Week of November 2 - November 6

We had a fabulous day on Friday! I don't know about the children, but I was exhausted by the end of the day! lol  I hope you heard all about our Halloween party.  A big THANK YOU to all who sent in treats for the class. It was greatly appreciated by both the children and me. :) Check out our fun in the pictures below. 

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.

Literacy

This is an assessment week in KA, and as a result, there will not be any new letters or trick words introduced. We are at the mid-point of Unit 1 in our Fundations program, and I will be asking the children to identity the letter/keyword/sound of some of the letters we have been learning about, along with being able to print letters using the pathways taught.

In November, we spend a lot of time talking about nursery rhymes and fairy tales. They are old favorites for a reason. :)  

Numeracy

We are finishing up our look at the numbers up to and including 5, and we will be moving into a new unit on patterns. In Kindergarten, children are expected to be able to recognize, extend, copy, and create simple two or three element patterns. 

Book Fair

November 9-13 - Scholastic Book Fair

November 12 - Scholastic Book Fair Shopping Party (6pm-6:45pm)

Cool Kids Club 

Cool Kids Fundraiser for Make A Wish Foundation - Wednesday, November 4: Our Cool Kids Club is a group of Grade 2 students who hold several fundraisers throughout the school year for various community groups. For November, they have chosen to support the Make a Wish Foundation with a hat day. Please see more details our our first fundraiser in this video:   Cool Kids Club - Crazy Hat Day Video.mp4 

From OT

Dear Kindergarten parents!

This week I have included 3 videos that all work on fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the ability to move your fingers using the small muscles in your hands and wrists. We rely on these skills to do important tasks in school, at home and in everyday life. These small movements come so naturally to most people that we usually don't think about them. But fine motor skills are complex. These 3 videos work on different fine motor skills, but all are equally important. There are Fun activities in each video to do with your child!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKa6o_DDEaY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zva1Hvskanc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4QuTu7vz6E

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

Katherine McKee-Blanche, OT Reg.(PEI)

Occupational Therapist, School Therapy OT Program

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Wednesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Friday, November 13 - Photo Retakes

Monday, November 16 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Tuesday, December 8 - Kindergarten Christmas concert  at 1:00 and 4:30. 

Week of October 25 - October 30

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 if 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 15 children) , would you mind sending me a quick email letting me know what you are planning? 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, we are working on the letters "d" and "s", and our trick word is "like".  We will continue to review the letters we have been introduced to with a fun witch's cauldron actvitity. We will also learn how to draw spiders and use our draiwings to help us create a simple sentence. Our understanding of syllables is continuing to grow. We will keep practising this skill using fun, Halloween-themed objects to help us hear and count the syllables in words. 

Numeracy

Ms. Emily has a little monster math all set and ready to go. 

Science

We will be talking a lot about the five senses when we carve a pumpkin. 

Grocery Store

The kiddos are having a great time with the grocery store with so many outcomes are being worked on as they 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, our cash register, and of course, pretend money :)

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

Science - using vocabulary associated with the five senses

Health and Physical Development - Developing spatial sense and an awareness of heatlthy food choices

Lots of great stuff! :)

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

From OT

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 child. 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.

Katherine McKee-Blanche, OT Reg.(PEI)

Occupational Therapist, School Therapy OT Program

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 30 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Wednesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Friday, November 13 - Photo Retakes

Monday, November 16 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Week of October 19 - October 23

We are welcoming Ms. Emily back this week. She will be completing her first education practicum with us, and we are lucky enough to have her in the classroom until December 11th.  I am sure you will be hearing lots about her in the upcoming days. 

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. :)

Over the next two weeks, we'll be adding a little spookiness to our daily routine as we get closer to Halloween. We will be creating some fun Halloween crafts, working on some literacy outcomes, a practising counting and making sets to match a given number using friendly ghosts, bats, and pumpkins. 

Literacy

This week, we are working on the letters "a" and "g", and our trick word is "can".  Now that we have a better understanding of how many words are in a spoken sentence, we're going to mix things up a little and begin exploring syllables. This can be a tricky concept at first, but with practice and time, it all starts to click. 

The children are also becoming more aware of the beginning sounds in words. We'll build on this skill by beginning to label our pictures using the first letter of a word. For example, we might use  "b"  for ball or "m" for marker. 

Numeracy

We are doing some spooky counting this week. We will be counting and recording bats, pumpkins, bones, and eyeballs. lol  All child-friendly of course.  The children have been having a gret time with our new racing bear game. They have to roll the dice to move their bear up the ladder to the top. It is great for one-to-one counting, subitizing (recognizing the dot formations rather than counting the dots), and adding on. 

School Photos

Everest Solutions is proud to have taken your child's school portrait this year. You should have received a QR code to view your child's portraits on photo day, however if you have not received the code or have misplaced the code, you can email info@everestsolutionsgroup.ca or call 1-833-960-3490  to get access to your photos. When you email Everest, please include the following: School Name, Student's Name, Home Room  and Grade.

Photo orders are due October 22 to get free shipping to the school. Retake photos are on November 13.

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 child 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 child is 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.

Katherine McKee-Blanche, OT Reg.(PEI)                                                                                                                                         

Occupational Therapist, School Therapy OT Program

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 30 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Wednesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Monday, November 16 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Week of October 13 - October 16

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!

With Thanksgiving behind us, we will be moving our attention to activities with a fall and Halloween"ish"-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. 

Literacy

This week, we are working on the letters "c" and "o", and our trick word is "the". We are continuing to work on recognizing how many words are in a spoken sentence and then following it up with a few cut and paste activities to show a physical representation of what a sentence looks like. 

