MAY NEWS

This month our discussions focus on Farm Animals & Pets with the JKs and Wild or Exotic Animals with SKs. We are looking forward to our field trip on Wednesday, May 13th when we will experience a real farm! We are excited to share the fun with our classmates, as well as our recess buddies from the other groups! Rain or shine it will be an exciting event!

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.) and also introduce the concept of symmetry; particularly in nature (e.g. butterfly wings). 

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.  
  

  JK French vocabulary includes: "Il y a _____ à la ferme"

             

animals/ animaux      farm/ ferme     farmer/ fermier- ière     dog/ chien     

cat/ chat       hen/ poule      chick / poussin     horse/ cheval     

sheep/mouton      duck/ canard     cow/ vache      goat/ chèvre        pig/ cochon

SK French vocabulary includes: "Je veux protéger ____."

lion / lion zebra / zèbre        giraffe / girafe    monkey / singe       

tiger / tigre    gorilla / gorille     fox / renard   

wolf/ loup  bear/ ours snake / serpent  elephant / éléphant

                               

One of the big highlights this month will be welcoming "Little Ray’s Reptiles"  to our class on Wednesday, May 27th.  We will take part in a close-up investigation of a variety of exotic creatures and those who are brave enough will have the opportunity to handle a few as well.  
(*Payment for this show will be provided by the Activity Fee fund.)  

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.

MATH: We are now reviewing a variety of this year’s math concepts and putting a greater focus on simple addition and subtraction. Please reinforce this at home.

SCIENCE: Seasonal changes will continue to be a topic of interest. Exotic animal attributes, needs and habitats, as well as farm animals and pets will be highlighted. We will continue to investigate magnets and review the life cycles of the plant, butterfly and frog.

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

The two exceptions to this rule are: ONE stuffy (for Quiet Time) and a labelled outdoor toy (such as a ball, skipping rope, or Frisbee) for RECESS TIME ONLY! We only permit outdoor toys that focus on gross motor development (those that use large muscles) during this valuable outdoor time. [NO ELECTRONICS please.]