Friday, October 12, 2012

Costume Party!

+Wednesday October 31st (Halloween)+

Students are encouraged to bring a costume to wear.  They may leave their costumes on all day if they are comfortable. At 2:45 we will have our class costume party.  All parents and family are invited.

It is not necessary to send or bring in class treats.  However, if you and your child want to provide Halloween treats for the class, may we suggest non-food items such as pencils, mini-erasers, or stickers.

The children have been working hard to prepare their performances of Colour Train and 

Five Little Pumpkins for their parents. We will also present a costume parade. Hope to see you!

The Colour Train is coming!


Our first performance will be at our costume party on Wednesday October 31st  at 2:45 in Room 1.















JK at work




JK at work, a set on Flickr.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Our day

Here is the current daily schedule for Junior Kindergarten:
9:00-9:15 outside supervision
9:15-9:35 entry routines, snack
9:35-9:55 morning circle
9:55-10:15 French
10:15-11:15 play-based learning centres
11:15-12:05 lunch and outside play
12:05-1:05 play-based learning centres
1:05-1:25 gym (every second day) or music & movement
1:25-2:05 book & blanket/ quiet time
2:05-2:25outside play 
2:25-2:45 snack 
2:45-3:00 story and reflection circle
3:00-3:15 whole group activity
3:15-3:30 pack up for home
3:30-3:40 outside play
3:40-3:45 to buses

JK info letter


Welcome to school!

You will notice some things coming home in your child's backpack. The plastic baggie or "Note Tote" with your child's name on it is for communication between parents and teachers. Please remember to send it back to school every day. If it becomes lost or torn, please send in a replacement. Donations of extra-large ziploc bags are always welcome!

Our Borrow-a-Book program also starts this week. Junior Kindergarten students are allowed to borrow as many classroom books as they want, for as long as they need them. We are aware that when books are being well-read by 3-and 4-year olds, they will sometimes sustain damage/ go missing, and we try to maintain a quality classroom collection through donations and thrift shops. If you know your child has lost or damaged a book, please try to find a suitable replacement for our classroom library. Scholastic book orders are another great way to help us improve our book collection.

Photos from the first days of school are available through the link below. 
You will need to send an e-mail to Samantha.Haines@ocdsb.ca to see photos of the students. Please sign and return the photo permission sheet so that we can continue to document your child's year through photos and videos, to be made into a DVD of memories for you to keep at the end of the year.

Information about volunteering has also been posted below. Please let us know right away if you would like more information about at home volunteer jobs such as classroom laundry or playdough.

At lunch and snack there are sometimes issues with children packing opened juice boxes, pudding cups, etc. back into their lunch bags. Re-usable juice and food containers are highly recommended. If your child is having difficultly, practice at home can be helpful. Try to serve items from breakfast, supper, or weekend meals in your child's lunch kit, to give them a chance to practise opening and closing everything successfully. Mr. Matthew is with the students while they eat lunch and Miss Jannel as well is always available to help the children while they are eating. Please let us know immediately if you have any concerns about your child's nutrition.

Please try to send an extra container of water with your child, especially on hot days.

While we are always willing to help, the reality of a busy classroom means that students are expected to be independent in the bathroom. A child who discovers he or she needs help once already on the toilet may be too shy to attract the attention of a teacher. Please continue to encourage your child to practise wiping and washing hands at home.

Just a reminder that it is important to label everything your child owns with either a permanent marker or name on a sticky label. 

SCHOOL SUPPLIES for JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN  
Your child needs to bring:
(1) a pair of shoes to be worn INSIDE ONLY.  Please be sure to choose footwear your child can take off and put on independently.
(2) a complete change of clothing (top, long pants, socks, underwear) and 
(3) a small blanket for quiet book time.  
All 3 of these items will be kept at school.

Every day your child will need to bring enough food for a healthy lunch and two snacks.  A large backpack is encouraged, so that coats, etc. can easily be tucked inside if the weather changes during the day.

