Firefighter Visit

On Friday, our local firefighters came for a visit. They gave us a short presentation about what to expect if a fully equipped firefighter came to rescue us. Then we got to see the fire truck and sit in the front seat. It seemed like the most fun was a visit and high five from Sparky!

"Hey, that sounds like Darth Vader"

Santa's Seconds Sale

Santa’s Seconds Sale

December 9, 2015

Our seventh annual “Santa’s Seconds” event will be held on

Wednesday, December 9th,  2015.

This school initiative is designed to provide students in our school the opportunity to “shop” for the holiday season for family, friends, and loved ones.

Last year, we raised over $3000.00 for Candlelighters Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy, and Friederich’s Ataxia – what a great contribution to our local and global community!  Our goal this year is to again raise $3000.00!

This year, we invited Grade 6 students to propose charities that are close to their hearts.  After careful consideration, we would like to direct the funds raised to 4 valued charities:

• Friedreich Ataxia Research Association (FARA)

• Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre (OICC)
• Arnprior Humane Society
• Kanata Food Cupboard

How can you help?

Please help us reach our goal, by sending in the following new or gently used items:

items for Dad toys puzzles CDs

jewellery games DVDs items for Mom

books crafts housewares knick-knacks

We also need donations of gift wrap, bows, gift bags, gift tags, and ribbon.

Please send your donations on the following dates:

• Thursday, December 3rd
• Friday, December 4th
• Monday, December 7th
• Tuesday, December 8th

All gifts will cost $1.00. If your child would like his/her “top secret” present wrapped, we are asking for $0.50 for that service.  To ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to shop, please send in no more than $10.

We’ve also sent home a “shopping list”, to help your child shop successfully.

Sincerely,

Stonecrest Staff

Snowsuit Fund

Stonecrest Snowsuit Fund

November 30-December 4, 2015

Stonecrest will once again fundraise to support the purchase of new snowsuits for local children.  This fundraiser will be held from

            Monday, November 30 to Friday, December 4, 2015.

During this time period, “elves” from Mrs. Storms’ Grade ⅔, and Mrs. Wilker’s and Mrs. Armstrong’s grade 3 ETFI classes will visit all classrooms every day to accept any donations of money, or new winter clothing.  If you choose to write a cheque, please address it to “Stonecrest E.S.”.

Please note:  Due to storage limitations, we are no longer able to accept gently used winter wear.  Should you have used winter items that you wish to donate, may we direct you to your local donation box, or Value Village on Hazeldean Road.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, the staff at Stonecrest would prefer that families, who wish to purchase teacher gifts during this festive season, redirect their generosity towards this fundraiser.  Therefore, if you choose to make purchases, may we suggest hats and mitts, or other winter wear, which we will donate to less fortunate families on behalf of our “Stonecrest Family.”  Should you choose to make a donation on behalf of a teacher/staff member, please feel free to use the tear-off tag to indicate this on your donation.

Sincerely,

Stonecrest Staff

Investigating nature

Both groups had the opportunity to go on nature walks this week. We talked about animal shelter and habitats, and once outside, our task was to find evidence of animal homes. We saw chipmunks, groundhog, spider, insect, and caterpillar homes and with some imaginations, there were A LOT of snake homes!!! There were some very excited nature enthusiasts!

"The beetles left tunnels in the wood where they used to live!"

Who lived here?

One of MANY potential "snake" homes!

"I am stuck in a groundhog hole!"

Preparing for winter

We have been discussing some ways in which animals and people prepare for winter. We understand that some animals hibernate the cold months away, while some migrate to a warmer climate, still others adapt to our climate by camouflaging themselves and others prepare by getting a store of food stashed away. Be sure to ask your child about some animals and have a discussion about what your family does to get ready for the winter ahead. 

Sorting "hibernaters", "non-hibernaters" and "migraters". This was a very interesting discussion as each student argued their point!

Making our migrating geese.

Making our interactive "lift the flap" mural. Finished products (one for each class), yet to come. 

Looking for...

Now that winter has arrived, the school's play structure has been closed. To keep the students entertained, and extend their creative understanding, the teachers have begun setting up some outdoor musical instruments. We are looking for old pots and pans, baking tins, basically anything that the students can play with and "make music" with. These would be items that you do not want returned! 

Numbers 7, 8 and 9

We have finished off our lessons about numeral formation. Earlier, we had practiced 1-6 (see a blog entry from earlier this month). We have finished off 7, 8 and 9. Ask your child to tell you the rhymes for each number. We are trying to ensure that they form the numbers the correct way and in the correct direction.

7 goes like this: across the sky and down from heaven, that's the way we make a 7

8 is this: make an S do not wait, go back up and close the gate

9goes like this: make a circle, then a line, that's the way to make a 9

We practice on our chalkboards...

