Message From the Office

Hello Parents/Guardians,

The office has sent out an email today at 11:35 am with the subject heading “Weekly Dispatch ”.   If you have not received this email it indicates you have not subscribed to receive non-commercial emails from Ken Taylor School and the CBE.  Please follow the attached link in order to subscribe and stay informed.

http://calgary.schoolmessenger.com/cbe_subscribe

Thank you,

Barb Rocca
Administrative Assistant, Kenneth D. Taylor School

Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca

t | 403-817-3504

Noon Supervision

Hello Parents and Guardians

Ken Taylor offers noon supervision to all of our Grades 1-4 students.  In order for your child to be eligible for this service you must register using your My CBE account.  https://webapps.cbe.ab.ca/MyAccount/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2fMyAccount%2f.   Please be sure to register for the 4 day week service for $255.00. 

If you do not register for noon supervision your child will need to be picked up over the noon hour. If your child rides the bus you will also need to register for bus service and pay the bussing fee of $355 for the school year.  When you register your child for the bus service they will  automatically be registered for noon supervision and both fees will apply.

Any family needing a waiver is encouraged to apply to the City of Calgary Fair Entry Program to prove income for a CBE waiver, as well as access other benefits of the program. This is optional for families and the CBE will will continue to accept other approved documents as proof of income.  Please visit our CBE website for more details http://www.cbe.ab.ca/registration/fees-and-waivers/Pages/Waivers.aspx  

If you have already registered for noon supervision please disregard this email. 

Thank you for your help and support.  

Warm Regards

Mrs. Lai

Orange Shirt Day

On  Friday we will be recognizing the residential school survivors by wearing orange shirts for "Orange Shirt Day".We will be talking about residential schools this week.  I encourage you to google "Orange Shirt Day" and read up about the residential schools.  Some of the concepts we will be discussing will be how it would feel to have to leave your family and have all of your belongings taken away to go to school. How it would feel to have to speak a different language and wear different clothes.  I encourage all the children to wear an orange shirt ( if you have one) on Friday.

On Friday, we will also be having a Terry Fox run. We will start with an assembly at 10:45a.m.  Parents are welcome to join us for the assembly.  After the assembly, we will have our annual Terry Fox Run.  We are encouraging all the students to bring a toonie for cancer research.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Warm Regards,
Mrs. Lai

Grade One Sight Words

Thank you so much to all the families for coming in for Parent -Teacher Conferences.  If you weren't able to make it into the school, due to your work schedule, please let me know and we can set up a meeting for another day.

Some of the parents were wondering how to support their child's learning at home.  In your child's backpack this weekend, you will find their Poetry Book.  If you can take some time this weekend to listen to your child's songs and take some time to read with them that would be great.

In grade one this year, we will also be learning to recognize and read Frys' First 100 Sight Words. Sight words are common words that don't follow conventional phonics patterns.  So readers need to know them "by sight". Please give your child plenty of practice identifying these important words to help them feel more confident when reading.

Here is a link you can follow to print and cut out flash cards for your child.

http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/support-files/fryfirst100set.pdf

There are a lot of fun games, such as Go Fish or Concentration, you can play with the flash cards that will make learning the sight words both interactive and fun. Please don't introduce all the words to your child at once.  Rather, start with 5-6 sight words.  Once your child has mastered the first few sight words then introduce another 5 sight words.

Thank you so much for your help and support.  Keep reading and writing !

Warm Regards,
Mrs.Lai

Marvelous Monday

We had a fabulous day today! This morning the students were excited to see each other and share about their wonderful weekends.  We brainstormed a list of all the cool and exciting things we did on the weekend. We also, looked at 4 drawing examples this morning. We talked about the pictures, and which picture looked like an excellent picture.  We decided that excellent pictures should include at least 4 different colors and add lots of detail to make it interesting and creative.  Studies have shown that children who draw detailed pictures are more likely to write detailed.  So we were all working towards including excellent illustrations in our journals today.  The students all put great effort into our drawing and printing today.  We will continue to work on this goal in our journal writing time.  

A big thank you, to all the students who remembered to bring their Poetry Books back to school today.  Thank you so much for taking some time this weekend to sit down with your child and listen to their songs and poetry.  If you forgot to return their Poetry Book, if you can kindly return it to school tomorrow that would be great.  We will continue to learn more songs this week, and will be adding them to our Poetry Book.  

This morning we sang some wonderful songs about the letter Aa and worked in our printing books to form the letter  Aa properly.  We also reviewed the recycling centers in our classroom and spent some time reviewing what to put into each recycling container.  

