Mr. Hooper Day!

Today we had a day in Mr. Hooper's honour. Our school is truly fortunate to have such a warm and caring principal to set the atmosphere for the school as a community. This morning the entire school wore moustaches to the assembly as a surprise for Mr. Hooper. It was our not-so-subtle way of saying we love him. Any parents who were there would agree the gym was a sea of moustaches. It was a great sight.
Although our afternoon Kindie crew did not go to the assembly, they saw a lingering moustache on another student and were keen to jump on board. I wish I had pictures of the morning event. Nevertheless, these Div. 15 moustaches threaten a new trend of cute!







Love Mrs. App

Important Newsletter

The Musical
"Seus! do do do da do do do da... Seus!" or "Anything's po-ssible..." or "A person's a person no matter how small..." My head is filled with various songs from Seussical the Musical. Thank you to all the parents who came along and gave your enthusiasm and support. The children genuinely seemed interested in the production. I loved seeing their faces light up during the the first scene. It was also a pleasure to hear them mouthing the words to "I do not like green eggs and ham" during the curtain call. The performance was the official ending to our unit, but we do still have an activity that we didn't finish so it will spill into next week a little bit.

Last Week of School
Next week, we will do mostly seasonal activities, art, and singing. The morning class will have Off-To-A-Singing-Start on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This means they come to class, but instead of booktime, we go to the gym for carol singing with the entire school. We will have a sign on our door to remind late-comers where we are.

Report Cards
The report cards go home on Friday, the last day of school. No surprises. Remember, our little tykes have different styles and rates of learning. Everyone is doing well and progressing within grade expectations. We will have parent-teacher conferences in January.

Pancakes and a Visit from Santa!
It's true. On Thursday, each class will have a pancakes and a visit from Santa in the Lunch room. Usually, it's in the morning, but I'll fight to make sure the food and Santa stay long enough to include the afternoon class. Please don't skip breakfast or lunch, since we don't know when our classes will have the activity.

Class Christmas Parties.
Michelle and I have been planning activities for our class parties. Parents are welcome to bring goodies, it they wish. I will be approaching two parents who already mentioned baking with a special request. (Now you are all curious...!) The afternoon party is on Thursday and the morning party is on Friday.

REMEMBER, WEDNESDAY IS A FULL DAY! That means that Division 14 has school on Wednesday and not on Friday! (Hmmm.... why isn't it always that way? Oh, well, I don't make the rules.)

That's all for now!
Cheers,
Mrs. App

Green Eggs and Ham Performances!

We did it! What proud parents and teachers we were as we watched our Kindies belting out the very tricky "I don't like Green Eggs and Ham" Song. They were wonderful! Both performances are included in the slideshow on the right. Make sure to click the pictures to make them bigger.

Tomorrow we go to see Seussical the Musical. How perfect!

Love Mrs. App

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