Dear families,
Today your child's white bag went home packed with things to share with you - their inquiry on insects, some work about Earth Day and plants, and some art. They are very proud of all their work and should be! I've made a class booklet called "We Know About Insects" that has all the children's responses and ideas about each of our mini inquiries, i.e. Where do Insects Live? Dragonflies, Ladybugs, etc., When something is "bugging" me I can say...(good problem solving exercise!) plus all their individual insect inquiries. We did all of these on chart paper first. Look for your child's name and his/her responses throughout the booklet. This will also give you an indication as to how much s/he is participating, learning, observing, and paying attention during lessons and at our centres - all important skills!
Some samples of their work are on display in our hall bulletin board.
This week we learned more about bees; we drew bee hives using hexagon shapes, counted sequentially and made dot-to-dot bee hives and bees, then coloured them, always using "real" colours (i.e. no purple bees!); we glued "pollen" on a picture of a honey bee and labelled all the parts; drew and wrote about an insect and had a friend check that it had all its parts; talked and wrote about what we could say when something is "bugging" us; talked ant wrote about things that "bug" us (funny answers!); made insect structures from large and small building blocks, watched a video about bees wax and honey; tasted honey; smelled beeswax candles, beeswax lip balm, polished and waterproofed some wooden sticks with pure beeswax. We also looked at a honey bee wing under the microscope.
We also continued our Inquiry on Plants - what they are, how they grow, what they need to grow, and so on. Several of the children's bean seeds have germinated and I have sent them home. Just plant the whole paper pot in the ground beside a fence or trellis or even a tree so that it can climb. You could also stake it of course. I hope the plants make lots of healthy and organic beans for you!
The children also made a booklet called "My Seed" which was a step-by-step sequencing of how plants grow. We also played in several learning centres, not just bug themed! They were: popcorn word reading, alphabet caterpillars and made-a-word, flip book (i.e. mat, bat, sat, cat, pat), cube building and shape drawing, and of course we have been reading our Insect and Plant books every day.
Thank you to: Samantha for bringing in bees wax hand cream; Izzie for bringing in a book called "I Love Bugs!, Matthew C.'s mom for helping with computer Lab; Iris' dad for being the Mystery Reader; and Sophie, Christoper and Avery for bringing in dandelions at various stages of growth. It is so terrific when the children are inspired by their learning and bring things in to share that demonstrate that interest and enthusiasm. It makes my day! Thank you also to Kate and Matthew H.'s brother Will from Mrs. Wilson's class who were special guest readers! Thank you to parents who sent in books for the Book Drive, and to those of you who contributed to the Seeds of Hope toonie drive for Nepal. The whole school earned extra recess time on Tuesday!
Please note that the Scholastic Book Fair is next week. Our class will go on Tuesday afternoon, although the Book Fair is open all week. If you wish your child to purchase a book/s, please send their money in a zip lock baggie with their name clearly labelled. Thank you. Our last class Scholastic order is due at the end of May.
Next week we are doing a unit on Eric Carle's lovely and well known book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" because our live caterpillars are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday!We'll be doing lots of literacy and numeracy activities related to this theme. There are a lot of things to discuss and do related to this book: sequencing, days of the week, healthy eating, and the life cycle of the butterfly.
An important message from the Before and After Program: Please note that the Kindergarten Yard is closed to students after school and is in use by the B and A students at this time. Thank you.
I also sent your child's April calendar and "This is Me in April" drawing and writing. I do keep copies of this work for assessment and it is a good indicator as to your child's overall progress and development in numeracy and literacy.
Next week will be an exciting week with our larvae arriving, the Sharing Assembly, the visit from Artist Janeen (thank you in advance to our parent volunteers!), and the Book Fair.
I hope you have a very nice Victoria Day Weekend!
Friday, May 15, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Week of May 11-15
Dear families,
I hope you have had a wonderful Mother's Day with your children! I hope you enjoy the Mother's Day gifts the children made for you. They were so proud of them and excited about hiding them until today! Included in the gift bag is something to hang their art on the window with. The children wrote "I love you because..." and their answers were all so sweet. Happy Mother's Day!
Last week we had two fun outdoor lessons about Aussie Rules Football. I think the kids had fun!
In our Kindergarten garden the children were very excited to find a beetle, an orange ladybug, a bee with lots of pollen on its legs (we'll learn a lot about bees this week), and ants. Thank you so much to Izzie who brought in a dragonfly nymph, which is the second last life cycle stage of a dragonfly. We watched a video about a dragonfly emerging from the nymph stage. Thank you as well to Cole who brought in books about insects and to Anderson who brought in an awesome guide to insects. And thank you Megan who brought in ants! We also learned, read and wrote a about the praying mantis, common house fly and ants. We wrote a little book called "My Book of Insect Facts" and reviewed all the things we have learned about insects so far.
