Week of March 9 - March 13

A BIG THANK YOU for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with me. It is always such a wonderful time to share all the big and little successes in your child's learning. :)

Five more days......lol I think everyone is looking forward to a little break, and hopefully, a little less snow!

We are in for a fun week this week as we celebrate Spirit Week here at Glen Stewart Primary. 

Monday - Wear Blue/Orange or school clothing

Tuesday - Crazy Hat/Hair Day

Wednesday - Rock your mismatched socks (for World Down Syndrome Day)!

Thursday - Cozy PJ Day

Friday - Dress in GREEN for St. Patrick’s Day  

In the classroom, we will be continuing on with looking at the fives senses and having a little fun with that sneaky old leprechaun! 

Homework

We are beginning to move away from sentence ladders and attempting to read our little decoable booklets. 

Dates to Remember

March 16-20 March Break (No classes) 

April 2 - Chocolate Bar BINGO Night

April 3 - Good Friday - (No classes)

April 6 - Easter Monday (No classes)

April 10 - Professional Learning Day  (No classes)

Notes from Admin.

Medication Administration at School

We have seen a recent influx of students who require medication administration at school. We would ask that if a child is taking medication to please contact the main office before sending it in. The school has forms that are required to be completed by both parents and the physician.

Chocolate Bar Bingo

The GSP Home and School will be hosting a Chocolate Bar Bingo Night on April 2nd.  You can purchase your tickets online on our hot lunch website for this event. Stay tuned for more information.

Week of March 2 - March 6

This year is zipping by! March already. Wow!

This month is looking a little calmer than February with regards to all the special events happening.  We have our book fair, parent teacher conferences, St. Patrick's Day fun, and of course March Break to look forward to. 

Parent Teacher Conferences

If you haven't already had a chance to do so, could you please sign up for a time to meet with me. The link will remain open until late tomorrow. 

https://gsp.parentteacherconferences.net 

Book Fair

We are heading to the book fair tomorrow afternoon. If you wish for your child to purchase a book or two, please send  their money in a ziplock bag with their name and amount listed. Thank you. :)

Science

For the next couple of weeks we are looking at our science outcomes focusing on the five senses. We talk a lot about our senses throughout the year, but now, we will be looking at them in greater depth. It is such a fun unit to do with the children. Nothing better than a good old taste test. LOL

Literacy

Tapping and blending. Tapping and blending!  That's what we do. :)

Those vowels can be tricky. We will be continuing to work on those for the remainder of the year.

Our writers workshop is going so well. The chidren are so excited to see what they can do on their own. If they are writing at home, please encourage them to continue to write what they hear. Don't spell everything for them unless it needs to be ( birthday cards and such). If they spell apple "apl" well then, they are doing exactly what they should be doing at this point in their learning. I keep reminding them that they are only five and six years old, and they shouldn't know how to spell everything at this point. We are just learning!

Numeracy

We are continuing to work with the numbers to ten. We are beginning to break the numbers into two parts and name the two parts. I told the children that we are starting to do what " they do in Grade One", and they are super excited to begin. 

Dates to Remember

• March 5 (PM only) and March 6 (AM only) - Parent/Teacher Interviews - no school on Friday

• March 16 - March 20 - March Break - no school

Week of February 23 - February 27

With the Olympics behind us...... still recovering from that overtime goal :(    ...... we are wrapping up a few activities around families, and with it being Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday, we are talking a lot about what it means to be a good friend, and how you can show kindness to everyone. 

Literacy

We are going to begin looking at decodable books this week in the classroom, and hopefully next week, we will be able to start sending the books home with the children to practice.  

In Fundations, we are continuing on with CVC words  and practicing printing our letters.  

Our new trick word is "me".

Numeracy

Still working with the numbers up to 10. :)

Report Cards and Parent/Teacher Interviews

Please watch for an email this week regarding booking a time to come and meet with me.  These meetings will be held on Thursday, March 5th and Friday, March 6th.  If these times do not suit your schedule, I will have some earlier times available throughout the week. 

Book Fair

There will be more information heading your way. Stay tuned!

Dates to Remember

• Feb 25 - Pink Shirt Day

• Feb 26 - 100th Day of School (nothing needs to be prepped at home for this day)

• March 5 (PM only) and March 6 (AM only) - Parent/Teacher Interviews - no school on Friday

• March 16 - March 20 - March Break - no school

Week of February 17 - February 20

Valentine's 2.0!  I was so disappointed. My valentines and cookies were all packed up, in the car, and ready to go. :(   The children may bring in their valentines on Tuesday, and we will have our little party then.  Thank you to everyone who offered to send along a little treat for the class. It is greatly appreciated. 

We are in for another jam-packed week of fun. With the Olympics, Valentines, Family Day, Lunar New Year, Ramadan, and Winter Wellness Day, we will be at Friday before we know it. 

With us having Family Day this week, it is the perfect time to be looking at a couple of our social studies outcomes.

S.S.2.1 - identify and describe their family

S.S. - 2 - recognize that families have varied traditions, rituals, and celebrations 

We will be reading stories and completing activities all about family. It is a special time of year for the children. A time to be able to tell us all about the people at home who love them.  I would love to have a family picture to display on our family wall. If it is easier for you to send me a picture through my email, I would be more than happy to print it off. 

Literacy

We will be starting Unit 3. It is a continuation of tapping and blending three sounds to form words, as well as the introduction of long and short vowel sounds.

Our bank of trick words continues to grow. Yes and  no will be added to the word rings this week. 

Numeracy

We are still working with the numbers up to 10. Hopefully, our medal count will continue to rise at the Olympics as we use tally marks to record the ones we already have. 

