Outdoor Play 

The [Kindergarten] learning environment extends to the outdoors. A growing body of research suggests that connecting to the natural world contributes to children's mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being (Louv, 2005). Children's natural curiosity and sense of wonder can be fostered by providing them with many opportunities to learn outdoors. The learning that takes place in classroom experiences can be explored in the "extended classroom" that nature provides. Similarly, the natural environment can be reflected in the indoor learning environment.  - The Kindergarten Program, 2016

Each day, our students participate in outdoor learning for AT LEAST ONE HOUR. Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor play each day, i.e., warm jackets, hats, mittens, outdoor shoes, rubber boots, etc. Outdoor play is only cancelled when it rains or when there is extreme humidity or wind chill factors.

Change of Clothes

Now that warm weather is behind us, you may wish to send in a new set of extra clothing to stay in your child's cubby.  The summer change of clothes will be sent home when a replacement set is received.

Phonemic Awareness Time (PAT)

Each day before mid-day outdoor play, we will have Phonemic Awareness Time, or PAT. PAT time provides a number of positive learning opportunities tied to Ontario's Kindergarten Curriculum:

1.1 explores sounds, rhythms, and language structures. with guidance and on their own
1.2 listen and respond to others, both verbally and on-verbally
1.8 ask questions for a variety of purposes
1.9 describe personal experiences, using vocabulary and details appropriate to the situation
1.11 demonstrate an awareness that words can rhyme, begin or end with the same sound, and are composed of phonemes that can be manipulated to create new words

PAT Time (very similar to Show and Tell) will begin on Monday, October 21st. PAT Time is a time where we work on developing phonemic awareness. This involves children being able to listen for sounds in words.

For instance, on Mrs. Cuggy-Murphy’s PAT Day she brings a snake or a picture of a snake when our focus letter is “s”. She will present it in this way: “My name is Mrs. Cuggy-Murphy. I brought a snake. Snake starts with the letter ‘S’. The letter ‘S’ makes the sound sssss.” Then together we will make a fist, say the word snake and release one finger for each sound that we hear (four fingers for the four sounds that we hear in snake). Phonemic awareness is known to be the best predictor of reading and writing success. This is an easy and fun way to gain that awareness.

During this time, students will also be invited to ask an informative question where the reply will be more than just a yes/no answer. Students will be encouraged to begin a question using “who, what, where, when, why and how”. This is a great way to promote inquiry-based learning.

Please check the schedule below to see which day of the week your child needs to bring in his/her item. For example, this week, children are asked to bring in an object that begins with the letter “Ss”. Please help your child to choose his/her PAT item. Your child should bring in only one item each week. Students should be prepared to present the item to the class.

PAT Time Schedule

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Alicia	Eva	Marcus	Mila	Slava
Camila	Francesco	Mason	Noah	Vitor
Deshika	Leo	Mikaela	Rachel

Classroom Supplies Requested

Donations of classroom supplies will be gratefully accepted! Items that would be useful for our classroom include:

• boxes of tissues
• Lysol anti-bacterial wipes
• serviettes
• plastic forks and spoons
• paper plates
• Play Doh
• tooth brushes (for art activities)
• art supplies (pom poms, doilies, buttons, foam stickers)
• dress up clothing (no princess costumes, please!)

Important Dates

Week of October 21 - PAT Letter "Ss"

October 24 - The Great Big Crunch 🍎- wear red, yellow or green

October 29 - Picture Retakes

October 31 - Boogie-A-Thon

November 1 - Pizza Day🍕

Week of November 4 - PAT Letter "Aa"

November 5 - Snuggle Up & Read Begins for SKs

November 7 - School Bus Safety Presentation 

Week of November 8 - PAT Letter "Tt"