Happy Kwanzaa!

Kwanzaa celebrations start on December 26th. We will be talking about this when we return to school. We will learn that it is a fairly new holiday and that people who celebrate Kwanzaa are showing their pride in their African culture. We will make bracelets in the special holiday colours of red, black and green and colour some colouring pages showing children wearing their traditional clothing. We will "light" our paper candles on the special candle holder called a Kinara, three of green, one of black and three of red. We will read a book about Kwanzaa and some of the ideas it teaches, such as working together and being creative. Those are ideas we think are important in our classes too! Happy Kwanzaa!!!

Merry Christmas!!

At school these past weeks we read some books about  the Nativity Story and some about Santa and other Christmassy subjects. We made the parents an angel picture and an ornament out of cinnamon dough and sparkles. We celebrated with our reading buddies and made Christmas cards and began to write in our journals, with their help. We sang in the gym with the other primary students on the last day. I hope you had a wonderful day and enjoy another whole two weeks of holidays! Merry Christmas!!!!!

p.s.  The children might enjoy this little play done by others their age in New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zduwusyip8M

Yalda Night

Today we are learning about the Winter Solstice.  We are celebrating Yalda Night, a Persian solstice festival. It is a very ancient tradition and sees the rising sun of the first day of winter as a symbol of good winning over evil. Pomegranates and other winter fruit are part of the celebrations, so we will be making a card decorated with a pomegranate (and lots of sparkles).

Post-party Thank You!

Thank you all for coming to our party and joining our celebration of festivals of light. It was a lot of fun and many of the children said it was the best party ever. A huge thank you to Natasha who baked for 14 hours to prepare our wonderful cookies and cupcakes and a thank you to everyone for your donations to cover her costs and give her a little extra for her time. A very big thank you to the children for singing and dancing so well for their audience. Well done!!!

ps. Someone has left a camera case in the room, marked Lowepro. Please let me know if it is yours and I will send it home with your child or you can pick it up here in the room. Thanks.

Huron Christmas Carol

Today we are reading about the Huron Christmas Carol, also known as the first Christmas carol written in Canada. We will also hear it sung in Inuktitut by Susan Aglukark. It's a lovely retelling of the Christmas story in First Nations imagery.

More Time to be Kind

Dear Parents;

    The basket is full and overflowing, but we have just heard that the deadline is extended to Monday for the Harmony House baskets. So if you have not had a chance and would like to add a gift, there is a bit more time. And thank you again for all the beautiful gifts. I can just see the happy faces of the children who receive these presents.

Hanukkah

 Hanukkah begins on December 20th and we will light our paper candles on the hanukkiah, one for each of the eight days. We will also have a Hanukkah story and of course play dreidel. We will learn some Hanukkah  and Christmas songs from Mrs. Bricker, the music and drama teacher here.  It is great to have so much music in our days.

Baskets for Harmony House

Thank you to everyone who has sent in lovely things for our gift basket. If you still wish to donate, you have until Friday. We will put a little card in the basket to show it is from our classes and send it to a family in need after that date. Thank you, everyone!

Solstice, Eid, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Chanukkah, Yalda, and all Festivals of Light Holiday Party

Dear Parents, Grandparents, Friends and Relations:   You are all warmly invited to our All Holidays Party on Tuesday, December 20th in our classroom. For the morning class this will be at 10:30 and for the afternoon class at 2:30. We will be singing you some of the songs we have learned and having a few seasonal treats. Because of the school allergy policy the best way to do this is for me to purchase nut-free food. That way we can set up a treat table and all enjoy the party together. Natasha, our co-op student loves baking, so she is making us some wonderful treats. We ask that each family makes a small donation to cover the costs of the ingredients and her time. If you would rather, you can bring in a snack for your child. There will also be a little craft for you to do with your child if you would like. It should be a great part of our Festivals of Light unit. See you there! (And if you are unavoidably late, don't panic. We usually sing the songs again at the end of the party just for good measure.)

Advent

Advent has begun, so we are counting down the days to Christmas. We will make a paper chain advent calendar where there is a link for every day until Christmas. Each day we will take off one link from the chain and so we will know exactly how many more days we have to wait. We will also begin to "light" our paper advent candles with tissue paper flames to count the four weeks of the season. On December 20th we will light the first candle of the Hannukiah and begin to count the eight days of Hannukah. The last week of school we will also light the Kwanzaa kinara candles. There will be more and more lights in room 23!

                                                       Our paper chain advent calendar.

Festivals of Light, Celebrations of the Human Spirit

    We have begun our unit on Festivals of Light. We began with learning about why it is getting so dark outside so early. We will talk about the seasons and how the sun makes the seasons. Then we will learn about different celebrations around the world that use light at this time of year. Of course, there is a connection! If you have any books or decorations from your family's celebrations they are very welcome. The children can show the class what they bring in as a little informal Show and Tell. Please make sure their names are on everything that comes in so we can return them! Our unit will include Divali, Yalda, Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa as well as the native story of how Raven brought the light. It should be a special unit with lots of wonderful stories and some extra spiffy crafts.

