What's after Zed?

 We have finished our Letter A Day and now we are putting some letters together to make simple words. We play a singing game from the old days of Sesame Street that goes like this:
You take the C, that's "C"
and the A-T, "AT"
You put it all together and that spells (The children call out the answer) CAT!
That's CAT, C-A-T, CAT, well that's CAT, C-A-T, CAT.

The children really like guessing the word and they win a point every time they guess it correctly. Of course, they always do guess the word.

We are also getting ready for Lantern Festival at the end of Chinese New Year. We are painting spring pictures on the lanterns. When they come home they would look great with a candle in a jar in the middle of them!
On Thursday we will have a Dragon Dance with noisemakers around the school. Maybe it will drive away all the bad luck from the building. We will also try dumplings and spring rolls and the children will receive a gong xi, or lucky red envelope with a lucky candy in it.

February is also Black History Month and we will be celebrating with some stories and crafts.

Then we will begin our next unit, which is Fairytales!

 

We will be reading stories about castles,

 

                                                 enchanted animals,

and all your favourite characters.

So there's a lot that happens after the Zed!    : )

Crazy Hair Day!

Thursday, February 17th is another school spirit day. Come with your silliest hairdo and join in!

Welcome, Shelley!

We have a new co-cop student, Shelley. She is a grade 12 student from Nepean High School and is doing her placement in our morning class. She will be here until June. Shelley is very kind and artistic and loves working with young children. We are so happy to welcome her.

On Monday we will have another co-op student named Emily who will work with us in the afternoon. We are so lucky! 

UPDATE:  Unfortunately, Emily has moved to a new school and won't be coming in the afternoons. We are on the waiting list for another co-op student in her place. Fingers crossed!

Plans for Next Year

A form has been sent home to find out your preference for your child for Senior Kindergarten. Please send it in soon to help us to plan for classes and teachers for next year. Your choices are English or French Immersion, morning or afternoon. Thank you!

Winter Walk to School Day

   Tomorrow morning is Walk to School Day and there will be an outdoor dance party from 8:45 to 9:10 in the schoolyard. Any child who can walk to school is encouraged to do so! They will receive a ticket for a draw for prizes from Bushtukah and of course the feeling of pride in their accomplishment. If you drive to school and can park even one block further away, that still counts! I will also see about getting some draw tickets for the afternoon class as well, so they can join in and walk too.
UPDATE:   Two of the afternoon children won prizes! Congratulations!!!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming! If your child would like to bring in cards for their class they are welcome to do so. Since they are young and they are many, the easiest way to arrange things is for your child to just sign each card with their own name. If they are really keen, they can try writing their friends's names on too, but there is no need to address each card. Also, if everyone does address the cards that's 900 Valentines to sort! Whew!! We will make special bags for their mailboxes and do some lovely heart crafts to celebrate. It will be another great February day.

Pink Day Number Two

There will be another chance to wear pink and support the lesson of No Bullying on February 23rd. We will talk as a class about how to treat people only with kindness. So get out all your pale red clothes and join in!   : )

Happy Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit!

The Chinese zodiac has 12 different animals. This year is the Year of the Rabbit. Since the date for New Year can be in January or February, if your child was born before January 29, he or she is a Rooster. They are known as attractive, sharp, neat, organized and alert. Most of our class were born in the Year of the Dog, which makes them honest, intelligent,  straight-forward and fair-minded. No wonder we have such nice classes!


Here is a sample of a Chinese New Year card that people would send to each other. You can see the lanterns, the fireworks and the lucky red colour everywhere. The children are wearing the new clothes they receive as part of the celebrations. They might also have had a haircut!

These are dumplings which would be part of the big family dinner that everyone would eat together. They come in many shapes. These look a little like purses full of money. One of the wishes for the new year is prosperity.

 Here is a dragon for the Dragon Dance. On New Year's Day there will be many dragon dances for people to see. We are having a little one here, with lots of noise- makers to scare away any bad luck.

Here is another great Chinese dragon, this one on the top of  a beautiful building. Happy New Year!

Happy Groundhog Day!

This little groundhog seems to be taking his work very seriously. We are all glad that he didn't see his shadow, even though it was because a snow storm was hiding the sun. To celebrate Groundhog Day we did the Groundhog Pokey, read a story and learned this song:

(tune: I'm a Little Teapot)    
I'm a little groundhog, furry and brown.
You can see me pop up from the ground.
If I see my shadow, down I'll stay.
Six more weeks of winter on their way!