This afternoon, we reviewed some safety procedures and read a book on the Fire Drill.   We know fire drills are practiced in case there is a fire in our school. Please ask your child tonight what we do if there is a fire drill.  Hint, there are 3 special steps .  

1.  Line up single file
2.  Walk quietly out to the building 
3.  Stay together until the teacher says it's safe to go inside.  

We enjoyed working with snap cubes today to create and extend patterns.  The students also had gym and music class this afternoon. 

Have a great night!  

Warm Regards
Mrs. Lai 

Fire Drill

Hello  Parents, 

Sometimes our school has fire drills.  Fire drills are practice in case there is a fire in our school.  We have started reviewing the rules and what to do during a fire drill.  However, fire drills can make some children feel nervous and anxious. So if you think your child might be upset or anxious you may want to talk with your child at home about safety and fire drills.  This might also be a good opportunity for your family to review home fire drills.  If you have time, you may want to visit the public library.  There are some wonderful books that are very useful in preparing kids for fire drills.  Below are some books that may help your child understand why we have fire drills and help prepare them for the fire drill at school:

•  Arthur’s Fire Drill by Marc Brown
• Fire Drill by Paul DuBois & Jennifer Swender
• Miss Mango and the Fire Drill by Jamie Harper
• It's Fire Drill Day by Steve Metzger

 Thank you so much for your help and support.  

 Warm Regards, 

 Mrs. Lai 

Poetry Books

In your child's backpack tonight, you will see their Poetry Book.  Throughout the year we will be adding special poems, classroom songs and recipes of treats that we have made in class.  Poetry books will go home on Fridays and should come back to school on Monday.  You have the weekend to read through the poems with your child.  Some suggestions for reading with your child are:

1.    Play “I Spy” with some of the words. “I Spy” a word that starts with a letter ___. I Spy a word that says “to”. These are just some examples.

2.    Have your child read the poem to you, tracking the print with their finger as they go. Make sure they are tracking left to right, top to bottom.

3.    Point out rhyming words. What word does “cat” rhyme with in the poem? Can you think of another word that rhymes with that word?

Do as much (or as little) as your child wants to do. My goal at this point in the year is to encourage the children to see themselves as readers and to allow them to increase their confidence in their reading skills.  Some children might be already reading the words, where some of us will be reading by memory and that’s ok. Please don’t point out mistakes but rather encouraging their success and efforts.  Encourage the children to read to their siblings (older and younger), grandparents, the dog etc….I want them to LOVE to read.

Warm Regards

Mrs. Lai

Wonderful Wednesday!

We had a fabulous day today.  This morning we read our morning message together as a class.  We did a great job recognizing our "popcorn words".  Our popcorn words are : a, and, he, she, I, in, is, it, of, see, that, the, to was.  They are called popcorn words because they keep "popping up" when reading and writing. The students were all very engaged in  reading the morning message and helping us identify all of our popcorn words.

We also incorporate a lot of math into calendar time each day.  We are counting how many days we have been in school.  Today is our 7th day together.  We brainstormed a variety of ways to represent the number 7.  We illustrated the number 7 using tally marks, pictures, numbers, words and even addition and subtraction sentences.  Math is so much fun !

We also read a fabulous book today called Bucket Filling from A to Z by Carol McCloud and Caryn Butzke.  We learned that bucket filling is easy as can be.  The book showed us some wonderful ideas for things we can do to make others happy and how to be a good classmate.  Our class are excited to fill buckets.  We made a promise this morning to always be kind.  We also promised to only fill buckets in our classroom.

Today, we also started our grade one printing book.  We reviewed the letter C, we sang some songs all about the wonderful letter C. We  talked about the sound it makes and made a list of all the C words we know.  We also reviewed how to print letter C.  First we printed the letter C on our white boards.  Once all the children mastered how to print the letter C, we then printed the letter c in our printing book. Please ask your child what sound the letter C makes !

This students also enjoyed going to gym and music class today :)

In case of an accident if you can kindly please have an extra pair of clothes and socks in your child's backpack that would be great.  Some of the children may have some wet socks today given the puddles outside.  Sometimes even puddle jumping outside can leave the students with wet socks and sometimes even wet pants which can make it difficult to learn when you are feeling cold and wet. So it would be great it they all  had an emergency set of clothes in their backpack just in case.

Have a great night!

Warm Regards,
Mrs. Lai

Welcome Back!

Welcome back!  It was a gorgeous summer and I am looking forward to a fabulous fall, especially with your children in my class.  