Olympics and Winter Wellness

Friday will be a big day at Glen Stewart! We are having "Closing Ceremonies" all day long.  We will be having fun outside on our big snow hill first thing in the morning, and then mid day, we are moving upstairs to participate in the Winter Olympics. We have a chance to score big in different events.  There will be a Torch Relay, Beanbag Curling, Bobsled, Snowboarding, and Air Hockey.

***Please note that the Grade 2 Cool Kids Club is hosting a Jersey Day on Friday, and they are accepting monatary donations for Special Olympics. 

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kcYOZYZKwF7dc3rwf210KqLONdktsLkkHJGwOR_10RY/edit?usp=drivesdk 

Week of February 9 - February 13

We had a fabulous time at the GSP Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies on Friday. It was amaing to see exactly how many countries are represented in this little school of ours. The smiling faces said it all. :)  

We are in for another busy week in KA. We will be following the Canadian Olympic Team as they go for the gold, and we are having fun with a few Valentine's Day activities.  

Literacy

This is an assessment week for Fundations, and as a result, there will not be a parent handout going home. We will continue to work on printing the uppercase letters and tapping and blending. I am going to be sending another sentence ladder in the homework folders for the children to work on at home. Just a few minutes a night makes a HUGE difference. 

Our new trick word for our valentine's week is "love".

Numeracy

The number 8 is still our number of focus, but we are also going to keep track of the number of medals Canada receives in Italy with tally marks on our classroom bulletin board.

Valentine's Day Party

Since Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year, we are celebrating on Thursday, February 12.  Everyone should have gotten a class list in their homework bag on Friday if you wish to make valentines for the class. If you did not receive one, let me know, and I will make sure to get one to you. Treats are more than welcome in the class, but please make sure they are nut-free.  

Dates to Remember

• Feb. 13- School Goals Day (No School)

• Feb. 16- Islander Day (No School) 

• Feb. 20 - Winter Wellness Day

• Feb 25 - Pink Shirt Day

Our Field Trip :)

Week of February 2 - February 6

HI Everyone,

As of right now, it looks like our field trip is a go for Tuesday morning. :) We will be leaving the school around 9:15 and returning just in time for lunch.

This week at the school, we are building up the excitement for the Olympic Winter Games, and we will be having opening ceremonies in the gym. We are being asked to dress in red and white to show our Canadian pride. :)

Literacy

We are finishing up our look at the uppercase letters and continuing to practice tapping and blending sounds. 

The sentence ladders appear to be going well. A new one will go home on Tuesday. We have begun to read small readers in the classroom. We will be doing a combination of decodables as well as leveled readers.

Our new trick word is "come".

Numeracy

We will be completing activities involving the number 8. 

Dates to Remember

• Feb. 3 - Field Trip (Bowling and Library)

• Feb. 6 - Dress in Red and White

• Feb. 13- School Goals Day (No School)

• Feb. 16- Islander Day (No School) 

• Feb. 20 - Winter Wellness Day

• Feb 25 - Pink Shirt Day

January 26 - January 30

Well it looks like we are heading into another stormy Monday!  Fingers crossed that we won't get too much snow. 

The children had a wonderful time acting out the story The Hat last week, and we also completed of fun little art project to go along with it.

We have a very busy few weeks coming up with lots to do. Our field trip to the Murphys Community Centre and Charlottetown Library, Family Literacy, Groundhog Day, Winter Olympics, Valentine's Day and Family Day are just a few of the events we will be taking part in.  Stay tuned!!

Literacy

We are continuing on with tapping and blending, alphabetical order, and the introduction of the uppercase letters. This week's focus will be on the letters I - P. 

Our new trick word is "here".

Homework

I will be sending home a sentence ladder with each of the children to read. It is a pretty simple one to get us started. Please make sure that your child is pointing to each word as they say it and not simply sliding their finger across the page.  I have attached an information sheet to the ladder, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 

Numeracy

We are still working with the numbers 6 - 10.

Book Buddies

Our book buddies had to cancel last week. Being out last Monday for the storm day resulted in a scheduling conflict. We were hoping to try again this week, but with tomorrow's weather forecast we might need to wait to see if the groundhog says that winter is over soon before attempting to plan another. lol

Field Trip

On Tuesday, February 3, we are hopping on the bus to go to the Murphy's Community Centre to spend some time bowling, and after that, we are walking down the block to the Charlottetown Library to participate in a library tour and a couple of group activities. The bus will then meet us there as we make our way back to the school for lunch.  A permission slip was sent home with your child last week for you to sign and return . The cost of the outing is $8.00.  If this presents a challenge for you please reach out, and I would be more than happy to help out. 

Upcoming Events

• Family Literacy events will be happening the week of Jan 26 - 30. This will be a school-wide event. Students are invited to send in pictures of themselves reading at home. This can be with family, a pet or alone. :) 

Dates to Remember

Jan. 26- Home and School Meeting

Jan. 26 - 30 - Family Literacy Week

• Jan. 28 - Character Dress Up Day

• Jan. 30 - Pajama Day

• Feb. 13- School Goals Day (No School)

• Feb. 16- Islander Day (No School) 

• Feb. 20 - Winter Wellness Day

• Feb 25 - Pink Shirt Day

January 19 - January 23

This week, we are continuing on with another story by Jan Brett, The Hat. In this book, a silly little hedgehog named Hedgie gets a sock stuck on his head, and he convinces all the barnyard animals that it is his hat. 

Literacy

The children have been doing a fabulous job with tapping and blending this past week, and they are excited to be reading these small words on their own. I will be introducing sentence ladders to the children and showing them what to do with the ladders when they start to take them home to read with their family.  We will have a week of practice in the classroom, and then next week, the ladders will start going home. 

In Fundations, we will be continue to work on our tapping and blending skills along with a quick look at the uppercase letters. The pace for introducing these letters is much faster than it was for the lowercase ones. This week will cover the letters A-H.

