Dear families,
Happy Superbowl weekend! I hope you're having a great Sunday.
Last week was busy as usual in Room 166! We finished our unit on Measurement and the children's folders went home in Friday's mail bag. We have almost finished learning about penguins - this folder will go home this Thursday! Tuesday was Groundhog Day and the children did lots of themed activities; they learned about the history of Groundhog Day on the Smartboard, learned poems, made a hat and a puppet, sang a song, read books, did dot-to-dot, and cut and coloured a groundhog.
We completed our study of Measurement by learning more about thermometers and which people need to know the temperature for their work (cooks, mechanics, healthcare professionals, farmers). We watched a great educational video about this: search YouTube "Kindergarten How to Tell the Temperature" to replay it. The children made their own thermometers by colouring a paper one to 0 degrees Celsius. The children each brought a length of string outside and measured several items in the playground. They also measured more classroom objects with cube-a-links, and learned more about using a balance in the Measurement Centre.
With our Grade 2 Reading Buddies, we read booklets about The Emperor Penguin, and the Juniors read a little booklet called "100 Ways to Celebrate" 100th Day. Then they acted out the activities in the booklet with their Reading Buddies ("clap your hands 100 times, tap your foot 100 times, etc."). The SKs did a 100th Day activity with their buddies, too; they put the numbers in order and glued them on a 100 chart, then played Bingo with the chart.
The kids had a great time dancing in the gym with Aussie Dance! Their personalities really came out when they were dancing! They had so much fun! Thank you so much to Parent Council for funding this experience.
Thank you so much to: Stella's mom who made play-doh for the class and was also our Mystery Reader this week, Cole's dad and Avery's mom who helped in the Computer Lab, William who shared his baby penguin stuffy with us, and Theo who brought in a ruler and a non-fiction book about Emperor Penguins!
The children read and coloured a Penguin book about colours, and the children labeled a penguin. The children also learned more about the life cycle of an Emperor Penguin and made a Life Cycle wheel. They also drew a penguin chick on a penguin dad's feet; the male Emperor penguins care for the eggs and the chicks for the first several months of their life! The children also did a letter/letter sound activity with a picture of a penguin with the alphabet inside; they called out the letter (JK) or letter sound (SK), put a cracker on the letter, and when all the letters were done, ate them! They can do this activity at home too with goldfish crackers or penguin crackers (Loblaws has nut-free ones). The children did a similar activity with bingo dabbers on penguin drawings with the alphabet inside. This week they did upper case letters and next week they'll do lower case letters. We'll continue reading and writing about penguins next week.
Our class has been invited to make "Welcome to Toronto" pictures for the Kingsway Community Refugee group. The children will draw pictures of places they love in Toronto and Hope's family will make a welcome binder for the families. What a wonderful idea! Thank you for asking us!
The SK homework for this weekend is to complete the IT, THIS and WILL mini read-and-write books.
Thank you for sending in Valentines with your child well in advance of February 11th. A few of the children haven't yet brought in their 100 items in a zip-lock bag. Please send this in by Thursday. Thank you! We have been doing more counting to 100 activities in the classroom at our centres and I think the children are getting better each time! We have also learned a dance to 100 and I think the kids loved it!
The Popcorn (sight) words this week were IT and WHY. The February words and Homework Bingo went home. Please practise these at home.
Thank you for bringing in your used batteries and light bulbs as well as pop tabs. The Eco Warriors will continue to collect these next week.
The Juniors received their first Progress Reports on Friday. If you would like to book an interview please go to Schoolbookings.net. I'm looking forward to meeting with you this week to discuss your child's progress!
This week will be all about Valentines and the 100th Day of School which is on Thursday!
Just a friendly reminder to please not send your child to school with jewelry and other items that distract them from their learning.
I hope you have a terrific week!
