Tuesday Nov. 29

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are excited to let you know we have a special Science day planned on Friday, December 9th.  The Kindergarten team has invited Scientists in Schools to provide our students with some unique, hands-on learning opportunities. These presenters are local scientists and technical experts who have extensive experience working with children.  Scientists in School is a Canadian charitable organization which has provided our schools with many engaging scientific workshops in previous years.

Our workshop, next month, will help us explore Winter Wonders.  Children will discuss how animals prepare for winter and how they cope in their cold weather habitat. The cost of the workshop is $5 per student.  The remaining half of the fee will be covered using the Voluntary Donations that families submitted in September. This fee covers the materials and the presenter.  Please submit the fee by Wednesday, November 30th.  As always, please contact the office if financial assistance is required.  Confidentiality will be maintained.

In order to make the activities successful, each class will require five volunteers.  If you are able to volunteer your time in your child’s class, please complete the section below and return it to your child’s teacher.  We will ask our volunteers to arrive at the school at 8:15 on the workshop date. Please plan to stay until 11:00. Indoor shoes are recommended to keep your feet warm and dry.  We truly appreciate your time and hope that you will enjoy participating with the class.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The Chickadee Teachers!

_________________________________________________________

I am able to volunteer my time for the Scientists in Schools workshop on Friday, December 2nd.  I will be able to arrive at school at 8:15 on this day.

Child’s Name _______________________________________________

Volunteer’s Name ___________________________________________

Contact Phone Number (during the day)____________________________

Dear Parents/Guardians:

 Lucy Charbonneau, a registered dental hygienist with Ottawa Public Health, will provide a dental screening using a tongue depressor on December 16, 2016*, 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 Public Health Standards from Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. Personal Health Information is collected in compliance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Personal Health Information Protection 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.

Tuesday, November 23, 2016

 Dear Family,

 We will be starting our “Show and Tell” program on Friday, November 25th with Zaid!

 I believe this is a wonderful way to help develop oral language skills, as well as confidence in children.

This program will run alongside the “Kinderstar” program. When your child is the Kinderstar this month, he/she can bring in a special toy, book, picture, doll etc to show the class. Please refer to our November and December calendars for your child’s Kinderstar day. 

Also, please take a look at the “question wheel” that I will send home (tomorrow in Mr. Zippy) to help prepare your child with his or her presentation. The expectation is that each child will tell at least 3 facts about his or her “treasure”. Also, we will be learning to ask good questions after each presentation, learning the difference between a story and question.

The children enjoy this program and do exceptionally well presenting their treasures! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to write me a note in “Mr. Zippy”.

Thanks for your continued support! 

….we look forward to Zaid’s  show and tell on Friday!!!

 Ms. Jo-Anne 🙂

Hi Chickadee dot families!

We really enjoyed meeting with you all during interview days! It is so great to connect and tell you about the many great things your child is learning, exploring and experiencing here at KHPS! We also really appreciate your insight into what you are experiencing at home during these last few months! Thank-you for meeting with us! Remember, you are always welcome to send us a note and we can meet again to discuss concerns or questions in person or even on the phone! If you are still interested in talking with us and we could not meet, please contact us via “Mr. Zippy” and we can arrange a meeting! 🙂

This week:

In Literacy, we are finishing up with our Alphabet Blitz! We will be finishing up with the letter Z on Friday!Ask your child what the sounds and actions are for each letter, they are doing very well with this! Next, we will be beginning chalk and sock where we work with these letters in small groups, working on letter formation and building words! We continue to do “Hot News” a few times a week, focussing on pictures and taking risks with writing! Feel free to work on letter sounds and letter formations at home!

Show and Tell: Oral language Program to begin this Friday…info will be coming home both by blog and hard copy tomorrow in Mr. Zippy! Show and Tell coincides with our Kinderstar dates. Please refer to your November calendar! To begin, have your child bring in a special toy, picture, book, special treasure and speak about it. I will be sending a “Question wheel” to help your child prepare for his/her show and tell!

In Numeracy, we are working on number sense: what does a number look like and how do we “make”it, showing number concept! We are counting and becoming comfortable with numbers from 0-10.We are learning about how animals and humans prepare for winter.

In Science, we are learning about how animals and humans prepare for winter. We are talking about hibernation, migration and adaptation! Keep an eye out on “Hibernation” books coming home this week! Have your child “echo read” these to you! Your child can teach you how to “echo read”, they are getting very good at this!

