Friday, March 22, 2024

March 18-22, 2024


Thank you to all our families who participated in the Student-Led Conferences in Kindergarten. This is an important celebration of student learning. It encourages students to feel pride and ownership of their work. It also provides an opportunity to express their learning verbally with others. We had several other exciting learning opportunities beginning on Monday with a special guest!

** I can begin to talk about the people who help in my community.**
We had a visit from Firefighter Todd on Monday. We learned about the role of firefighters in our community and fire safety in our home and community. We were surprised to learn that one of the fire stations in Calgary has a slide in it! We saw a short video on the engine trucks and ladder trucks. We also learned about how heavy the tools can be and we all received a Information book with pictures to colour and home safety planning sheets inside. Ask your child to show the book to you.

















A significant part of our kindergarten program is learning about ourselves and how we are unique. We read "I like myself" this week and talked about the ways we can be confident in our skin and proud of ourselves, even if we are different from our friends! We completed our monthly self portrait and feel so excited about viewing our progress through this monthly artwork!

We also began a conversation about the Power of Yet  that will continue after the break (when we say "I can't do it" compared to " I can't do it, YET.")  This is an important part of having a positive Growth Mindset!

** I can respond to a story.**
** I can connect literature to our experiences.**
** I can talk about and identify feelings.**
** I can identify and label emotions.**
** I can learn from a story. **




I can't whistle...yet!
I can't go by myself to the park...yet!
I can't hit the high shot in hockey...yet!
I can't ride my bike without training wheels...yet!
I can't read a book...yet!
I can't do a back flip...yet!
I can't tie my shoes...yet!







Students reflected on work that was "OK" in their visual journal and some work that made them very proud of their efforts! They marked pages to show you at the Student-Led conferences.





He Shoots, He Scores! In P.E. the students completed a unit on Floor Hockey. 
**I can demonstrate spatial awareness during movement activities**






We have been working hard, learning more new "Lively Letters" sounds. We have posted videos of the lessons for your child to practice on our Google Classroom. Please log in to your child's Google account, click on the classroom and then 'CLASSWORK' and practice over Spring Break! 

We know 15 sounds already and are working on using the "Tap and Sweep" method to blend sounds together!


**Many students have NEVER logged into Google Classroom, even though log in information was emailed to families in Mid-October. As of today, only 56% of Kindergarten students have ever accessed this very important online resource. Moving into Grade 1 and beyond, teachers typically do not provide families with a detailed blog and updates like this one- the expectation is that families will stay current with information using Google Classroom. Please take the final 3 months of Kindergarten to get in the habit of using Google Classroom and helping your child practice lively letters sounds...both are important foundations for their work in Grade One. 


Important Kindergarten Dates...

March 25-April 1 is Spring Break, 
Classes Resume Tuesday, April 2.
Have a wonderful, restful, and safe Spring break with your family and friends!!

LINK to our school  calendar

Kindergarten Friday Class Calendar

Our Emails

Mrs. Oster: rdoster@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Sutherland: klsutherland@cbe.ab.c

Mrs. Wiskar: mjwiskar@cbe.ab.ca



Friday, March 15, 2024

March 11-15, 2024

Rainbows and Leprechauns are part of the fun this week. We also continued learning about being authors and story tellers. Where do writers get their ideas? How do we write information that explains facts or instruction like "How to Be a Friend?" Keep reading to see our amazing week!


The Rainbow is a traditional Cree story that has been passed down orally. The story ties together the colours of the rainbow with gratitude for all creation. It was gifted to Jean Miso (in English) by Plains Cree Elder and second World War veteran James "Smokey" Tomkins. We created beautiful collages of rainbow colours.















Sarabella's Thinking Cap is about a girl who loves to daydream with creative imagination. She is encouraged by her teacher to draw her daydreams. She decides, "If you want to share it, you've just got to wear it." She creates a thinking cap to display her many colourful ideas for her classmates to see. We created our own thinking caps of things we love: family, dinosaurs, rocket ships, airplanes, rainbows, friends, ice cream and more. Later we will use some of these ideas in our writing.




















