OJCS KINDERGARTEN / GAN

Francais, French Resources, French Studies, Next Steps

French Language Summer Fun!

Posted on July 2, 2025July 2, 2025 by mcohen23

Dear Parents,

Here are some French resources, activities and games that you and your child can enjoy together this summer. I encourage you to use these as a way to keep your child connected to the French language in a fun and playful way!

Online Resources:

https://www.digitaldialects.com/French.htm – here is a great resource to review vocabulary (colors, fruit and vegetables, numbers, etc). Your child can listen to the audio and repeat the word. They can also play some fun and simple games!

https://coucou.telequebec.tv – this is a very child-friendly French language site with games, storytelling and educational programming. It has been specifically designed for preschool age children.

Online Shows:

Tchoupi a l’ecole https://www.youtube.com/@tchoupi – short, 7 minute episodes relatable topics for the children. Even if the children do not understand everything, they can still follow along, while at the same time developing an ear for the French sounds.

Les Nouvelles Aventures de Caillou – https://www.youtube.com/@NouvellesAventuresCaillou

Activity Sheets:

https://www.mamaternelle.com/ – you will find here fun and accessible activity sheets related to the alphabet, numbers, the seasons, and other various themes that you may want to include in your French summer activities.

Songs:

Some of the songs we sang that you could add to your summer playlist:

Michaud est monte dans un grand pommier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmObD5sbac

Sur le pont d’Avignon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTRu11UtQIE

C’est un petit oiseau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4aoJTogyQ4

Pirouette Cacahuete https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gw0rRw8ipA

Les petits poissons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ipjEOdceM

Lundi matin (le roi, la reine et le p’tit prince) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noo1_wUGsIU

Hands-on game:

As a way to review or learn new vocabulary, you can play a “Bring Me” game:

Choose a category: colors, food, school/crafting materials, numbers… Ask your child to bring you something in your home environment from the category you choose.

For example:

Fruits:

“Apporte-moi une pomme (bring me an apple), apporte-moi une orange (bring me an orange), apporte-moi une banane (bring me a banana), apporte-moi un ananas (bring me a pineapple), apporte une fraise (bring me a strawberry) etc.

School Items:

“Apporte-moi un crayon, (bring me a pencil), apporte-moi la colle (bring me the glue), apporte-moi le papier (bring me the paper), etc.

At the end of the game, you can ask your child to name the objects he/she brought you.

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Voilà, have a wonderful summer! Bonnes vacances!

Next Steps

SK General Studies Summer Review

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Andréa Black

You thought you were done hearing from me, didn’t you?? Here’s one last post before I sign off for the summer…

When you receive your child’s report card, you may notice some suggestions and next steps to ensure your child is prepared for the start of Grade 1 in September. I’ve collected some ideas and resources that you and your child can access through the summer to avoid the “summer slide”. All of these are absolutely optional, but they are here should you wish to use them.

My Summer Workbook – a collection of review worksheets for rainy days.

LITERACY

OJCS Summer Reading Challenge

Brigitte, our wonderful librarian, has created this amazing reading challenge that even SKs can participate in with their families. Please check out this link to download the documents that contain all of the information about which books to read and how to win your prize in September.

Clear the Board – Summer Edition: Uses this fun bingo board to read in a variety of ways throughout the summer.

Boost Reading (Amplify) You can go back to this blog post in case your child has not already been accessing Boost at home. They can continue to work through the program as they have been throughout the year.

As a reminder, here is how to login:

https://reading.amplify.com/

Username: [firstinitiallastname] – all lowercase, no spaces (ie. ablack) **in some cases, some letters might be missing from the last name or numbers might be included; shoot me an email and I share individual usernames**

Password: [firstname] – all lowercase (ie. andrea) **please use your child’s full first name as they are registered**

Teach Your Monster to Read This app is available for purchase on the App store and you can also download a desktop version that is free, though there may be some differences in the program. It covers everything from letters and their sounds to reading full sentences and short stories.

Kids Learn! Sight Words This app is designed for iPads and is available for free on the App store, though there are additions available for purchase. It combines fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension practice with entertaining, engaging graphics in a fun learning format.

Spelling Games for Kids This app is designed for iPads or iPhones and is available for free in the App store. It helps to hone your child’s spelling skills through a variety of games that feature over 900 words.

ABCya This is available for both desktops and iPads. It offers 300+ educational games designed for Pre-K to 6+. From math and reading to fun logic games, the app has something for kids of all learning levels and styles.

