Dear LKS families,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words this week. Thank you to all my wonderful students, past and present - it's been such a joy and so much fun being your teacher. Thank you to the LKS community - the generosity of your time, care and energy is such an important part of what makes LKS such an excellent public school; thank you to my colleagues for being an inspiration and for their friendship; thank you Mrs. Mosun for her friendship and for being a wonderful teaching partner and caring and kind educator; thank you Mrs. Norton and Mr. Currie for their outstanding leadership; thank you to the support staff, Zofia and Emily, and our Caretaker John for taking such excellent care of our school.
To paraphrase Winnie-the-Pooh, "How lucky I am to have had something so wonderful, that makes saying good-bye so hard."
All the best,
Mrs. Tyndall
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Friday, June 21, 2019
Week of June 17-21
Dear families,
Happy Friday! We had another wonderful week in Room 166! The children did a WONDERFUL job at today's Sharing Assembly, singing "Hello" in the 29 different languages of their families, and then singing "This Fabulous Year." Thank you for coming, parents! The kids were very happy to see you there!
Thank you so much to our Mystery Readers this week! They were Sophie (who read a book she made!!), Sophie's mom, Mrs. Selby-Munro, and Ayla's mom!
Monday was an exciting day as we watched the Raptor's Parade and started our 10-more-days-left-of-school countdown. The Special Person of the Day gets to take down an ice cream scoop each day as we count down to summer! The children talked about all the fun things they would like to do this summer, and wrote a beach "bucket list" that is on display in our hallway.
The SKs are very excited to be able to play in the "Big Kids' Yard" during outdoor play time, just like when they will do in Grade One! They also learned a Graduation poem that spells out "Kindergarten."
The kids enjoyed learning how to draw a Minion using their little white boards. It's amazing what they can learn to draw just breaking down the picture into steps.
In today's mailbag you will find the children's drawings and writing about the Robin's nest and their "still life" paintings of lilacs. The Learning Objectives were to develop: small motor skills; art appreciation; senses; creativity; hand-eye coordination; visual learning skills; decision-making skills; perseverance; focus. I have sent the children's Phonics Duotangs home as well - if they are not finished, that would be a good thing to work on over the summer.
The children are getting very good at their yoga poses through Cosmic Kids Yoga, and their self-regulations skills are steadily improving with our daily mindful meditation.
We said Good Bye" to Ethan since he is going to Austria for the summer. We will see you in September, Ethan.
If anyone would like to take care of Bubbles the Beta Fish this summer, please email me. You will need to provide a small tank.
That's the news from this week. I hope you have a lovely weekend! Next Thursday is the last day of school - please let me know if your child will be absent so that I can ensure everything is sent home. Thank you!
Happy Friday! We had another wonderful week in Room 166! The children did a WONDERFUL job at today's Sharing Assembly, singing "Hello" in the 29 different languages of their families, and then singing "This Fabulous Year." Thank you for coming, parents! The kids were very happy to see you there!
Thank you so much to our Mystery Readers this week! They were Sophie (who read a book she made!!), Sophie's mom, Mrs. Selby-Munro, and Ayla's mom!
Monday was an exciting day as we watched the Raptor's Parade and started our 10-more-days-left-of-school countdown. The Special Person of the Day gets to take down an ice cream scoop each day as we count down to summer! The children talked about all the fun things they would like to do this summer, and wrote a beach "bucket list" that is on display in our hallway.
The SKs are very excited to be able to play in the "Big Kids' Yard" during outdoor play time, just like when they will do in Grade One! They also learned a Graduation poem that spells out "Kindergarten."
The kids enjoyed learning how to draw a Minion using their little white boards. It's amazing what they can learn to draw just breaking down the picture into steps.
In today's mailbag you will find the children's drawings and writing about the Robin's nest and their "still life" paintings of lilacs. The Learning Objectives were to develop: small motor skills; art appreciation; senses; creativity; hand-eye coordination; visual learning skills; decision-making skills; perseverance; focus. I have sent the children's Phonics Duotangs home as well - if they are not finished, that would be a good thing to work on over the summer.
The children are getting very good at their yoga poses through Cosmic Kids Yoga, and their self-regulations skills are steadily improving with our daily mindful meditation.
We said Good Bye" to Ethan since he is going to Austria for the summer. We will see you in September, Ethan.
If anyone would like to take care of Bubbles the Beta Fish this summer, please email me. You will need to provide a small tank.
That's the news from this week. I hope you have a lovely weekend! Next Thursday is the last day of school - please let me know if your child will be absent so that I can ensure everything is sent home. Thank you!
Friday, June 14, 2019
Week of June 10-14
Dear families,
What an exciting week for Canada - yay Toronto Raptors! The kids have been so excited!
The words of the week were KITE and KITTEN. This week we continued our discussion and learning about SAFETY, and the children completed word called "I am safe when ________." They had fun practising "STOP! DROP! ROLL!" We read different safety stories and the children shared their knowledge of how to stay safe at home and at the park, on the road, at the cottage or at camp.
Thank you so much to Abigail's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
I have sent home the original copies of your children's monthly calendar and "This is Me" work. These are one of the assessment tools used when writing report cards. I am so proud of the progress the children have made over the last few months!
The primary grades watched a presentation by Red Sky Company in the gym, and we went to our Reading Buddies' room to see the amazing medieval castles they made! Something to look forward to doing in Grade 4!
Our little baby robins in the Kindergarten yard are growing! The children are loving watching them pop their heads up with their mouths open, and watching their mom and dad leave the nest and return with worms and insects. They drew another picture of the nest and wrote "The chicks are growing."
We are working hard rehearsing for the Sharing Assembly!
The JKs and SKs also wrote and drew a picture about what they would like to be when they grow up. So cute!!! The SKs also wrote and drew about what they think they will do in Grade One.
I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day and enjoy the gifts your child has made especially for you.
What an exciting week for Canada - yay Toronto Raptors! The kids have been so excited!
The words of the week were KITE and KITTEN. This week we continued our discussion and learning about SAFETY, and the children completed word called "I am safe when ________." They had fun practising "STOP! DROP! ROLL!" We read different safety stories and the children shared their knowledge of how to stay safe at home and at the park, on the road, at the cottage or at camp.
Thank you so much to Abigail's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
I have sent home the original copies of your children's monthly calendar and "This is Me" work. These are one of the assessment tools used when writing report cards. I am so proud of the progress the children have made over the last few months!
The primary grades watched a presentation by Red Sky Company in the gym, and we went to our Reading Buddies' room to see the amazing medieval castles they made! Something to look forward to doing in Grade 4!
Our little baby robins in the Kindergarten yard are growing! The children are loving watching them pop their heads up with their mouths open, and watching their mom and dad leave the nest and return with worms and insects. They drew another picture of the nest and wrote "The chicks are growing."
We are working hard rehearsing for the Sharing Assembly!
The JKs and SKs also wrote and drew a picture about what they would like to be when they grow up. So cute!!! The SKs also wrote and drew about what they think they will do in Grade One.
I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day and enjoy the gifts your child has made especially for you.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Week of June 3-7
Dear families,
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! The words of the week were ZOO, ZEBRA and ZERO. Our parent volunteer this week was Ayla's dad, who was our Mystery Reader!
The kids started out their week by writing and drawing a picture about Springfest! If they didn't go to Springfest, they wrote about their weekend.
This week we learned about parts of plants we eat, for example the stalk or stem (celery), flower (broccoli), leaves (lettuce), root (carrot) and seeds (sunflower). We also learned about the Five Food Groups (Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy and Protein), and completed a puzzle, writing the words and drawing pictures of examples of foods in those food groups.
They kids completed a pattern book called "Summer, Summer," and we are learning (remembering) about how to stay safe and healthy this summer (wear a PDF, wear a hat and sunscreen, wear proper footwear, for example). We also started some writing called "When I grow up..."
The SKs are very excited to be able to play in the "big kids' playground" as they get ready for Grade One!
We also practised our Sharing Assembly song on the stage for the first time, and also performed it for our Reading Buddies!
We are busy making Father's Day gifts for next weekend, too! Shhhhh!
As we prepare to say goodbye at the end of the month, we are reminding the children that behaviour expectations are the same in June as they were in September. Please also remember that your child needs safe outdoor play footwear such as running shoes. No flip flops please.
Exciting news from the Kindergarten playground!!! Two of the Robin's eggs have hatched! I took a photo and showed the children. Please keep a distance away from the nest if your child is in the playground on the weekend.
That's the news for this week! Tomorrow is a PA day for report card writing. We will see you on Monday!
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! The words of the week were ZOO, ZEBRA and ZERO. Our parent volunteer this week was Ayla's dad, who was our Mystery Reader!
