The End of September

Our class is starting to settle nicely into our routines. Our focus this month has been getting to know each other and feel comfortable and safe in our cozy classroom together. We are working on recognizing our own names and reading peer names too. We have enjoyed new songs, stories, and reading poems together. Thanks to our pocket chart centre, many students are enjoying playing teacher and reading the poems to me! The two students are playing teacher and reading in this photo.

I am presently organizing a field trip for both classes to the UBC Farm. The students will get to learn about growing vegetables and also get to pick a pumpkin for taking home. Division 14 will go on Oct. 29 and Division 15 will go on Oct. 26. I'll be contacting parents as volunteers. Thank you to parents who have already sent in driver forms. Stay tuned for more information.






Here's more some pictures of our darling students this week.

See you soon,
Love Mrs. App

September News!

September is slipping away quickly! I've had a wonderful time getting to know all my adorable Kindergarteners. It was great to see families show up for the Bayview Parents Night last night too. Thank you to Coen for these gorgeous sunflowers. Indeed, I believe they made the class look better than ever for the first week of school.

Here's some important information for the next two weeks.

Thursday Sept. 20: No School. There is a professional development day for staff in Deep Cove. No doubt I would much rather be with your kiddies than fight traffic to get to and from North Vancouver. Nonetheless, it will be an important day of team building with the new staff I rarely see now that I'm teaching in the basement!

Monday Sept. 24: I will be away. A Teacher On Call will be covering for me. I am very fortunate to be chosen to be part of the studio audience for Dr. Gordon Neufeld's filming of The Power to Parent (and Teach) Part II. This two day workshop is Sunday and Monday. It will focus on developing emergence and resilience in children. I'll give a little synopsis when I give back. Dr. Neufeld has been working with families for decades and is recently in high demand by lower mainland school districts. More information about Dr. Gordon Neufeld is at http://www.gordonneufeld.com/

The morning class will also start last part of recess without me this week. I've been watching them and they are ready. (Plus, I need to start taking my break!) Michelle will stay with them in addition to our supervision aide Maria. Maria will come for a class visit on Friday, so they know her better before Monday.

Tuesday Sept. 25 and Thursday Sept. 27: School ends at 2:00 p.m. for intake meetings. Hence, Division 15 in the afternoon has an early dismissal of 2:00 p.m. Only parents who missed the first week of meetings or request a special meeting will need to make an appointment with me. In other words, most families have already had their meeting and will not have another one.

That's it for now! Here's some pictures of our children exploring and discovering in the classroom.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more!

Love Mrs. App

The First Full Day!

Congratulations to parents and students! Both classes excelled at their first full day of Kindergarten.

Here's a picture of Michelle our fantastic School and Student Support Worker (SSSW) and proud C. beside the castle he carefully built. I have many more photos of our busy day and am devastated to find out that blogger is still having errors that stops uploads at the moment. At least the first photo made it up before it crashed! Tomorrow is Wednesday so I'll see Division 14 at 9:00 am. Division 15 has a day off until Thursday. Both divisions will now start their classes with Book Time.

See you soon,

Mrs. App

The kids have their first hour of school!

It was a great start for all! I should have a lovely picture to go with this, but blogger seems to have trouble posting photos this evening. Regardless, it was a busy hour for both classes today getting to know the classroom, new friends, and me. Ah, but that's not all. Everyone had a chance to meet Michelle. We are very fortunate to have Michelle hired as our full time support staff member in both classes. She has genuine smile and the children warmed up to her easily and quickly.

Tomorrow is a regular day. Michelle and I will take the morning class out early to avoid having recess with the rest of the school tomorrow. The afternoon class will always have recess to themselves. In the morning, the kids will come and meet me on the carpet when they arrive again. However, BOOK TIME will start soon. This means bins of books will be on their desks. We welcome individual book "reading" or time reading a book with family members for the first ten or fifteen minutes. I'll explain it to the children on Tuesday and then try to start their day that way on Wednesday or Thursday.
I'm sure all the children are in bed as I write this. I, too, must do that now.
See you tomorrow,
Love Mrs. App

The First Week: Family Meetings

September is here and I'm delighted to meet each family that comes through the kindergarten door. Meeting times are posted on the bulletin outside the door if you've forgotten your time.
I'm looking forward to Monday Sept. 10 for the first official day of kindergarten for both classes. Remember classes are only one hour on Monday. Classes will be the regular length on Tuesday and everyday afterwards.

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Stay tuned for posted week schedules and a calendar of September events.
See you soon!

Love Mrs. App