MATH

IXL – You can go back to this blog post in case your child has not already been accessing IXL at home. They can continue working through the Teacher Suggested Skills or they can access the Diagnostic Arena to tailor activities to their skill level. As a reminder, here is how to login:

https://ca.ixl.com/signin/ojcs

Username: [firstnamelastname] – all lowercase, no spaces (ie. andreablack) **please use your child’s full first name as they are registered**

Password: math123

MathGames.com – This site has a lot of free options without having to sign up (though that could be an option as well) that can be divided up by grade level or by skills.

Check out Mrs. Cleveland’s amazing Mindful Math Resource page for more ideas and activities (please double-check the grade level as this page includes resources for K-8).

SCIENCE

20 Outdoor Science Experiments – Turn your backyard into a Science lab with some of these ideas.

After building bird’s nests with Let’s Talk Science, there may be some budding ornithologists out there…. Your child can document the different birds they find in this printable Bird Book.

Find and draw all of the beautiful plants you find this summer in this Plant Observation Journal.

HAVE THE BEST SUMMER AND HAPPY REVIEWING!!!

Uncategorized

Last Day of SK!

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Andréa Black

It is hard to believe that we are actually at the end of the year and I am writing this blog post…. What a year we have had in SK. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to share in a small snippet of your amazing kids’ lives and I look forward to watching them grow as they move up through the grades here at the OJCS!!

We spent the morning sharing what we are all grateful for after this year together, celebrating all of the summer birthdays in SK, and enjoying each other’s company one last time. Check out the pics below of our Last Day of SK Party:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Atai in KB who turns 6 on July 6th

to Parker in KB who turns 6 on July 6th

to Asher in KA who turns 6 on July 14th

to Christina in KB who turns 6 on July 16th

to Eyal in KB who turns 6 on July 25th

to Arthur in KA who turns 6 on July 29th

to Barkai in KA who turns 6 on August 1st

and to Arlo in KA who turns 6 on August 14th!!

Stay tuned for the “SK Summer Review” blog post coming later this week which will include links to websites, resources, games, and other activities for your child to engage in at home this summer.

Lastly, on behalf of the whole SK team, I want to thank all of you for the immense support you have provided to both your children and to us, the morot, through this wonderful Senior Kindergarten year. It has meant so much to us to watch your children learn and grow through our time together. Thank you for sharing them with us!!

Have a fabulous and fun summer!!

Morah Andréa

General Studies, Math, Reminders

SK Measures Up!!

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Andréa Black

Over the last few weeks, SK students have been busy investigating and exploring the concept of measurement!! We started by using non-standard units of measurement to measure and compare the length, height, and width of different objects found around our classroom. We even had a special Measurement Hunt where the kids chose different objects around the room to measure with their chosen unit of measurement (cubes, legos, paperclips, shoes, etc.) and then they documented their findings in a chart. We also had the opportunity to try measuring with rulers and many students were able to find the measurements quite accurately!! We also explored others types of measurement such as weight, capacity and temperature; through sensory and hands-on experiments, the kids compared a variety of objects and determined if they were heavy or light, empty or full, hot or cold, and so on. Check out the photos below…

We also had our last meeting with our Reading Buddies earlier this week. Thank you to our friends in Grade 4 and Grade 5 for reading with us, being wonderful role models, and giving the SK kids something they truly looked forward every month.

Tomorrow, Friday, June 20th is our last Dress Down Day of the year! We will be collecting tzedakah for the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank. Don’t forget your loonies and toonies!!

The temperatures as we wind down the year will be quite hot, so please ensure that your child wears a hat to school, brings at least one water bottle, and is dressed appropriately for the weather! We will, of course, make decisions based on the temperature if it is too hot to be outdoors and have alternate indoor programming to stay cool.

Next Wednesday, June 25th, is our last day of SK. After an all-school assembly, we will be having a special party to wrap up our year together as well as celebrating all of the summer birthdays in both classes. Drop-off on Wednesday morning will be at the school’s front door regardless of the weather as the assembly starts at 8:45 am. Pick-up is at 12:00 pm at the front of the school.

As we wrap up our year together in SK, we will be sending home the kids’ work and other things at school between now and next Wednesday. Please check their backpacks daily!! If you know that your child will be ending the year a few days early, please let us know so that we can ensure that everything gets where it needs to go!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Friday, June 20 – Dress Down Day for the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank

Wednesday, June 25 – Last Day of School (NOON DISMISSAL)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Kira in KA who turned 6 on June 6th!!

Francais, French Studies

Vive le printemps!

Posted on May 30, 2025 by mcohen23

Salut chers parents!

French class is flowering right now. The children have been doing a myriad of activities in relation to the spring, le printemps. Here a few snapshots of their work:

Learning the parts of the flower:

Building a spring scene and labelling it:

Drawing a spring flower bouquet and labelling it:

Learning how to say things we like to do in the spring and writing it!

