SEPTEMBER



[|MEET KINDERGARTEN C] Click the link above to meet our class! __** MEET THE FAMILIES IN KINDERGARTEN 'C' **__ Welcome to all of our Kindergarten 'C' Families! It was great to have so many people visit our classroom for Open House on September 17th. The boys and girls worked very hard getting the room ready for visitors! They also did an amazing job as Ambassadors by showing their families their work and their favourite activities.

__** NOTICES AND UPDATES: **__ September 16:  Children's Author Frank Glew visits our school. "That Chickadee Feeling", "Butterfly Wishes", ":I Need a Hug" and "When I Grow Up I Want to be...Just Like My Dog", are just a few of my favourite books that were written by Mr. Glew. He will be talking about his book "Feed the Good Wolf" and will be providing information about our school mascot - THE WOLF! September 17: Rickson Ridge Open House, BBQ and Book Fair. Bring the whole family out to see your classroom, meet your teacher and visit the library where you can buy books at the Scholastic Book Fair. Proceeds from the Book Fair go to supporting our school library. After you visit the library and your classroom, join other families at our annual BBQ. Enjoy a hotdog, hamburger and a drink and visit with families and friends from Rickson. Proceeds go to various school initiatives at Rickson Ridge. September 23: We would like to welcome Mrs. Karen Metcalf to our room. Mrs. Metcalf is a seasoned teacher with many years of experience teaching young children. She has been part of Kindergarten C as a volunteer and a Long Term Occasional Teacher for many years. We are delighted that she will now be a permanent part of our classroom as our afternoon teacher! Mrs. Metcalf will be greeting you at the door at the end of each day, so please be sure to introduce yourself to her. Mrs. Metcalf will be replacing Mrs. Perry who has accepted a full time Kindergarten position at another school in our board. We wish her all the best and hope that she will come back to visit us very soon. October 4: Picture Day is coming! Make sure you rest up and get ready to bring your smile on the 4th! October 16 and 17: Dental Screening for all students in Kindergarten. This service is provided free of charge to all JK and SK students. October 22: The Lions Club will be here for Vision Screening for all JKs and SKs. This service is also provided free of charge to all students. Permission forms will be coming home in the next few days. Please fill it out and return it to the school as soon as possible. Thank you.

 QUOTE OF THE MONTH: by: //Christopher Morley//
 * "We call a child's mind 'small' simply by habit; perhaps it is larger than ours is, for it can take in almost anything without effort" **





** [|The science behind growing a healthy brain] **==== Brain development expert Jane M. Healy shares her most recent findings on how to boost your child's brain - and introduces some surprising risks to consider. (click the above link to learn more) ==== = [|Inside the kindergartner's brain] =

What insights can neuroscience offer parents about the mind of a kindergartner? (click the above link for more information)
Want more information? Simply click [|here] to visit Great Schools. This is an American website but it has some great articles about children, and more specifically, about Kindergarten.

What's New In Math?  Subitizing

Subitizing is the ability to recognize dot arrangements in different patterns. Since children begin to learn these patterns by repetitive counting they are closely connected to their understanding of the particular number concept. Quantities up to 10 can be known and named without the routine of counting. This can help children in counting on (from a known patterned set) or learning combinations of numbers (seeing a pattern of two known smaller patterns). Young children should begin by learning the patterns of dots up to 6. Students should also associate the dot patterns to numbers numerals, finger patterns, bead strings, etc. You can then extend this to patterns up to 10 when they are ready. Subitizing is a fundamental skill in the development of number sense, supporting the development of conservation, compensation, unitizing, counting on, composing and decomposing of numbers. For example: We want children to learn that: • there are 5 dots in this pattern or arrangement; • five is more than four; • a set of 5 objects can be separated into a set of two objects and a set of three objects, etc.; • five counters, no matter how arranged, still retains the same numerical quantity; • the associated oral name for a set of five things is “five” ** There are two types of subitizing: perceptual and conceptual. ** Perceptual Subitizing: • recognition of number pattern Conceptual Subitizing: • recognition of number pattern as composite of parts and whole • spatial (dot arrangements), temporal (attaching number to sounds), kinesthetic (finger patterns), rhythmic (hand-clapping) • spatial arrangements of sets influences how difficult they are to subitize (rectangular easiest linear circular scrambled most difficult) • different arrangements lead to different decompositions of that number Oral Numbers: Generally, students are ready to use oral numbers if they know that a set does not alter the number of objects in the set Numerals: Generally, the use of numerals with dot patterns should occur after children have made solid connections between the oral names for numbers and sets. From: Winnipeg School Division Numeracy Project  

__**Our First Inquiry Project -- BUGS **__ **Inquiry - It all starts with a question or an "I Wonder" ** **...then students discover answers to that question through their own hands-on experiences and research ** On September 17th Reece brought in an interesting outer skin of some type of bug. He found the skin stuck to a tree in his backyard and decided to bring it in to share with the rest of the students. What a great find that was!! Reece's discovery led to our first inquiry project....Bugs! The boys and girls used magnifying glasses to look at the bug and came up with lots of observations. Then we compiled a list of things that we wanted to know about Reece's bug. Reece decided that we needed more information so he wrote a note to Mrs. Patrick our librarian to ask if we could borrow some bug books. The students came to the conclusion that the bug is some kind of beetle - it might even be a June bug! We are currently looking at other bugs and have been on the look out for bugs that are outside on our playground. So far the students have gathered worms and a Roly Polly bug. (Roly Polies are also known as pill bugs, potato bugs and doodlebugs. They're under the scientific name Armadillidium vulgare. - See more at: http://www.chacha.com)

Reece's Mother and brother Kelly stopped by on Open House night and were amazed at the progress of our investigation! 

__** Children's Author FRANK GLEW visits Rickson Ridge **__

On September 16th children's author Frank Glew delighted the children with an informal book reading in the library. He shared his love of story, and his story inspirations with all of the students in the primary division. He provided lots of information about our school's mascot....THE WOLF prior to reading one of his stories "Feed the Good Wolf". Our class enjoyed his presentation so much that we are doing a mini author study on Mr. Glew. We have been reading his books at morning circle and are going to write a letter to Mr. Glew to express our love of his stories. Mr. Glew was kind enough to provide all of the students in the primary division with a copy of "The Good Wolf" and "that Chickadee feeling". We hope that Mr. Glew comes to visit again very soon!!

**__ SIMPLY WONDERFUL SEPTEMBER __**