In Art, we will be working on the Primary colours and learning what happens to the colours when we mix them, to make Secondary colours! We have explored this a little while we have painted our Kandinsky circles as well as when we made playdough together!

In French, with Madame McCurry (Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Goyal), the children are learning about shapes, exploring loose parts, making patterns and creating, developing basic vocabulary in French and singing songs, just to name a few of the activities they are doing! Madame loves to sing and there is so much learning going on during her community carpet times!

 

***Mrs. McKenna visited our classroom today and read us the story, “What to do with an Idea”. It was an amazing reading and we had a very good discussion about what it means to be “open, curious and kind”! Thank-you, Mrs. McKenna, you are the best principal everrrrrrrrr!

We are planning December!!!!!! Have I mentioned I love December?????? 

December calendars will be sent home later next week! Dates to keep in mind **** so far** are…

Dec. 8th…Yoga with Madi’s mom (1:45 pm)

Dec. 9th…Scientists in the school (more info to come soon, volunteers will be needed)

Dec. 22nd…Craft Rotation… (more info to come and volunteers needed)

The snow is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The children are enjoying playing in the snow here at school. They are having fun using the shovels and sleds in the yard! We are seeing a lot of sharing, co-operating and taking turns! Thank-you for dressing your child warmly for the winter temperatures! Just a reminder we go out twice a day so warm hats, mittens and neck warmers are necessary! The wind has been so cold these last two days, hasn’t it!

A few pictures to leave you with!

Thanks for reading,

Ms. Jo-Anne, Madame McCurry, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Goyal 🙂

PS… I have been trying to send you each a little “gift” of your child in learning situations by email! I just started doing this last week! I will try to do this each day when I can! Also, I have been “tweeting” out pictures as well! Follow me at @jojopull! I hope you don’t mind! 🙂

 

 

Hi!

Just a wee note to let you know that we had a very good day at school! Monday was filled with great learning! We had 2 special presentations!

The first was a special presentation to kick off Veterans week! Soldier Sultana (who is a parent in our KHPS community) came to speak to the students about his Peace Missions that he was involved in over his career. He spoke about the meaning of Remembrance Day, shared his experiences through stories and a slide show and involved the students in a question and answer period. The children were fascinated by his medals and he was very good to explain the meaning behind his medals and even why he wanted to become a soldier. He left us thinking about those 3 words…Lest we forget.

Also, we will be having our Kindergarten Remembrance Day assembly from 9-9:30 in the Maker Space. If you are able to join us, you are most welcome! It will be meaningful and brief.

The second presentation was from our awesome Chief Custodian, Mr. Brian. He reviewed our Recycling Program here at KHPS. We are so fortunate to be so “green” here at school and we are learning what items go in the blue, black and now compost bin.

We learned that:

-plastic yogurt and applesauce cups go in the blue bin

-paper products go in the black bin

-food wastes like apple cores, banana peels etc go in the “kitchen catcher”

-paper towels and tissues are to be placed in the green bin.

***** Please note, we will sending home all garbage like cheese string wrappers, granola bar, cereal bar wrappers, saran wrap, tinfoil etc.  We will put empty yogurt tubes in the garbage but that is it.************  If you want to send in a ziplock bag for garbage, that might keep the mess to a minimum inside your child’s lunch bag.

Thank-you so much for your cooperation with this!

Thanks for reading, as always!

Ms. Jo-Anne (on behalf of the Kinder Team) 🙂

 

Hi there Chickadee Parents!

I hope you had a wonderful Monday and are enjoying your evening together as a family! What a beautiful day it was!

If you are just receiving your first notification for our blog, welcome! I added a few of your emails to our subscription list. I am presently making a chickadee email group list and I noticed some of you had not signed up on our class blog subscription list. I hope you are now receiving this information that I put on the blog. I love to communicate what is going on here at KHPS and I try to update you frequently on here. I am happy to have you reading the blog!

Chickadee Class Email:

Please keep an eye on your email…(*feel free to send me a hello email to make sure I have your current email address at Jo-Anne.Pulley@ocdsb.ca ). I am missing a few of your emails and will write notes in Mr. Zippy tomorrow if yours is needed!

I am going to be sending an email to all of you on Thursday November 10. We are setting up interview dates for Thursday Nov. 17- 4:30-7:30 and Friday Nov. 18- 8:00-11:00am.

It is a sign-up process and we will be sending you instructions in the email on how to do this. Please Note: We are not meeting with all of you at this time. You will receive an email either:

1) inviting you to sign up for a 10-minute interview on either of those dates  (with instructions on how to do so ) or…

2) letting you know that an interview is not needed at this time.