And with string...

And with wiki sticks.

You can help your child by having him or her record numbers whenever possible. i.e. Recording phone numbers

Voluntary supply fee

In lieu of large supply lists, kindergarten students have traditionally been asked for a voluntary $20 supply fee. We did begin collecting this from parents, but were interrupted by the labour disputes. If you still wish to contribute and haven't already done so, we would happily accept the money. The donations are used to purchase many consumable items not provided by the school that make our kinder classrooms fun and unique, such as:

 toothpicks (for our X-ray creations)

Q-tips (for painting and creating crafts)

Paper plates (for all sorts of crafts)

Feathers (for crafts)

Googly eyes

Corn starch (for making magic goop)

Flour and salt (for making play dough)

Cotton balls

Food colouring

Thank you😀

Tough day in Kindergarten!

Well, it really wasn't as bad as it might seem! We had some special visitors come to our class to talk about bones. Two doctors, Sarah and  Angus showed us a skeleton, a bunch of big X-rays and then we got to try on a sling, as if our arm was broken. Finally, we each got to cast our fingers. It was so exciting! I think we have a bunch of "doctors in the making!"

A HUGE thank you to Zoe's mom and dad who came in to share their expertise with both classes, taught us a bit more about our bones and joints, and gave us a wonderful hands-on experience!

Letter Sounds

Each day, we practice some letter sounds. We use the letter sounds with accompanying actions from a program called "Jolly Phonics". Each letter has a short story, the sound and an action. Making learning active may help some of our kinescetic learners. Be sure to ask your child about the sounds for the letters A to H ( that is how far we've got so far). Here they are if you'd like to practice with your child.

Creating a kind and cooperative classroom

We have recently read "How Full is your Bucket", a picture book that uses the metaphor of a dipper and a bucket to show how social interactions can affect relationships and positive moments in other's lives. Ms Byrne read the book and brainstormed for a variety of actions that might be "bucket fillers" or "bucket dippers". We are hoping to inspire kind actions and words throughout the day in our classrooms. With both the "blue group" and "green group", we have a bucket and some colour coordinated rocks. We are encouraging the students to use kind words, manners and cooperative actions, and when we hear or see this, we will ask the student to put a rock in the bucket. Once filled , we have promised a special event (to be determined later, possibly a movie, or party, popcorn party, etc). So, if your child mentions that they got to "fill the bucket", or "put a rock in", congratulate them, and know that they are becoming a kind considerate member of our classroom community!

Stonecrest's Book Fair

The annual Scholastic book fair will be set up in the Library all next week (November 16-20). As a class we may make a very brief visit to the fair, but for the most part, kinder kids have a hard time understanding why they are visiting the Library, but can't take home a book as per our usual weekly visit! If you wanted to send money with your child, we will ensure that they get the opportunity to do some shopping. The Book Fair will be open during parent teacher interviews on Thursday evening and Friday morning should you wish to do some of your own holiday shopping. 

**please note, we will be unable to have our usual library visit and book exchange on Thursday.

Parent teacher interviews

As you are likely aware, this coming Thursday (November 19) and Friday (November 20) morning, there is an opportunity to conduct parent teacher interviews. Interviews will be conducted with both the English and French teachers together. As there is not enough time to meet with every student's family, we have sent out invitations to those parents who we would most like to touch base with. If you would like to meet with us, but did not receive any notification (through an email), please do not hesitate to contact myself and Melanie. Please email us at Jodie.sonnenburg@ocdsb and Melanie.wilson@ocdsb.ca, and we will try our best to find a time that suits all.

Remembrance Day

We were very proud of all our students who did so well in our quiet Remembrance Day assembly today. Thank you to Alicia and Daniel who represented the kindergartens in the laying of the wreath.

Spy kids

Periodically, we change up our dramatic arts centre. We wanted to change our house centre. We brainstormed for a variety of ideas, then voted on the most popular idea. It turns out that we are changing our centre into a "secret agent lair" (their words)!!!! We have also made a list of items we might need. 

We have talked about doing some writing with "invisible ink", or secret code writing. If you have any ideas that would enhance our experience, or you can offer or lend some appropriate items, please

let us know. Help!!!!

Apparently, secret agent lairs have rocks in them, so we painted a wall of rocks. 

Remembrance Day

We will be participating in the Remembrance Day assembly here at Stonecrest on Wednesday. We had the prestigious opportunity to have a soldier statue on loan for several days last week. This provided a jumping off point for rich conversation. This statue will be a permanent fixture in Carp shortly. We talked about what he was doing, holding, feeling.

We have also read a few books, and had some conversations about freedom, war and peace.

On Wednesday, we will all go to the gym to participate in the quiet, solomn assembly. We will ensure that all the students have a poppy. You may choose to send in a small donation with your child to aid our veterans.