December 8-12

 Hello Families,

We are moving through December at lightning speed and our classroom has become especially festive over the last week.  Our letter of the week was letter C!  We practiced making the letter C, we know what sound it makes and we can identify words that begin and end with the /C/ sound.  We loved singing along to an old classic "C is for Cookie!" and spent the week reading different versions of "The Gingerbread Man".  We even journaled about our favourite version so far.

We talked all about sequencing this week as well- looking at beginning, middles
and ends of stories and identifying how different tasks and activities follow a certain order.  We know that we get ready for the park or to go outside by following a sequence.  We practiced completing sequencing pictures and then solved a "sequencing puzzle" to plan out the steps of making a cookie- like the Gingerbread cookie.  The PM Kindergarten students followed the same sequence when we made salt-dough ornaments and gingerbread men this week.  The AM students will get to participate in this activity next week

In math, we continued to work in our number journals representing numbers up to five and reviewing our subtilizing skills on 10 frames.   We also jumped into more pattern exploration.  We went on a pattern walk and found over 20 different patterns in our school.  We noticed that so many people wear patterns on their clothing. We also know that patterns always repeat.  We used our understanding of patterns to create patterned paper chains.  

In centre time we have opened our own Kindergarten Post Office with a mailbox, envelopes, stamps and fancy paper.  We have been writing letters to our friends, making cards for family and getting really excited for "Mail Time" when we deliver mail to other classrooms or to each other in our classroom.  

We also have a cozy holiday cabin and Candy Cane Cafe for our dramatic play centre.  We have been "making cocoa", "buying and selling snacks" and "decorating our pretend house" this week.  It's been a lot of fun.  We have also been crafting, painting, building, playing board games and looking at Christmas books and story books together.  

Important Dates to Remember:

Please return library books this week. We will continue our regular library day on Tuesdays in January.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16:  AM Class ONLY - Caroling at 9:00am 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18:  PM Class ONLY - PJ Day and Caroling at 1:00pm

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19: AM Kindergarten Day - PJ Day for AM Students

DECEMBER 22- JANUARY 2: Winter Break (No School)

 

Additional Updates from MTS:

The Magic of Christmas

Every Christmas Eve, The Magic of Christmas loads up Calgary Transit buses that are magically transformed into “reindeer buses”, with hundreds of gifts and volunteers dressed as Santa and his elves.  Then they deliver Christmas spirit into the homes and hearts of those who need it most. 

From now to December 18, students and staff can bring in a new, unwrapped donation items (not food) and place them in the boxes located in the front foyer.  

Please see the attached wish list for ideas of items to donate. 

For more information or to make a monetary donation, please visit:  www.themagicofchristmas.org/donate 

Thank you for your support!

Food Support

Did you know that the Breakfast Club of Canada has shared research demonstrating that 40% of Alberta’s children experience food insecurity?  This means that 4 out of 10 children do not have access to food when they are hungry. 

If your family is experiencing challenges with providing food for your children you can find help at Brown Bagging Calgary. 

Complete this form for support and they can deliver lunches to McKenzie Towne School for your children. https://go.bb4ck.org/l/858913/2024-01-15/38fdbw You can also find out more information on their website https://bb4ck.org/

Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids

 

Here are some extra pictures from our week:

December 1-5

 Happy December!

It's hard to believe we are in the last month of 2025.  The Kindergarteners were very excited to see the calendar change over to December- as we know there are lots of exciting days and celebrations ahead.  This last week has been a chilly one, and we are continuing to become more and more independent in dressing ourselves to play outside. 

 Thank you families for sending your children in layers, with hats and mitts and boots.  I can tell lots of children have been practicing doing up the zippers and getting ready on their own.  They are doing fantastic.  We had lots of fun playing outside in the snow, sliding around, making snow angles and testing out the slide that seems more slippery than ever.

This week inside the classroom we learned about 2 new letters- Ss and Ii.  S for snow and I for ice- which was pretty fitting.  We practiced printing the letter, identifying words that begin with these letters and making the different letter sounds.  We read stories about snow and ice, and stories about animals that live in cold places.  In our journals we did writing about what we love to do in the snow and we created our own unique snowflakes with paint on watercolour paper.  

In math we completed our number 4 math journal work and learned about the number 5.  We read a story about penguins (and learned a little bit about penguins too).  We practiced subtilizing, writing the number 5 and representing it different ways.  We also went on a classroom number hunt to practice our counting and recording skills.  We are currently working on our own Penguin Counting book.  We will bring it home to share with you next week.  We also began to explore patterns! We know that a pattern is something that repeats again and again.  We spent some time engaging in Pattern centres- copying, extending and creating patterns with our classmates.

In the classroom we have been building with big blocks, stacking mini cups, playing board games and cards, exploring the new sugar bin sensory centre and doing lots of colouring and painting.  a big thank you goes out to our super parent volunteer who made us some lovely red and green playdoh!  We love to play with play doh in our classroom- and we definitely could use some help keeping up our play doh supply through the year.  If this is something that you could help with- please let me know.  I can even provide a recipe if needed.   

In the next 2 weeks we will be setting up a post office and package wrapping centre along with our pretend "Candy Cane Cafe".   If you have any extra envelopes, cards, wrapping paper, tape, ribbons or bows- please feel free to send them in.  We would love to use them for our dramatic play.

On Monday there will be photo retakes.