On Wednesday we had a favorite guest teacher, Mrs. Azzopardi in to read a beautiful story of friendship. Hunwick is an Australian bilby who discovers a mysterious egg outside his burrow. The egg doesn't hatch right away but Hunwick takes care of it. He talks to the egg and the egg listens. Hunwick understands that the egg is his friend and he is the only one who knows it's secret. Our students used this story and a video about friendship to help them write their own ideas about "How-to be a Good Friend." We used some of the skills we learned from last week to write a story using pictures, letters, marks on the page - with and without words!

"I am a good friend when..."
I take turns.
I share.
I help my mom.
I play toys nicely.












 A little Leprechaun fun and a science STEM challenge. Students used building materials in the class to make traps to catch a leprechaun. We also learned some Irish folk songs to sing and dance a jig like the Irish Washerwoman and Connaughtman's Rambles. Check out our leprechaun traps. You and your child might have fun creating your own trap this weekend.
























Many of our families are celebrating Ramadan right now and our students have been sharing important family traditions with each other! 
Thank you for sharing your kiddos and traditions with us!


 
Student Led Conferences and Div 2/EES Art Walk

Dear SVS Families,

Student Led Conferences are coming up next week, Thursday March 21 4:30pm-7:30pm and Friday March 22 8:00am-12:00pm. Booking will open for parents this Friday March 15 after 4:00pm using your My CBE account https://sis.cbe.ab.ca/public/. Meetings will take place every 30 minutes with 5 families able to book at the same time.

After your conference make sure to check out the Div 2 and EES Art Walk in the Buffalo Space.  Come and see all of their creative, hard work!

Next you can make your way to the library for the Scholastic Book Fair. Students will be able to browse the book fair during class time next week to come up with a wish list and also have a chance to enter the guessing game and win fun prizes.

Hope to see you there,

SVS Staff


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Grade 6 are planning to do a candy gram fundraiser on Monday March 18th. 
This fundraiser is to raise funds for our year end field trip as well as to spur on kindness in our school. Students can buy a candy-gram for another student in the school for a dollar. Please send the exact change with your child if they wish to participate. They are allowed to buy a maximum of 2 unless there are extras to sell.
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SVS Fundraising Opportunity:

Mabel's Label's is having a SALE...some of the bundles of labels are 50% off!! We are always begging families to label student belongings and that trend will continue into 
Grade One..
Please consider having a look if you are in the market for some labels! At the checkout you can choose to support Simons Valley School fundraising!




 

Upcoming Events!
After Spring break, Kindergarten has many exciting events happening...there will be many opportunities to volunteer so have those clearances ready and keep your eyes peeled!

1. We will be hosting an in school presentation from "Lady Buggy"...a wonderfully informative expert on all things bug related who will bring some of her live bugs to the classroom to enhance our exploration of the Science Curriculum! 
There is a cost for this activity that has been added to your child's MyCBE Powerschool account. We will be sharing more information about this opportunity soon.

2. Kindergarten students will be working with talented artist, Jennifer Stables in May, as part of the art residency sponsored by Parent Council- stay tuned for more details...

3. We are going SWIMMING in May....Kindergarten will be participating in swimming lessons for 4 days...more information to come after Spring break!

4. We have another exciting surprise planned related to our Science Curriculum that we will unveil to students after the break sometimes...part of that study will include a community walk to a nearby park/ pond area... :)



Important Kindergarten Dates...

School Scholastic Book Fair, Week of March 18th

Save the dates: March 21, 22 Student Led Conferences, more info to come.
(Times are listed in our school calendar)

March 25-April 1 is Spring Break, Classes Resume Tuesday, April 2.

LINK to our school  calendar

Kindergarten Friday Class Calendar

Our Emails

Mrs. Oster: rdoster@cbe.ab.ca 

Mrs. Sutherland: klsutherland@cbe.ab.c

Mrs. Wiskar: mjwiskar@cbe.ab.ca