Preparing for Senior Kindergarten

Dear Parents;

We are beginning to plan for the fall and would like to know whether  or not your child will be returning to Broadview. Parents have a choice of morning or afternoon classes, in English or French. Class lists will be created in late May and parents will be informed of their child’s assignment of morning or afternoon in early June. We give consideration to factors like daycare arrangements but we also make the classes as balanced as possible with such things as numbers of boys and girls and older and younger children. A copy of this form is coming home with your child today or tomorrow or you can print this out and send it in. Please complete this form and send it back to school with your child by Wednesday, February 1^st. Thank you!

*____________________________________ will  /  will not be returning to

Child’s Name

Broadview in the fall.  (Please circle one.)

*We would like to request a   morning   /  afternoon  placement. (Please circle one.)

*We would like our child to be in the: English Senior Kindergarten program /  The Early French Immersion program.  (Please circle one.)

*Please feel free to add notes here to explain your need for a morning or afternoon placement.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon!

The Chinese zodiac has 12 different animals. This year is the Year of the Dragon. Since the date for New Year can be in January or February, if your child was born before February 18th, he or she is a Dog. They are known as honest, intelligent,  straight-forward and fair-minded. Most of the class were born in the year of the Golden Pig.  In the Chinese culture, it is believed that the Golden Year comes once every 600 years. Pig individuals are patient, sometimes shy, but fun to be around. People born during the Year of the Pig know how to enjoy life when things are going good, but also know how to roll with the punches when life gets a bit rocky. No wonder we have such nice classes!


Here is a sample of a Chinese New Year card that people would send to each other. You can see the lanterns, the fireworks and the lucky red colour everywhere. The children are wearing the new clothes they receive as part of the celebrations. They might also have had a haircut!

These are dumplings which would be part of the big family dinner that everyone would eat together. They come in many shapes. These look a little like purses full of money. One of the wishes for the new year is prosperity.

 Here is a dragon for the Dragon Dance. On New Year's Day there will be many dragon dances for people to see. We are having a little one here on the last day of the holiday in two weeks, with lots of noise- makers to scare away any bad luck.

Here is another great Chinese dragon, this one on the top of  a beautiful building. Happy New Year!

PD Day This Friday

        

This Friday, January 20th, there will be no school as it is a PD day. The children have worked very hard to adapt to their new routines and are doing very well now. It will be good for them to have a little holiday after all their efforts. Happy Thanksgiving! School will be open again on Monday. See you then!

A Letter a Day

Our study of the Alphabet is going well and the children are doing alphabet puzzles, using stencils to practise their letter shapes and fine motor skills, working on a practice sheet for their names, playing with a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree and letters, writing in a special book with black board spaces on it, reading alphabet books and working together on an alphabet workbook. They are tracing fuzzy letters with their fingers and playing with letter magnets.
Each day we have a letter of the day and add another verse to one of our songs. Your child has probably sung it to you. It is to the tune of Frere Jacques and we sing it as an echo song where the children echo the leader:
    A starts apple
(echo) A starts apple
Aaaa, Aaaaa, Aaaaa
(echo)  Aaaaa, Aaaaa, Aaaaa,
B starts balloon
(echo) B starts balloon
Bbbbb, Bbbbbb, Bbbbb
(echo) Bbbbbb, Bbbbbb,  Bbbbbb.   

And so on through the letters. You should have received a sheet with all the letters and their sample words. You can post it somewhere visible and use it when you have time to review the sounds and letters. (Please let me know if you need a copy of this sheet and I will send it again.) The children are great at using the alphabet posted on the wall to help them sing the song and think about the alphabet. They enjoy coming in to the classroom every day and predicting what the letter of the day will be. We will be continuing to have a new letter each day until we have covered them all. There will be a few pauses to celebrate Chinese New Year and Valentine's day and we should be done the unit by the middle of the month. Soon we will also begin putting the letters together and reading some easy rhyming words like cat and mat. As you know, each child learns to read at his or her own speed and there is no pressure on them at this age, but whatever step they are at in the hundreds of steps to reading they can enjoy this unit and continue to progress.

Happy New Year!

 

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a bit of a rest. We are beginning a new unit now on the Alphabet. Books and toys from home about ABCs are welcome for sharing time.  Please remember to label them with your child's name. Also a reminder that Mondays (pm class) and Wednesdays  (am class) are Library Days and the children need their books and their book bags. Some children brought their indoor shoes home for the holidays and will need them as well. Thanks, and Happy 2012!!!

Thank You!

   Thank you for all the lovely gifts and cards you sent at Christmas! I felt honoured to receive them and really appreciated the kind words in the cards.
   Thank you to the parents of the morning class who organized a group present. It was such a sweet thought to make a donation and it was a wonderful feeling to receive it. Thank you also for the shopping card. It will be most enjoyed!
   I am sending thank you cards to individuals but need your help with a few. In the excitement and rush of the last days before the holidays a few presents became separated from their gift tags, to my dismay. If you were the kind person who sent in ginger jam, a gift in a penguin bag or a large box  of fantastic cookies wrapped in green dot paper, please email me at the address on the sidebar so I can thank you properly!
   Thank you all again for all the gifts. It was very kind of you.      Ms. W.