First Newsletter am and then pm.

Dear Parents;

     Welcome again to Broadview School and to the Junior Kindergarten class! The big step of starting school has gone very smoothly for everyone in our class and all the children are settling well into their routines. I can see the children have been well prepared and they have mostly taken everything very much in stride. I am particularly proud of how well they organize themselves and how quietly and attentively they listen to the story at circle time. The children go to their cubbies to get their snacks, are beginning to clean up after themselves and put their backpacks away after snack and even do a conscientious job of tidying up the toys at the end of quiet playtime. The children are also getting very good at walking in lines when we are going into school or to activities.
 The schedule for most days is:
9:05   Arrive, line up. Cubbies, change to inside shoes.
9:10   Individual reading on the carpet
9:15   Attendance and Circle Time (welcome song, weather song, calendar, story,                                                     
         class  news, safety reminders, dancing, lesson on how to do the craft)
9:55  Craft
10:00 French (days 1 and 3; a 20 minute lesson and then centres in French.) Finish craft, begin Learning Centres
10:50  Learning Centres, / Reading Buddies/Gym/Library visits
11:05 Tidy Up, end of morning Circle, review of concepts.
11:15 Outside Play
11:35 Cubbies for goodbye song, notes and reminders
11:40 Dismissal (please come into the room to get your child and please remember that we dismiss 10 minutes early and classes in our hall are still going on.)
   If you would like to get some more detailed answers to your questions about how school was today you can use this schedule to ask more specific questions. For example you could ask your child to tell you what happened in the story or what kind of craft he or she made.
   We also have some special events and will be gradually adding in others like sharing time and Me Days to keep things challenging and interesting.

   Our focus the first month was on building up a sense of belonging in our class, how to choose and make friends and on how to go to school. We began with the theme of Friends.  Our focus now is on Patterns. We are learning that anything that happens over and over is a pattern. We have looked at visual patterns such as stripes and spots and talked about rhyming words and repeated words in books and how they are a pattern. We are singing a song with a repeated pattern and will also do many musical rhythms. We are also learning that the days have a pattern and the seasons have a pattern. With all the themes this year your child is very welcome to bring in books from home on the topic to share with the class. (Please make sure his or her name is on the books, of course.)

   We are encouraging as much independence as possible. If your child has difficulty with shoes or jackets please have them practise at home. We will help here too, especially  with tricky things like buttons and zippers as these may be too difficult for children this age.  Please no shoes with laces. If you have a chance when you are packing the snack please put a little vertical snip at the top of the foil packaging on cookies, crackers, etc. to make it easier for the children to open them.

 We have started to have volunteer parents in the classroom this month. Carrie Cuhaci has kindly agreed to be our volunteer coordinator. She will put up a sign-up calendar for each month and  call those parents who aren't regularly in the school to help them arrange a convenient day to come in. Any parents who pick up their children daily can sign up on the calendar, which will be posted outside the classroom, for the days they would like to come.

  
   Finally, as your child's teacher I would like to take a minute to introduce myself. I have been working for the Board for 20 years and have taught and worked with children for another 12 years before that. I have taught kindergarten for 10 years, at Broadview, Christie and at Mutchmor, and have also taught many other grades and subjects, so I know where your child is headed in the long term as well as what they should know for this first year of their education. I am a teacher at least partly because of genetics; in my family there have been teachers for many generations. My father's first career was as a special education teacher, my grandmother taught kindergarten and my great-grandfather was a school inspector and taught at the College of Teachers at the University of Toronto. I have eight and a half years of university education, including a Master's degree. I play piano, guitar, recorder and autoharp and am a watercolour painter as well. I am working on illustrating a children's fairytale book which I hope to publish someday. I can draw, which is very handy, especially in a primary class. (I usually create the craft of the day to match the story of the day by drawing it in a similar style to the illustrations.) I am also a single parent to Elinor YaTing, a 6 year old little girl I adopted four years ago from China.

      A very important point to note is that the classroom will be Peanut and Nut free this year as some of our students have serious allergies. Please take great care with the food you send in and also ensure that your child's hands and clothes are free of peanut butter if they have eaten some for breakfast that day. Your understanding and help will be much appreciated.

     We will celebrate Hallowe’en on Friday, October 29^th  with a costume parade and some spooky songs and crafts. Please bear in mind our classroom is quite warm and send comfortable costumes and please no toy weapons.

     It promises to be an exciting and fun year. I am looking forward to a wonderful year with our class and to working with all of you to support them. If you ever have any questions or concerns I am always available before and after class or you can phone the office and leave me a message or send a note. Communication is very important and I am always ready to discuss your child or your questions. We have an open classroom and you are welcome to visit and observe at any time. We will use the smaller pocket at the front of the backpacks to communicate with letters and notes. If you have a note for me please put it in this pocket with a little red ribbon or pipe cleaner or wool so I will know to check it. Please check for letters from me in this pocket as well. Thank you again for all your help so far!   

                                                                                                                          Sarah Whitehead

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Child's name:

I have reviewed the information packet and filled in and returned the forms.

I have checked over the index page and made sure all of the information the school has on file is correct, signed it and returned it.

