Busy hands, busy minds

The first day of school is always a busy one - for both the students and the teachers. I like to joke that the first few days of kindergarten is a bit like herding cats!

But among the excitement, little hands are hard at work.

As I watched our new crop of children yesterday, I got to thinking about the potential held in our students' hands. The feeling of possibility....of what could be... was overwhelming. 

These hands will stack, roll, and dig. They will draw, cut, and press.

They will carefully choose materials and place them just so.

They will build and create.

They will share, give high fives, and dry a friend's tears.

These hands will make food, set tables, and clean up.

They will nurture, console, and love.

These 56 hands will work MAGIC.

All Set!

Our arrival stones are out and we nervously await our new charges. 

Happy First Day!

Come take the tour

Sharon, Ann-Marie and I were thrilled to welcome many of our students and their parents today. 

If you didn't get a chance to come for a visit today, here are some pictures of our class to make you feel at home. 

This is our quiet corner. Here the children can read, research, do puzzles, and explore the science centre. 

Right next to it is the construction carpet, where our young engineers can create. 

The story time corner is where the teachers will sit for class meetings. The blank wall will soon be a smartboard! 

Here are the beginnings of our loose parts and writing centre. We store paper, note pads writing tools and word cards here. It's also home to loose parts that can be used to explore math and art concepts. 

On the writing table, we have a crayon caddy that's irresistible not to spin! Behind is the teachers' desk and the light table. 

Our art studio. We can't wait to fill it with children's creations!

The house keeping centre is in the middle of the room. Many of our girls had fun exploring the dress ups today. Throughout the year this will be transformed into a doctor's office, a restaurant, Santa's workshop, or whatever the children want to create. 

And finally, our cubbies, where all our gear will be stored through the day. We also have a nice big sandbox for building and imaginative play. 

I haven't included pictures of our bathroom or the handwashing area, but I'm sure you can imagine them!

As we launch into an exciting year of learning, I can't help wondering how different our space will look a month or even a year from now. 

Invasion of the little people!

What a great way to start our learning journey! We welcomed our JK friends this morning for a visit to get comfortable with school. 

The children took to the learning materials like fish to water. Check out these pictures of the action:

At lunchtime we met Mrs Kulla, a kindergarten teacher from down the hall, who helps us each lunch every day. 

After lunch, Ms Pomeroy shared a story called "Pete the Cat is Rocking in His School Shoes". Everyone did a great job listening and joining in. 

We can't wait to see what fun our SKs will bring next week!

We've got the keys!

I headed into the school on Saturday to start moving in. Our beautiful classroom is ready for us!

The space is light and bright, thanks to lots of windows. I can't wait to set up our art studio in front of all that natural light. 

The room feels very big right now, with no furniture or children. Look at how gleaming the freshly waxed floors are! They won't stay like that for long...

Even our little child-sized bathroom is ready to move in. 

Now that the builders are finished their work, mine and Sharon's really begin now. Check back later this week for some in progress pictures!

Lunches for Littles

Making lunches for little ones can be a bit of a juggle. We want them to eat healthy foods, but finding cost-conscious and appealing choices can be a challenge.

 It is worth the effort...after teaching over 250 kindergarteners, I've witnessed a direct relationship between the quality of school lunches and performance in school. A child with a white bread jam sandwich, a bag of chips and a kool-aid jammer crashes a lot sooner than a child who ate vegetables, whole grains, and quality proteins.



Here are a few tips I've gathered from parents, teachers, and kids over the years:

- Bento-box style lunches are the most popular. These have small containers of various finger foods so the child can pick and chose.

- Most children are not fans of traditional sandwiches, and more often than not they get disassembled then thrown out. If you do send sandwiches, consider investing in inexpensive sandwich cutters. A set on Amazon is under $10, and will pay for themselves by cutting waste. Alternatively, cookie cutters you already have work the same way!



- Make sure your child can open all the containers independently. Some children are too shy to ask for help.

-We can't have ANY nuts or "may contain nuts" products at school...sorry! Please label nut-substitutes so we don't panic.

- Think long and hard before ordering hot lunches. If your child is a good eater, it's worth the money. If not, reconsider. Pizza usually gets eaten, but subs, wraps, spaghetti, and other items are often wasted.



- On the weekend, prepare a big batch of of cut-up veggies and fruit. That way, you don't need to worry about peeling carrots or slicing strawberries during the week.



- Ask your child to help you make the lunch. If they get to chose, it's more likely they will eat it. Having a box in the fridge and the pantry filled with their choices will increase their independence and make your life a bit easier.

- *Please* use the Canada Food Guide's recommendations when planning lunches. Click here to see the recommended servings.



- Lunchables are easy, but are packed with preservatives, salt, and other nasties that affect overall wellbeing. Kids tend to throw out at least half of them too. Homemade bento boxes are the best choice, both nutritionally and economically.



- Consider "sneaky sugar": Read labels and count up how much sugar is in beverages, gummies, granola bars, and yogourt. According to the American Heart Association, children should have no more than 13g of added sugar a day. (Not including natural sugar found in fruits and whole-grain carbs.)

For more ideas, check out our pinterest board!

A healthy lunch makes all the difference in a child's day. Class parents- let me know if you'd like feedback about what your child is eating at school.

Special thanks to Steph Roll for sharing the lunches she made for her 4 1/2 year old daughter Adi this summer!

If you have any other tips or tricks, please add them in the comments.

Beginnings

While it was difficult to say goodbye to my school in the south end of the board, I'm VERY excited to be moving to a new school this month! Not only will I be working in my own community, I'll have a chance to reunite with staff and students I worked with as a temporary teacher about 5 years ago.

The school is new to Full-Day Kindergarten, so I'm looking forward to exploring the program with a new team of co-teachers and ECEs. Sharon Pomeroy is my new ECE partner and we are both excited to build an environment for our new charges.

We are lucky to have a new classroom being built onto the north end of the primary wing. I've been up a few times this summer to poke around and took some pictures to document the process.

Here it is in late June, just after the roof was put on.

Because it's a corner room we are fortunate to have windows on two sides of the room. Lots of natural light to nurture our "seedlings"!

Here are some more changes from a few weeks later, in July. The bricks are on and the landscaping has begun. The workers inside are hard at work installing the millwork, electrical, and plumbing.

And here we are just last week. The windows are in, landscaping looks great, and the inside fixtures are nearly complete. We're just waiting on the air exchanger to be installed (that mini-window on the right), and the finishing touches to be polished off. 

Can you see the builder Mr. Ian by the door to the new hallway extension?

Check back soon for some pictures of the interior. Sharon and I should have access by the end of next week, when our work begins!