Division 18 Newsletter

Novembre 2015

Bonjour dear families! We are now deep into the kindergarten curriculum. It is so nice to see some students
beginning to speak en Francais! Here are some of the things to keep in mind for the month of November.

Le franais (Language Arts)

Ami du jour (Friend of the day) This is your childs special day at school. They are invited to lead
calendar on their special day. They also have the opportunity to choose activities first and be the teachers
special helper for the day. For show and tell (Montre et Raconte) our theme this month will be patterns (les
regularits). Please have your child choose something to share with the class that has a pattern and take the time
to go over these points with your child so they can discuss them with the class:
1) What is the pattern? (Quelle est la rgularit?)
2) What comes next? (Quest-ce qui vient aprs?)
3) What is the repeating part of the pattern? (Que lest la partie qui rpte?)

Les themes We are almost finished studying the colors in French. Bravo! We have begun the alphabet. For
each letter your child will learn a song and action to help them remember the sound the letter makes and will
practice printing that letter. Each week we will have activities around the letter of the week. 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). You
can help at home practicing the letter sounds with your child and identifying words that start with that letter
when reading. You can also work with rhymes at home by reading nursery rhymes or other rhymes in English
and asking your child to identify them. Identifying words (orally) that rhyme while reading, listening to music,
or just talking is also a great exercise to do at home.
La lecture Try to read to your child every day. One way to keep track of how much you are reading is to use
the form provided by our school librarian.

Les sciences humaines et les sciences naturelles

Les science humaines We will continue to study 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. If we have time we will also begin to talk about things we like and are good at. This
will lead to talking about different jobs in our community. 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 are finished our patterning unit but will continue to work with patterns
throughout the school year. You can help at home by asking your child to identify patterns while with you
(example: a fence, the dotted line on the road, the streetlamps, etc.)
Le nombre We have begun to explore numbers up to 5 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)

This month students will be learning about ball manipulation. The volley ball nets are up and students are
having fun getting the ball across using different techniques! You can help by discussing the importance of
staying active and by asking what we have been doing in PE.

Daily Physical Activity

Riverdale has a daily physical activity time set aside most days for students to dance and move about to music
with the help of an older student leader. We also like to run at Riverdale and we can often be found running laps
around the school yard

La planification personnelle (Health and Career)

We will begin learning about jobs in our community. You can help at home by asking your child about healthy
foods versus treats.

Les arts plastiques

We will be creating artwork themed around Remembrance Day, family and colours. You can help at home by
encouraging you childs interest in arts and crafts and by asking what we are working on at school.

Field trips/special occasions:

Oct. 30th Students are encouraged to come to school in costume or dressed in black and orange. We will be
having a kindergarten parade in the afternoon the show off our costumes!

Other:

Please check your childs folder each night and carefully take the time read and complete
pertinent paperwork. It takes quite a bit of time for teachers to check paperwork and it can be time
consuming to have to send paperwork home a second time to be completed correctly. If you are
sending money, please put it into an envelope or small ziplock bag with the pertinent paperwork
and your child`s name on it. The envelope or baggy should be placed in their folder for them to
hand in. Students often drop items out of their communication folder bags and it falls on the ground in
the hallway. Simply putting paperwork and cash in your child`s communication folder may result in
your money being lost. If there are papers you do not want in the communication folder please throw
them out at home. This way I can spend more time with your child and less time sorting through various
papers.

Class Calendar

Oct. 30th Costume or black and orange day!

Nov. 10th Remembrance Day assembly 10:30 am.
Nov. 11th Remembrance Day - No School as it is a statutory holiday.
Nov. 12th In Service day for curriculum implementation No School. Have a fun day with your
children!
Nov. 13th Professional Development day. No school. Have a fun day with your children!
Nov. 27th SOAR Assembly - Parents of children who are being recognized will be notified and are
invited to join us at the assembly.

Calling Parent volunteers!

Play dough I am looking for volunteers to make play dough throughout the year. Thank you to Teagans
parents for making last months play dough. I would really like some help with a batch or two in November.
Please e-mail me if you can help.
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