The kids started out their week by writing and drawing a picture about Springfest! If they didn't go to Springfest, they wrote about their weekend.
This week we learned about parts of plants we eat, for example the stalk or stem (celery), flower (broccoli), leaves (lettuce), root (carrot) and seeds (sunflower). We also learned about the Five Food Groups (Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy and Protein), and completed a puzzle, writing the words and drawing pictures of examples of foods in those food groups.
They kids completed a pattern book called "Summer, Summer," and we are learning (remembering) about how to stay safe and healthy this summer (wear a PDF, wear a hat and sunscreen, wear proper footwear, for example). We also started some writing called "When I grow up..."
The SKs are very excited to be able to play in the "big kids' playground" as they get ready for Grade One!
We also practised our Sharing Assembly song on the stage for the first time, and also performed it for our Reading Buddies!
We are busy making Father's Day gifts for next weekend, too! Shhhhh!
As we prepare to say goodbye at the end of the month, we are reminding the children that behaviour expectations are the same in June as they were in September. Please also remember that your child needs safe outdoor play footwear such as running shoes. No flip flops please.
Exciting news from the Kindergarten playground!!! Two of the Robin's eggs have hatched! I took a photo and showed the children. Please keep a distance away from the nest if your child is in the playground on the weekend.
That's the news for this week! Tomorrow is a PA day for report card writing. We will see you on Monday!
Friday, May 31, 2019
Week of May 27-31
Dear families,
We had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were FUN and FRIEND. This week we continued our inquiry on plants and seeds, and learned how dandelions grow. We also wrote a book with our Reading Buddies about how our sunflower seeds germinated and will (eventually!) grow into tall sunflower plants. This is all connected to learning about various Life Cycles, such as that of the butterfly which we learned in our previous inquiry. We planted our two extra sunflowers (egg cup and all) in our Kindergarten garden. We also learned about all the things that are in a garden - not just plants, but various flying pollinators, birds and nests, toads, worms, and insects! The children learned two poems called "What the Robin Told" and "A Little Seed." We are also learning about the many parts of plants we eat. The children also completed a colouring task demonstrating their understanding of symmetry, making both halves of the butterfly the same.
On Monday the children noticed the amazing Robin nest in our Kindergarten playground. This brave Robin is sitting on three beautiful blue eggs, and we spent a day learning about Robins, and watched a video about how the mother and father will take care of the chicks after they hatch! What an exciting thing for the children to have nature literally at our doorstep! They did a terrific job drawing a picture of the nest and are very respectful of the mother bird and know to not touch the nest or get too close.
The children also completed their "This is Me in May" drawing and writing, as well as their calendar. Shay played two songs for us on his beautiful violin, Ethan played us a song on the piano, and Rajan played the piano too! A big congratulations to Anilee, Ethan, Seth, and Shay for demonstrating the TDSB Character Trait of Integrity. Thank you as well to Olivia's mom who was this week's Mystery Reader!
Finally, we made still life paintings of real lilacs - the children were instructed to paint what they saw, and the paintings are beautiful and interesting!
I hope you have a wonderful time at Springfest if you are going! Have a wonderful weekend!
We had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were FUN and FRIEND. This week we continued our inquiry on plants and seeds, and learned how dandelions grow. We also wrote a book with our Reading Buddies about how our sunflower seeds germinated and will (eventually!) grow into tall sunflower plants. This is all connected to learning about various Life Cycles, such as that of the butterfly which we learned in our previous inquiry. We planted our two extra sunflowers (egg cup and all) in our Kindergarten garden. We also learned about all the things that are in a garden - not just plants, but various flying pollinators, birds and nests, toads, worms, and insects! The children learned two poems called "What the Robin Told" and "A Little Seed." We are also learning about the many parts of plants we eat. The children also completed a colouring task demonstrating their understanding of symmetry, making both halves of the butterfly the same.
On Monday the children noticed the amazing Robin nest in our Kindergarten playground. This brave Robin is sitting on three beautiful blue eggs, and we spent a day learning about Robins, and watched a video about how the mother and father will take care of the chicks after they hatch! What an exciting thing for the children to have nature literally at our doorstep! They did a terrific job drawing a picture of the nest and are very respectful of the mother bird and know to not touch the nest or get too close.
The children also completed their "This is Me in May" drawing and writing, as well as their calendar. Shay played two songs for us on his beautiful violin, Ethan played us a song on the piano, and Rajan played the piano too! A big congratulations to Anilee, Ethan, Seth, and Shay for demonstrating the TDSB Character Trait of Integrity. Thank you as well to Olivia's mom who was this week's Mystery Reader!
Finally, we made still life paintings of real lilacs - the children were instructed to paint what they saw, and the paintings are beautiful and interesting!
I hope you have a wonderful time at Springfest if you are going! Have a wonderful weekend!
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Week of May 20-24
Dear families,
Happy weekend!
The words of the week were WOULD and THEY. Thank you to our Mystery Reader this week, Kipling’s mom! The children also enjoyed a visit from author Deborah Kerbel, who wrote the lovely book “Sun Dog.”
In Friday’s mailbag you will find all the children’s learning about insects! We finished this inquiry this week, learning about metamorphosis, hives, bees, beeswax, and honey! The children “made” the cells of a hive using a hexagram block, practiced their symmetry skills by drawing the second half of a butterfly, watched Science Show Kid’s videos on metamorphosis and bees, and watched a “Magic School Bus” episode about bees.
We also read Eric Carle’s lovely book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” practising our retell skills and playing in a Very Hungry Caterpillar centre. The kids also wrote a little book.
This week the children’s sunflowers successfully germinated and sprouted, and the kids brought their egg cups home to plant in your garden or a large pot, in a sunny spot! In our classroom, we also planted a pea from Hope’s snack that had germinated!
Next week we will continue our learning about plants.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Go Raptors!
Happy weekend!
The words of the week were WOULD and THEY. Thank you to our Mystery Reader this week, Kipling’s mom! The children also enjoyed a visit from author Deborah Kerbel, who wrote the lovely book “Sun Dog.”
In Friday’s mailbag you will find all the children’s learning about insects! We finished this inquiry this week, learning about metamorphosis, hives, bees, beeswax, and honey! The children “made” the cells of a hive using a hexagram block, practiced their symmetry skills by drawing the second half of a butterfly, watched Science Show Kid’s videos on metamorphosis and bees, and watched a “Magic School Bus” episode about bees.
We also read Eric Carle’s lovely book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” practising our retell skills and playing in a Very Hungry Caterpillar centre. The kids also wrote a little book.
This week the children’s sunflowers successfully germinated and sprouted, and the kids brought their egg cups home to plant in your garden or a large pot, in a sunny spot! In our classroom, we also planted a pea from Hope’s snack that had germinated!
Next week we will continue our learning about plants.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Go Raptors!
Friday, May 17, 2019
Week of May 13-17
Dear families,
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your weekend! The weather is beautiful!
This week was another busy one! The words of the week are DID and SOME. We had a wonderful trip to Reptilia, and the children saw so many small and big reptiles! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers: the wonderful moms of Evelyn, Casey and Reina! They did a follow up activity with their reading buddies, drawing turtles and other reptiles.
The children also enjoyed going to the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library.
We have started to learn about how plants grow (after the pistol has been pollinated by the pollen on the stamen and then makes seeds!), and the children have all filled their empty eggs with potting soil and planted a sunflower seed. We are tracking what happens to them each day. We also planted a sunflower seed in a little sealed bag with soil and water (like a mini terrarium). This sunflower seed pollinated quickly! A bpacket of sunflower seeds is in your child's mail bag to plant at home!
We also learned about pollination and bees. The children watched short educational videos about pollinators and parts of flowers, and they are taking a closer look at a real tulip and the pollen on the stamen. Then they are putting a bit of white glue on a diagram of a bee, and then sprinkling "pollen" on the bee's legs. They also did a dot-to-dot number picture of a bee hive.
The children also enjoyed taking apart a big Paper Wasp nest, and looking at the "cells" inside. We also looked at their friends through a view finder to see how insects see, with compound eyes. Then they drew their friends faces many times, just like an insect would see.
The children really enjoyed playing "Hangman" with Mrs. Mosun, guessing the names of different insects. We also compared insects and spiders. The children will finish their Insect Inquiry and folders when we come back next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your weekend! The weather is beautiful!
This week was another busy one! The words of the week are DID and SOME. We had a wonderful trip to Reptilia, and the children saw so many small and big reptiles! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers: the wonderful moms of Evelyn, Casey and Reina! They did a follow up activity with their reading buddies, drawing turtles and other reptiles.
