A Little Housecleaning

Looking for Library Books to be returned to school!

And...the Reading Program books that we have been sending home for the last few months!

Thank you!

End of Year for the Kids!

We are on the home stretch! The following families have so kindly offered to provide the children with the final snack on the last day of school (June 27!):

                                   Fruit Tray:    Sarah's Family

                             Veggies & Dip:    Nolan's Family 

                       Cheese & Crackers:    Amelia's Family

Cupcakes:     Sophia's Family

  Cookies:    Olivia's Family

Juice & Cups:     Savannah's Family

Thank you everyone for providing the special snacks throughout the school year! We appreciate your efforts!

Monday Funday

Sooooo....your wee one is growing up! Wow time flies! Just a reminder that our classroom is open on Monday, June 23rd at 2:15 for you to come and hang out with us. Please come and join us for a couple songs, hopefully some cute pictures, and a sweet little treat to finish out the day. Can't wait!!!

Slip, Slap, Slop

Don't forget the sunscreen!!!! 

                                    

 It is that time of year and we do spend quite a bit of time

 outdoors, please don't forget to lather your child up in the morning!

Reading Program

Hope you are enjoying the reading program! Please be sure to send it back each Wednesday (at least) for a book exchange. The kids are very proud of themselves and are making great progress; it is exciting to see and promote this love for reading!

BIG Day Tomorrow!

The children are incredibly excited for the field trip tomorrow! A reminder that if your child receives HOT LUNCH on Tuesdays, please note that it will be shifted to WEDNESDAY this week instead. As a result......please, please, please send your child with a full lunch and snacks for tomorrow.

It is a busy day with lots of movement tomorrow so walking shoes might be a good idea! Thanks again for your support and being able to volunteer your time for this adventure; we really do appreciate it! See you tomorrow morning!

We Were Inspired!

A while ago we read a book by Barbara Reid and discussed how every illustration is hand crafted and prepared using plasticene. After watching a Youtube video (look in the "extra" tab for the video) on her techniques,we tried our own hand at creating some common birds. It sure is tricky to use plasticene as it needs to be warmed up, but Oh My Goodness look at their beautiful creations!

You Brush Your Teeth....

Just an FYI...

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Lucy Charbonneau, a registered dental hygienist with Ottawa Public Health, will provide a dental screening using a tongue depressor on May 22 & 23, 2014*, for grades JK, SK, 2, and other children as necessary. If your child’s grade is not selected, but you wish for the dental hygienist to see him/her, please advise the school. Only children identified as having dental needs will bring home a form. Follow-up school visits by the dental hygienist for individual children may be done. THIS DOES NOT REPLACE REGULAR DENTAL VISITS WITH YOUR FAMILY DENTIST.  * Some date(s) may be subject to change

This dental screening is offered in accordance with the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport, Mandatory Health Programs under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Personal Health Information is collected under the authority of the Health Protection and Promotion Act and will be used for the purpose of dental assessment, treatment and oral hygiene instruction, and for statistical purposes.  Questions concerning the collection and use of this information should be directed to the Supervisor of Dental Health Promotion, Ottawa Public Health, 400-1580 Merivale Rd., Ottawa, ON, tel.: 613-580-6744 ext 26376.

Whoops...

For some reason the "photos" tab isn't cooperating with me and I really don't know how to make the adjustments to get everything back to normal, so a new tab at the top "Photos Take...2" has been created.
Check the "Photos Take...2" for new pictures of the kids at play from now until the end of the year!

Fun Friday

It is Super Hero Day tomorrow!

Don't forget that Friday Night is our Family Dance!

Spirit Continues...

RAINBOW 

DAY

THURSDAY!!

Where them all (!!!) or just your favourite!

We've Got Spirit...

Wednesday is "Sports Day"!

Spirit Week Kick Off Starts Tuesday!

We are super excited because it is CRAZY HAT/HAIR day tomorrow! Wish I had of seen this idea earlier!

The Time Is Near!

Don't forget that tomorrow night (Tuesday) is our......

Kindergarten Spring Concert!

6:30 Start Time!

Language Bin Pt. 2

Here we are creating those beautiful birds! Next round of bins...drawing and labeling people :)

After watching a video on Youtube (check out the "Extras" tab if you are curious) we used our preferred method for finding out how many syllables a word has. This particular station was sorting them into the proper column and, further down, the students sorted various pictures into hoops based on the number of syllables. This was definitely a fan favourite!

Identifying the number of syllables a word has has really supported the children in their writing. By just encouraging the students to identify the first syllable in a word and stretching it out (listening for sounds) and then going to the next syllable (and so on) has led to great success in getting their thinking down on paper.

And finally...Here we are so carefully listening for sounds, arranging the letters to spell our word and then transferring the word into writing.

Everybody loves using the large chart paper and it sure does encourage working together! At this station the children used books and sorted their reading into Letters/Words/Sentences. 

.:Please Take Note:.

Good News!!
We are happy to offer you the opportunity to order hot lunches for your child! We will now be participating in the Tuesday pizza hot lunches, organized by the Stonecrest ES School Council. Unfortunately, if you would like to take advantage of ordering for the month of April, the deadline to order is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 25th. We sincerely apologize for the late notice, but if you miss the deadline, don't worry, you will still be able to order for the months of May and June. If you would like to order, simply visit the Stonecrest ES School Council website athttp://www.stonecrest-council.ca/home
and click on 'Order Hot Lunch' on the left-hand side toolbar.
Because this is new to us, it might be easier to keep orders to pizza only at this time.

