The Day

We had a fantastic day today.  I heard, "this is the best day ever" many times.  From hot cocoa and grinch kebobs, to primary holiday video with Mr. Chan and ornament making, it was jam packed with lots of fun.  I wish I had gotten more pictures but chaos didn't permit.  Hope everyone has a fantastic holiday!

Firefighter visit

Some members of the district Fire Department visited the K classes today for some lessons in fire safety.  Some topics included:

• Stop Drop and Roll if your clothes are on fire
• Never play with matches or lighters - give to parents or a grown-up if you find them
• Crawl on the ground in a fire to avoid inhaling smoke
• Have a fire safety plan at home that includes a meeting spot
• 911
• If you can't exit your room in a fire, go to the window and call out for help as loud as you can

The firefighters also suited up so the children could see them in full firefighting gear.  They were asked to not be afraid if they ever see a firefighter crawling around a burning house, and to NOT ever hide during a fire.  Instead they should stay low, remain visible, and call out for help as much as possible.

Hope this helps you have some discussions around fire safety with you child tonight :-)

Holiday party

We have lots of delicious snacks coming into class on Friday for our Christmas Party!  Please check out the list before you pack a lunch that day - you may choose to pack light or nothing at all for snacks.  DEFINITELY no need for an end of the day snack (sweety treaty) on that day.

If you are contributing something, please drop it off in the morning so they can graze.  I will set appropriate things out at the right time of day (treat at the end).

Thanks :-)

Christmas gift

They are bringing home a Christmas gift for the family on the last day before the break, Dec. 18th.  If your child will not be here on that day, please let me know ASAP so I can have it completed and sent home earlier.

Thank you :-)

Updates

This is just a little update about a couple of things the children are excited to be working on in class right now.

Fishing for numbers is a game that supports both number recognition as well as our current focus on recognizing familiar arrangements of dots (think dice).  I am encouraging them to group as much as possible as opposed to count by 1s.  They LOVE this game!

 This is a counting activity which  most of them are quite comfortable with by now.  We add a challenge by only using one hand to pick up the required number of bugs (think our childhood game of Jacks)...even more of a challenge to use the non-dominant hand.  This is great practice for fine motor skills as it really challenges the hand muscles.  You can do this at home with dried beans, pennies, and the like any time and is especially recommended for anyone who really needs to be working on fine motor skills (see report cards on Monday).

Holiday Party

We will be having a little holiday party in class on Friday, Dec. 18th.  If you would like to contribute any snacks or drinks, please leave a comment (published) attached to this message or email me if you have difficulty with this.

Some ideas might be:

Fruit/veggie platter

Popcorn

Chips/crackers

Meat and cheese platter

Festive treats

Juice boxes

Please note - they will have a goodie bag so any treats that we can not eat on that day will go home in those.

Thank you!

Call for Volunteers

COVERED FOR THIS DAY NOW - I am looking for 1 more parent volunteer who can join us for our jingle walk on Friday Dec. 11th.  We are planning for a 10:50 departure time and the walk usually takes about 30-40 minutes.  Your job will be to bring up the rear of the line as we deliver flyers door to door on our TBD route.  It is the children's job to deliver the flyers!

COVERED FOR THIS DAY NOW - I also need 2 parent volunteers to accompany us on Monday, Dec. 14th at 1:40 for the jingle walk pick-up.  One of these volunteers will need to bring their vehicle and follow us along our route in their car.  Something with a hatchback is ideal as we will be putting donations in there.  We are looking at a 1:40 departure time on this day and it also takes about half an hour.  The other volunteer on foot will be supervising the back of the line and helping place donations into the vehicle.

Please email me - first come, first served!

lmaclaren@sd44.ca

Christmas Concert

The Christmas concert is coming up in one week!  Our division is being asked to wear their "Christmas Best" that night so no need for any special costumes!

Note that ALL preparations/rehearsals, etc. for this event are done by Mrs. Schwarzbach.  

Please direct any post-show compliments and thanks to her at   gschwarzbach@sd44.ca

So looking forward to it!