The children also enjoyed going to the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library.
We have started to learn about how plants grow (after the pistol has been pollinated by the pollen on the stamen and then makes seeds!), and the children have all filled their empty eggs with potting soil and planted a sunflower seed. We are tracking what happens to them each day. We also planted a sunflower seed in a little sealed bag with soil and water (like a mini terrarium). This sunflower seed pollinated quickly! A bpacket of sunflower seeds is in your child's mail bag to plant at home!
We also learned about pollination and bees. The children watched short educational videos about pollinators and parts of flowers, and they are taking a closer look at a real tulip and the pollen on the stamen. Then they are putting a bit of white glue on a diagram of a bee, and then sprinkling "pollen" on the bee's legs. They also did a dot-to-dot number picture of a bee hive.
The children also enjoyed taking apart a big Paper Wasp nest, and looking at the "cells" inside. We also looked at their friends through a view finder to see how insects see, with compound eyes. Then they drew their friends faces many times, just like an insect would see.
The children really enjoyed playing "Hangman" with Mrs. Mosun, guessing the names of different insects. We also compared insects and spiders. The children will finish their Insect Inquiry and folders when we come back next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, May 10, 2019
Week of May 6-10
Dear families,
Happy Mother's Day! Your children have two special gifts to give you on Sunday :). I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday! You deserve it!
This week we continued our inquiry on Insects! We learned facts about the firefly and the praying mantis. We also watched a Binoc episode about mosquitoes and a Magic School Bus episode about insects. We watched a Binoc episode about fireflies, and read Eric Carle's lovely book "The Very Lonely Firefly." The children made firefly and praying mantis puppets. With their reading buddies, the kids read and coloured a little book I made called "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What do you See?," following the pattern of Eric Carle's beloved book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." Pattern books (books with repeated words, phrases on each page), are an important step in teaching children to read, and they give children a feeling of success because the patterns are easily followed. The children also made a pattern booklet called "Is it an Insect?" and learned about which creatures eat insects, and what insects eat. They are also learning about where they live and how they build their homes.
We continue to do Mindful Meditation every day during Quiet Time, and this week they did Cosmic Kids Yoga "Fairy Floss" and "Frozen" episodes. They enjoyed holding onto feathers and pompoms to help refocus their minds and be calm.
We have also started to rehearse for the June 21st Sharing Assembly! I think the children are enjoying learning how to and teaching their friends how to say "Hello" in their native language and the language of their ancestors!
Our Mystery Reader this week was Chris' father - thank you! Thank you as well to the moms of Abigail, Emma, twins Estella and Simonne, Kipling and Reina for assisting the children during the Art in Action Artist visit!
The words of the week were THERE and THAT. We are also working on the double letter sounds TH, SH and CH. These double letter sounds occur in many English words.
This Wednesday is our field trip to Reptilia. Please remember to pack two snacks and a litterless lunch.
This Thursday, May 16 is the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. Don't forget to send money in a plastic baggie with your child's name on it, if you wish your child to purchase a book.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a lovely weekend and I wish you a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!!
Happy Mother's Day! Your children have two special gifts to give you on Sunday :). I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday! You deserve it!
This week we continued our inquiry on Insects! We learned facts about the firefly and the praying mantis. We also watched a Binoc episode about mosquitoes and a Magic School Bus episode about insects. We watched a Binoc episode about fireflies, and read Eric Carle's lovely book "The Very Lonely Firefly." The children made firefly and praying mantis puppets. With their reading buddies, the kids read and coloured a little book I made called "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What do you See?," following the pattern of Eric Carle's beloved book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." Pattern books (books with repeated words, phrases on each page), are an important step in teaching children to read, and they give children a feeling of success because the patterns are easily followed. The children also made a pattern booklet called "Is it an Insect?" and learned about which creatures eat insects, and what insects eat. They are also learning about where they live and how they build their homes.
We continue to do Mindful Meditation every day during Quiet Time, and this week they did Cosmic Kids Yoga "Fairy Floss" and "Frozen" episodes. They enjoyed holding onto feathers and pompoms to help refocus their minds and be calm.
We have also started to rehearse for the June 21st Sharing Assembly! I think the children are enjoying learning how to and teaching their friends how to say "Hello" in their native language and the language of their ancestors!
Our Mystery Reader this week was Chris' father - thank you! Thank you as well to the moms of Abigail, Emma, twins Estella and Simonne, Kipling and Reina for assisting the children during the Art in Action Artist visit!
The words of the week were THERE and THAT. We are also working on the double letter sounds TH, SH and CH. These double letter sounds occur in many English words.
This Wednesday is our field trip to Reptilia. Please remember to pack two snacks and a litterless lunch.
This Thursday, May 16 is the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. Don't forget to send money in a plastic baggie with your child's name on it, if you wish your child to purchase a book.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a lovely weekend and I wish you a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!!
Friday, May 3, 2019
Week of April 29-May 3
Dear families,
May is here! This week we continued our inquiry on INSECTS and the children had a fun time participating in X-FUSION! We also welcomed Ethan, our new JK student!
The words of the week were LITTLE and OUT. Thank you to our volunteers this week: Mila's dad, Elise's dad and Sophie's mom were Mystery Readers, and Mrs. Mosun's daughter Soheila dropped in for a visit, too! Thank you so much to Elise, who taught us a song about insect body parts and brought in a lovely lift-the-flap book about bees! We will learn all about bees later in May. Thank you as well to Ella, who shared her Eric Carle book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We will learn all about caterpillars and butterflies later in May!
The Show-and-Tell item for May is "My Favourite Animal." When it is your child's special day, please encourage them to learn what their favourite animal eats, where it lives, and what it looks like. For example, Reina told us all about camels! Mrs. Mosun followed this up by a lesson in the computer lab about camels!
The children enjoyed reading the wonderful Eric Carle story "The Grouchy Ladybug, and they learned about the life cycle of a lady bug, and made a ladybug booklet. They are also learning a song called "Entomologist, are learning how to draw insects, and are learning about the body parts of insects (and how they are different than spiders!). There are a lot of (real and plastic) insects in our Science Centre. By looking through special eye glasses, the children are learning how bugs see their world with their compound lenses.
The children also completed a writing and drawing exercise called "It really BUGS me when..."
The next scholastic order is due May 16. Also on May 16 is our class visit to the Scholastic Book Fair in the library! If you would like your child to purchase a book(s), please put the money in a plastic zip-locked bag with their name on it. Thank you! Our Artist visit is next week! We are going on a field trip to Reptilia the week after next! Lots of exciting things are happening this month!
Next week we will continue our learning about INSECTS and will also learn about which animals eat them, which is...... REPTILES! Perfect timing to learn about reptiles before we go on our trip!
Finally, congratulations to Monty and Evelyn who received TDSB certificates for Co-operation! Well done!
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
May is here! This week we continued our inquiry on INSECTS and the children had a fun time participating in X-FUSION! We also welcomed Ethan, our new JK student!
The words of the week were LITTLE and OUT. Thank you to our volunteers this week: Mila's dad, Elise's dad and Sophie's mom were Mystery Readers, and Mrs. Mosun's daughter Soheila dropped in for a visit, too! Thank you so much to Elise, who taught us a song about insect body parts and brought in a lovely lift-the-flap book about bees! We will learn all about bees later in May. Thank you as well to Ella, who shared her Eric Carle book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We will learn all about caterpillars and butterflies later in May!
The Show-and-Tell item for May is "My Favourite Animal." When it is your child's special day, please encourage them to learn what their favourite animal eats, where it lives, and what it looks like. For example, Reina told us all about camels! Mrs. Mosun followed this up by a lesson in the computer lab about camels!
The children enjoyed reading the wonderful Eric Carle story "The Grouchy Ladybug, and they learned about the life cycle of a lady bug, and made a ladybug booklet. They are also learning a song called "Entomologist, are learning how to draw insects, and are learning about the body parts of insects (and how they are different than spiders!). There are a lot of (real and plastic) insects in our Science Centre. By looking through special eye glasses, the children are learning how bugs see their world with their compound lenses.
The children also completed a writing and drawing exercise called "It really BUGS me when..."
The next scholastic order is due May 16. Also on May 16 is our class visit to the Scholastic Book Fair in the library! If you would like your child to purchase a book(s), please put the money in a plastic zip-locked bag with their name on it. Thank you! Our Artist visit is next week! We are going on a field trip to Reptilia the week after next! Lots of exciting things are happening this month!
Next week we will continue our learning about INSECTS and will also learn about which animals eat them, which is...... REPTILES! Perfect timing to learn about reptiles before we go on our trip!
Finally, congratulations to Monty and Evelyn who received TDSB certificates for Co-operation! Well done!
