Division 27 Newsletter

October 2016
Bonjour dear families! We have had a wonderful start to the year and have much to look forward to. Here are
some of the things to keep in mind for the month of October.

Le franais (Language Arts)

Ami du jour (Friend of the day) This will begin on October 1st, please have a look on the calendar and make
note of your childs special day! The friend of the day will also be having their show and tell. Show and tell will
always have a theme and this month it is about your family. Please send a photo of your immediate family to
school with your child. It will be staying at school until June so please ensure that you have a spare copy at home.
The idea is to have your child present each member of their family to the class. Ex: Voici ma maman. Elle
sappelle Stephanie. (Here is my mom. Her name is Stephanie)
Les themes This October we will continue to study the colors in French. Each week we will look at a different
colour and learn some new vocabulary by learning the colors of many objects and their names. We will continue
to learn about rhymes. Recognizing rhymes is important in kindergarten as it is the basis of phonological
awareness: understanding that language is composed of words, syllables, rhymes and sounds (phonemes). Finally,
we will continue to learn a new letter of the alphabet each week and what words begin with those letters in
French. You can help at home by discussing what the colours of objects are in French, and asking for French
vocabulary that your child has learned. You can also work with rhymes at home by reading nursery rhymes or
other rhymes in English and asking your child to identify them.
La lecture Please read to your child every day in any language you feel comfortable.

Les sciences humaines et les sciences naturelles

Les science humaines We will be studying ourselves this month in the contexts of our home life, family and
daily lives at school. We will learn about the correct ways to act at school, why it is so important to go to school,
and learn about the different people at school who can help us when we need it. We will also learn about
responsible and caring behaviour towards our immediate environment (school) and learn about our
responsibilities at school. You can help at home by asking your child about their day at school and asking them
how they are behaving with their classmates and teachers.
Les sciences naturelles We will continue to learn about weather in general. You can help at home by asking
about the French vocabulary that your child has learned with regards to fall and weather.

Les mathmatiques
Les regularities (patterns) We will continue our unit on patterns. We will also learn new fun math games. You
can help at home by asking your child to identify patterns he or she while at home or outdoors with you (example:
a fence, the dotted line on the road, the streetlamps, etc.)
Le nombre We will hopefully begin to explore numbers up to 5 near the end of this month. It is very important
to have an in-depth look at the basics to ensure your child has good number sense no matter what their math
abilities are. You can help at home by encouraging your child to practice counting out loud in French and making
groups of objects and learning to identify how many objects are in the group made.

Lducation Physique (PE)

We have practiced being safe in the gym and students have learned when it is okay to be walking/running and
when they should be still. Students will begin to use some new gym equipment and learn how to play with it
safely. Students have already begun to use this equipment to move through activity stations and learn new skills.
You can help by discussing the importance of staying active and by asking what we have been doing in PE.

Daily Physical Activity

We dance and move around each day. On days when we dont have gym we will be running around the
playground area. Students are getting faster each day!

La planification personnelle (Health and Career)

We will learn about how to be healthy by exercising and eating healthy foods. We will continue to learn about our
jobs and responsibilities at home and school. We will continue to learn about the various sources of support
available at school. You can help at home by asking what types of jobs and responsibilities your child has at
school.

Les arts plastiques

We will be focusing on fall, thanksgiving, pumpkins and Halloween using different tools and mediums. You can
help at home by encouraging you childs interest in arts and crafts and by asking what we are working on at
school.

Other:

Many students are forgetting their communication folders (les pochettes) at home. Please ensure you
send it to school with your child each morning and check it for notices each evening.
Scholastic orders: Please ensure you have your order in by the due date. I usually wait a couple of
days after said date and place the order. This year scholastic is charging $5 for shipping for orders over
$25 (not including tax). For this reason I cannot place multiple monthly orders and will be turning orders
away if they are late and under $25 (before taxes). Thank you for understanding.
Please ensure your child goes to the bathroom just prior to coming to school. This way we avoid a
long line up at the one bathroom we share with the class next door. The less disruptions we have the more
learning can take place

Some students are still missing school supplies. Please ensure your child has all their supplies so they
do not feel left out/different than the other students. I have sent home lists if your child is still missing
items.

Celebrating Birthdays at school

When your childs birthday nears we will celebrate at school. If your childs birthday was in August we
invite you to celebrate in September and if their birthday will be in July then we invite you to celebrate it
before the end of the school year in June.
I will contact you to let you know which day would be best and invite you at that time to bring a small
item (such as a sticker, a tattoo or a small toy) for each of the 22 students in the class if youd like.
We will sing to the birthday child on their celebration day in the morning and share the small item when it
is time to go home. They will take home a bookmark from the class and a birthday pencil from the school.
Due to the number of severe allergies in both French Immersion Kindergarten classes the other
kindergarten teachers and I have decided that we will not be having treats (like cupcakes or cookies) of
any kind on birthdays this year.

Class Calendar

Oct 7th Early dismissal @ 1:33 Enjoy this extra time with your child!
Oct 10th Thanksgiving No School
Oct 14th Dominos Day Dont forget to place your order if youd like your child to have pizza for
lunch.
Oct 17th Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch
Oct 15th PAC Popcorn Day

Oct 21st No School: Non Instructional day Enjoy this extra time with your child!
Oct 24th to Oct 28th Drop everything and read week
Oct 28th Individual photo retakes for those who would like another go

Calling Parent volunteers!

Play dough I am still looking for volunteers to make play dough throughout the year. This is when I would need
a new batch:
Oct 17th and Oct 31st Two different coloured batches of fall coloured play-dough (such as red, yellow,
orange, brown, etc.)
Please e-mail me if you are interested and I will get back to you if you are making it. There is a recipe on the class
website that works for me every time!
If you have any questions or comments. Please feel free to send me a note, talk to me after class or contact
me by e-mail at mcdonald_s1@surreyschools.ca. Please note that I may not get around to responding to e-mails
on a daily basis so please be patient and I will try my best to respond within 48 hours. If you have something time
sensitive to communicate it is always best to give the school a call.

Thanks for reading!

Mme. McDonald
Class website:
http://laclassedemmemcdonald2016-2017.weebly.com