How are you getting ready for the first day of school?

Well...there are only a few weeks left until school begins again. I hope everyone is enjoying the break. I know the parents are excited to see school approaching; the kids, not so much.

What are you doing to get ready for school? Here are some suggestions:

• Let your child help you pick out a backpack (make sure it's big enough to carry everything (agenda, large library books, their lunch box/bag, emergency clothing)
• Have your child help pick out the clothes for their emergency clothing kit (underwear, pants, T-shirt, socks)
• Let your child have fun decorating their emergency clothes kit container (shoe-box sized plastic tub that is latch-locked and easy to open). They can help put stickers on it, their name, decals, jewels, etc.)
• Let your child chose what to wear on their first day of school. Hang it up in their closet (the complete outfit and underwear) so that it's ready to go for the first day
• Have your child practice printing their name (Upper case for the first letter, and lower case for the rest of the letters in their name)
• Have your child make a list of all the lunch foods he/she likes. Make a plan for what they would like for the first day of school.
• Make a plan for how you'd like to celebrate their first week back at school (e.g., go to the park on the Friday night or weekend after the school week, have a movie night by putting on a DVD favourite with snacks or to go out, have a family game night, etc.)
• Make sure to have those INDOOR shoes to be left at the school. Your child can help pick them out.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO LABEL everything when bringing items to school.

How are you getting ready for the first day of school?

Well...there are only a few weeks left until school begins again. I hope everyone is enjoying the break. I know the parents are excited to see school approaching; the kids, not so much.

What are you doing to get ready for school? Here are some suggestions:

• Let your child help you pick out a backpack (make sure it's big enough to carry everything (agenda, large library books, their lunch box/bag, emergency clothing)
• Have your child help pick out the clothes for their emergency clothing kit (underwear, pants, T-shirt, socks)
• Let your child have fun decorating their emergency clothes kit container (shoe-box sized plastic tub that is latch-locked and easy to open). They can help put stickers on it, their name, decals, jewels, etc.)
• Let your child chose what to wear on their first day of school. Hang it up in their closet (the complete outfit and underwear) so that it's ready to go for the first day
• Have your child practice printing their name (Upper case for the first letter, and lower case for the rest of the letters in their name)
• Have your child make a list of all the lunch foods he/she likes. Make a plan for what they would like for the first day of school.
• Make a plan for how you'd like to celebrate their first week back at school (e.g., go to the park on the Friday night or weekend after the school week, have a movie night by putting on a DVD favourite with snacks or to go out, have a family game night, etc.)
• Make sure to have those INDOOR shoes to be left at the school. Your child can help pick them out.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO LABEL everything when bringing items to school.

What does my Kindergarten Child need for the first week of school?

I've had a number of parents ask this question.  They don't need much.  But this is what they will need:

• a back back large enough to carry items (agenda, lunch, emergency clothes, newsletters, large library books)
• Emergency Clothes Kit (a plastic latching tub with their name on it that contains a pair of underwear or two, a pair of pants or two, a T-shirt and 2 pairs of socks.
• a pair of INDOOR shoes (running shoes that will be left at the school for the year. Please NO sandals, dress shoes, crocs or flip-flops. These need to be velcro running shoes so we can enjoy a safe run in the gym)
• a lunch bag or lunch box and re-usable water bottle and containers (we're trying to be a "GREEN" school and have litterless lunches). Please label your lunch box/bag and all reusable containers. 
• an enthusiasm and curiousity to meet new friends and learn new things.

Fine Motor - Tip of the Day

Tip of the Day for Fine Motor Skills:

Use a pair of tweezers to pick up cotton balls, buttons, pebbles, small beads and Lego Pieces. Kids can pretend to be a crane to pick them up from one pile or another. This is great in building muscles in the finger and pincer hold. This helps prepare them for using pencils, crayons, pencil-crayons and markers using the proper pincer and tripod hold (pincer with thumb and pointer finger, rest on the middle finger).

If you have the fuse bead art, you can us the tweezers to pick up the fuze beads and place them on the design plate.