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Week of April 22-26
Dear families,
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend!
This week we focused on learning how to take care of the Earth, and started our inquiry on Insects. The words of the week were PRETTY and HOW. A big Thank You to our parent volunteers this week: Reina's mom and Estella and Simonne's mom helped with today's Pizza Lunch; and our Mystery Reader was Anilee's aunt. The children's 2- and 3-D Shapes Folder went home in today's mailbag. The kids will love showing you what they learned about the shapes around us!
For our Inquiry on Taking Care of Our Earth, the children looked at the numbers in the triangles on plastic containers. They learned that they need to rinse out plastic containers (for example their yogurt containers) before putting them in the recycling bin. They also painted a picture of the Earth and took their wonderful recycled materials projects home. They were so good! Thank you for helping your children with this important lesson. They are enjoying playing in our Reused Gingerbread House which we are using as a cottage now. They also learned where Water comes from, learned a song called R-A-I-N-Y to match our wet weather this week, and learned some water words. We talked about and wrote about how to take care of the Earth, for example going to Farmer's Markets and using reusable bags to shop (we looked at a bag that was made from plastic bottles!), using LED lights, saying "No, thank you" to plastic straws" and using metal or paper straws instead, only using one paper serviette, and more! They are good eco-warriors!
To start off our inquiry on Insects, the children told me what they knew already. Then they learned about parts of an insect, and learned that spiders are not insects! We have lots of fiction and non-fiction books in our classroom library, and our Science Centre is now an insect exploring centre, with life-size and huge models of various insects. We will be learning where insects live, what they look like, how they move, why some of them bite us, and what they eat (as well as what eats them!). The first insect we learned about was everybody's favourite - the Dragonfly! We learned lots of fun dragonfly facts and made a dragonfly out of paper and reused plastic.
We had an impromptu inquiry on immigration, thanks to the wonderful book one of the children took our of the library. We learned that we are all immigrants and we learned the difference between MOVING to a new place in the same country, and IMMIGRATING to a new country. Some of the children shared their stories of immigration. I sent home an email earlier today asking for feedback about which languages the children's ancestors spoke at home. This is for our Sharing Assembly on June 21. Please respond to my email by May 1st so we can start practicing for the assembly. Thank you!
The children are also learning about Signs of Spring and made a poem on a pop-out egg about Spring. Their work is on display in our hallway.
The children did a great job at our surprise fire drill!
Next week we welcome a new student named Ethan. Welcome to LKS, Ethan and family! We look forward to meeting you!
The Kindergarten classes will be going on an all-day field trip to REPTILIA on May 15, leaving LKS at 9 a.m. and leaving Reptilia at 2 p.m.. We will need 3 volunteers for each class. Once the permission form is sent home (next week), please indicate whether you would like to volunteer. Preference will be given to parents who have not had an opportunity to volunteer before. Thank you!
That's the news from our classroom this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend!
This week we focused on learning how to take care of the Earth, and started our inquiry on Insects. The words of the week were PRETTY and HOW. A big Thank You to our parent volunteers this week: Reina's mom and Estella and Simonne's mom helped with today's Pizza Lunch; and our Mystery Reader was Anilee's aunt. The children's 2- and 3-D Shapes Folder went home in today's mailbag. The kids will love showing you what they learned about the shapes around us!
For our Inquiry on Taking Care of Our Earth, the children looked at the numbers in the triangles on plastic containers. They learned that they need to rinse out plastic containers (for example their yogurt containers) before putting them in the recycling bin. They also painted a picture of the Earth and took their wonderful recycled materials projects home. They were so good! Thank you for helping your children with this important lesson. They are enjoying playing in our Reused Gingerbread House which we are using as a cottage now. They also learned where Water comes from, learned a song called R-A-I-N-Y to match our wet weather this week, and learned some water words. We talked about and wrote about how to take care of the Earth, for example going to Farmer's Markets and using reusable bags to shop (we looked at a bag that was made from plastic bottles!), using LED lights, saying "No, thank you" to plastic straws" and using metal or paper straws instead, only using one paper serviette, and more! They are good eco-warriors!
To start off our inquiry on Insects, the children told me what they knew already. Then they learned about parts of an insect, and learned that spiders are not insects! We have lots of fiction and non-fiction books in our classroom library, and our Science Centre is now an insect exploring centre, with life-size and huge models of various insects. We will be learning where insects live, what they look like, how they move, why some of them bite us, and what they eat (as well as what eats them!). The first insect we learned about was everybody's favourite - the Dragonfly! We learned lots of fun dragonfly facts and made a dragonfly out of paper and reused plastic.
We had an impromptu inquiry on immigration, thanks to the wonderful book one of the children took our of the library. We learned that we are all immigrants and we learned the difference between MOVING to a new place in the same country, and IMMIGRATING to a new country. Some of the children shared their stories of immigration. I sent home an email earlier today asking for feedback about which languages the children's ancestors spoke at home. This is for our Sharing Assembly on June 21. Please respond to my email by May 1st so we can start practicing for the assembly. Thank you!
The children are also learning about Signs of Spring and made a poem on a pop-out egg about Spring. Their work is on display in our hallway.
The children did a great job at our surprise fire drill!
Next week we welcome a new student named Ethan. Welcome to LKS, Ethan and family! We look forward to meeting you!
The Kindergarten classes will be going on an all-day field trip to REPTILIA on May 15, leaving LKS at 9 a.m. and leaving Reptilia at 2 p.m.. We will need 3 volunteers for each class. Once the permission form is sent home (next week), please indicate whether you would like to volunteer. Preference will be given to parents who have not had an opportunity to volunteer before. Thank you!
That's the news from our classroom this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Week of April 15-19
Dear families,
Spring has sprung in room 166! I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends! This week we continued our inquiry on the Earth and how to take care of it, as well as learning about rabbits and Signs of Spring.
For our inquiry about how to take care of the Earth, the children are learning the "Three Rs" -- recycle, reuse, and reduce. They learned about the triangle- shaped symbol for recycling plastic and are learning what goes into the recycling bin. We watched a "How It's Made" (my favourite tv show! :)) video about how plastic bottles are made into polyester fibre and made into clothing. We also watched a "SCISHOW KIDS" video about recycling and
With our Reading Buddies, the children finished their Spring booklets and started a "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" booklet. We talk about recycling from the start of JK and reuse a lot of materials in Kindergarten, so these concepts are very familiar to the children. They are just learning the vocabulary! The children are working on a "colour-by-number" Earth, and made a "Happy Earth Day" wheel of knowledge. The kids are continuing to bring in their toys and crafts made from recyclable materials. They are great and they love explaining how they made them.
The children completed their "This is me in April" and the April calender. They also learned a poem called "I Love the Earth" and a song called A-P-R-I-L.
During our daily quiet meditation time the children held feathers, which is helping with their self-regulation skills. This quiet time also frees Mrs. Mopsun and myself up to do important one-on-one assessment and reading with the children.
Please send in another hollow egg. We will be reusing it as a container to plant a seed. Thank you!
The words of the week were DOWN and WHO.
A big THANK YOU to the moms of Elise, Ella, Mila, Sophie and Shay who volunteered their time, energy and materials for our very successful Spring Craft Party on Wednesday! The children made a beautiful 3-D collage, decorated eggs, made chick and egg puppets, and origami flowers! They also enjoyed the yummy treats that the moms brought in!
Thank you also to Rajan who shared his awesome book about coding, Casey's dad who was this week's Mystery Reader, and former students of mine Claire (Elise's sister!) and Samantha who were also Mystery Readers! A big thank you to Abigail who very kindly brought in Easter treats for all her friends. They were in plastic eggs so we had an impromptu Easter Egg Hunt in the classroom!
After the long weekend we will be learning about insects.
That's the news for this week - have a wonderful weekend! See you on Tuesday.
Spring has sprung in room 166! I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends! This week we continued our inquiry on the Earth and how to take care of it, as well as learning about rabbits and Signs of Spring.
For our inquiry about how to take care of the Earth, the children are learning the "Three Rs" -- recycle, reuse, and reduce. They learned about the triangle- shaped symbol for recycling plastic and are learning what goes into the recycling bin. We watched a "How It's Made" (my favourite tv show! :)) video about how plastic bottles are made into polyester fibre and made into clothing. We also watched a "SCISHOW KIDS" video about recycling and
With our Reading Buddies, the children finished their Spring booklets and started a "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" booklet. We talk about recycling from the start of JK and reuse a lot of materials in Kindergarten, so these concepts are very familiar to the children. They are just learning the vocabulary! The children are working on a "colour-by-number" Earth, and made a "Happy Earth Day" wheel of knowledge. The kids are continuing to bring in their toys and crafts made from recyclable materials. They are great and they love explaining how they made them.