We look forward to cooperating with you to make the most of your child's first year of school!
Please contact us immediately with any questions or concerns, through e-mail, a phone-call, or note in your child's "Note Tote". 

Sincerely,
the Junior Kindergarten team



Saturday, September 8, 2012

Parent Volunteers

Parent volunteers are welcome in the classroom starting in November, once all the students have had a chance to settle in to their new routines.

Here are some ways parent volunteers can help in our classroom depending upon what time(s) they come:

- tidy book centre
- model good listening during O Canada and announcements
- tidy/sort craft centre
- wipe tables after snack/ crafts

- read to a child or small group
- help at the paint centre (help students write names on work, change paper as needed)
- make something at the craft centre
- play with a small group at any of the creative play centres
- model sorting and clean-up skills

- take down dry art, fold and place in student cubbies

- sit with children and participate in lesson
- talk with teachers (questions, coments) about your observations

- tidy dramatic play centre (house)
- tidy collections (toy corner)

- clean paint centre (cover paint, wash paintbrushes)
- empty water table


Here are some ways parent volunteers can help at home:
(starting right away)
- make play-dough
- wash class "laundry" (very small amount)
- cut out shapes, letters, numbers etc. for crafts
- prepare a special craft or centre for activity time
- collect "treasure trash" and extra craft materials for us

Friday, September 7, 2012

First Day photos 2012/2013

Click here for 1st day photos!

Please e-mail me at Samantha.Haines@ocdsb.ca for an e-mail invitation to see these photos.  You must be a parent of a student in our class.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Clean-up Time

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.ca/2010/02/clean-up-time-its-not-my-school-its.html

This article contains examples of the philosophy of community that we strive to bring our young learners at "clean-up time".  For example:

"Rather than being an annoying, yet necessary part of our day to hurry through, this act of coming together to care for our school is the single most important community building activity on our daily schedule."

We (the teachers) try  make simple informational statements like, "There's a block on the floor," or "The dolls go in the crib." rather than give commands.

We notice effort with statements "Max is helping clean-up the drama area," "Alex is putting the stuffed animals in the basket,"  rather than thanks - they are not helping us (the teachers) clean our room, they are making the decision to clean their room.

"When children continue to play during clean-up, I give them informational statements like, "This is not playing time, it's clean-up time," or "That's closed. We're cleaning up now." I then follow it up with a directly applicable informational statement like, "The playdough goes in the playdough container."

When a child wants to talk to me during clean-up time, I ask, "Is it about clean-up?" If they say, "No," I answer, "You'll have to save it until circle time because it's clean-up time now. I only want to talk about clean-up." My own desires and opinions are informational statements and during clean-up time I'm a single purpose clean-up machine.

When a child simply retires to a corner with a book, or sits quietly, I generally just let it go. That child will eventually join us, if not today, then in the future.

And finally... in those rare instances when a child steadfastly continues to play in a way the disrupts or impedes the group activity of clean-up, she is given the choice to either join clean-up or "stay out of the way"

Early in the year we teach clean-up strategies specifically through circle games and modelling.  We involve our students in making decisions about how to organize our toys and materials, to deepen their ownership and understanding of where and why we put things away.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Class of 2012

Bye-bye junior kindergarten class of 2011/2012!  Have fun in senior kindergarten!

Monday, April 23, 2012

At the Farm

We went to the farm.

We looked at the cows.

We felt something with our finger and it hurt a little.  It was not real.  It was to see what milking feels like for the cow.

The calf licked Mrs. Haines' jacket!

We fed the calf.

We patted the calf.

These baby lambs were born this morning!

We patted the lamb.

This lamb is standing up because he wants to eat.

We are combing wool from a sheep. It was hard to get off.

This is a rabbit named Oreo.

We were petting it with the guide.

Next we saw some pigs and piglets.

Here is a big pig.

A chick is a baby chicken.

We patted the chick.
Photos by Mrs. Hall 
Text by the JK students