Our new trick word is "and".

Numeracy

We are working with the number 7.

Book Buddies

We have been asked if we would like to buddy up with a Grade Three class (Jill Nicholson's) from Stratford Elementary, and of course we said YES!  Our first time together will be on Friday afternoon. KA teamed up with Grade Three last year and they LOVED it. They especially proud of being able to say that they got to go to the "Big School" on the days we visited Grade Three.   

Field Trip

On Tuesday, February 3, we are hopping on the bus to go to the Murphy's Community Centre to spend some time bowling, and after that, we are walking down the block to the Charlottetown Library to participate in a library tour and a couple of group activities. The bus will then meet us there as we make our way back to the school for lunch.  A permission slip will be going home with your child for you to sign and return when we get closer to the date . The cost of the outing is $8.00.  If this presents a challenge for you please reach out, and I would be more than happy to help out. 

Upcoming Events

• Family Literacy events will be happening the week of Jan 26 - 30. This will be a school-wide event. Students are invited to send in pictures of themselves reading at home. This can be with family, a pet or alone. :) 

Dates to Remember

Jan. 26- Home and School Meeting

Jan. 26 - 30 - Family Literacy Week

• Jan. 28 - Character Dress Up Day

• Jan. 30 - Pajama Day

• Feb. 13- School Goals Day (No School)

• Feb. 16- Islander Day (No School) 

• Feb. 20 - Winter Wellness Day

• Feb 25 - Pink Shirt Day

Week of January 12 - January 16

We had a fun week with some of our winter-themed activities, and we will continue on with this in the upcoming weeks. This week, we are looking at the book, The Mitten, by Jan Brett. It is about several animals trying to fit into a little boy's mitten in order for them to stay warm.  

Literacy

We are starting Unit Two of Fundations. This week, we are beginning to look at alphabetical order and working on tapping and blending sounds together to make small CVC ( consonant,vowel,consonant) words. 

Our new trick word is "we". 

I will be sending home an information sheet that will let you know what we will be doing in the classroom and what you can do at home to help your child to become a "Super Reader".  We have begun to look at different ways to help them solve unknown words, and with the introduction to tapping sounds, it is my hope that we will be reading our small decodable books in no time.  We have book bins now to share, and the children are loving this time spent with a partner or on their own simply looking at books for their own enjoyment. 

Numeracy 

We are focusing on the number 6 this week. We are looking at various ways to form the number as well as breaking the number apart and naming the two parts.  Patterns are finishing up, but we are having lots of fun trying to extend various pattern during our daily sign in time. 

Field Trip

On Tuesday, February 3, we are hopping on the bus to go to the Murphy's Community Centre to spend some time bowling, and after that, we are walking down the block to the Charlottetown Library to participate in a library tour and a couple of group activities. The bus will then meet us there as we make our way back to the school for lunch.  A permission slip will be going home with your child for you to sign and return when we get closer to the date . The cost of the outing is $8.00.  If this presents a challenge for you please reach out, and I would be more than happy to help out. 

Upcoming Events

• Family Literacy Day events will be happening on Tuesday, January 27th. This will be a school-wide event. Students are invited to send in pictures of themselves reading at home. This can be with family, a pet or alone. :) 

Have a wonderful week!

Norma Lea

Week of January 5 - January 9

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!!

I hope everyone was able to enjoy some time with family and friends over the holidays.  It was great to have the break, but I am excited to see those 13 little faces on Monday morning. :) 

This week, we will be slowly getting back into our routine.  We are completing a  few little New Year's activities, as well as having some winter-themed fun.

We have a new "winter- themed" area set up in our dramatic play area. There are opportunities for the children to work on sorting mittens, counting buttons for snowmen,  making snowflake patterns, matching snowmen rhyming cards, building snowmen with numbers, working on gross motor skills with a snowball toss game. and fort building , and using their creative abilities by dressing up as a snowman. :) 

Literacy

This week will be a review. We now have all the lowercase letters and sounds so we will do a quick refresher, and then next week, we will be looking at the formation of the uppercase letters, alphabetical order, and then comes tapping. Putting all those sounds together to make words. It's a fun time in Kindergarten. All of those puzzle pieces start to fit together. 

We will be starting our reading program this month.  I will be sending more information home to better explain what it looks like at the kindergarten level.  It is NOT a huge amount by any means.  I want the children to be excited about the thought of reading and not see it as something hard and to dread doing. Stay tuned! :)

Numeracy

We have had fun with patterns so far, and everyone is doing well.  We will continue with patterns for the next couple of weeks, and then we will be moving onto looking at the numbers 6 - 10.

Field Trip

We are in the planning stages for a field trip for later on this month. Once everything has been finalized, I will send out the information for it. :)

Reminders

Every day, please pack the following in your child's backpack:

• snow pants

• hat

• extra mittens

• extra socks

*If you need support with any of these items, please send me a little note, and I would be more than happy to help out. :)

Have a great first "school week" in 2026!!

Take care,

Norma Lea

Week of December 15 - 19

Five more days!! We can do this. :)

Below is a list of our themes for the week.  It's all about having fun, fun, and more fun, but we are going to throw in a little work just to keep things interesting. 

Our Fundations letters are "qu" and "z" and our trick word is 'you". 

Monday, December 15 -  Dress in Red and Green and Get up and Dance

Tuesday, December 16 - School-wide Read Aloud with Admin and Name That Tune

Wednesday, December 17 - Dress in Festive Attire

Thursday, December 18 - School-wide Bingo

Friday, December 19 -  P. J. Day and last day of school for 2025

Reminders

Every day, please pack the following in your child's backpack:

• snow pants

• hat

• extra mittens

• extra socks

*If you need support with any of these items, please send me a little note, and I would be more than happy to help out. :)

Have a wonderful holiday with your littles. Embrace all the chaos and excitement!!  Take it from the mom of a 23 year old.....these years go by in a heartbeat. 