Dress Up as a Teacher Day

 

The Students' Council has chosen tomorrow for a School Spirit Day. Your child may dress up as a teacher from movies, tv or even Broadview P.S. It should be very interesting!

Loi Krathong and Yi Peng Festivals

Loi Krathong is a festival of lights celebrated in Thailand in November. People make beautiful boats of banana leaves, candles, incense and flowers and set them to float down the river. It is a festival in celebration of the water goddess and a time to make wishes and send away any bad luck. We will be making simple paper krathongs and putting a wish in the middle of it. They are fragile, so we will wait and send them home with you at the end of the unit when we have a little holiday party. (Details to follow soon.)



Yi Peng is celebrated in Northern Thailand at the same time, with thousands of rice paper lanterns set to float up into the sky as an offering to Buddha.

Dance with us!

The children are going to the kindergarten part of the dance-a-thon tomorrow and you are welcome to join us. We dance at 10:30 to 11:00 for the morning class and 1:10 to 1:30 for the afternoons. See you there! 

Layers and Water Bottles

Our school is an old building and the heating system is challenging. Most of the time our classroom is very warm, but occasionally it is cold. Sometimes we need sweaters and sometimes only t- shirts. We face south, so usually any sunny day means a hot day in room 23. All of this to say, please dress your child in layers so we can respond to the classroom climate as needed. Water bottles are also essential daily, as it can get quite dry in the room and kindergarten is thirsty work. Thank you!

 

Monday Interviews

We are meeting in Room 27 for the Monday interviews as the children will be in the classroom with a supply teacher. See you there!   

Photo Retakes Are In

                                    

Please have a look in your child's backpack for their picture retakes. The payments are due on Wednesday, November 23rd. Thank you! 

Pyjama Day is NEXT WEEK, November 24th

The students' council is having a school-wide pyjama day next Thursday, November 24th. Your child may wear his or her jammies and bring in a stuffy to join in the fun.

Pattern Party on Thursday, PD Day Friday

Tomorrow, Thursday November 17th is our Pattern Party. The children can wear as many different patterns as they can put on. Mix and match the pattern on shirts, pants and socks; the more patterns the merrier. At school we will be wearing our lovely dot crowns and making patterned bracelets and generally celebrating all our work on patterns. Please remember that the next day is a PD day.

Parent Teacher Interviews

We are having interviews soon to discuss how your child is adapting to Junior Kindergarten. They will be held Thursday evening, Friday morning and Monday all day. PLEASE NOTE: Friday is a PA Day, so there will be no school. There is a letter in your child's backpack today with all the details as well. Please choose your preferred time and send the form back TOMORROW with your child so I can coordinate all the requests and send you a confirmation letter. We will try to coordinate interviews for families with more than one child in the school as much as possible. Thanks for your help!

Warm Used Clothing, Please.

Tuesday is the beginning of our Clothesline Challenge, where all the schools on Broadview Ave. collect warm clothing for the Mission. Please send in donations of warm clothes for men, women and children for our Mission Drive. Last year's class cut out all these hats, mitts and scarves to decorate the box and we hope to fill it many times over. Please send in what you can. Thank you!

Raising Resilient Children

We received this notice which might be of interest to some of you:

Hi all,

The Board is offering a free lecture by child psychologist, Dr Maggie Mamen, titled "Raising Resilient Children: 10 Ways to Foster a Positive Environment at Home and at School." The lecture takes place on Tuesday, Nov 15th. Those attending will receive a copy of Dr Mamen's latest book, The Pampered Child Syndrome.

There are more details in the following link. Seating is limited, so registration is required if you're interested in attending.

http://www.ocdsb.ca/Pages/EventNews_RaisingResilientChildren.aspx

Nature Table

We have begun a Nature Table in the classroom and have a good start to a collection of natural objects to study with our magnifying glasses (when we are not making giant faces for each other with them). If you have any interesting shells, rocks or other found items you would like to share or donate, we would be very happy to add them to our table. Thank you!

Broadview Dance-a-thon

Grades 1 - 3 9:20 Grades 4 - 6 9:50 Grades 7 - 8 11

KICK OFF ASSEMBLY

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10TH

Returning for a fourth year to Broadview Public School, the Dance-A-Thon will be held on

Friday, November 25th. To kick off this great event an assembly will be held. The kindergartens will have their own assembly on Thursday, Nov, 10th at 10:30 am and their own dance-a-thon session with appropriate music and quieter lighting. Come on out to dance with your children Friday, Nov. 25th. Time to be announced soon. After the assembly pledge forms will be distributed to the children. The Dance-A-Thon committee is looking for your support to encourage your children to raise money and participate in this major school fundraiser.

BROADVIEW

Kindergarten (JK & SK) 10:30

Celebrating Authors and Illustrators

All through the year we will talk about the people who have written and illustrated the books we read and encourage the children that they can make simple books as well. These days we have been celebrating the works of Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. The children were proud to say that they had copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear at their homes. More classic literature! Below is a colouring page for you to print out and colour.

Note Totes

Please make sure your child has a note tote with her or his name on it in their schoolbags every day. We often have notes from the school, crafts and library books to send home and it makes things a lot easier and quicker if there is a note tote for each child. If yours is lost, please replace it. Thank you!!!