Numeracy

We are continuing on with our number sense skills. We are looking at various ways to make the number three using the various toys and manipulatives in the classroom. The children are doing a great job at creating and recording numbers up to five in different formations. 

At the present time, it is ok to represent numbers in other ways. For example, if the answer is 5, and they are unsure of how to make the numeral 5, they can make five lines or five dots. 

School Pictures

If you haven't done so already,  you can access the pictuers via the QR code sent home with your child or enter the link provided on the same paper directly into your browser.  If you have any questions, please contact info@everestsolutionsgroup.ca.

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

Message from our Occupational Therapist

Dear kindergarten parents!

My name is Katherine 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-regulation skills and getting ready for different classroom activities!  

This year your child’s kindergarten teacher will be sharing some 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.

Katherine McKee-Blanche, OT Reg.(PEI)

Occupational Therapist, School Therapy OT Program

kmckeeblanche@ihis.org

Dates to Remember

Friday, October 30 - Halloween Party

Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6 - PEITF Convention (no school)

Wednesday, November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)

Monday, November 16 - Report Card Day (no classes)

Week of October 5 - October 9

We had so much fun at the Teddy Bear Clinic. The nursing students did an amazing job hosting this. The children were fantastic in telling the nursing students all about their teddies. When they were asked if their teddy had any allergies, one of my kiddos was quick to say "Yes, Ms.Murray"!!!!  lol  Too cute!  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. This week, we will are talking about how to add a setting to our pictures.  

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 "i" and "u", and we begining our list of trick words with the word  "see".  We are continuing to work on building sentences, and knowing the difference between a letter and a word.

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 Thursday, October 8th. 

Dates to Remember

Wednesday, October 7th - Walk to School Day (Starting at the Stratford Town Hall)

Thursday, October 8th - Picture Day

Monday, October 12th - Thanksgiving Day (no school)

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

Week of September 28 - October 2

Hi There,

We had a great chat 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 will come away with a greater awareness of both. 

We have been learning about adding detail when drawing pictures of people. We looked at and described different hairstyles and facial expressions. Check out the pictures below and see if you can spot your kiddo. :)  They did a fantastic job with these. Next, we are learning how to use shapes to build objects like a house, car, etc.  

Literacy

This week in Fundations, we are focusing on the letters "m" and "n".  We are continuing to work on recognizing the difference between a letter and a word and how many words are in a spoken sentence. 

We started our unit off with a little craft. We made "Baby Echo".  Baby Echo is a prop we use to help with letter and sound recognition, and pointing to the words in a sentence. 

Numeracy

We are working on the different ways to represent the number two.

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 Thursday, October 1st, and the children are being asked to bring in a teddy bear to take to the clinic.  

Bus Evacuation Drill 

At the beginning of every school year, we have a practice bus evacuation drill. This will be done on Tuesday 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. 

Dates to Remember

Tuesday, September 29th - Orange Shirt Day

• Bus Evacuation

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

Thursday, October 1st - Teddy Bear Clinic

Wednesday, October 7th - Walk to School Day (Starting at the Stratford Town Hall)

Thursday, October 8th - Picture Day

Monday, October 12th - Thanksgiving Day (no school)

Week of September 21 - 25

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

A big THANK YOU to everyone who was able to come to our Meet the Teacher last week. It is always nice to make that connection. 

Nursing Students

You may have heard that we had nursing students spend the day with us in our classroom last week, and they are coming back to spend a few more with us. Their role is to;

1. Become familiar with routines, the children, and observe the growth and development (G&D) of k-students.

2. Engage with the children through play and activities in the classroom.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. 

Literacy

This week, we will be starting an illustration unit to begin our early stages of writing and  discussing how a picture can tell a story. 

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 explored the many different ways to represent the number one. We'll be continuing to explore the numbers up to five for a while as we build our number sense and understanding. 

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

I Can Show the Number 1 

Terry Fox Run

Our run at the school is this upcoming Friday. If you would like to make a donation, you can either send it in with your child or you can do so online following the link below.  THANK YOU!

Terry Fox Donations 

Just a friendly reminder to send a fork or spoon with your child on the days they order from the provincial lunch program.  The province does not supply them, so please remember to pack one from home. 

Dates to Remember

Friday, September 25 - Terry Fox Run

Tuesday, September 29 - Orange Shirt Day

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

Week of September 14 - 18

Hi Everyone!

"Wow" is all I can really say. We have completed our first four days in the big school and  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 the rest of the school, and it went really well for it being our first time. 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.  

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. 

Social Studies

We are starting to work on our first 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.  

End of the Day

We are extending our day a little this week.  Dismissal for Kindergarten classes will now be 2:15. 

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

Breakfast Program

Our breakfast program will start on Monday and run each morning from 8 until 8:25. Students are able to access toast, fruit and cheese. Thank you to our parent and community volunteers!

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 Hot Lunch Program

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 14 through until October 2, 2026. 

This program is designed to encourage healthy eating habits and to support our young learners in their growth and learning journey.  Each child is eligible to 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, we would ask that if your child is interested in free milk to please order (you will not be charged). You will notice there is a Kindergarten specific September section on the online program.  

Meet The Teacher

I am looking forward to our Meet the Teacher night that is coming up on Wednesday, September 16th 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. :)

Welcome to KA! I am so excited to begin the year with your child and your family, and I look forward to getting to know each of you. I will be updating this site weekly with classroom news, learning experiences, and some exciting things happening in our classroom. 

Thank you for sharing your child with me. I am looking forward to a wonderful year together. 

Stay tuned - there are lots of fun ahead! :)