Norma Lea :)

Week of December 8 - 12

It's Concert Week!!!!  The children are super excited to sing for you on Tuesday. Just a reminder that there are two concert times.

11:00 - AM concert

4:30 - PM concert ( Please have your child come to the classroom to line up with the class. They can come down with me anytime after 4:10).  If  your child will NOT be attending the afternoon performance would you please let me know. Thank you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It looks like the snow is going to be sticking around for awhile. Please remember to send in snowpants, hats, and a couple of pairs of mittens for recess times. I do have a few extra pairs on hand for those mornings that are extra busy and things get forgotten. 

With our snow day cancellations and our concert this week, we are doing a little bit of catch up to complete a few activities we started last week. 

Literacy

In Fundations, we are focusing on the letters "x" and "y". and our trick word is "look". 

Numeracy

You guessed it!  Patterns!! :)  Here are a couple of the videos we use in the classroom. :)

Scratch Garden Patterns 

The Pattern Song 

Dates to Remember

• Tuesday, December 9 - Christmas Concert  (11:00 & 4:30)  

• Monday, December 15 - Dress in Red and Green Day

• Wednesday, December 17 - Dress in Festive Attire Day

• Friday, December 19 - last day of school for 2025 - P.J. Day

Week of December 1 - 5

How are we in December already???  This year is flying by.

We had a super time talking about fairy tales last week, but now we are shifting our focus to various holidays celebrated throughout the world.

With the holiday season beginning , we thought that it was a great opportunity to work on our social studies  2.2 outcome, recognize that families have varied traditions, rituals, and celebrations.  We will be taking a closer look at Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Diwali through games, crafts, and fun activities.

We will be changing our dramatic play area into Santa's Workshop. Stay tuned for pictures when Santa's little elves have it up and running. 

Literacy

Our Fundations letters are "v" and "w" and our trick word is 'in". We will be working on labeling this week using a holiday-theme as a prompt. 

Numeracy

The children are really enjoying patterns, and they are noticing them everywhere. The holidays are full of patterns!

Dates to Remember

• Tuesday, December 9 - Christmas Concert  (11:00 & 4:30)  ** ~ Tickets went home last week in the homework folders. 

• Monday, December 15 - Dress in Red and Green Day

• Wednesday, December 17 - Dress in Festive Attire Day

• Friday, December 19 - last day of school for 2025 - P.J. Day

**Reminder**

Please remember to send in at least two pairs of mittens with your child. :)  We have some really soggy mittens after our morning recess, and unfortunately, there is not enough time for them to dry before going out at lunch. 

Week of November 24 - 28

A big THANK YOU  to all who were able to meet with me last week.  It is so nice to have a few moments to chat about your child's progress. These kiddos are simply amazing me every day. 

This week, we are going to continue with our fairytale theme. We will be looking at a few in greater detail and making some comparisons between these stories. We are working on health and well being outcomes by exploring healthy food choices and safe and unsafe situations with Red Riding Hood, and talking about how working hard and trying your best is always the best option with The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf.

Last week, we had so much fun working together to create several different walls for Humpty Dumpty. Check out the pictures and videos below.

Literacy

Our Fundations letters are "h", "l" and "k", and our trick word is "my".   We will be continuing on with rhyming throughout our days, but we are shifting our focus to beginning sounds and being able to label some of our drawings. 

Numeracy

Last week, we played around with simple two element patterns, and now, we are adding a third element.  We are making pattern snakes and for our fairytale theme, we will be making crowns with patterned jewels :)

Dates to Remember

Tuesday, December 9 - Christmas concert 11:00 and 4:30

Friday, December 19 - Last of Kindergarten for 2025

**Note - There will be more special days announced as we get closer to Christmas. Stay tuned! 

Week of November 17 - 21

Hi Everyone,

We had a lot of fun last week with a few nursery rhymes, and we are continuing on with some more by measuring spider webs from Little Miss Muffet and doing a little problem solving with Humpty Dumpty. We are also turning our attention to fairytales. We will be looking at the characteristics of fairytales and completing activities connected to a few of our favorites. 

November has been a rainy month with lots of indoor recess time. Hopefully there will be breaks here and there in the weather, and  we will be able to get in a little outdoor play. Please remember to send boots and splash pants with your child. Hats and a couple of pairs of mittens are always a good idea as well. It can be really chilly on the playground! 

Literacy

Our Fundations letters are "p" and "j ", and our trick word is "to".   Since we have these particular letters this week , we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to wear our PJ's to school. Thursday will be PJ Day!! :)  Our new trick word is "to".

Numeracy

Patterns, Patterns, and more Patterns!  That will be the theme of KA  until the new year.  Last week, we discussed the shapes hexagon, trapezoid, and rhombus, and we completed an activity talking about the different ways we can sort. We learned about sorting by color, size, and shape. This week, we are going to start with simple two element patterns.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Just a friendly reminder to please sign up for an interview time if you haven't already done so. I am looking forward to meeting with you to discuss all of the wonderful things your child has been accomplishing during these past few months. 

 https://gsp.parentteacherconferences.net 

Dates to Remember

Wednesday, November 19 - Jersey Day

Thursday, November 20 - PJ Day

Thursday, November 20 - Parent/Teachers Conferences (evening only)

Friday, November 21 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (no school)

Tuesday, December 9 - Christmas concert 11:00 and 4:30

Week of November 12 -14

We are in for another very short week this week. 

We had an impromptu lesson on making paper airplanes last week, and then we decided to take to the hallway to see who's plane would fly the furthest. We also had a great time at the Captain Courage & The 7C’s of Resiliency presentation. Check out the pictures below. 

