PICTURE DAY IS COMING!

Picture Day is next Thursday, October 9th. Stay tuned for more details. Polish up those beautiful smiles!

We Are Going On A Field Trip

On Tuesday, September 30, the Kindergarten classes of Parnall Public School will venture out on our first field trip of the year. We will be visiting Puddicombe Farms in Winona, Ontario. Buses will depart the school at 9:45AM with an expected arrival time of 10:15AM at the farm. Staff and students will have the opportunity to learn about growing apples in the Niagara Region. While at the farm, children will visit an apple orchard, take a ride on a train, learn about the life cycle of an apple and pick their own piece of fruit to enjoy as a healthy snack. Arrival time back at Parnall School will be approximately 1:00PM. Children will then have an opportunity to eat their lunches.

In preparation for our trip, parents are asked to make sure children are dressed appropriately that morning. As we will be visiting a farm, warm, non-precious clothing is suggested. Suitable footwear for walking through an apple orchard would also be a good idea. No sandals or flip-flops, please.
As well, ensure that your child has a substantial breakfast that morning prior to coming to school as we will not be taking backpacks or snack bags with us to the farm. 

Be on the lookout for a permission slip in your child's Zippy Bag. The cost of our trip is $13.00. This fee covers the cost of the farm visit and transportation to and from the destination. 

Parent volunteers are needed, but only 3 will be chosen from our classroom. Mr. Pickett will be notifying parents to confirm whether they are needed to chaperone that day. If you are not selected to attend the trip as a parent volunteer, but wish to join your child on the tour, a cost of $7.50 per person will need to be paid to Puddicombe Farms on the morning of the field trip. Those parents will also need to make their own transportation arrangements to and from the farm as seating on the bus is limited.

Please return your child's permission form to the school by Friday, September 26th as final arrangements need to be made with the farm and the bus company. Thank you and we look forward to a wonderful morning in the orchard.

Super Star Awards Assembly

On Friday, September 26th at 2:25 PM, the Parnall Kindergarten classes will assemble in the gymnasium for our first Super Star Awards Assembly. Each month several students will be recognized for their accomplishments, both social and academic. The assembly will run approximately 20 minutes. If your child is to receive an award, you will be notified by letter in his/her Zippy Bag. All parents are welcome to attend.

Terry Fox Walk / Run

On Wednesday, September 24 at 11:15 AM, the faculty and students of Parnall Public School will be walking/running in support of the Terry Fox Foundation's Fight Against Cancer. Kindergarten students will remain on the school property as they walk in support of cancer research. Students are asked to bring in a 'Toonie for Terry' as a donation which will be made toward this worthy cause. Thank you for your support.

Pizza Days Are Coming

Beginning this Friday, September 19th, students will have the opportunity to purchase pizza for lunch.
A choice of either cheese or cheese and pepperoni will be available for children to order. Simply send your child to school with $1.00 per slice of pizza required. Mr. Pickett and Mrs. O'Neill will place the order in the morning following morning entry. You may wish to send your child some additional items in his/her lunchbox to round out their lunch. Pizza arrives at the school around 12:30 PM and is delivered to the classroom shortly thereafter. It is most helpful if you discuss with your child what s/he wants before they arrive at school. Write their order on a scrap of paper and enclose it with the money in a small Ziploc bag. Pizza will be sold every Friday unless otherwise notified through the office.

Meet the Teacher Barbecue

For those of you who have already placed your order through the office, we look forward to seeing you at our Annual Meet the Teacher Barbecue. Plan on arriving at the school at 5:00 PM, Tuesday evening, September 16th. Enjoy a hamburger or hotdog and a cold beverage. See you there!

This Friday is Early Release Day

This Friday, September 12th, all students at Parnall School will be dismissed at 12:05 PM for the day. Please make plans to pick your child up at that time. There will be NO SCHOOL in the afternoon for our students as teachers will be involved in a professional development activity throughout the afternoon. School will reopen again on Monday, September 15 at 8:50 AM. Have a wonderful weekend!

How Did You Get To School Today?

Authentic, everyday experiences prove to be strong motivators for little people. In order to generate interest in counting, Mrs. O'Neill selected a book titled How Will I Get To School This Year, by Jerry Palotta to read to the class on Tuesday afternoon.

It is a delightfully simple story about a young girl who uses her imagination to dream of various ways she'd rather come to school than 'on the smelly, old school bus.' Imagine coming to school on an elephant...

After reading the book, Mr. Pickett posed the question, How did you come to school today? Answers were offered enthusiastically. Mr. Pickett decided it might be best to record the responses in a way that allowed us to count them and then compare what we learned. The children were given a sticker of their choice and asked to place it on a visual organizer in the space (walk, bus, car / van, elephant) that matched how they'd gotten to school that morning. Here is what it looked like when we were finished.

