FINAL GOODBYE! Changes are coming.

Dear Parents 

I would like to thank all the parents who followed this kindergarten blog to keep informed about their child's school activities. Research reveals that children are more successful at school when their parents demonstrate a keen interest and involvement in their education. Naturally, a  strong home-school partnership makes the job easier. 

The last day of school was the 'closing of one door and the opening of another' for me. I will not be teaching Kindergarten this year, although I will continue to teach French at Holy Redeemer School. I will see you around, however, this blog will no longer be posting news.

The 2017-2018 Kindergarten Teams are:  (*Please note that staff changes can occur in September.)

PURPLE GROUP - Rm. 101
50% of the day > English teacher:  Mrs. Casey Bradley with 
50% of the day > French teacher: Mme. Megan Legg and 
100% of the day > Early Childhood Educator: Mrs. Lisa Gordon

GREEN GROUP - Rm. 104
50% of the day > English teacher:  Mrs. Casey Bradley with 
50% of the day > French teacher: Mme. Megan Legg and 
100% of the day > Early Childhood Educator: Mrs. Carrie Price

RED GROUP - Rm. 102
50% of the day > English teacher:  Mrs. Natasha Belaire with 
50% of the day > French teacher: Mme. Briana Gibney and 
100% of the day > Early Childhood Educator: Mrs. Kathryn Unger

BLUE GROUP - Rm. 103
50% of the day > English teacher:  Mrs. Natasha Belaire with 
50% of the day > French teacher: Mme. Briana Gibney and 
100% of the day > Early Childhood Educator: Mrs. Tara MacTavish

JUNE NEWS

PLAY TIME!

The weather is warming up and our inquiries will move increasingly outside. So please ensure your child wears a hat and sunscreen every day. 

Senior Kindergarten students will start joining the older grades for afternoon recess (1:30 to 1:45) in preparation for this Grade One routine. [*Teachers/ECE's will be on duty in the main yard with the SK's to assist them with this transition.]  

Junior Kinders will remain inside at this time to enjoy small group activities.

June naturally invites discussions of summer/ l’été, with

a focus on insects, water safety, and summer activities.

We hope to help children develop a sense of awe and

respect for some of God's smallest creatures, an 

awareness about water safety, and an overall appreciation

for the beauty and relaxation of our summer season.

Monthly French vocabulary includes:

Insect / insecte           caterpillar / chenille               bee / abeille         fly / mouche

       ladybug / coccinelle             spider / araignée              play outside / jouer dehors          

It is hot. / Il fait chaud.      This is summer. / C'est l'été.       June / juin        July / juillet    

      It is beautiful. / Il fait beau.            swim / nager           vacation / vacances

         water / eau               beach / plage            fish / poisson            cottage / chalet 

sun / soleil               cloud / nuage              sand / sable          travel / voyager 

PHRASES:  Je veux ;  Je voyage ;  Je vais ;  J'aime / Je n'aime pas

~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~     ~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~ 
We are looking forward to the field trip to the Saunders Farm next week! 
http://saundersfarm.com

Thank you again to all volunteers who will help make this farm adventure a great success!

REPORT CARDS

Final report cards will be sent home the last week of school.  Information regarding

next year's entry will be included in the report card envelope.
~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~     ~   ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~

We will be celebrating summer birthdays this month along with those on
the corresponding dates in June. Please send any summer birthday invitations 
prior to the last week of school.  (It is a busy time & invitations often go missing.)  

We would like to extend our appreciation to all parents for their generous support throughout the year. Have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,

The Kindergarten Teams   

SHOE SAFETY!

SCHOOL SHOES need to be appropriate for athletic purposes, like running, jumping, climbing. 

Running shoes are preferred and certainly the safest. 

[Crocs can be a bit slippery on the climber and sometimes fall off. Please check them yourself.]



For safety reasons, children should
NOT WEAR beach flip-flops at all due to numerous injuries we have witnessed with these sandals.

If children wear summer sandals, please ensure that they have a back-strap to keep them secure while running or climbing. 

Naturally, we encourage the use of sunscreen & hats. We are outside for 40 minutes after lunch (11:35 - 12:15). And potentially 30 to 60 minutes in the morning as well as 15-20 minutes at the end of each day.

DISCIPLINE TIPS - based on an article in ADDitude.com

Be Firm, Be loving & Be consistent!

Do you sometimes feel that discipline is becoming a daily struggle? Learn how to help your child find better behaviour skills with these tips! Remember: 
1) authentic praise, 2) consistency using consequences, and 3) telling instead of asking your child to do things.

BY ROYCE FLIPPIN

Praise good behaviour immediately and often. While it’s easy to notice and react immediately to negative behaviour, parents should remember to respond just as quickly to good behaviour. Positive reinforcement is the best behavioural tool!

Be Clear - and use respectful Firmness
Don’t ask, tell. Don’t start your requests with “Would you like to...?”, or finish them with “Okay?” Instead, give clear and succinct instructions like: “Please pick up your coat from the floor.” Only state exactly what you want them to do.  If your child doesn’t respond to your first request, try saying it one more time in another way. Kids respond differently to requests so saying things in different ways may lead to a better response from your child but don't continue repeating the request again and again... take action.