The children completed their "This is me in April" and the April calender. They also learned a poem called "I Love the Earth" and a song called A-P-R-I-L.
During our daily quiet meditation time the children held feathers, which is helping with their self-regulation skills. This quiet time also frees Mrs. Mopsun and myself up to do important one-on-one assessment and reading with the children.
Please send in another hollow egg. We will be reusing it as a container to plant a seed. Thank you!
The words of the week were DOWN and WHO.
A big THANK YOU to the moms of Elise, Ella, Mila, Sophie and Shay who volunteered their time, energy and materials for our very successful Spring Craft Party on Wednesday! The children made a beautiful 3-D collage, decorated eggs, made chick and egg puppets, and origami flowers! They also enjoyed the yummy treats that the moms brought in!
Thank you also to Rajan who shared his awesome book about coding, Casey's dad who was this week's Mystery Reader, and former students of mine Claire (Elise's sister!) and Samantha who were also Mystery Readers! A big thank you to Abigail who very kindly brought in Easter treats for all her friends. They were in plastic eggs so we had an impromptu Easter Egg Hunt in the classroom!
After the long weekend we will be learning about insects.
That's the news for this week - have a wonderful weekend! See you on Tuesday.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Week of April 8-12
Dear families,
We had another great week in room 166 learning about the Earth and finishing our inquiry on 2D and 3D shapes! Their SHAPES folder went home in today's mail bag.
The words of the week were I'M and WAS. We are now learning double letter sounds such as SH, CH and TH. I have sent home the last Phonics Words sheet for the SKs to practise reading and spelling at home.
Thank you for sending in hollow eggs for your children to decorate. They enjoyed decorating them with Q-Tips and food colouring, and watching the primary colours mix to make new colours. If you haven't sent in an egg for your child, please do so by next week. Thank you! We will be starting a new inquiry on seeds and plants and I would like to grow little plants with the children using empty egg shells. Please send in one after the Easter holiday. Thank you. An egg with just the top removed (not half) is best, so we can fit more soil inside it. We will also be learning about how to grow new plants from old plants.
In Numeracy, we made shapes with geo boards and elastics and drew the shape we made. The SKs added the coordinates of their elastics (e.g. A5, B2, etc.) The SKs also did a matching exercise with non-standard objects, such as a shark's tooth and fin (triangular prism, a Beluga Whale (cylinder), a puffer fish (a cylinder that turns into a sphere) and a bubble (sphere). Great job! The kids also made a 3-D Shape Wheel.
The Earth Day toys that the children have made and presented to their classmates are wonderful! We reuse and recycle so much in Kindergarten. The children are enjoying making a step-by-step painting of the Earth. They will be on display in our classroom next week. The children are learning a bit about our Solar System and how the planets and our moon move. We watched a video about this and read several books as well. The children made a mini spherical Earth using three colours of Plasticine (white, blue, beige).
In literacy, the children touched the soft flowers of a pussy willow and we brainstormed adjectives about it. From there, they chose 5 adjectives and created a simple poem about Pussy Willows. Great job! This work is on display on our classroom bulletin board.
We have also started learning about the differences between LIVING and NON-LIVING things. We watched a short video and talked about the differences; that LIVING things GROW, BREATHE, MOVE and REPRODUCE. To get them really thinking, we talked about my stem from the pussy willow branch - it was dry, didn't have roots, and wasn't growing anymore. We'll continue learning about this next week. We watched a BINOCS video of sunflowers moving their heads to follow the sun, and learned a little bit about how plants breathe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ymc311XS8
During this week's daily Quiet Meditation Time, the children enjoyed playing with feathers while listening to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oS680-Dnw. It is an excellent website for guided meditation for children. This also gives Mrs. Mosun and I one-on-one time to read with the children and assess their progress.
Today we had an author visit from Ella MacKay, who showed the children how she creates her amazing art to illustrate her beautiful books. This is her website: www.theaterclouds.com.
The next Scholastic order is due May 10.
LKS had a lot of school spirit this week, wearing PINK to promote friendship and BLUE and WHITE to cheer for the Leafs! Looks like it worked for yesterday's excellent game against Boston!
With our Reading Buddies, we are working on booklets about Signs of Spring.
Thank you so much to our Mystery Reader of the week, who was Kipling's mom!
Next week is the last week before our Easter long weekend, and we will be doing more Spring-themed literacy and numeracy activities.
That's the news for this week. Please continue to send in mittens for your children since the weather is still a bit chilly, especially in the mornings.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Saturday is supposed to be beautiful weather!
We had another great week in room 166 learning about the Earth and finishing our inquiry on 2D and 3D shapes! Their SHAPES folder went home in today's mail bag.
The words of the week were I'M and WAS. We are now learning double letter sounds such as SH, CH and TH. I have sent home the last Phonics Words sheet for the SKs to practise reading and spelling at home.
Thank you for sending in hollow eggs for your children to decorate. They enjoyed decorating them with Q-Tips and food colouring, and watching the primary colours mix to make new colours. If you haven't sent in an egg for your child, please do so by next week. Thank you! We will be starting a new inquiry on seeds and plants and I would like to grow little plants with the children using empty egg shells. Please send in one after the Easter holiday. Thank you. An egg with just the top removed (not half) is best, so we can fit more soil inside it. We will also be learning about how to grow new plants from old plants.
In Numeracy, we made shapes with geo boards and elastics and drew the shape we made. The SKs added the coordinates of their elastics (e.g. A5, B2, etc.) The SKs also did a matching exercise with non-standard objects, such as a shark's tooth and fin (triangular prism, a Beluga Whale (cylinder), a puffer fish (a cylinder that turns into a sphere) and a bubble (sphere). Great job! The kids also made a 3-D Shape Wheel.
The Earth Day toys that the children have made and presented to their classmates are wonderful! We reuse and recycle so much in Kindergarten. The children are enjoying making a step-by-step painting of the Earth. They will be on display in our classroom next week. The children are learning a bit about our Solar System and how the planets and our moon move. We watched a video about this and read several books as well. The children made a mini spherical Earth using three colours of Plasticine (white, blue, beige).
In literacy, the children touched the soft flowers of a pussy willow and we brainstormed adjectives about it. From there, they chose 5 adjectives and created a simple poem about Pussy Willows. Great job! This work is on display on our classroom bulletin board.
We have also started learning about the differences between LIVING and NON-LIVING things. We watched a short video and talked about the differences; that LIVING things GROW, BREATHE, MOVE and REPRODUCE. To get them really thinking, we talked about my stem from the pussy willow branch - it was dry, didn't have roots, and wasn't growing anymore. We'll continue learning about this next week. We watched a BINOCS video of sunflowers moving their heads to follow the sun, and learned a little bit about how plants breathe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ymc311XS8
During this week's daily Quiet Meditation Time, the children enjoyed playing with feathers while listening to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oS680-Dnw. It is an excellent website for guided meditation for children. This also gives Mrs. Mosun and I one-on-one time to read with the children and assess their progress.
Today we had an author visit from Ella MacKay, who showed the children how she creates her amazing art to illustrate her beautiful books. This is her website: www.theaterclouds.com.
The next Scholastic order is due May 10.
LKS had a lot of school spirit this week, wearing PINK to promote friendship and BLUE and WHITE to cheer for the Leafs! Looks like it worked for yesterday's excellent game against Boston!
With our Reading Buddies, we are working on booklets about Signs of Spring.
Thank you so much to our Mystery Reader of the week, who was Kipling's mom!
Next week is the last week before our Easter long weekend, and we will be doing more Spring-themed literacy and numeracy activities.
That's the news for this week. Please continue to send in mittens for your children since the weather is still a bit chilly, especially in the mornings.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Saturday is supposed to be beautiful weather!
Friday, April 5, 2019
Week of April 1-5
Dear families,
This week we continued our learning about 2- and 3-D shapes and the children are getting quite good at identifying them! With their Grade 4 Reading Buddies, the children did a 2- and 3-D Shape Hunt, and tallied the number of shapes they found in our classroom and on the first floor of the school. On their own, the children created a design using 20 squares, rectangles, hexagons, circles and triangles, and then drew it and wrote what it was. Some children built their design up, making it 3-D, others built it flat on the table as a 2-D structure. We also "turned a 2-D circle into a 3-D spiral" by cutting on a dotted line!
With their white boards, I taught the children how to draw 2- and 3-D shapes. We'll keep practicing this. I also taught them how to draw a chick in an egg and a bunny. Drawing is just shapes!!