If you have any questions or concerns and would like to set up a phone interview or schedule a 10 minute interview meeting with us, prior to or after the interviews, please jot us a note in “Mr. Zippy”.

Thank-you so much!

Ms. Jo-Anne 🙂

 

 

 

Hi Chickadee Dot Families!

Today Mrs. Goyal taught the boys and girls about Diwali! She explained what Diwali is, how it is celebrated, its origins and showed us her beautiful jewellry and dresses. The children loved this experience. Thank-you Mrs. Goyal!

Thanks for reading!

 

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights

Diwali (in Hindi) or Deepavali (in Tamil) is the Hindu Festival of Lights. The name originally comes from the Sanskrit word dipavali, meaning a row of lights. Wherever Diwali is being celebrated you will see shops, houses and public places decorated with small, earthenware, oil lamps known as diyas. They are usually placed in rows on window sills and outside buildings as decorations.

Diwali is celebrated around the world by people who follow the Hindu religion. This is mostly those of Indian ethnicity, but today they may be celebrating as British, American, Malaysian, Singaporean, Australian, Canadian, New Zealander, Fijian, Mauritian, South African, and many, many more countries around the world. Many non-Hindu Indian families from the Jain and Sikh religions have often joined in and made this a more widely celebrated festival.

This year (2008) Hindus will start their Diwali celebrations on October 28th.

The Meaning of Diwali

The Festival of Lights, as with most ancient legends, helps us to know the truth of victory of good over evil, but more specifically for Hindus at this time, it means to understand the meanings behind each of the five days of Diwal. It specifically commemorates the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom Ayodhya, at the end of his exile which lasted for 14 years.

As with many eastern festivals, the dates are based on the Lunar calendar, with Diwali eve on the fourteenth lunar day of the month of Kartik (October/November). The first day is called Dhanvantari Triodasi, also sometimes called Dhan Theras, while the second day is called Narak Chaturdasi. According to Hindu legend, on this day Lord Krishna destroyed the demon, Narakasur, and made the world free from fear. The third day is the actual Diwali, when Hindus worship the Mother Lakshmi, and on the fourth day they perform Goverdhan Pooja. The fifth and final day of Diwali is called Bhratri Dooj, and is dedicated to sisters and is the first day of the Hindu New Year.

The special Festival of Light’s diyas are lit to help the goddess (Mother) Lakshmi find her way into people’s homes, especially as the period is also during the fortnight (two weeks) of the dark month of Kartik. Goddess Lakshmi is the symbol of wealth and prosperity and is also the consort of the Hindu god, Vishnu. As Hindus are also celebrating their New Year, Lord Ganeshu, the elephant headed god, is worshipped in most Hindu homes on this day.

Diwali Recipes

In a similar manner to many festivals and celebrations, certain recipes, or foods are traditional during Diwali. During Diwali many Indians only eat vegetarian dishes, and of course, as the cow is sacred to Hindus, no beef is ever eaten, at any time of the year, not just during Diwali.

On Day 1: Sheera is eaten – a warm fudge-like sweet made with raisins, nuts, semolina, saffron and cardamom and – is eaten with a spicy black-eye bean curry.

On Day 2: This is a day of fasting for many Hindus, and they do not break their fast until sunset with lapsee, a warm sweet porridge of cracked wheat, clarified butter and sugar.

On Day 3: Kheer, a milky pudding made with rice and sago is eaten, together with lentil vada (fritters).

On Diwali itself and on New Year’s Day (fifth day of Diwali): Many different types of vegetable curries are eaten. They like to include as many vegetables as possible as this signifies wealth and bounty lasting for the whole year. A huge assortment of sweets is always available. Diwali day is spent eating with the family, and New Year’s Day, visiting all the friends and neighbors.

Despite the huge quantities of food being offered, guests are always expected to finish everything!

Try making this popular Diwali snack called, Muruku.

Diwali Art Celebrating the Festival of Lights

Probably the most well recognized are Rangoli Patterns, beautifully made decorations, drawn on floors and even pavements, usually with rice flour and water, or dry and made with powdery, colored sand.

US Government Recognition

There is something special about Diwali 2008. It is the first since the US Senate officially recognized Diwali, the Festival of Lights, unanimously passing Senate Resolution 299 on November 14th 2007.

Diwali ki shubhkamnaye

If you are Hindu (or among the Jain or Sikh communities who celebrate Diwali), we wish you Happy Diwali and thank you for bringing one of the world’s most colorful celebrations to our lives.