Use direct eye contact. When you look at each other eye-to-eye your child can’t ignore you and will listen more attentively to what you’re saying. Ask your child to look at you when you explain why a certain behaviour is unacceptable or when you are requesting a change in behaviour. Use simple, precise language to be more effective.

Strengthen your relationship. Spend one-on-one unstructured time together, even 15 minutes a day with your child lays the groundwork for a strong bond with your child. The closer you are, the easier positive reinforcement of good behaviours will be in the future.

Remember you are the responsible adult ("the boss"). Explain how it is your job is to guide them into becoming healthy, responsible adults. Also, help them understand that playing video games and watching TV are privileges you’ve given, not a right. Child psychologist Douglas Riley says, “Kids need to know that access to the phone, TV, and computer have to be earned by showing positive behaviour and a good attitude.” 

Use Consequences
Have a clear plan of action before an incident occurs. Explain consequences for misbehaviour ahead of time. Clearly defined boundaries and rules will help guide you when the bad behaviour happens and won’t surprise your child. In fact, consider the consequence as the "child's choice" since he or she already knew about the planned consequences.

These consequences should involve taking away privileges and really bad behaviour like hitting should result in an extended time-out (generally use the rule > a minute per year based on age & up to 30 minutes for children over 8, or an hour for adolescents). A "time-out" means removal from both the current situation and any other pleasurable situation (such as use of electronics - like tv, ipad, laptop - OR playing with friends or toys). The goal of a time-out is for the child to be bored enough that the time-out becomes unpleasant and therefore, acts as a deterrent from bad choices.

Follow through is key! Stick to the consequences, no matter what!  First, discuss the behaviour and make sure your child understands why the behaviour was wrong.  Remember to keep the discussion succinct, concrete, and concise! Do NOT talk too much or the child will simply tune out.

A parent has to be 100 percent consistent in addressing poor behaviour. Otherwise, the bad behaviour is unintentionally reinforced, persists and often gets worse!

Our baby chicks are gone to the farm.

It was a wonderful opportunity to observe new life in the classroom for everyone at Holy Redeemer. These babies were ready to move onto farm life.  Good-bye chicks! Aurevoir les poussins!

THEY'RE HATCHING!!

We have 5 chicks (so far!!)  

MAY NEWS

Finally --- Spring has sprung!!  We will continue our discussions on this wonderful season, chicks, worms and additionally focus on Pets, Farm & Exotic Animals.  

Class inquiries should include: caring for pets, animal needs, extinction, habitats and respecting God’s creatures.  Animals will be classified into groups according to physical and environmental characteristics. In math, we will sort them into groups according to various characteristics (e.g. with / without wings, two vs. four legs etc.) as well as discuss the concept of symmetry; particularly in nature (e.g. butterfly wings). 

Thematic Farm vocabulary includes:
animals/ animaux         farm/ ferme        farmer/ fermier- ière         cow/ vache 

dog/ chien       cat/ chat         hen/ poule          chick / poussin          pig/ cochon

    horse/ cheval           sheep/mouton            duck/ canard            goat/ chèvre

Thematic Wild Animal vocabulary includes:
   giraffe/ girafe           monkey/ singe             lion / lion          tiger / tigre
              
zebra / zèbre          elephant / éléphant         gorilla / gorille       snake / serpent

  fox / renard            porcupine / porc-épic           wolf/ loup          bear/ ours  

On Thursday, June 8th all the Kindergarten classes will be

visiting the Saunders Farm. We will depart from school at 8:45 am and return around 2:00 pm. The cost for this excursion, including admission and busing fees, will be provided by the Activity Fee fund. 

Please note that our excursion will occur regardless of the weather conditions. Please have your child dressed 
appropriately for the conditions.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.

READING: All “popcorn” / high-frequency words should now be practiced regularly by SKs and they should be making frequent attempts to read as many words as possible in their environment.  Continue to encourage them to read pattern books or read along with you whenever possible.    
   

“Popcorn” Words to review:

I, is, in, it, a, am, an, and, at, my, me, we, see, he, she, the, you, yes, can, to, do, so, go, no, look, like, love, mom, dad, bus, was, went, said, come, that, up

WRITING: At this point in Senior Kindergarten we are expecting all students to phonetically write simple sentences to the best of their ability and to make attempts to include “popcorn” words wherever possible. Sentences should begin with an upper case letter, end with a period and include spaces between words. Please encourage labels on their pictures and help them to write lists, emails or cards.

We also encourage children to wear sunscreen and hats for safe outdoor play now that the warm sun has finally arrived. If you are putting a bottle of sunscreen in their backpack, please package it in a ziploc bag to avoid messy spills. Thank you.  

Please CHECK your child's backpack daily, and insist that personal toys stay at home, this includes Pokeman cards, Shopkins, etc.