We have also been learning this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTT8gE79sBo lovely song about a little bird who falls from a tree and who hurts his wing, then is healed and flies again. This little story has captured the children’s imagination. I use singing to help children build their ability to hear and pronounce French sounds, but it’s also a great way to bring the children together in a transition time and move into another activity like reading a story or giving a lesson.

The children have been presented all the vowel sounds. We are now doing some fun review activities for further integration before they take their summer break. The children are enjoying their scavenger hunts for each vowel letter and they are also learning to blend consonant-vowel sounds – like ma, ta, pi, po, tu, etc. – all in preparation for full reading in Grade 1!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and Shavuot!

Madame Maryse

Reminders, Special Events

Maccabiah Games are coming soon!!

Posted on May 13, 2025May 14, 2025 by Andréa Black

Last week, an OJCS assembly ended with a surprise – the 2025 Maccabiah break!! The Maccabiah Games is a colour-war styled day where the school is divided into 4 teams to complete activities, sports, cheers, etc… all while following the OJCS North Star of RUACH (spirit)!! This year’s Maccabiah Games are taking place on Thursday, May 15th. The theme is Superheroes and the teams are Blue Superman, Green Hulk, Red Spiderman and Yellow Batman. Students are encouraged to dress in their team colours and to be as creative as they can to get ruach points for their team!!

The SKs are divided into the following teams:

Blue Superman

Green Hulk

Red Spiderman

Yellow Batman

Barkai Greenvald-Mivtach

Arthur Simon

Mila Vered-GlickStal

Christina Damas

Eyal Fenig

Joshua Krym

Rani Haim

Ittay Balaban

Alister Chen-Melzer

Roni Gonen

Eden Barshan-Sigler

Parker Lambersky

Arlo Baker

Maayan Shapiro

Leroy Daniel

Atai Vanunu

Nuri Levy

Asher Tapiero-Grassals

Liora Kuleshova

Livia Wilner

Caleb Kaiserman

William Parkin

Lyla Mick

Alexander Vitenberg

Danielle From

Maya From

SPARE CLOTHES

Last Friday (or in some cases today), we sent home each child’s spare clothes for a spring refresh. If you haven’t already, please send in a new set of clothes for your child as soon as possible. If there was no bag in your child’s backpack on Friday or since, it means we did not have any spare clothes at school. Please send a bag in as soon as you can!!

SK LOST & FOUND

The following are unlabelled items that we have collected over the last few months. If they belong to your child, please let me know and we will label them and add them with their spare clothes.

Grey Children’s Place leggings – size M (7/8)

Black with green stripe Athletic Works track pants – size S (6)

Black Children’s Place track pants – size M (7/8)

Navy blue Athletic Works track pants – size M (7/8)

SHAVUOT FOOD DRIVE

We will be collecting non-perishable items for the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank, starting this week up until Friday May 30th. Please see the poster below for more details.

HATS, WATER & SUNSCREEN PLEASE!

The temperatures are rising and it seems spring is finally here, so please ensure that your child wears a hat to school, brings at least one water bottle, and is dressed appropriately for the weather! Feel free to send sunscreen as well and we will help the kids to apply it. We will, of course, make decisions based on the temperature if it is too hot to be outdoors and have alternate indoor programming to stay cool.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Thursday, May 15 – OJCS Maccabiah Games

Friday, May 16 – PD Day (NO SCHOOL)

Monday, May 19 – Victoria Day (NO SCHOOL)

Friday, May 30 – Dress Down Day for the Breast Cancer Foundation

Monday, June 2 & Tuesday, June 3 – Shavuot (NO SCHOOL)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Lyla in SK-B who turned 6 on April 25th,

to Nuri in SK-B who turned 6 on May 8th,

and to Madame Maryse who celebrates on May 22nd!

General Studies

Full of Family Fun!

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Andréa Black

As the SK kids have been busy preparing for Pesach, and since this is a time for families to come together, we have been talking a lot about our families and how each and every family is different and unique. We read stories, sang songs, and even learned how to sign the words for our family members, as well as some other words, in Sign Language (ASL)… quiz your kid and see if they can remember the signs!! You can also check out the helpful video below as well as a song that we learned to sing and sign…

The SK kids shared their favourite things to do with their family, we graphed the number of people in each child’s family, we created a secret-code glyph to show who lives at our house, and they made their own Family Portraits and “My Family Mini Books”. It was so lovely to learn a little more about the most important people in each of their lives!!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Friday, Apr. 11 – Sunday, Apr. 20 – Passover Break (NO SCHOOL)

Friday, Apr. 25 – Dress Down Day for the Bibas Family

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Roni in SK-B who turned 6 on April 4th

and to Leroy in SK-B who turns 6 on April 11th!