We continued our Inquiry on Plants; the children have all planted their bean seed in peat, and pretty soon they will see the shoots appear! We learned about how plants grow, and about why plants make seeds. We are learning the who, what, where, why, when and how of plants! In the classroom window are also several different kinds of seeds that will produce different plants, such as beans, carrots, and flowers. Speaking of carrots, I sent home some carrot seeds to plant in your garden/in a planter. Have fun watching them grow and then eating them! We talked about which parts of plants we eat, for example:
Tubers - potatoes
Bulbs - onions, garlic
Stems - celery
Flowers - broccoli
Fruit - strawberries
Leaves - lettuce
Legumes - peanuts
Roots - carrots
Seeds - sunflower, pumpkin seeds
We learned and made booklets about what plants need: water, sun and air and about the parts of a plant. We also are singing a song called "The Farmer Plants the Grain." We are also making a booklet called "Five Little Seeds" which explains what happens to seeds (some are blown away by wind, some are eaten by birds, some grow into flowers, etc.).
With our Reading Buddies, the children used their "foot prints" (literally, a tracing of their foot that they cut out and used to measure) to measure each other, and items in the lunchroom. Then they recorded their results. And then they played together in the playground!
A big thank you to Megan who collated the last Scholastic Orders of the Year. The last orders are both due May 31. Books make wonderful gifts for summer reading! Scholastic order also help the classroom by funding books for our library.
During our daily morning reading time, the children read mini dictionary/alphabet folders I made with simple photos of items and the accompanying word i.e. an apple, "apple." You can make these too at home (summer is a great time for this, for example!) I simply used file folders to cut and glue words and pictures starting with each sound of the alphabet. and made sure the pictures were clear and of things the children were interested in, i.e. L for Lego, P for Princess. Flyers from Toys 'R Us or Mastermind, or catalogues (and of course Google Images) are great for this!
This week we'll wrap up our inquiry on insects and will use the Smartboard to compare and contrast insects with Venn diagrams. We will also learn a fingerplay about a growing seed and practise our song for the next Sharing Assembly. On May 20, we will be honouring Iris, Martel, Avery and Chloe for always demonstrating Integrity. In the classroom, this means always doing the right and kind thing, even if no one is looking :) It is tied with Honesty.
We'll continue to learn about plants and will review 2- and 3-D shapes as well.
In this week's white bag was a copy of the new May words. Please practise these at home with your child.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
I hope you have had a wonderful Mother's Day with your children! I hope you enjoy the Mother's Day gifts the children made for you. They were so proud of them and excited about hiding them until today! Included in the gift bag is something to hang their art on the window with. The children wrote "I love you because..." and their answers were all so sweet. Happy Mother's Day!
Last week we had two fun outdoor lessons about Aussie Rules Football. I think the kids had fun!
In our Kindergarten garden the children were very excited to find a beetle, an orange ladybug, a bee with lots of pollen on its legs (we'll learn a lot about bees this week), and ants. Thank you so much to Izzie who brought in a dragonfly nymph, which is the second last life cycle stage of a dragonfly. We watched a video about a dragonfly emerging from the nymph stage. Thank you as well to Cole who brought in books about insects and to Anderson who brought in an awesome guide to insects. And thank you Megan who brought in ants! We also learned, read and wrote a about the praying mantis, common house fly and ants. We wrote a little book called "My Book of Insect Facts" and reviewed all the things we have learned about insects so far.
We continued our Inquiry on Plants; the children have all planted their bean seed in peat, and pretty soon they will see the shoots appear! We learned about how plants grow, and about why plants make seeds. We are learning the who, what, where, why, when and how of plants! In the classroom window are also several different kinds of seeds that will produce different plants, such as beans, carrots, and flowers. Speaking of carrots, I sent home some carrot seeds to plant in your garden/in a planter. Have fun watching them grow and then eating them! We talked about which parts of plants we eat, for example:
Tubers - potatoes
Bulbs - onions, garlic
Stems - celery
Flowers - broccoli
Fruit - strawberries
Leaves - lettuce
Legumes - peanuts
Roots - carrots
Seeds - sunflower, pumpkin seeds
We learned and made booklets about what plants need: water, sun and air and about the parts of a plant. We also are singing a song called "The Farmer Plants the Grain." We are also making a booklet called "Five Little Seeds" which explains what happens to seeds (some are blown away by wind, some are eaten by birds, some grow into flowers, etc.).
With our Reading Buddies, the children used their "foot prints" (literally, a tracing of their foot that they cut out and used to measure) to measure each other, and items in the lunchroom. Then they recorded their results. And then they played together in the playground!
A big thank you to Megan who collated the last Scholastic Orders of the Year. The last orders are both due May 31. Books make wonderful gifts for summer reading! Scholastic order also help the classroom by funding books for our library.
During our daily morning reading time, the children read mini dictionary/alphabet folders I made with simple photos of items and the accompanying word i.e. an apple, "apple." You can make these too at home (summer is a great time for this, for example!) I simply used file folders to cut and glue words and pictures starting with each sound of the alphabet. and made sure the pictures were clear and of things the children were interested in, i.e. L for Lego, P for Princess. Flyers from Toys 'R Us or Mastermind, or catalogues (and of course Google Images) are great for this!
This week we'll wrap up our inquiry on insects and will use the Smartboard to compare and contrast insects with Venn diagrams. We will also learn a fingerplay about a growing seed and practise our song for the next Sharing Assembly. On May 20, we will be honouring Iris, Martel, Avery and Chloe for always demonstrating Integrity. In the classroom, this means always doing the right and kind thing, even if no one is looking :) It is tied with Honesty.
We'll continue to learn about plants and will review 2- and 3-D shapes as well.
In this week's white bag was a copy of the new May words. Please practise these at home with your child.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
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