It looks like we are in for a rainy week ahead. Please be mindful of what your child has to wear for outdoor play. The only time that we will be having an indoor recess is when it is raining outside. If there happens to be a break in the weather during our recess time, we will be going out, and there are LOTS of puddles everywhere. Splash pants and rain boots are highly recommended. Please let me know if I can assist in anyway if this presents a challenge for you.

Literacy

I will be adding a new word ring to your child's homework folder this week. It has all the words on it that we have been practicing to date. A daily quick review is all that is needed with these words. Please ensure the word ring stays in the folder as I will be adding to the ring on a weekly basis. 

With Fundations, we will be simply continuing with the letters "e" and "r"  and trick word "go" from last week.

We will be completing activities around nursery rhymes while attempting to solidify the skill of both recognizing and producing rhyme. 

Numeracy

We are beginning our patterns unit, but first we will be looking at all the different ways we can use to sort objects into various groups. We will also be looking at three new shapes, hexagon, trapezoid, and rhombus.  I'm sure you will hearing lots about patterns in the upcoming weeks.  This is a favorite unit in Kindergarten!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

The online booking is up and running for our conferences on November 20 and 21. I have opened up a few spots earlier in the week for anyone who may not be able to meet on the scheduled times.  Please follow the link below. 

 https://gsp.parentteacherconferences.net 

• If you created an account last year, you will need to create a new account. The registrations are reset at the beginning of every school year.  You can register for an account by clicking the "REGISTER" menu tab and filling in the on-line form. Choose a user id and password for yourself and then click the "Register Now" button.  

•  Add your children into the system by clicking the "Add a Student" button. Press "Insert New" button to add more children

•  From November 12 (at 9:00 am) until November 18 (12:00 pm) you will be able to click the calendar icon beside each child's name to schedule appointments. Select the staff you wish to book appointments with and the "View Calendars" button.

•  Click on available time slots to book your appointments. Please touch base with your child's teacher if you plan to book multiple appointment times. CAUTION: Click only once and wait, double clicking may bring up an error message or undo your selection!

• **Important note: If you require an interpreter for your interview you will need to make arrangements with me before booking your interview online. 

Dates to Remember

Saturday, November 15 - Craft Fair (at the school)

Wednesday, November 19 - Jersey Day

Thursday, November 20 - Parent/Teachers Conferences (evening only)

Friday, November 21 - Parent/Teacher Conferences (no school)

Week of November 3 - 5

Hi Everyone,

We had so much fun on Friday! The kiddos did so well with the change in our daily routine and the indoor recess. We played games, sang songs, ate treats, and went on a little parade to see some of our other Kindergarten friends. Please check out the pictures at the end of this post. The weather was a little uncooperative, but I hope everyone had a great time Trick or Treating over the weekend. Please be mindful when sending treats in for snack and lunch time. Just a reminder to check the labels to ensure that all treats are peanut-free.  A big THANK YOU to all who who sent in treats for our little party. They were greatly appreciated by both the children and me. :) 

We have a few short weeks ahead of us. Please take note of all the days when we do not have classes.

This week is a three-day week. Teachers will be attending the PEITF Annual Convention on Thursday and Friday.

Presentation

We will be attending a presentation Monday morning with the other Kindergarten classes.

Captain Courage & The 7C’s of Resiliency is a (free), playful, story-driven performance that introduces young learners to the 7Cs of Resilience; Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, Contribution, Coping, and Control, developed by pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg. The performance and storybook (which will be donated to each English class that books a presentation), promote social-emotional learning (SEL), empathy, and kindness, and align with PEI curriculum outcomes for kindergarten to Grade 2.

Literacy

We are focusing our attention on nursery rhymes for the next couple of weeks.  Rhyming is such an important skill for children to have. It is a precursor for reading. The children will be solidifying the skills of recognizing and producing rhyme. We have a lot of fun with this unit, and I am sure you will hear all about it in the upcoming days.

Fundations

With the next two weeks being short weeks in school, the Kindergarten teachers have decided to complete Week 7 over the two weeks. We are looking at the letters "e" and "r", and our new trick word is "go".  

Numeracy

We are finishing up our look at the numbers up to five before moving onto patterns. 

Remembrance Day

This week, we will also be talking about Remembrance Day.  It is a hard subject for little people to understand. We want them to understand the importance of this special day, but we also want to keep it child-friendly when we have discussions about why we recognize this day. We will complete a few activities focusing on Remembrance Day, and we will be joining the rest of the school in an assembly on Wednesday afternoon. 

Message from our Occupational Therapist

Dear Kindergarten parents!

This week’s video is for students who are left-handed! It is a right-handed world out there, so we created this video to provide parents, students and teachers with suggestions to make things a little easier for left-handed students, both at school and at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_m9ecI3S_k

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Katie McKee-Blanche

Occupational Therapist

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Thursday & Friday, November 6 & 7 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Monday, November 10 - Teacher Administrative Day (no school)

Tuesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Wednesday, November 19 - Jersey Day

Thursday, November 20 - Parent/Teacher Interviews (evening only)

Friday, November 21 - Parent/Teacher Interviews (no school)

Week of October 27 -31

It is going to be an exciting week in KA with lots of fun brewing for our Halloween party on Friday. If your child is planning wearing a costume,  it would be great they could wear it to school, and then we would be ready to start our day.  Please remember to keep all costumes child-friendly (nothing too scary)  and keep any small accessories at home for trick or treating. In the busyness of the day, small items can often be overlooked when packing up to go home. If you are planning on sending in treats/ juice (for 13 children) , would you mind sending me a quick email letting me know what you are bringing? Just a friendly reminder to make sure that they are nut-free. 