Wishing you and your families a Chag Pesach Sameach and a lovely break! We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on April 21st!

General Studies, Math, Reminders

Practicing Patterns!

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Andréa Black

For the past couple of weeks, SK has been exploring patterns. In fact, they have been so busy practicing finding the core of a pattern as well as copying, creating and extending patterns using different materials and manipulatives, that I didn’t manage to get any pictures ;( But you can check out your child’s Pattern Book that was sent home today and ask them to tell you what each pattern is. We also did a Pattern Scavenger Hunt, so you may want to encourage your child to find as many patterns as they can at your house or as you are out and about!

Here are some fun pattern videos that the kids enjoyed:

Patterns! Mini Math Movie

The Pattern Practice Song

I Got Rhythm Dance Song

They also practiced patterning on IXL which they can continue to do at home! Once your child is logged in, click on the Teacher Recommendations tab and find the various pattern activities I have assigned them. We also played Fuzzbug Patterns as a class, so I’ve linked it here if they would like to play it at home as well!!

SPRING is almost here – YAY! … but also… this time of year is very tricky as we have puddles, mud, wet grass, wind, sun, and sometimes rain or snow… This means we need the SK kids to have appropriate gear in order to enjoy their time outside.

We ask that you please send your child to school wearing either snow or splash pants, depending on the forecast, and appropriate boots as we will be trying to get outside as much as possible! Even if it is not raining, the playground will likely be wet. This will help us avoid multiple clothing changes throughout the day. We will be sending your child’s spare clothes bag home shortly to update for the warmer weather.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Monday, Mar. 24 – Friday, Mar. 28 – La Semaine de la Francophonie

Thursday, Mar. 27 – Francofête (Parents invited from 2:30 – 3:45 pm)

Friday, Mar. 28 – Dress Down Day for the Ottawa Humane Society

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to William in SK-A who turned 6 on March 15th!

Reminders, Special Events

A Wonderful Winter Fun Day!

Posted on March 4, 2025 by Andréa Black

What a wonderful day SK had celebrating Winter Fun Day!! We started the day playing outside and then headed inside for some winter-themed activities. We visited the library where our librarian, Brigitte, read “Yetis are the Worst!” by Alex Willan and had some fun yeti games to play. Then we had some time in the gym to run around and play. After snack, we visited the Makerspace where each child created their own edible snowman. To end off the morning, we ventured outside again for a special Treasure Hunt. The kids were split into 4 teams and each team had to solve 6 clues to find a variety of outdoor locations where they could collect their team’s colour ice cube gems. Each team completed their quest and found their gems!! After lunch, we cozied up for a special movie afternoon and watched “Snow Buddies”, did some winter-themed colouring, and had some popcorn. It was really special to have the whole school to ourselves today and many kids were overheard saying, “Best Day Ever!!”… how can we not agree!!! Check out the photos below of some highlights…

Ruach Week is coming soon!! March 10th-14th will be a fun-filled week of spirit and dressing up. Please see the breakdown below for each day’s theme…. We can’t wait to see all of the creative costumes!!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Friday, Mar. 7 – 3:00 pm Dismissal

Monday, Mar. 10 – Friday, Mar. 14 – Ruach Week (see above for the themes!)

Monday, Mar. 24 – Friday, Mar. 28 – La Semaine de la Francophonie

Thursday, Mar. 27 – Francofête (Parents invited from 2:30 – 3:45 pm)

Francais, French Studies, Math

On compte jusqu’à cent – 100 day activities in French!

Posted on February 28, 2025 by mcohen23

Chers Parents,

As Morah Andréa mentioned in her lovely post this week, the children also enjoyed exploring the “100” theme in French class this week. First off, they learned how to say one hundred in French – which is cent. We also learned to count in French past 10 so that we can eventually get up to 100. We made it up to seventy, soixante – dix! Bravo, les amis!

Here are a few snapshots of our hands-on stations related to learning 100.

Counting objects to 100 — by tens This activity not only helped them to see that 10 groups of 10 makes 100, but also reinforced their ability to count out 10 objects en français! Some worked alone on this while others made it a collaborative activity.

Making 100 hole booklets – un livret de 100 trous ! This was popular!! The children had little sheets with 10 circles to punch out with a hole punch out. Great fine motor and hand strengthening activity. They also needed a lot of determination to punch out 100 holes, and they succeeded!

“100 jours d’école” dot painting