Class Performance

Dr. Seuss:
Both classes have been enjoying our Dr. Seuss Theme. We are doing math, literacy, and art in Seuss style. Of course, it wouldn't be right if we didn't find a song about Dr. Seuss too. I bought the Broadway CD of Seussical. We've already listened to various songs to prepare us for Seussical the Musical. Plus, we've started practising the "Green Eggs and Ham" song yesterday. Thank you to Marja for the adult Seuss hats. Thank you to Day for cutting and pasting coloured paper to make children Seuss hats. Hang on.... a song and costumes? Time for a class performance! It's not much time, but we will do our best. The morning class will sing our song for the entire school at the morning assembly on Friday, Dec. 7. Yes, it's only a few days away. Please come and watch if you can. The assembly is at 9:00(ish). The song is far too fast for my usual K pick...but it's loads of fun. The afternoon class will go to the office and serenade Mrs. Batstone. I'll try to send home the words, so the kids can practise.

Journals:
The children started writing in journals this week. We waited until this month for journals because I wanted us to have lots of practise together first. Some children can freeze up at writing time and it is overwhelming for many children. Other children can be frustrated if they want to spell everything correctly immediately. I teach the children to try writing independently using the sounds they hear. Their journals become I time line of their writing development. The more sounds they know, the more letters appear in their writing. Soon words that we have learned start to appear and so on. So this week, after two months of writing the morning message with me, it was wonderful to see the children take the writer's role. They illustrated their page and worked on a sentence to go with their picture. Children were "stretching out" words and putting down the letters that they heard in the words they wanted to put on paper. I am proud of everyone!

Love Mrs. App

Tuesday Lunches with the Teacher

I always treasure my time with your children. We all agree that children benefit from extra teacher attention. I'd love the chance to have a lunch with each student this year. This is a wonderful chance to have a special time with each child. (I can explain further in person about how this experience may help their education.)

Bayview is focusing on Health and Nutrition, so I spoke to a local organic foods restaurant about hosting our lunch. I'm delighted to announce that Aphrodite's cafe is generously offering us a specialized kids menu at reasonable prices. Of course, the 3 choices are all yummy and made from organic healthy foods. I will be sending home a sign up form for parents who are interested. (I will also have a free option where we eat our bagged lunches at school so no one misses out on personal time.)

I chose Aphrodite's Cafe because it is local friendly restaurant. It is on 4th just around the corner from our school. We do not need to cross any busy streets to reach the front door. The restaurant has a cozy feel and the inviting smell of a granny's kitchen. The owner Allan Christian, farmer and shareholder of Glen Valley Organic Farm in Fort Langley provides nearly all of the in-season organic produce for the restaurant, often picked in the AM and served the same day. Scot Roger is the chef who do his best to be at the cafe on Tuesdays. He will come to our table to meet me and my student of the week. Scot will also take the students on a little tour of the kitchen area, so students can see how the restaurant works. I think this part will also make our outing more special.

Check your child's Take Home Folder for the Lunch with the Teacher form. Due to the large number of children, this will be an ongoing event that will take months. If everyone goes for the outing option, I will talk to Scot about adding an extra day.


Thank you in advance to Alan and Scot at Aphrodite's Cafe. As always, thank you to all the parents for your smiles, comments, trust, and of course, letting me work with your children.

Here's the link for Aphrodite's Cafe. Our class choices are different, but you'll be interested to read more about the Cafe. If you go as a family, be sure to say that you're in Mrs. App's class!

Love Mrs. App

Seussical Tickets

Oh the things you can think!

Wow! I'm amazed by the number of parents and siblings who are coming to see the Seussical the musical with our classes on Thursday, Dec. 13. Thank you for your speedy responses. I have booked 54 tickets. That covers all our students (except those on holiday!) and the many parents who wanted to come along.

A BIG THANK YOU TO LEO! He's one of our fantastic SSSW's at Bayview. Since we don't have a computer technician, he volunteered his personal time to set up a new printer for our class. Now I can print off newsletters. The next hard copy notice will be the Suessical permission form which will include collecting money for ordered tickets.

Remember Kindergarten will be held in the afternoon on Dec. 13 for both classes. JKC rearranged their staff to take all JKC kids in the morning. Class will start for everyone at 12:30 and we will rush off right away to catch the 1:30 show. Please feel free to confirm with me that you are on the list. I also have the children arranged in cars already.