We also continued learning about the large spherical rock we live on called Earth! We read books about our solar system, and saw a photo of Sophie's Aunt Beth with ISS Commander Chris Hadfield -- wow!! The children enjoyed a video on Exploring our Solar System. Ask them what they learned! :)
New in our Home Centre for dramatic play is a cardboard "cottage" that the children will be playing in next week. They're very excited about it!
Thank you for bringing in a hollowed-out egg for your child to decorate next week. We are learning about rabbits and hens in Science. Next week we will continue learning about shapes and will learn more about Spring and Rabbits. We will also continue making booklets about Spring.
Mrs. Mosun and the kids have been tracking the weather day-to-day and the children definitely still need gloves! It's chilly in the morning!
The children had a wonderful time watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in the gym on Thursday morning.
Thank you Arlo's mom for being our Mystery Reader this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to be very nice weather!
This week we continued our learning about 2- and 3-D shapes and the children are getting quite good at identifying them! With their Grade 4 Reading Buddies, the children did a 2- and 3-D Shape Hunt, and tallied the number of shapes they found in our classroom and on the first floor of the school. On their own, the children created a design using 20 squares, rectangles, hexagons, circles and triangles, and then drew it and wrote what it was. Some children built their design up, making it 3-D, others built it flat on the table as a 2-D structure. We also "turned a 2-D circle into a 3-D spiral" by cutting on a dotted line!
With their white boards, I taught the children how to draw 2- and 3-D shapes. We'll keep practicing this. I also taught them how to draw a chick in an egg and a bunny. Drawing is just shapes!!
We also continued learning about the large spherical rock we live on called Earth! We read books about our solar system, and saw a photo of Sophie's Aunt Beth with ISS Commander Chris Hadfield -- wow!! The children enjoyed a video on Exploring our Solar System. Ask them what they learned! :)
New in our Home Centre for dramatic play is a cardboard "cottage" that the children will be playing in next week. They're very excited about it!
Thank you for bringing in a hollowed-out egg for your child to decorate next week. We are learning about rabbits and hens in Science. Next week we will continue learning about shapes and will learn more about Spring and Rabbits. We will also continue making booklets about Spring.
Mrs. Mosun and the kids have been tracking the weather day-to-day and the children definitely still need gloves! It's chilly in the morning!
The children had a wonderful time watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in the gym on Thursday morning.
Thank you Arlo's mom for being our Mystery Reader this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to be very nice weather!
Friday, March 29, 2019
Week of March 25-29
Dear families,
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend! It's hard to believe there are only 13 weeks left of school!
The sight words of the week were LOVE and GET. We have finished all the Jolly Phonics letter sounds and will be reviewing single letter sounds and learning some double letter sounds in the weeks to come (e.g. SH, CH, TH, OA, IE etc.).
In today's mail bag you will see their inquiry on Transportation. This week the children learned about the International Space Station and Commander Chris Hadfield. They enjoyed watching his videos about life in outer space. We read about his life and how he was inspired to become an astronaut when he was not much older that our kiddos! Thank you Elise for sharing your own copy of the Chris Hadfield biography.
With our Reading Buddies, we did pair/share reading and drew and labelled Signs of Spring.
The children also completed their step-by-step art: "Spring Flowers at Sunset" and are busy making other Spring-themed paintings as well.
The children also completed their "This is Me in March" work and calendar. Our classroom library has changed from Transportation to Easter and bunnies! Mrs. Kaur talked about her bunny named Bowser and shared pictures of him. We also learned how to draw a bunny and a chick.
Thank you so much to our Pizza Lunch volunteers - Casey's mom and Edward's mom and Reina's mom - and to our Mystery Reader who was Simonne and Estella's mom!
In this week's mailbag you will also find our new April words and homework bingo. We practice the monthly words every day in class. We learned two songs this week - Five Spring Flowers, and Easter Bunny.
The TDSB Character Trait for March was Honesty. Congratulations to Simonne, Estella and Sophie for demonstrating this important quality.
Next week we will start our Numeracy inquiry on 2- and 3-D Shapes, the Solar System, and How to take care of our Earth. Thank you for helping your child make toys from recyclable materials. They are awesome! I have sent home two paper wheels to incorporate into you child's design if s/he would like.
That's the news for this week! Enjoy this beautiful Spring weather!
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend! It's hard to believe there are only 13 weeks left of school!
The sight words of the week were LOVE and GET. We have finished all the Jolly Phonics letter sounds and will be reviewing single letter sounds and learning some double letter sounds in the weeks to come (e.g. SH, CH, TH, OA, IE etc.).
In today's mail bag you will see their inquiry on Transportation. This week the children learned about the International Space Station and Commander Chris Hadfield. They enjoyed watching his videos about life in outer space. We read about his life and how he was inspired to become an astronaut when he was not much older that our kiddos! Thank you Elise for sharing your own copy of the Chris Hadfield biography.
With our Reading Buddies, we did pair/share reading and drew and labelled Signs of Spring.
The children also completed their step-by-step art: "Spring Flowers at Sunset" and are busy making other Spring-themed paintings as well.
The children also completed their "This is Me in March" work and calendar. Our classroom library has changed from Transportation to Easter and bunnies! Mrs. Kaur talked about her bunny named Bowser and shared pictures of him. We also learned how to draw a bunny and a chick.
Thank you so much to our Pizza Lunch volunteers - Casey's mom and Edward's mom and Reina's mom - and to our Mystery Reader who was Simonne and Estella's mom!
In this week's mailbag you will also find our new April words and homework bingo. We practice the monthly words every day in class. We learned two songs this week - Five Spring Flowers, and Easter Bunny.
The TDSB Character Trait for March was Honesty. Congratulations to Simonne, Estella and Sophie for demonstrating this important quality.
Next week we will start our Numeracy inquiry on 2- and 3-D Shapes, the Solar System, and How to take care of our Earth. Thank you for helping your child make toys from recyclable materials. They are awesome! I have sent home two paper wheels to incorporate into you child's design if s/he would like.
That's the news for this week! Enjoy this beautiful Spring weather!
Friday, March 22, 2019
Week of March 18-22
Dear families,
Happy Spring! I hope you had a wonderful March Break!
This week we continued our inquiry on Transportation, and completed our book study of "Where the Wild Things Are." The letter sound of the week was Xx, and the popcorn sight words were WHAT and NEW. With our REading Buddies, we made a paper vehicle, completed a crossword puzzle, and made a travel ticket. We will finish our transportation inquiry next week.
Earth day is April 22. I am asking the children to make a toy at home using recyclable materials. They can be brought in any day before Earth Day. Thank you!
The children participated in a very informative and fun Bus Safety presentation in the gym this week. We are also learning about Signs of Spring and will continue this inquiry next week and the week after.
The next Scholastic Book Order is due on March 29. There are lots of earth, planet and astronaut books in this month's flyers, as well as phonics sets.
The children are enjoying making an acrylic and watercolour painting, following step-by-step instructions. Loom for their beautiful works of art on our hall bulletin board next week!
That's the news for this week - I hope you have a lovely weekend. It's supposed to be 9C on Sunday!
Mrs. Tyndall
Happy Spring! I hope you had a wonderful March Break!
This week we continued our inquiry on Transportation, and completed our book study of "Where the Wild Things Are." The letter sound of the week was Xx, and the popcorn sight words were WHAT and NEW. With our REading Buddies, we made a paper vehicle, completed a crossword puzzle, and made a travel ticket. We will finish our transportation inquiry next week.
Earth day is April 22. I am asking the children to make a toy at home using recyclable materials. They can be brought in any day before Earth Day. Thank you!
The children participated in a very informative and fun Bus Safety presentation in the gym this week. We are also learning about Signs of Spring and will continue this inquiry next week and the week after.
The next Scholastic Book Order is due on March 29. There are lots of earth, planet and astronaut books in this month's flyers, as well as phonics sets.
The children are enjoying making an acrylic and watercolour painting, following step-by-step instructions. Loom for their beautiful works of art on our hall bulletin board next week!
That's the news for this week - I hope you have a lovely weekend. It's supposed to be 9C on Sunday!
Mrs. Tyndall
Friday, March 8, 2019
Week of March 4-8
Dear families,
I hope you are having a wonderful start to the March Break!
The letter sound of this week was Yy. The words of the week were SAY and WITH. This week in numeracy we practised letter formation (upper and lower case) with our little dry erase boards.
This week we continued learning about "Things That Move," and folded a paper "birch bark" canoe with our Reading Buddies. We also read, coloured and labelled various modes of transportation and talked about how they move. We did Cosmic Kids Yoga with The Hogwarts Express Train as well!