Starting grade one is a big step in your child's life.  You can help your child adjust to school in the following ways: 

1. Encourage your child to dress independently; including putting on his or her own shoes. However, tying shoes can be very difficult for a 5 or 6 year old. So most students do prefer velcro shoes as it gives them more independence. 

2. Encourage your child to follow three step directions such as "Find your crayons, make a picture and bring it to me". 

3. When your child comes home from school, ask him or her specific questions such as "Who did you play with today?" "What center did you play in and what did you do there?" and "Tell me about the story your teacher read today?"

4. Establish a consistent bedtime routine for your child.  Tuck your child into bed with a story such as Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, Time for Bed by Mem Fox or Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.  

There are a number of books available at the public library, our school library and/or from bookstores on the topic of starting school.  Some titles you and your child may enjoy are: 

• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
• Franklin Goes to School by Paulette Bourgeois
• Kimberly Worries by Kevin Henkes
• Who Will Be My Teacher This Year? by Jerry Pallotta
• Every Cowgirl Goes to School by Rebecca Janni

What to Bring to  School 

Your child will need to bring a bag or backpack to school every day to carry home papers/projects from school.  Please check the contents of this backpack daily! In addition, your child will need to have a nutritious snack and lunch.  We are an allergy aware school.  However, we do have a student with severe nut allergies in our classroom.  So we are trying to be as nut free as possible for the safety of our students.  

Water Bottles

Proper hydration is very important for students.  "The brain is a water-loving organ, and if it doesn't get enough of it, it doesn't work right".  Studies have also shown that children need a higher amount of water than adults.  So I am strongly encouraging all students to bring a water bottle to school every day.  Please write your child's name and room number on the bottle with a permanent marker.  

Your Child's Belongings

Please, please, please put your child's name on everything that comes to school, including hats, mittens, shoes, coats, snow pants etc... As the seasons change so quickly in Calgary, sometimes the kids are coming to school in different coats on different days.  At times they don't recognize their own belongings.  If their name is in on their belongings, it makes it much easier to help them keep track of their belongings.  

Toys and Other Precious Belongings

The school strongly discourages students from bringing toys, gaming systems such as iPods and other precious belongings to school as they may be lost, stolen and/or broken. 

Volunteering at Kenneth D. Taylor School 

We welcome volunteers!!!  Volunteering in your child's classroom or volunteering as a parent helper on a field trip is a great way to get to know your child's school even better.  For safety reasons, all volunteers, must have a valid police check and CBE clearance to volunteer. 

Please ensure your police check and all office paperwork have been processed. Starting in October, volunteers are welcome to volunteer in the classroom.  This gives the students time to learn our school routines and feel comfortable in the classroom environment.  Please Do NOT bring siblings to school on your scheduled volunteer day so that you can enjoy a "special" time with your child.  

Scholastic Book Orders

Throughout the school year, students will have the opportunity to order books from Scholastic.  Order forms will be sent home with your child.  You are NOT obligated to purchase anything.  However, scholastic books provide a great way to increase your home library or make great gifts.  Through Scholastic purchases we are able to earn free books and materials for our school.  We ask that you please send cheques only (made payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd) for the exact amount ordered.  Please include your child's and teacher's name on the order form.  Return order forms by the due date.  We cannot process orders past the due date.  

* A very important volunteer job is the collection and organization of the Scholastic book orders.  We are in need of a parent to do this very important job for our classroom. If you're able to help us out please contact me as soon as possible.  

When Should My Child Be Kept Home From School ? 

For the benefit of all of the students and staff, children who are sick are not to attend school.  Please keep your child at home if they are sick.  Children are considered sick if they have any of the following: 

• Fever
• Green or yellow discharge from nose
• Any infection requiring antibiotics
• Any communicable diseases
• Vomiting or diarrhea within the past 24 hours

If your child has been running a fever or vomiting they must be symptom free for 24 hours before returning to school. 

Attendance

If your child is going to be absent from school please phone the school and leave a message on our attendance line.  A brief message listing the symptoms of the illness will be very helpful.  

Important Dates:

• September 21 - Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30 - 7:30pm
• September 22 Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences - No School - Conferences will run from 8:00 - 1:00p.m. 
• September 25 - Non-Instructional Day - No School 
• September 29 - Orange Shirt Day / Terry Fox Run

I look forward to working with you and your child throughout the year.  It's going to be a fun year with lots of learning and new adventures along the way. You will find a lot of information here on our classroom blog.  However,  if you have any questions or concerns please contact me at mllai@cbe.ab.ca 

Thank you for entrusting your children with me. I love what I do and promise to treat your children with the kindness, respect, and love that they deserve! 

Warm Regards, 

Mrs. Lai