monday February 3^rd with detailed instructions.

Class event photos

Throughout the year during a variety of classroom events we have had a parent volunteer come into take pictures. These pictures are displayed in our classroom and not available for public viewing.  If you are interested in ordering any pictures of your child or would like to view the pictures please contact me for more details. 

Valentines Day Reminder

We will be having a mini Valentines Day Party on Feb 12^th. If you are interested in supplying treat for the students please send a little note in your child’s blue folder with a description of the item(s) you would like to bring.

  ** Reminder ** 

February Calendars have been sent home this week, so please ensure that you have checked your child’s Blue Folder.

The Week Ahead:

Theme: Olympics

Letter of the Week : R

Monday –Feb 3^rd -  marriage of the letters Q and U

Tuesday- Feb 4^th – Individual Poem Selections Due