Welcome Back!

I was so happy to see my kinders again and to hear all of the news and stories that I have missed over the past few weeks! The students really did a fantastic job settling back into classroom routines. We were able to jump right back into our learning. Read below the find out what we have been learning this week. 

Wednesday 
We reviewed changes that happen in the fall. Then we drew a picture of ourself in the fall. Ask your child what fall details they added to their picture. 

Thursday 
We learned a new lively letter! And it is our first "superstar vowel"! Ask your child: 

• What letter is this? 
• What sound does it make? 
• What are some words that begin with this letter? 

Friday 
The morning class read one of Mrs. Noftall's favorite stories called "The Scarecrow" Then we cut out shapes to make our own scarecrow. 

This one is worth a listen! Watch the video below to listen to the story together! 

Zipper Challenge!! 

We have started working on zipping our own zippers at school! It is a very important life skill that we encourage students to work on mastering by or before Winter Break. Students are encouraged to practice zipping their own zippers at home as well to help them reach their goal. After Fall Break, Mrs. Noftall will start the Zipper challenge where you can earn an certificate and a sticker when you master the skill. 

Some tips to help children be successful: 

• Make sure you start with a zipper that is easy to work with. 
• Provide hand over hand support to start 
• Practice when you are not in a rush to get out the door. 
• Ask your child to "try three times" before you jump in and help
• If they are having a really hard time, start the zipper and have them pull it up. Then have them try starting the zipper again next time. 

Watch the video below for more information and tips to help your child learn to zipper their zipper! 

                                           

Dates and Reminders

• Photo Retakes are now on November 19th. Students who were absent in October will get photos taken this day. If your child had their picture taken in October but you would like it to be redone on November 19th, please email me and let me know. 
• PM class attends on November 7th 
• Fall Break: November 10-12

Snapshots of our Week

Weekly Update: October 1st-3rd

We fit some great learning into our short week! Read below to see what we have been working on! 

Wednesday
We learned a new lively letter. Ask your child: 

• What letter is this? 
• What sound does it make? 
• What are some words that begin with Bb? 

Thursday 

We practiced writing our numerals 6-10 on our whiteboards. Then we reviewed our counting principles and counting strategies from last week. We also learned a new strategy for counting objects in pictures. It is called "cross and count" where we can cross out objects as we count them to make sure we count them all and to make sure we do not count any twice. We did more counting practice with our counting collections. 

Friday 
The morning class enjoyed their first Friday at school! We started talking about seasonal changes that happen in the fall. We saw a group of ladybugs getting ready for winter. Ask your child if they can tell you what ladybugs do in the winter. 

We also did a sorting activity in our books. During this tasks we practiced many skills: 

-coloring 

-cutting on a straight line 

-sorting objects based on different attributes 

-explaining the sorting rule 

What Can You Work on at Home 
If you are looking for ways to work on your child's skills at home, here are some things you can do to help them be successful in Kindergarten:

-Writing their name independently 
-naming all of the letters in their name 

-cutting lines and shapes 

-drawing simple pictures and coloring them in 

-printing letters (so far, we have covered p, b, t and d) 

-putting on their own shoes and jacket

-zipping their jacket 

-hand strengthening activities, such as play-dough, lego, using clothes-pins, 

-counting sets of objects 

Click the link below to access the CBE Occupational Therapy Website. It provides so many resources, videos and ideas of different activities you can work on at home to strengthen your child's motor skills. (Letter formation, pencil grasp, building hand strength, using scissors, and self care skills such as dressing, zipping, buttoning, etc.) 

https://sites.google.com/educbe.ca/cbe-occupational-therapy/home

Snapshots of our week