We continued our book study of Where the Wild Things Are. We watched a short animated version of the book, read the book just looking at the pictures, made up parts of the book ourselves, and talked about the story line, Max, and the other characters in this fabulous story. The children are enjoying painting a "wild thing" of their own, and have finished their puppets of Max and descriptions of when they feel wild like Max. They also practised writing upper and lower case Mm (for Max) and Ww (for wild), and brainstormed lots of descriptive words about Max. We completed a Venn diagram together, comparing the book and the animation.
The children are working on the excellent website "Starfall.com" in the computer lab with Mrs. Mosun.
Thank you so much to Evelyn's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week! Thank you to Dante who shared his copy of "Where The WIld Things Are" with his classmates.
We will be welcoming a new JK student named Charlotte after March Break! Please join me in welcoming Charlotte and her family to our school and community.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing everyone again on March 18!
I hope you are having a wonderful start to the March Break!
The letter sound of this week was Yy. The words of the week were SAY and WITH. This week in numeracy we practised letter formation (upper and lower case) with our little dry erase boards.
This week we continued learning about "Things That Move," and folded a paper "birch bark" canoe with our Reading Buddies. We also read, coloured and labelled various modes of transportation and talked about how they move. We did Cosmic Kids Yoga with The Hogwarts Express Train as well!
We continued our book study of Where the Wild Things Are. We watched a short animated version of the book, read the book just looking at the pictures, made up parts of the book ourselves, and talked about the story line, Max, and the other characters in this fabulous story. The children are enjoying painting a "wild thing" of their own, and have finished their puppets of Max and descriptions of when they feel wild like Max. They also practised writing upper and lower case Mm (for Max) and Ww (for wild), and brainstormed lots of descriptive words about Max. We completed a Venn diagram together, comparing the book and the animation.
The children are working on the excellent website "Starfall.com" in the computer lab with Mrs. Mosun.
Thank you so much to Evelyn's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week! Thank you to Dante who shared his copy of "Where The WIld Things Are" with his classmates.
We will be welcoming a new JK student named Charlotte after March Break! Please join me in welcoming Charlotte and her family to our school and community.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing everyone again on March 18!
Friday, March 1, 2019
Week of February 25 - March 1
Dear families,
March already! I hope you're having a great start to your weekend.
This week the sight words were FROM and UP. The letter sound of the week was Ww. The children brainstormed words starting with Ww and we wrote them on chart paper. One of them was "wifi"!! They even knew the symbol for it! We learned a lot of words that start with Ww this week that tied in well with our new inquiry on Things That Move Us (wheels, wheelchair, walk) and our Book Study of "Where the Wild Things Are," a Caldicott award-winning book that is rich with imagination and ideas.
Continuing our inquiry on Things That Move Us, the children made paper airplanes with their reading buddies, sorted things that move us into categories of AIR, LAND and WATER. The children learned how to draw a wheel, a jet, a bike, a car and a scooter. They coloured a child riding a bike wearing a helmet, and we talked about why it is the law for children to wear helmets. They enjoyed making mini "zoom" books, and learning more about how things move us from place to place.
Exciting news!! As of March 9, children under 12 ride for free on GO Trains!! What a great opportunity over the March Break to take a ride on a GO train and talk about how the train moves people and things! We'll learn more about trains and tracks next week.
On Thursday we went to the library for a special visit by a Story Teller! The children loved it, especially acting out the parts of her books!
We started our book study of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" on Friday and the children enjoyed creating their own "wild thing" puppet.
I have sent home the 12th word sheet for the SKs to read, trace, and write. In Friday's mail bag you will also find the new March words and Special Person calendar. The show-and-tell item for March is "My Favourite Sport/Game."
Next week is the last week of school before the March Break. If your child will be absent from school next week, please let us know so that we can prepare his/her mailbag.
That's the news for this week! Have a great weekend!
March already! I hope you're having a great start to your weekend.
This week the sight words were FROM and UP. The letter sound of the week was Ww. The children brainstormed words starting with Ww and we wrote them on chart paper. One of them was "wifi"!! They even knew the symbol for it! We learned a lot of words that start with Ww this week that tied in well with our new inquiry on Things That Move Us (wheels, wheelchair, walk) and our Book Study of "Where the Wild Things Are," a Caldicott award-winning book that is rich with imagination and ideas.
Continuing our inquiry on Things That Move Us, the children made paper airplanes with their reading buddies, sorted things that move us into categories of AIR, LAND and WATER. The children learned how to draw a wheel, a jet, a bike, a car and a scooter. They coloured a child riding a bike wearing a helmet, and we talked about why it is the law for children to wear helmets. They enjoyed making mini "zoom" books, and learning more about how things move us from place to place.
Exciting news!! As of March 9, children under 12 ride for free on GO Trains!! What a great opportunity over the March Break to take a ride on a GO train and talk about how the train moves people and things! We'll learn more about trains and tracks next week.
On Thursday we went to the library for a special visit by a Story Teller! The children loved it, especially acting out the parts of her books!
We started our book study of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" on Friday and the children enjoyed creating their own "wild thing" puppet.
I have sent home the 12th word sheet for the SKs to read, trace, and write. In Friday's mail bag you will also find the new March words and Special Person calendar. The show-and-tell item for March is "My Favourite Sport/Game."
Next week is the last week of school before the March Break. If your child will be absent from school next week, please let us know so that we can prepare his/her mailbag.
That's the news for this week! Have a great weekend!
Friday, February 22, 2019
Week of February 18-22
Dear families,
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend!
We've had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were BY and CAME. The letter sound of the week was Zz.
We started a new inquiry on "Things That Move" such as boats, cars, trucks, strollers, bikes, rockets, planes, etc. The children helped brainstorm ideas about which human-made inventions help us get from place to place, and which have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and more than 4 wheels. We read a wonderful book called "Let's Go: The Story of Getting From Here to There" which was a history of transportation in Canada.
We talked about how wheels and bikes work and watched a short "How It's Made" (my favourite show!) about how bikes are made. We learned what welding is, too. The children also watched a science video about people stay balanced while riding a bike and why they need to keep moving in order to not fall over.
For a STEM activity, the children worked in teams of 4 or 6 to make something out of recyclable materials that moves people. They made spaceships, boats, a train, a truck and a cars, and took turns explaining to the class how they made it and how it moved. Great cooperative play, everyone! For Earth Day on April 22, I would like the children to make something out of recyclable materials. It can be a vehicle, a toy, a diorama, anything at all, as log as they use recyclable paper or plastic. Once these are done, please have your child bring it in so s/he can present it to the class.
Next week we will categorize our vehicles into LAND, WATER and AIR, and will learn about the parts of a bicycle wheel. We will learn about one new mode of transportation at a time, discovering how they are different and what they all have in common.
The next Scholastic order is due on March 1st. Wednesday is "WEAR PINK" anti-bullying day at LKS. Every day is anti-bullying day! Thank you so much to our Mystery Reader - Mila's mom!
The children enjoyed watching their Reading Buddies perform at this month's Sharing Assembly. We had the iPads this week so they children enjoyed taking turns on them, playing educational games that are TDSB-approved. I have sent home a list of educational games and apps, as well as information about the natural progression of chgildren's writing from scribbles to letters and sentences. It's really amazing to see the progress from JK to SK, from SK to Grade One.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I hope you are having a great start to your weekend!
We've had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were BY and CAME. The letter sound of the week was Zz.
We started a new inquiry on "Things That Move" such as boats, cars, trucks, strollers, bikes, rockets, planes, etc. The children helped brainstorm ideas about which human-made inventions help us get from place to place, and which have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and more than 4 wheels. We read a wonderful book called "Let's Go: The Story of Getting From Here to There" which was a history of transportation in Canada.
We talked about how wheels and bikes work and watched a short "How It's Made" (my favourite show!) about how bikes are made. We learned what welding is, too. The children also watched a science video about people stay balanced while riding a bike and why they need to keep moving in order to not fall over.
For a STEM activity, the children worked in teams of 4 or 6 to make something out of recyclable materials that moves people. They made spaceships, boats, a train, a truck and a cars, and took turns explaining to the class how they made it and how it moved. Great cooperative play, everyone! For Earth Day on April 22, I would like the children to make something out of recyclable materials. It can be a vehicle, a toy, a diorama, anything at all, as log as they use recyclable paper or plastic. Once these are done, please have your child bring it in so s/he can present it to the class.
Next week we will categorize our vehicles into LAND, WATER and AIR, and will learn about the parts of a bicycle wheel. We will learn about one new mode of transportation at a time, discovering how they are different and what they all have in common.
