MAY

The May calendar is available below

**__ NOTICES & __**__ UPDATES __

**__ Kindergarte __**** __ n C’s __ **
 * __ FAMILY DAY CELEBRATION __**
 * __ Thursday Ju __**** __ ne 5, 2014 (9:00 to 10:15) __ **

On Thursday June 5th our class will be having a very special **Family Day Celebration**. On that day we will be celebrating those people in our families who are special to us. Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and siblings from other classes are invited to join us for this special day. At 9:00 am, the children will be singing a few of their favourite songs. We may also have a special story teller who will share a family story. After our circle, all family members are invited to join the students for a small snack and a social visit with the other families in our class. The children are also working hard to prepare a very special family gift. Could parents please forward any digital pictures they have of class activities to either Mrs. Pipe at ann.pipe@ugdsb.on.ca or Mrs. Metcalf at karen.metcalf@ugdsb.on.ca. We are in the process of compiling a special end of the year surprise for each family. THANKS! We look forward to seeing everyone on the 5th! Sincerely,

Mrs. Pipe, Mrs. Metcalf & Mrs. Clarke

__**Family Fun Night on June 2nd, 6-8pm!**__ This night raises a good amount of money for your children to benefit from resources and special programs, throughout the school year. May 16 - new pictures have been added to May Merriment at the bottom of the page May 15 - a BIG thank you to all our volunteers who accompanied us to Guelph Lake. See pictures [|here] and

May 12 - reminders Check the Parent's section for information about what your child should know before K - its still not too late to help them master these tasks!! On Tuesday May 13 all kindergarten staff will be attending a workshop in the afternoon. Thursday May 15 is our trip to Guelph Lake. The forecast is for rain. All students will need a raincoat and rubber boots. May 12 – Our Multicultural evening was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who was able to come and take part. Our room became New Zealand for the evening and we had displays of Maori art, kiwi (New Zealand’s national symbol) and poi dancing.

Below you can find link the link to the poi dance video as well as pictures of our displays. 

Music Tuesday - see videos of the kindergartens singing their songs last Tuesday morning in front of the whole school! May 8: Miss Brown celebrated her Big Day last Saturday! She is now Mrs. Clarke. See some pictures of the wedding and their trip to Quebec on Bea’s Quebec blog [|www.beasquebecblog.weebly.com]

** May 5: The boys and girls are working hard to get our room ready for our up and coming Multicultural Night on Thursday May 8th. Rooms will be open from 6:00 to 7:30. Watch for further information to follow... ** ** Here are some pictures of the boys and girls working on decorations with their Reading Buddies. **

** We would like to wish all of our Mothers and Grandmothers a very happy Mother's Day. ** ** In keeping with Kindergarten 'C's tradition, again this year we will be having a "Family Day Celebration" at the beginning of June. This celebration of our families will take place in lieu of a Mother's Day and a Father's Day celebration/student gift. On this day family members (including siblings that are in other classes if their teachers give permission) are invited to join us for a short presentation and some light refreshments. Please stay tuned to the Wiki for more information in the coming weeks. **

__** QUOTES OF THE MONTH **__ "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today". ~Stacia Tauscher "A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer". ~Author Unknown "Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said". ~Author Unknown

** Click the link below to see a short cartoon clip about an authentic way to ** ** teach math at home using sports. ** []
 * INFORMATION FOR PARENTS **

http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/5-skills-kindergarten/ (the following article is from the website above) "I was a teacher and I saw these things from a teacher’s side, as well as from the side as the parent. These things may seem little to you, or not-important, but I can tell you that as a teacher, they are HUGE. They give your child confidence and they show the teacher that your child is independent and ready to take on Kindergarten. Its the little things that give your child that feeling of success and leadership. Plus, these things take away so much time from teaching. If I had a penny for each shoelace that I tied when I taught… I would be RICH!!

1. Tie their shoes – this is not as hard as you think. Just let your child practice it in steps. For a few days, teach them to do the X and go through the first loop (the easy part). Do this over & over. Let them tie everything. Next, move onto the rest. They WILL get frustrated! Its a given. Both of our boys did. If you keep encouraging them, they WILL get it within the week. Our kids both had me video tape them tying their shoes and send it off to our families. They were so proud of themselves!" PS- YES… it takes much longer than if you did it yourself, but so do[| kid-chores.] Remember, its not about “right now”, its about teaching them a lesson that will help them for a lifetime.

2. Open a juice box- Teach them each step. Take the straw off, open it, insert it into the juice box, drink it, throw it all away. Easy enough, right? There are many 5 and 6 year olds that do not do this because no one has taught them how. Teach your kids this little thing and it will save their teacher a lot of time.



3. Use the bathroom, wash hands and button their pants alone. Again, easy enough. If your child can’t do this, you might want to send them in different pants. Most kids do not want to walk out, in front of 25 fellow-students, to ask their teacher to button their pants. Practice, practice, practice.

4. How to handle getting what they need- ex: if they break their pencil, are they going to sit there and do nothing or are they going to take action and get a new one? If they need a spoon at lunch, will they sit and not eat or will they know that they need to “take care of yourself”, as I told my students. Teach your child to take steps towards being independent by helping themselves. [|Remember, you are raising your child to be a responsible adult.]

5. Know the basics! Does your child know their name, phone number, address? These are IMPORTANT! You are relying on adults that have 24+ other students that day. I would never want to send our little ones out ‘into the world’ without this information. Oh- and this means their LAST NAME, too, not just their first.

If your child doesn’t know this, at least slip a piece of paper in between their sock & their shoe with the info on it. haha! That’s what I do when we go out somewhere with a lot of people, like an amusement park… and the kids know to look for it there, in case they “forget”.

** MAY STARS **

OUR BUTTERFLY INQUIRY



Cocoon or Chrysalis? A cocoon is a covering made of silk that encloses a pupa, and a chrysalis is the pupa of a butterfly. The chrysalis is covered in a hard, chitinous shell. Note the difference: A cocoon is a covering of a pupa, and a chrysalis is a particular kind of pupa, usually with no enclosing cocoon. __**Inside a cocoon, you will often find a pupa of a moth or other insect with an inner chitinous shell, but it is not called a chrysalis unless it is the pupa of a butterfly.**__ The pupae of some insects have visible external body structures, such as wings and legs, as they develop, while others (such as moths) have a smooth outer shell that encloses the developing structures.

__** MARVELLOUS MAY MERRIMENT **__