September Learning Update

Hello Families,

Thank you to the families for attending the “Meet the Teacher” evening and making time to see me on Thursday to celebrate your child’s learning.

September has been a busy month for our Kindergarten students. We have had an amazing start and students are gradually settling in our class routines. In our Kindergarten program at Vista Heights we refer to a continuum of programming that is developmentally appropriate and meets the diverse needs of all young children and their families. We provide all our students with multiple opportunities to participate as active learners according to their individual needs and abilities. We have been working on building our Kindergarten Community routines to establish our classroom expectations, which are imperative for a successful learning and teaching environment. Laying a strong foundation for our Kindergarten students through meaningful experiences is the key to student success. We are excited to build a learning community where we foster our student’s natural curiosity and eagerness to learn through structured, organized activities promoting purposeful play. Your child will interact, imagine, experiment and explore to add to their knowledge, learn new skills and practice what they have learned.

 Each month you will receive a learning update. This will provide an overview of topics and concepts covered in class and will outline learning activities for the upcoming month.

 For the month of September, the students:

  • Worked on recognizing their names and printing them independently. Identifying the first letter in their name
  • Direct teaching of formation of letters, practicing pre-printing shapes
  • Identify & print letter Aa and mm with their corresponding sounds
  • Listened to daily Read-Alouds participating actively in conversations about the story
  • Copied environmental print independently in their journals using the correct pencil grip
  • Counted numbers from 1 to 10 forward and backwards
  • Discussed Values and expectations of our Kindergarten Community
  • Demonstrated roles and responsibilities of being kind and showing respect to develop positive relationships with peers i.e. learning the boundary song and being safe in our bubble space
  • Read the book, ‘The Best Part of me’ and the students demonstrated curiosity and creativity sharing their ideas. Students identified and expressed what they considered the most important part of themselves
  • Learned about sharing and importance of cooperative play
  • Drew themselves with all our body parts following guided instructions
  • Art project connected with the book, ‘Gentle Hands.’ and the book, ‘The Dot’
  • Kindergarten students did an excellent job of listening, following instructions and being safe in their first practice fire drill

 Next month we will be:

  • Learning Seasonal Changes- ongoing throughout the year and Five Senses
  • Practicing how Five senses help us observe the world around us
  • Identifying Ss, Tt, Pp
  • Sorting items using 2 attributes i.e. colour, shape
  • Learning about shapes and patterns in our environment
  • Identifying first letters in a word
  • Journaling our observations & Learnings
  • Participating in daily Read- Alouds demonstrating active listening, retelling the story and making predictions
  • Learning about rules of cutting and scissor safety

 Ask your child:

  1. Can you think of 3 classroom rules?
  2. Why do we need a personal bubble space and how can I be a good listener and a friend?
  3. If we take something from Mother Earth then what do we need to do?

 Please note:

• We will be going on a community walk on Friday, September 26, in honour of Orange Shirt Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

• There is no school on Monday, September 29th.

• There is no school on Tuesday, September 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

•Our class library day is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Please send your child’s library book back in the labeled special bags everyday as they are very excited to go to the library to exchange their books. Happy reading! 

Kind Regards,

Ms. Noon

Kindergarten