I would like to add my name to the list of volunteers.

I have the following questions:

PM newsletter:

Dear Parents;

     Welcome again to Broadview School and to the Junior Kindergarten class! The big step of starting school has gone very smoothly for everyone in our class and all the children are settling well into their routines. I can see the children have been well prepared and they have mostly taken everything very much in stride. I am particularly proud of how well they organize themselves and how quietly and attentively they listen to the story at circle time. The children go to their cubbies to get their snacks, are beginning to clean up after themselves and put their backpacks away after snack and even do a conscientious job of tidying up the toys at the end of quiet playtime. The children are also getting very good at walking in lines when we are going into school or to activities.
 The schedule for most days is:
1:10   Arrive, Outside Play.
1:25  Cubbies, change to inside shoes.
1:30   Individual reading on the carpet
1:35   Attendance and Circle Time (welcome song, weather song, calendar, story,                                                    
         class  news, safety reminders, dancing, lesson on how to do the craft)
  Craft
2:00 French (days 1 and 3; a 20 minute lesson and then centres in French.) Finish craft, begin Learning Centres
2:50  Learning Centres, / Reading Buddies with the Grade 7 Gifted class/Gym/Library visits
3:15 Tidy Up
3:25 End of Day Circle for goodbye song, notes and review of concepts.
3:35 Cubbies, dressing
3:40 Dismissal
   If you would like to get some more detailed answers to your questions about how school was today you can use this schedule to ask more specific questions. For example you could ask your child to tell you what happened in the story or what kind of craft he or she made.
   We also have some special events and will be gradually adding in others like sharing time and Me Days to keep things challenging and interesting.

   Our focus the first month was on building up a sense of belonging in our class, how to choose and make friends and on how to go to school. We began with the theme of Friends.  Our focus now is on Patterns. We are learning that anything that happens over and over is a pattern. We have looked at visual patterns such as stripes and spots and talked about rhyming words and repeated words in books and how they are a pattern. We are singing a song with a repeated pattern and will also do many musical rhythms. We are also learning that the days have a pattern and the seasons have a pattern. With all the themes this year your child is very welcome to bring in books from home on the topic to share with the class. (Please make sure his or her name is on the books, of course.)

   We are encouraging as much independence as possible. If your child has difficulty with shoes or jackets please have them practise at home. We will help here too, especially  with tricky things like buttons and zippers as these may be too difficult for children this age.  Please no shoes with laces. If you have a chance when you are packing the snack please put a little vertical snip at the top of the foil packaging on cookies, crackers, etc. to make it easier for the children to open them.

 We have started to have volunteer parents in the classroom this month. Carrie Cuhaci has kindly agreed to be our volunteer coordinator. She will put up a sign-up calendar for each month and  call those parents who aren't regularly in the school to help them arrange a convenient day to come in. Any parents who pick up their children daily can sign up on the calendar, which will be posted outside the classroom, for the days they would like to come.

  
   Finally, as your child's teacher I would like to take a minute to introduce myself. I have been working for the Board for 20 years and have taught and worked with children for another 12 years before that. I have taught kindergarten for 10 years, at Broadview, Christie and at Mutchmor, and have also taught many other grades and subjects, so I know where your child is headed in the long term as well as what they should know for this first year of their education. I am a teacher at least partly because of genetics; in my family there have been teachers for many generations. My father's first career was as a special education teacher, my grandmother taught kindergarten and my great-grandfather was a school inspector and taught at the College of Teachers at the University of Toronto. I have eight and a half years of university education, including a Master's degree. I play piano, guitar, recorder and autoharp and am a watercolour painter as well. I am working on illustrating a children's fairytale book which I hope to publish someday. I can draw, which is very handy, especially in a primary class. (I usually create the craft of the day to match the story of the day by drawing it in a similar style to the illustrations.) I am also a single parent to Elinor YaTing, a 6 year old little girl I adopted four years ago from China.

      A very important point to note is that the classroom will be Peanut and Nut free this year as some of our students have serious allergies. Please take great care with the food you send in and also ensure that your child's hands and clothes are free of peanut butter if they have eaten some for breakfast that day. Your understanding and help will be much appreciated.

   We will celebrate Hallowe’en on Friday, October 29^th  with a costume parade and some spooky songs and crafts. Please bear in mind our classroom is quite warm and send comfortable costumes and please no toy weapons.

     It promises to be an exciting and fun year. I am looking forward to a wonderful year with our class and to working with all of you to support them. If you ever have any questions or concerns I am always available before and after class or you can phone the office and leave me a message or send a note. Communication is very important and I am always ready to discuss your child or your questions. We have an open classroom and you are welcome to visit and observe at any time. We will use the smaller pocket at the front of the backpacks to communicate with letters and notes. If you have a note for me please put it in this pocket with a little red ribbon or pipe cleaner or wool so I will know to check it. Please check for letters from me in this pocket as well. Thank you for all your help so far.  
                                                                                                                    Sarah Whitehead

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

Child's name:

I have reviewed the information packet and filled in and returned the forms.

I have checked over the index page and made sure all of the information the school has on file is correct, signed it and returned it.

I would like to add my name to the list of volunteers.

I have the following questions: