Already a week has gone by in our FDK adventure and everyone is doing well! Crying has pretty much subsided and everyone is happy upon arrival. We are enjoying our time together building inclusion, developing routines and understanding expectations.
Please subscribe to our blog. Using Blogger is new to us and was recommended as it part of the Google suite of apps. YRDSB has adopted the use of Google Apps throughout the system. All Staff and Students are issued a Google account. As your children progress through the system they will be using their Google account to submit assignments and gather, create, store and manage information.
We have two adults in our room - Myself and Ms. Jodie MacDearmid our absolutely incredible DECE (Designated Early Childhood Educator). Many of you have met her at drop-off or pick-up. Please feel free to share any information with either of us. We are a team.
There are 24 students in our classroom which, if you haven't been in our room, is connected rather openly to Mrs. Scott's classroom. It's a busy and fun environment for all us! Our class is comprised of 10 SKs and 14 JKs. We have 10 girls and 14 boys. Combined we have 51 Kindergarten students. You can imagine how chaotic that can be during transition times like arrival, snack, lunch and dismissal. For this reason we beg that you label everything you send with your child.
If items come to school without a label you may find that we have taken matters into our own hands and used a Sharpie to label it. You can imagine how challenging it is to manage 51 pairs of shoes, snowpants, jackets, mittens, lunch pails, water bottles, extra clothes, hats etc and then 51 students on top! Please consider putting a Sharpie in a convenient location at home to make labelling easier or look into a label system like Mabel's Labels.
In addition to this blog, our classroom has a Twitter account. Follow us @wanderfulones. We will start tweeting next week based on input from the children. You can also reach us through email wanderfulones@gmail.com. I will check this account each day afterschool. If there is something urgent, we recommend you drop a note in the iBag, give us a call, or if applicable, talk to one of us at drop-off or pick-up.
The iBag is the MOST important communication tool. We ask that it come to school each and every day - even when empty! It is a great training tool for the agenda that your child will use starting in grade one. It's a great way to let us know about appointments, vacations, pick-up changes etc. We send homework, items to share, letters and permission forms in the bag.
If your child would like to play with a classmate (a great way to foster budding friendships), please put a note in the in the iBag including your name and contact info and we will be happy to pass it along. We are unable to share personal phone numbers or email addresses of other parents.
Please send indoor shoes that are safe and appropriate for Gym classes (no Crocs, sandals, slip-ons) as well as a spare set of clothing in a labelled Ziploc bag. This bag will stay at school in their cubby. It's also crucial that your child have a labelled water bottle. The brain simply can't function at it's best without adequate hydration.
Both Mrs. Scott and I are trying to eliminate juice boxes and juice pouches this year. It leaves behind garbage, pouches are not recyclable in our bins and can be very messy with spills. We strongly recommend that you send water as it's refreshing, won't spoil and won't be sticky if accidentally spilled in a lunch bag or backpack. If you do feel the need to send juices, please pour it into a tightly closing refillable container to avoid spills and more importantly, so it can be refilled with water when needed.
Our students visit the Library with Mrs. Nelson each Day 1 after lunch. We also have Gym twice a week on Days 3 and 5. Other teachers that teach, play and learn with your children are Mrs. Walker, Madame Draper and Mrs. Wright.
Here is the link for the 5 Day Cycle Calendar for all Elementary Schools in the board. It will help you keep track! 5 Day Cycle Calendar. A few of our SK parents have been asking about a Star of the Day Calendar - it will be coming soon! We will attempt to add it here to the blog for easy access.
In order for us to be successful with e-communication, we ask that you all provide us with an email address. Many of you already have in the green or white Background Information page that we sent home last week or was given out at the Welcome to Kindergarten evening in the Spring. If you haven't already, please send it back completed to school and ensure we have a working email address.
Our Meet the Teacher evening has been scheduled for October 2 with a tentative time of 6:30pm to 8:30pm. We await confirmation from Mrs. Snow.
Finally, if you haven't already heard it from your children - we have butterflies!
I am one of five Lead Teachers in the Canada for the Monarch Teacher Network of Canada. The network covers Canada, the US and Mexico (the overwintering grounds of the Monarch). This summer I have reared over 150 Monarchs from egg to butterfly and we are now experiencing the end of the season emergences of our migrating Monarchs. We are learning so much and every morning there is excitement to see whether we have had another emergence. We'll tell you more about that in another blog!
Good news, other blogs will not be this long! Both Jodie and are I looking forward to an incredible year with your children!
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| It's a Boy! |