The next Scholastic order is due on March 1st. Wednesday is "WEAR PINK" anti-bullying day at LKS. Every day is anti-bullying day! Thank you so much to our Mystery Reader - Mila's mom!
The children enjoyed watching their Reading Buddies perform at this month's Sharing Assembly. We had the iPads this week so they children enjoyed taking turns on them, playing educational games that are TDSB-approved. I have sent home a list of educational games and apps, as well as information about the natural progression of chgildren's writing from scribbles to letters and sentences. It's really amazing to see the progress from JK to SK, from SK to Grade One.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Week of February 11-15
Dear families,
This week was another busy one in Room 166! We celebrated 100 days of school, Valentine's Day, report cards went home, and we had a snow day in between!
The words of the week were HELP and NOT. The letter sound of the week was Zz.
We did a lot of counting to 100 this week and our mascot "Zero the Zebra" was very excited to have a day with two zeros in it! We put "gumballs" in a "gumball machine" with bingo dabbers, counted and then ate 10 groups of 10 different snacks, used Q-tips to dab 10x10 colours, put 100 beads on string, decorated groovy "100" glasses, counted 100 Cheerios, stacked 100 cups, and counted 100 popsicle sticks by 5s. We also filled in missing numbers 1-100 with our Reading Buddies, danced to as fun "100 Day Rap," made pictures of what we would look like and be when we are 100 years old, and did a 100 dot-to-dot activity. I have sent home Bingo cards as a follow up activity you can play at home. Bingo is a great game to reinforce number skills!
Thank you so much to the parents of Evelyn, Casey's mom, and Reina's mom who assisted the children with their 100 Day Party activities! Thank you to Mila's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
The children also really enjoyed sorting the valentines they had prepared for their friends and were so excited to take them home and read them. They made pop-up cards for their friends and are completing a dot-art activity as well.
It was a pleasure meeting with those of you who booked parent-teacher interviews. I appreciate the time you take to read your child's reports cards. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to send me an email and book an interview at any time.
I hope you have a wonderful Family Day this weekend. There is nothing the children love better than spending time with you! My own children are all away at university now, but I was always grateful for that extra day together in February, especially when they were little.
Kind regards,
Mrs. Tyndall
This week was another busy one in Room 166! We celebrated 100 days of school, Valentine's Day, report cards went home, and we had a snow day in between!
The words of the week were HELP and NOT. The letter sound of the week was Zz.
We did a lot of counting to 100 this week and our mascot "Zero the Zebra" was very excited to have a day with two zeros in it! We put "gumballs" in a "gumball machine" with bingo dabbers, counted and then ate 10 groups of 10 different snacks, used Q-tips to dab 10x10 colours, put 100 beads on string, decorated groovy "100" glasses, counted 100 Cheerios, stacked 100 cups, and counted 100 popsicle sticks by 5s. We also filled in missing numbers 1-100 with our Reading Buddies, danced to as fun "100 Day Rap," made pictures of what we would look like and be when we are 100 years old, and did a 100 dot-to-dot activity. I have sent home Bingo cards as a follow up activity you can play at home. Bingo is a great game to reinforce number skills!
Thank you so much to the parents of Evelyn, Casey's mom, and Reina's mom who assisted the children with their 100 Day Party activities! Thank you to Mila's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
The children also really enjoyed sorting the valentines they had prepared for their friends and were so excited to take them home and read them. They made pop-up cards for their friends and are completing a dot-art activity as well.
It was a pleasure meeting with those of you who booked parent-teacher interviews. I appreciate the time you take to read your child's reports cards. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to send me an email and book an interview at any time.
I hope you have a wonderful Family Day this weekend. There is nothing the children love better than spending time with you! My own children are all away at university now, but I was always grateful for that extra day together in February, especially when they were little.
Kind regards,
Mrs. Tyndall
Friday, February 8, 2019
Week of February 4-8
Dear families,
We have had so many different kinds of weather this week! Rain, freezing rain, snow, wind, sun! The children really enjoyed playing with the little ice rain spheres, and looked at them with their magnifying glasses. They learned that snow flakes are flat and can stick together easily, but ice rain droplets are spherical and can't. We also watched a little video about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
If the children's mittens, socks and hats get wet, we do dry them in the dryer. Please send in an extra pair of socks for child if you have not already done so. Thank you.
The words of the week were WE and FIND. The letter sound of the week was Vv. We also reviewed the letter sound Jj and Bb, and wrote several words together with those letters/letter sounds. We also did some reading on the Smartboard - reading words with the middle sounds of A, E, I, O and U.
We finished our book study of The Snowy Day this week. With their reading buddies, the children compared themselves to the main character in the story (Peter), and completed and reading/colouring/gluing/sorting activity that demonstrated a text-self connection. Our reading buddies also helped the children sound out many words that can be made with the letter sounds we have learned so far - a copy of this list will go home in today's mail bag.
This week we also celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year! We watched a video about Chinese New Year and the lunar calendar, and the children coloured and cut out Chinese New Year cards. Thank you Edward for sharing your Chinese New Year collection with us!
The children's self-regulation skills are really improving! Each day we have about 20 minutes of guided mindful meditation time. If you would like to practice this at home with your child, the websites we use are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oS680-Dnw&t=2689s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_qU7l-fcU.
As we approach the 100th day of school, we have been doing a lot of counting! We have been counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. When your child is counting, please help him of her by ensuring s/he is moving each object to the side as they count. This helps them understand one-to-one correspondence between objects and numbers. The children enjoyed counting various objects together at their tables, working together to count 100 by grouping them in bundles of 10. the children have also been playing numeracy games in the computer lab with Mrs. Mosun.
The 100th Day of School is this Monday and we will be having a fun day! Thank you in advance to the parent volunteers who are helping out on Monday! If your child would like to dress like someone who is 100 years old, that would be fun! No worries, though! I have sent a letter home with some ideas.
Valentine's Day is next Thursday and some of the children have already brought in Valentine cards for their classmates. The earlier they bring them in, the better, so that all the children have adequate time to place them correctly in their friend's valentine bags.
The Mystery Reader this week was Shayan's mom - thank you!
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a nice weekend!
We have had so many different kinds of weather this week! Rain, freezing rain, snow, wind, sun! The children really enjoyed playing with the little ice rain spheres, and looked at them with their magnifying glasses. They learned that snow flakes are flat and can stick together easily, but ice rain droplets are spherical and can't. We also watched a little video about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
If the children's mittens, socks and hats get wet, we do dry them in the dryer. Please send in an extra pair of socks for child if you have not already done so. Thank you.
The words of the week were WE and FIND. The letter sound of the week was Vv. We also reviewed the letter sound Jj and Bb, and wrote several words together with those letters/letter sounds. We also did some reading on the Smartboard - reading words with the middle sounds of A, E, I, O and U.
We finished our book study of The Snowy Day this week. With their reading buddies, the children compared themselves to the main character in the story (Peter), and completed and reading/colouring/gluing/sorting activity that demonstrated a text-self connection. Our reading buddies also helped the children sound out many words that can be made with the letter sounds we have learned so far - a copy of this list will go home in today's mail bag.
This week we also celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year! We watched a video about Chinese New Year and the lunar calendar, and the children coloured and cut out Chinese New Year cards. Thank you Edward for sharing your Chinese New Year collection with us!
The children's self-regulation skills are really improving! Each day we have about 20 minutes of guided mindful meditation time. If you would like to practice this at home with your child, the websites we use are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oS680-Dnw&t=2689s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_qU7l-fcU.
As we approach the 100th day of school, we have been doing a lot of counting! We have been counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. When your child is counting, please help him of her by ensuring s/he is moving each object to the side as they count. This helps them understand one-to-one correspondence between objects and numbers. The children enjoyed counting various objects together at their tables, working together to count 100 by grouping them in bundles of 10. the children have also been playing numeracy games in the computer lab with Mrs. Mosun.
The 100th Day of School is this Monday and we will be having a fun day! Thank you in advance to the parent volunteers who are helping out on Monday! If your child would like to dress like someone who is 100 years old, that would be fun! No worries, though! I have sent a letter home with some ideas.
Valentine's Day is next Thursday and some of the children have already brought in Valentine cards for their classmates. The earlier they bring them in, the better, so that all the children have adequate time to place them correctly in their friend's valentine bags.
The Mystery Reader this week was Shayan's mom - thank you!
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a nice weekend!
Friday, February 1, 2019
Week of January 28 -February 1
Dear families,
Brrr! What a snowy and cold week this has been! Perfect for talking about "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats and for learning about snow!!
The sight words of this week were IT and WHY. The letter sound of the week was Jj. Every few weeks I send the SKs home with a big list of many words that can be made using the letter sounds we have learned so far. