Division 18 Newsletter

Octobre 2015
Bonjour dear families! We have had a wonderful start to the year and have much to look forward to. Here are
some of the things to keep in mind for the month of October.

Le franais (Language Arts)

Ami du jour (Friend of the day) This will begin on October 1st, please have a look on the calendar and make
note of your childs special day! The friend of the day will also be having their show and tell. Show and tell will
always have a theme and this month it is about your child and your family. I would like to invite students to share
something about themselves or their family (i.e.: a special item used on holidays, a photo of a family trip, a dance
outfit from dance class, a belt from martial arts). We will be guessing the item by asking questions so please put
the item I the bag provided and tell your child not to tell their friends about their secret
Les themes This October we will continue to study the colors in French. Each week we will look at a different
colour and learn some new vocabulary by learning the colors of many objects and their names. We will continue
to learn about rhymes. Recognizing rhymes is important in kindergarten as it is the basis of phonological
awareness: understanding that language is composed of words, syllables, rhymes and sounds (phonemes). Finally,
we will continue to learn a new letter of the alphabet each week and what words begin with those letters in
French. You can help at home by discussing what the colours of objects are in French, and asking for French
vocabulary that your child has learned. You can also work with rhymes at home by reading nursery rhymes or
other rhymes in English and asking your child to identify them.
La lecture Try to read to your child every day. One way to keep track of how much you are reading is to use the
form provided by our school librarian.

Les sciences humaines et les sciences naturelles

Les science humaines We will be studying ourselves this month in the contexts of our home life, family and
daily lives at school. We will learn about the correct ways to act at school, why it is so important to go to school,
and learn about the different people at school who can help us when we need it. We will also learn about
responsible and caring behaviour towards our immediate environment (school) and learn about our
responsibilities at school. You can help at home by asking your child about their day at school and asking them
how they are behaving with their classmates and teachers.
Les sciences naturelles We will continue to learn about weather in general. You can help at home by asking
about the French vocabulary that your child has learned with regards to fall and weather.

Les mathmatiques
Les regularities (patterns) We will continue our unit on patterns. We will also learn new fun math games. You
can help at home by asking your child to identify patterns he or she while at home or outdoors with you (example:
a fence, the dotted line on the road, the streetlamps, etc.)
Le nombre We will hopefully begin to explore numbers up to 5 near the end of this month. It is very important
to have an in-depth look at the basics to ensure your child has good number sense no matter what their math
abilities are. You can help at home by encouraging your child to practice counting out loud in French and making
groups of objects and learning to identify how many objects are in the group made.

Lducation Physique (PE)

We have practiced being safe in the gym and students have learned when it is okay to be walking/running and
when they should be still. Students will begin to use some new gym equipment and learn how to play with it
safely. Students have already begun to use this equipment to move through activity stations and learn new skills.
You can help by discussing the importance of staying active and by asking what we have been doing in PE.

Daily Physical Activity

Riverdale has a daily physical activity time set aside each day for students to dance and move about with music
and the help of an older student leader. We also love to run at Riverdale and the kindergartens are no exception.
They are getting faster each day!

La planification personnelle (Health and Career)

We will learn about how to be healthy by exercising and eating healthy foods. We will continue to learn about our
jobs and responsibilities at home and school. We will continue to learn about the various sources of support
available at school. You can help at home by asking what types of jobs and responsibilities your child has at
school.

Les arts plastiques

We will be focusing on fall, thanksgiving, pumpkins and Halloween using different tools and mediums. You can
help at home by encouraging you childs interest in arts and crafts and by asking what we are working on at
school.

Other:

Many students are forgetting their communication folders (les pochettes) at home. Please ensure you
send it to school with your child each morning and check it for notices each evening.
I hope you are enjoying the Home reading program set up by our teacher librarian. For those of you
who are completing the form, may I please ask you to keep it at home until it is complete? I keep my
childrens on the fridge. That way it wont get lost and it wont get mixed up in other paperwork that may
be in the folder.
Please ensure your child goes to the bathroom just prior to coming to school. This way we avoid a
long line up at the one bathroom we share with the class next door. The less disruptions we have the more
learning can take place

Some students are still missing a pair of inside shoes. As the weather becomes wetter it will be
imperative for them to have clean dry shoes for inside.

Celebrating Birthdays at school

We already have some students who will be turning 5 soon! To celebrate their special day we like to sign
to them and give them a special sticker to wear for the day. They will also get a birthday card from the
class. If youd like, you are welcome to bring a treat to school to share with all 22 students to celebrate
further. Well have a mini party in the afternoon by sharing the treats before its time to go home.

Class Calendar

Sept. 28th Non instructional day. Have a fun day with your child at home!
Sept. 29th Individual photo day. Please explain to your child ahead of time that they will be getting their
photo taking today.
Sept. 30th PAC BBQ and school open house. Hope to see you there!
Oct. 2nd Terry Fox Run (Parents please feel free to join us on this fun day. Time of event to follow)
Oct. 15th Our class will have a special presentation by Surrey Parks about being safe and keeping our
park clean.
Oct. 30st Students are encouraged to come to school in costume or dressed in black and orange. We will be having
a kindergarten parade in the morning the show off our costumes! We will also have a fun day full of Halloween
activities in class!

Calling Parent volunteers!

Play dough HELP! I am still looking for volunteers to make play dough throughout the year. To start I would
need volunteers to make play-dough for:
ASAP Two different coloured batches of fall coloured play-dough (such as red, yellow, orange, brown,
etc.)
Please e-mail me if you are interested and I will get back to you if you are making it. There is a recipe on the class
website that works for me every time!
If you have any questions or comments. Please feel free to send me a note, talk to me after class or contact
me by e-mail at mcdonald_s1@surreyschools.ca. Please note that I may not get around to responding to e-mails
on a daily basis so please be patient and I will try my best to respond within 48 hours. If you have something time
sensitive to communicate it is always best to give the school a call.

Thanks for reading!

Mme. McDonald
Class website:
http://laclassedemmemcdonald2015-2016.weebly.com