Language Bin Focus Pt. 1

We are currently working on a new round of language bins with a focus on independent writing and sight words, but thought you might like to know a little bit about the language bins we completed before March Break!

We have been talking a great deal about adding details to our drawings and spending time to complete work to the best of our ability. We changed up our Listening Center focus this round; typically the children indicated their favourite part of the story but we had to keep them on their toes and wanted them to think about who the main character was or (as some understand better) "The Super Star" of the story.

We also learned about following specific instructions to complete a picture of a bird. By carefully following the steps involved they ended up with a bird in any setting they created. Some birds were in the jungle, some were caring for their eggs, and some were on the hunt for food. The care and attention to detail is really coming along!

A second part to this post will be out shortly. Stay tuned!

Groceries

We are in the prep stages of changing our dramatic play again...this time to a grocery store! We are hoping that you might be able to save 3 or 4 of your recyclables and send them in to stock our shelves! Please send in clean containers, cereal boxes, pantry items for the next few days. Much appreciated!

We're Growing!

We decided to send shoes home today for families to check out the wear and tear on them, as well as, the comfort of the fit. The tricky part here is to remember to send shoes back to us after the March Break!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday. It sure would be nice if the weather would start to feel and look more like Spring! We will see everyone back at school on March 17th rip-roarin' and ready for the homestretch of Senior Kindergarten! Have a good one!

Scholastic Book Order

Ooops...forgot to put a due date on this months Scholastic orders. Let's make it due for tomorrow and books will be here waiting upon our return from March Break. This month Scholastic is featuring Spring books (fiction and non-fiction), adorable Easter stories, an amazing set of First Encyclopedias from Usborne, and even a "how-to" draw sports cars book! Enjoy the browsing!

Woohoo....check out this sale!

Whoa....a gigantic sale is happening at Mabel's Labels! 40% off some of their amazing products....pass it on; and don't forget to type in Stonecrest as the school you support if you do wish to make a purchase! Hurry though....sale ends Tuesday! :)

      Click here

Spring sale at Mabel's!!!!

We've Got The Moves Like...

There were many smiling faces during our time spent with Yves! The kids had a great time learning new dance moves, striking poses, playing various games, and enjoying the freedom to move however they felt like. 

Look for more fun photos under the tab "photo ops" located just above this entry. Enjoy!

A Few Reminders

Just a reminder that:

:: we are learning new dance moves this week with the help of Yves from Luv2Gruv

:: tomorrow is Twoonie Tuesday! Please consider donating $2 in an effort to raise funds for the Education Foundation of Ottawa; an organization that helps those in need in the OCDSB and those closer to home in our Stonecrest family. Thanks for your support!

:: Wear something pink on Wednesday to support ending bullying and promoting kindness

:: 4th hotdog day is Friday

:: Stonecrest has a new site to keep you in the loop.....click here: Stonecrest ES   Once on the site you can follow by email just like you do for this one. You will receive information as it is posted and be completely "in the know".

Valentine's Rotations

Valentine's allowed for us to explore some deep lovely thoughts and amazing art. Definitely some "keeper" material was produced!

Using one colour and white to create shades

Deep in thought thinking of the things we love

Using words and pictures

Details, Details, Details...

We always look forward to time spent with our buddies! We frequently talk in class about adding details to our pictures so why not sit down with our buddies to enjoy a great read aloud, find our favourite page, and then recreate the page with our big buddy modeling excellent work! Look at these happy, happy kids!

Ice Experiment

This entry is way overdue and has been sitting waiting to be posted for-ev-er! Love the predictions/possible outcome ideas of what the children will think will happen when salt or sand is added to a block of ice. We predicted, waited an hour, and then made some excellent observations of what we could see and feel. The results on the block of ice are a little tricky to see but the salt is on the left and the sand is on the right. A great discussion of sand/salt trucks followed on the footsteps of this experiment. 

Toonie Tuesday

Twoonie Tuesday

A Deal From Mabel

All you need is love.

Celebrate love with Mabel! Our cute, personalized heart Sticky Labels are now 50% off. Simply enter this coupon code at checkout: MABELLOVE But don't be left heartbroken. This sale is only available until tonight @ 11:59pm EST!

Just saw this in my mailbox and thought I would pass it on! Although it takes you to the page where many icons are there for you to choose from the code really only does work for the heart symbol (the other choices are full price). Click on the link below.

Valentine's Day Only!

Don't forget to add Stonecrest as the fundraiser you wish to support if you do happen to place an order!

Check it out...

Just updated the "Extras" page with some awesome websites for tasty kid-friendly lunch/snack ideas! At the top of this page just "click" on the tab labeled "extras", scroll down to the link, and "click" again to go directly to the site. 

::XOXO::

Our Valentine's Day classroom party is going to be in the afternoon on Friday February 14th! 

Thank you to the following families who have offered to provide us with our afternoon snack:

Cheese & Crackers:  Liza's Family

Cookies: Jeremy's Family 

Cupcakes:  Nolan's Family

Fruit:  Makayla's Family

Juice & Cups:  Ethan's Family
Veggies & Dip:  Elena's Family

Exploring Setting

Reading the story Without You was a fantastic book to use when exploring the idea of setting. After reading we made suggestions as to what we would like Ms. Behnke to draw for us. What words would you use to describe this illustration?

How about these ones!!!

Not only did the kids come up with the ideas (with only a little prompting) but they also stretched out the words to listen for the sounds before printing what they could hear!  :o)