Oh, if you ask your children about where the Seus hats they painted went, hopefully they'll remember to say the Waterfront Theatre. I'm taking them down to the theatre on Wednesday. If all goes as planned, they will be on the theatre walls when we go to see the show.

As mentioned below, both classes are coming for the pm, so there is not an am class scheduled. JKC staff have rearranged to make extra space for those children. Please talk to me if not coming in the morning is difficult for your family. We can make a special arrangement.

Love Mrs. App

Holiday Hampers

It's the season of giving! At Thanksgiving time, our kindergarteners showed how thoughtful and caring we are by bringing in donations for the foodbank. When the foodbank came to to pick up the school donations, I'm proud to say that the lion's share of the load was from the kindergarten classes.
Now, our school is working together to put together Holiday Hampers for families in need at our sister school, Hastings Community School in East Vancouver. Our kind Kindies are collecting items to create a care package for a family that has a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old boy. General ideas for hamper items are games, books, gifts for children, gifts for parents, non-perishable food, pre-paid transfer fare cards etc. I am sending home a newletter that has more details. We hope to have our boxes wrapped and ready to go by December 10.
Love Mrs. App

Scholastic Book Orders

I was thinking of the early Christmas shoppers when I sent home the December Scholastic book order forms two weeks ago. I thought everyone would want to order early so the books would be here long before the vacation. I was wrong. Either books are not on the shopping list or people were like me and couldn't bear to think about Christmas a couple of weeks ago.
No matter what the reason is....not a soul ordered a book from the December collection! The deadline was supposed to be on Friday, Nov. 30. Let me know if you want me to extend the date. Perhaps people are waiting for the other books to arrive first. I still get giddy when I go to the office to check the mail box. Alas, there are not here yet. Soon I hope.

SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL!

Yahoo! We are going ahead for the planning of the field trip to see Seussical. Thank you to all the parents who will be buying tickets to join us and drive our children. Both classes will come to school at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 13. Our performance starts at 1:30 p.m. I'm squeezing us into a special performance that allows children 2 and over, rather than the usual limit of age 5. JKC kids will arrive to school at their usual time, but we request that the rest of the children only come for the special afternoon event. Please talk to me at school if we need to make a special arrangement for you.

I'm already busy taking oodles of Dr. Seus books out of the Library. I'll be getting a list of the characters, stories, and songs in the show. That way we can be well prepared to get the most out of the show. What a wonderful opportunity for an early literacy classroom like us!

Stay tuned for more information. I will send home ticket information and consent forms soon via the Take Home Folders.

Love Mrs. App

Safety Update

Note to readers: This entry is meant for parents so please skip it when sharing the blog with you children.

There has been a growing parent concern about the safety of children on the ground floor. There is many doors (too many I think!) on our level. In October, we made some changes in to ensure safety during bathroom trips. During class time, the girls go in pairs or with an adult. We can see the boys entrance from our room, so that is reassuring. Also, the staff have voted to have the school locked down during class times -when it's not recess or lunch time etc. This would mean less doors (maybe only one) would be open to the public during class time. I'm not sure of the exact date that the locking will begin. There will be a school newsletter. In the meantime, the principal is your best resource for the time line. The school also is very big to our little ones, so our kindies are never sent on errands to the office or other areas. They may run into the room during recess to get something they forgot, but the halls are busy with other children at that time.

Thank you to all the parents who have come to me with concerns. I agree that we need to do all that we can to keep our precious children safe and without having them be anxious about safety.

Cheers,

Caroline App

Watch the slideshows for Farm and Halloween photos!

I finally have some more pictures of our field trips and Halloween on our blog! Look along the right side of the page to see the slideshow options. I'll be using this option to share photos with student families and friends. (It's financially more possible too.) You can always order a picture you treasure. Enjoy talking to your child about the photos and memories they have. I also plan on learning how to use the projector in the classroom. Then we can view the slide shows etc. as a group.
Enjoy!
Love Mrs. App

Where is Michelle?

Ah, here's a lovely picture of many Div. 15 students. Wait a minute! Where's Michelle and who is that woman in the front! That's a friendly SSSW named Barb. She was with us those 3 long sad days that Michelle was away.


Thank you to the parent that emailed me this photo.


Love Mrs. App