It should be a great day of games, treats, and fun!  :)  

Literacy

This week, I will be assessing the children on the first six weeks of Fundations.  The assessment includes letter recognition, keywords, and sounds (ie, b-bat-/b/)  as well as printing.  Due to it being an assessment week, we will not be looking at any new letters,  but  we will add "like" to our list of trick words .  We will continue to review the letters we have been introduced to by stirring a witch's cauldron full of letters to see what we can come up with. 

Numeracy

We are measuring and recording the various sizes of some pumpkins , as well as creating a little monster math craft. 

Grocery Store

The kiddos are having a great time with the grocery store. Many outcomes are being worked on through the children's play. Here are a few of them......

Literacy - recognizing letters and sounds for label making and reading letters on the food containers

Numeracy - sorting and counting grocery items, recognizing numbers on labels, cash register, and pretend money

Social/Emotional - turn taking, asking and responding to questions

Science - using vocabulary associated with the five senses

Lots of great stuff! :)

I have added a few pictures below for you to have a quick look at our store. :)

Message from our Occupational Therapist

Dear Kindergarten parents!

This week’s video involves cutting with scissors! Using scissors is a great two-handed task that works on hand strengthening and coordinating two hands to work together which is very important for developing eye-hand coordination skills! Please watch the video and use the fun strategies at home with your children. Remember, if your child is left-handed, use left-handed scissors as the blades are different on left-handed scissors, making it easier to cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izmn1C4z8B8&t=14s

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Katie McKee-Blanche

Occupational Therapist

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 31 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 6 & 7 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Monday, November 10 - Report Card Day (no school)

Tuesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Here are a few songs that we have been listening to at snack and lunchtime.  

Halloween Songs 

Happy Trick or Treating!

Week of October 20 - 24

Hi Everyone,

The leaves are definitely falling this weekend. I think they were falling faster than I could rake them up! lol

The children and I have decided to transform our dramatic play area into a grocery store, and we need your help. If you are able to send in any empty cereal, snack, or tissue boxes, or yogurt containers,etc, it would be greatly appreciated.  I will post a few pictures once we have it all set up. :)

Literacy

This week, our Fundations letters are "d" and "s". We are going on a ghost hunt throughout the classroom to find ghosts who have pictures connected to the sounds we have been introduced to. I am not adding a new trick word into the mix this week. We are going to review the ones we have to date. 

Numeracy

We are completing another counting jar activity, but this time, it has a more Halloween feel to it. We are counting ghosts, bats, pumpkins, eyeballs, and snakes while focusing on the numbers up to 5.

School Pictures

If you haven't done so already,  you can access them via the QR code sent home with your child or enter the link provided on the same paper directly into your browser.  Please note that the order deadline to obtain free shipping to the school is Tuesday, October 21st.  If you have any questions, please contact info@everestsolutionsgroup.ca.

We will be having Picture Retakes on Thursday, October 23 for any student who may have missed or for anyone who may want an alternate option. Please let me know if you are planning on retakes for your child. 

Message from our Occupational Therapist

Dear Kindergarten parents!

I hope everyone was able to watch the 2 videos that were sent out on hand strengthening and functional pencil grasp! These are important skills for your children to have as they move through kindergarten!

This week’s video is on Pre-writing Skills – practicing how to draw shapes such as circles, squares and triangles! These shapes are important for drawing skills and forming the letters of the alphabet – e.g. O, A, b and k all start with shapes! The suggestions in the video can also be used when your children are practicing “Fundations” printing at home!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMuMYLYqTnQ&t=11s

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Katie McKee-Blanche

Occupational Therapist

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 31 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 6 & 7- PEITF Convention (no school)

Monday, November 10 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Tuesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Week of October 14 - 17

Hi There!

I hope everyone had a great long weekend, and you were able to enjoy plenty of yummy food with the people closest to you. The weather was perfect!

This week, we are continuing to expand on our drawing ability. One of the first steps in becoming a writer is being able to draw a picture to match your story. With Thanksgiving behind us, we will be moving our attention to activities with a fall and Halloweenish-look to them.  We have been attempting a couple of drawing activities using Art Hub on Youtube.  If you haven't already heard of it, check it out. Typically, children really enjoy following along to these simple videos, and there are lots to choose from. 

Fundations

This week, we are working on the letters "a" and "g", and our trick word is "is". We are continuing to work on how many words are in a spoken sentence, Most of the children are showing a greater awareness of this skill, and now, I am going to mix them all up by adding syllables to their list of things to know.  It all works itself out in the end. It just may take a little time getting there, and we have lots of time. 

Numeracy

Last week, we looked at various ways to make the number three using the various toys and manipulatives in the classroom. The children did a great job at creating and recording the number three in different formations. We also talked about different groupings to make three. Here is a quick video that we watched. 

I Can Say My Number Pairs

This week , we are continuing to work on our numbers up to five.

School Pictures

If you haven't done so already,  you can access them via the QR code sent home with your child or enter the link provided on the same paper directly into your browser.  Please note that the order deadline to obtain free shipping to the school is Tuesday, October 21st.  If you have any questions, please contact info@everestsolutionsgroup.ca.

We will be having Picture Re-takes  for any student who may have missed or for anyone who may want an alternate option. 

Walk to School

Our Walk to School was postponed last week due to weather. It will now take place on Tuesday, October 14th. Please plan to join some of our staff at the Stratford Town Hall for this fun event. 

Message from our Occupational Therapist

Dear kindergarten parents!

My name is Katie McKee-Blanche and I am the occupational therapist (OT) for your child’s school. My job as an OT is to work with students in the schools on their motor skills, self-care skills, self-regulations skills and getting ready for different classroom skills!  

Each week your child’s kindergarten teacher will be sending you a short write up from me with a link to a video. These videos were created by our school OT team and focus on the important skills needed for kindergarten! Kindergarten is a BIG year and a very important year for your children as they develop their motor skills, language skills, play skills, and social skills which prepare them for their school career!

Please watch the videos – each video includes information about each skill and provides some activities or strategies to work on at home! It is VERY important to work on these skills at home with your children.

This week’s video is on Hand Strengthening! These activities will help strengthen your child’s hands so they can grasp their pencil correctly, hold and cut with scissors, zipper coats and colour!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04igYLGNc40

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Katie McKee-Blanche

Occupational Therapist

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 31 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 6 & 7- PEITF Convention (no school)

Monday, November 10 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Tuesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Week of October 6 - 10

We had a wonderful time at the Teddy Bear Clinic. The nursing students did an amazing job hosting this. The children had a great time. I have attached a few pictures for you to have a little peek at our fun!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been looking at our drawings, and how we can make them better. The children are doing an amazing job with this. Last week, we focused on how to make facial expressions and hairstyles, and we talked about "If you are drawing about a particular person, you should always add those details to help your reader know who you are talking about."   The children drew self-portraits, and they did so well. It was pretty cute to watch them go back and forth to a mirror just to make sure they were getting it right. :) 

We have a lot happening in KA in the next few days. 

This week, we will be incorporating some fall and Thanksgiving activities into our numeracy and literacy outcomes. 

Literacy

This week in Fundations, we are focusing on the letters "c" and "o", and our new word is "the".  We are working on building sentences, and knowing the difference between a letter, a word, and a sentence. 

Numeracy

The focus will be on the number 3, but we are also using fall leaves, pumpkins and turkeys to build a greater awareness of the numbers up to five. 

Picture Day

Our turn for pictures will be on Tuesday, October 7th. 

Book Fair

Monday is our day to attend the book fair.  If you wish to send in money for your child to purchase a book or two, please send the money in a clear zip-lock bag with their name and amount written on the bag.  The books typically range from $8.00 and up.  

No School Days

Just a reminder that there will not be school on Friday, October 10th and Monday, October 13th.

Dates to Remember

Monday, October 6th - Thursday, October 9th - Book Fair

Tuesday, October 7th - Picture Day

Thursday, October 9th - Walk to School Day (Starting at the Stratford Town Hall)

Friday, October 10th - PD Day (no school)

Monday, October 13 - Thanksgiving Day (no school)

Have a great week, and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Week of September 29 - October 3

Hi There,

We had a great week of learning about Terry Fox and his legacy last week, and this week, we are talking about why we have Orange Shirt Day. These are both very heavy topics for little people to comprehend, but hopefully, they came away with a greater awareness of both. 

Literacy

This week in Fundations, we are focusing on the letters "i" and "u", and our new word is "can".  We are continuing to focus on the difference between a letter and a word and how many words are in a spoken sentence. Everyone is beginning to understand both concepts. We will be trying to put mixed up sentences in the correct order for it to make sense. 

Numeracy

We are working on counting the number of items in a group using fall-related items.

Bus Evacuation Drill 

At the beginning of every school year, we have a practice bus evacuation drill. This will be done on Monday afternoon (September 29th). It is great to see the "big kids" from Stratford Elementary helping our littles. Children who do not typically take the school bus to and/or from school are also asked to participate in the drill. Just in case, we are ever on a field trip and need to know what to do if there was ever an emergency. 

Teddy Bear Clinic

Our school has had several nursing students visiting a few Kindergarten classes throughout the last couple weeks, and they will be hosting a teddy bear clinic for all the Kindergarten children. Our turn will be on Wednesday, October 1st, and the children are being asked to bring in a teddy bear to take to the clinic.  

Book Fair

There will be a school-wide book fair from October 6th - 9th in our library.  If you wish to send in money for your child to purchase a book or two, please send the money in a clear zip-lock bag with their name and amount written on the bag.  The books typically range from $8.00 and up. There will also be a parent night on Thursday, October 9th. Please watch the school update for more information. 

Dates to Remember

Tuesday, September 30 - National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (no school)

Wednesday, October 1st - Teddy Bear Clinic (our time is at 8:30)

Monday, October 6th - Thursday, October 9th - Book Fair

Tuesday, October 7th - Picture Day

Thursday, October 9th - Walk to School Day (Starting at the Stratford Town Hall)

Friday, October 10th - PD Day (no school)

Monday, October 13 - Thanksgiving Day (no school)

Week of September 22 - 26

Hi Folks,

This is going to be a busy week for us in KA! We have lots of activities to complete and fun to be had. First off, a big thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Meet the Teacher night. If you were not able to attend, hopefully you saw the information sheets that I sent home with your child on Thursday. If you have any questions, I am more than happy to chat with you. 

Literacy

This week in Fundations, we are focusing on the letters "m' and "n", and we will be beginning our list of high-frequency (trick) words. They are "tricky" because you can not sound many of them out. Our first word is "see". We saw that word a lot last week in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

We are going to be working on how many words we hear in a spoken sentence. For example the sentence, "I like school." has three words.  It gets trickier when we attempt multi-syllable words. Many times children would say that there are six words in the sentence, "I like kindergarten." . They often confuse syllables for words and kindergarten would be broken up as kin-der-gar-ten. We are a work in progress. :)

Numeracy

Working with the numbers up to five with the focus shifting to the number 2. We are creating a little fall tree craft where we will be  counting and gluing various leaves to our trees, and looking at a variety of ways to represent the number 2.

Little Fox Run

Every year, Glen Stewart School participates in the Terry Fox Run. Our turn will be on Thursday, September 25. We will be getting out nice and early to run around the path which surrounds the playground. If you are able to, we often ask for a small donation to go towards this worthy cause. Thank you!

Orange Shirt Day

In honour of recognizing National Day of Truth and Reconciliation Day, we are asking the children to wear an orange shirt on Monday, September 29. No worries if you don't have an orange shirt. 

Teddy Bear Clinic

Our school has had several nursing students visiting a few Kindergarten classes throughout the last couple weeks, and they will be hosting a teddy bear clinic for all the Kindergarten children. Our turn will be on Wednesday, October 1st, and the children are being asked to bring in a teddy bear to take to the clinic.  

Dates to Remember

Monday, September 30 - No school (National Day of Truth and Reconciliation) 

Wednesday, October 1 - Teddy Bear Clinic

Week of September 15 - 19

Hi Everyone,

We had a wonderful first full week of kindergarten. The children know all of the transitions and seem to have a good understanding of the layout of the school.  Hopefully, you are hearing all about it.  We are making friends, learning new songs, starting our literacy program, doing lots of counting, playing on the playground, and having a great time throughout the day! 

Helper Days start tomorrow. I sent home a September calendar with your child's helper name listed. If you happened to misplace it, there is a calendar tab at the top of this post. On your child's helper day, they may take one item for show and tell. These are pretty BIG days in kindergarten. The power of being the line leader is like no other! lol

This week, we will be completing activities connected to Eric Carle"s book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, continuing to work with our names, and working on our cutting and drawing skills. 

Literacy

Our Fundations program is up and running. I will be sending home another information sheet tomorrow. We are starting with the letters t, b, and f. With this program, we actually begin with the lowercase letters, and then move into uppercase later on. We will also be starting a list of trick (high frequency) words soon. 

Numeracy

Last week, we looked at many different ways to represent the number one. We will be continuing with the numbers up to 5 for a bit. 

Here is the video we watched to helped solidify the learning.

I Can Show the Number 1 

Meet the Teacher

I look forward to seeing many of you this Wednesday (Sept 17th)  at 6:00.  If for some reason you are unable to attend, I am more than happy to send home a handout. 

Just a reminder to send a fork/spoon on the days your child orders from the provincial lunch program.  They are not supplied. 

Dates to Remember

Wednesday, September 17 - Meet the Teacher 

Thursday, September 25 - Terry Fox Run

Monday, September 29 - Orange Shirt Day

Tuesday, September 30 - No school (National Day of Truth and Reconciliation) 

Week of September 8 - 12

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to KA! 

Wow! Is all I can really say.  These kiddos are amazing!  They are doing so well. They are quickly settling into our daily routine and making new friends. We are going to have a fantastic year! 

With that said, it is a BIG transition for these little ones.  There will be lots of excitement, but there will also be some tears.  Do not be surprised if in a week or two when the excitement begins wears off that you may find your child isn't as enthusiastic about coming to school.  We all would like to have a day off here and there.  They are the same.  It is a busy pace, and it takes a while for them to get use to the countless transitions and the long day.  BUT I do encourage you to keep them to a regular routine as much as possible. It all works itself out in the end, and we have a FABULOUS time!  

This upcoming week, we are going to continue to practice all those "in-school" procedures.  Last week, we practiced our fire drill procedure with just  our class, and now this week, we will have our first school-wide one. The alarm can be loud for those with sensitivity concerns, but the good news is we are the class closest to the exit, and we are outside before you know it. Typically, everyone gets along really well. 

We are starting to work on our first social studies unit, "All About Me".  We will be talking about what makes us special and unique, and how we are similar to our peers in the classroom.  

Literacy

We will be starting our literacy program, Fundations, later in the week.  I will be sending a handout home for you to have a quick overview of the program. 

Numeracy

Our first numeracy block focuses on the numbers 0-5.  We will be meeting these outcomes in various ways. This week, we will start with the number 1. 

End of the Day

We are extending our day a little this week.  Dismissal for Kindergarten classes will now be 2:10. 

 If for some reason you need to drop off your child late or pick him/her up early, please notify the school (902-569-0550) and /or send me an email the day prior. 

Lunch Programs

 We have two lunch programs.  Please have a look at both programs and feel free to use these if you wish.  Always great to have options. :)

Healthy School Lunch Program 

Glen Stewart Primary Lunch Program 

Once the initial setup process is complete, ordering for the remainder of the year will be quick and simple. Please follow these steps to register for the on-line Hot Lunch program. 

Register Parent: (creates a parent user id and password) Go to https://glenstewartprimary.hotlunches.net Click on "Register". Complete the rest of the registration form. Click the "Register Now" button at the bottom of the page. Register Students: Log in to the system using your username and id. Click on the “Students” button. If this is the first child to be added to the account, simply enter the child’s name and class. If there is already a child registered and you wish to add another, click on the “Add New” button at the bottom of the screen. Click the “Insert” button to register your child with the information you’ve entered.

We’re excited to inform you that Dairy Farmers of PEI and ADL will be offering complimentary white milk to our kindergarten students during the weeks of September 8 through until September 26 (3 full weeks)!  This program is designed to encourage healthy eating habits and to support our young learners in their growth and learning journey.  Each child will receive a serving of white milk during lunch time!  (Sorry, chocolate milk is not available for this program.) When ordering for our Hot Lunch Program, you will not need to order white milk for those weeks. If you would prefer for your child not to have milk during these days, please let me know. 

Meet The Teacher

I am looking forward to our Meet the Teacher night that is coming up on Wednesday, September 17th at 6:00.  If for some reason you can not make it on Wednesday, please contact me, and I will be more than happy to send out a paper copy of what has been discussed. 

Sorry for the information overload!!  I promise (well hopefully) not to be so long-winded the next time. :)

Thanks and take care.  Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Norma Lea

Below, I have included a few pics of our KA staff just so you can put a friendly face to the names your children will be talking about when they come home at the end of each day. :)