After all of the stickers were placed on the chart, several students volunteered to count and write the numbers for each of the groups in the spaces below. We noticed that we had just as many people walk to school as those who came in a car or van. Four of our Kinders arrived on the school bus. Unfortunately, no one had the pleasure of coming to school on an elephant. Imagine the traffic jam that would have created on Geneva St., not to mention in our own parking lot.  :-)

We Are Settling In Nicely

As we near the end of our second week together, many of us are finding Kindergarten to be a rather interesting and enjoyable place to spend our day. This week, we introduced some new building blocks at the light table which have coloured water, glitter and beads encased between clear plastic. F.R. had great fun experimenting with all of the shapes that she could create using the blocks in different ways (see below in the upper left corner). 

As mathematics is a primary focus at Parnall School this year, several students created patterned jewellery out of coloured pasta and yarn. T.F. mastered an AABBCC patterned necklace, while M.D. designed a lovely ABB patterned necklace. S.R. created a fashionable ABC bracelet. Check out their work in the picture collage below.

How Many?

Counting for the purpose of determining quantity is a fundamental mathematical skill that we all use every day of our lives. Throughout our year together, the children, Mrs. O'Neill and I will have an infinite number of opportunities to hone our counting skills. On Friday, the S/K's used a simple graphing activity (see below) to practise this critical skill. We then discussed the two quantities and then wondered which was more, 8 or 7? By means of further discussion and comparison, we determined that 8 is one more than 7. 

In wrapping up the activity, one child, PB, asked "How many are 8 and 7?" I opened the question up to the group. Another child, GM, suggested that we "Count all of the clothes pins to find out." So that is what we did. We quickly determined the answer as being 15. As we wrapped up and began getting ready to dismiss for the day, it was quite obvious that the children were pleased with themselves. 

They are all so smart!!! It is going to be a phenomenal year.

Numbers in Our Room

On Friday afternoon, September 5th, the senior kindergarten students took a few moments to 'play number detectives' throughout the classroom. They looked over the walls and the activity centres in search of numbers. Afterward, I took their findings and created an anchor chart which will be hung in our room to refer back to throughout the year. Take a look at what they found...

Scholastic Book Order Forms

This year, our classroom family will be participating in the Scholastic Book Club Reading Program. Each month, two book order forms will be sent home with your son/daughter in their ZIPPY BAG. You will have several days to read through the order form and make your selections. If you wish to purchase any books, complete your order and send it back to school in the ZIPPY BAG, along with a CHEQUE made out to Scholastic Book Club in the amount of the order. NO CASH, PLEASE! A class wide order will be placed following the Scholastic due date indicated on the monthly classroom calendar. After the books have arrived at the school, I will package the orders up and send them home with your child. If you wish to order books as a birthday or Christmas surprise gift, please indicate that in a note when you send me back your order. Include a phone number where you can be reached through the day. I will call you and we can arrange pickup of the books at a time which is convenient to us both. HAPPY READING!!!

***Needing Spare Clothing***

Just as I reminder, please be sure to send a spare pair of pants and underclothing in a Ziploc bag with your child's name clearly written on the front of the bag. Occasionally toileting accidents occur and children need to change out of soiled clothing in order to be comfortable and continue on with their day. These spare items of clothing will be kept in your child's cubby for easy access if the need arises.

If you have an 'over abundance' of underclothing, we would appreciate a few 'donations.' From time to time, spare clothing is required to outfit a child who may not have surplus items in his/her cubby. 
Many thanks in advance!

Zippy Bags Go Home on 

Monday, September 8th

On Monday afternoon, September 8th, your child will arrive home with his/her ZIPPY BAG in their backpack. Please read through the contents of the bag and then place it back into the backpack. Many days out of the school year, Mr. Pickett and Mrs. O'Neill will use the ZIPPY BAG as a way of transporting important messages and papers from the school to your home. It is vitally important that the ZIPPY BAG be returned to school each day so that communication can continue unimpeded. 

We thank you in advance for taking care of this important detail. If you have any concerns or questions, do not hesitate to write them down and place them into the ZIPPY BAG. We will get to them as quickly as possible and then get back to you with a response.

A Special Visitor

After going out to play on our playground, one of our Kinder SK's noticed that a 'special visitor' had set up housekeeping on our play structure. Take a look. The web was amazing!

First Day Moments

It was a fabulous day! We welcomed 16 amazing Senior Kindergarten students back to school this morning. Though we were only together for a little over three hours, our day was packed with activity. Here is just a sampling of what we did...

In the afternoon, we met our 12 new Junior Kindergarteners. We can hardly wait to get to know our new friends. Over the next three days, a few of our JK's will join us for several hours each morning. This will give them a chance to transition gradually into their new Kindergarten home.  Welcome aboard, little ones! There is a lot of fun and learning ahead!