This week is our last book exchange before Winter Break

Thank you for all of your support.  Here are some pictures from our week:

November 24-28

 

Hello Families,

It was wonderful to meet so many of you at Conferences this week.  It is always wonderful to put faces to names and spend time celebrating all of the progress each child has been making.  We have such a fabulous group of Kindergarten students- they amaze me everyday.  The students worked so hard getting their family pictures all drawn and coloured for our family wall.  We were working on drawing people, adding lots of details, planning out our work on paper, tracing, colouring and writing our names.  We LOVED sharing about our families at carpet time.  We talked about things we liked to do with our families, we counted how many people were in each family, and we shared a little bit about what makes our family special.  We know that all families are different- but all families love each other and take care of each other.

Our pumpkin has continued to grow so big as it sits in the sunlight- even though it has been sooooo cold and wintery outside.  The students have been so helpful watering the pumpkin and making sure he is being moved to catch the most sun rays.  Thank you to families for helping their Kindergarteners come prepared for the weather.  Please continue to work on developing those independent skills by encouraging your child to try to put on their own snow pants and zip their zipper.

This week we read stories about Families and learned all about the letter F.  We practiced making letter F both upper and lower case and we also drew our friends in our writing books.  

In math, we practiced writing the number 4.  We can represent numbers 1-4 in different ways and have continued to work on our subtilizing skills.

Here are some more pictures of our week:

November 17-21

 

Hello Families,

This was a busy, full week in Kindergarten.   We were excited to be together and we couldn't believe how much our lil pumpkin has changed! We have sprouts and they are getting taller and taller.

 This week we jumped right in to learning about new letters and numbers.  We have been working hard on practicing the letters "T" and "F".  We can identify words that begin with those letters.  We can write them on white boards, and in our writing books.  We were excited to explore new items in the Mystery Box this week.  

In our writing journal we drew mystery animals that were hidden behind a flap.  We had to make good guesses about the hidden animal by looking at its peeking out tail.  The letter T begins so many amazing words.  We will continue to learn about the letter F by sharing Family photos at carpet time.  Please send along a family picture to share.  I am happy to print them out for your Kindergarten student.

In math we learned about the number 3- which is a tricky number to write- so we needed to practice quite a bit and be patient with ourselves.  We say "around the tree, around the tree- that is how you make a three".  You can have your child show you how they can do it.  We can show it on a ten frame and we even played tic tac toe- three in a row with a friend.  

In centres we have been busy playing in our pretend pizza shop, using scissors and glue to make crafts, exploring sand and water at the sensory bin, painting, making bracelets, building with giant blocks and going outside to the playground.  This week we played in sunshine, light rain, ice weather and snow.  Please continue to send your child dressed for the weather.  Boots are going to be important to have on for outside time in the next little bit as it can sometimes be slippery for crocs and dress shoes. 

Important Dates to Remember:

 Our Library Days are Tuesdays (PM) and Thursdays (AM) . Please don't forget your book(s) at home! 

NOVEMBER 27 & 28: No School for Kindergarten - Parent Teacher Conferences. 

Parents will book conference times through their CBE account. Conference bookings will open on Saturday, November 22 at 8:00am and closes on Thursday, November 27 at 2:00pm. 

If parents require support with bookings, they can call the office.  

Kindergarten Conferences will be held at on Thursday, November 27 from 8:00am-12:00pm and 3:30pm - 7:30pm, as well as Friday, November 28 from 8:00am to 12:00pm

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5: AM Kindergarten 

Here are some pictures of our week:

November 3-7

 Brrrrrrrr.....

The cold weather is here! This week we were excited to see snowflakes outside of our window and at the park when we went to play.  Please remember to dress your child for the weather as we go outside almost everyday.  Mittens work best for little hands.  Please help your child learn how to independently put on their jacket and zip it up.  Boots, hats, mittens, and coats will soon be part of our daily routine.

This week we began our number journals and read a silly story called "How to Count to One".  We learned how to show the number in different ways using a ten frame, writing the number and showing it as a picture. 

This week we did some scientific exploration as we cut apart some pumpkins to see what was inside.  We learned all about different types of pumpkins, what colours pumpkins can be and how they grow.  We have planted our pumpkin and we are watering it everyday.  We are waiting to see if it will sprout.

The Mystery Box was back at carpet this week for our next letter.  Inside the box we found lots of things that began with our new letter- the letter A.  We were able to try to play an accordion- it made such an interesting sound.  We also found a toy alligator, an anteater, an apple and an acorn.  We practiced printing the letter A in our letter books and we drew things that began with the letter A.  Ask your child what sound an A makes.

This week we also spent time talking about Remembrance Day.  We learned that a Poppy stands for Peace.  We used tissue paper to make our own poppy and we shared with our classmates what makes us feel peaceful and when we feel most at peace- calm, caring, and loving.

We had picture day this week.  We smiled so beautifully.  There will be retakes in the next few weeks if you missed it.

Some Reminders:

Nov 10-12 is Fall Break

Nov 14 is AM Kindergarten

NOVEMBER 27 & 28: No School for Kindergarten - Parent Teacher Conferences. 

Parents will book conference times through their CBE account. Conference bookings will open on Saturday, November 22 at 8:00am and closes on Thursday, November 27 at 2:00pm. 

If parents require support with bookings, they can call the office.  

Kindergarten Conferences will be held at on Thursday, November 27 from 8:00am-12:00pm and 3:30pm - 7:30pm, as well as Friday, November 28 from 8:00am to 12:00pm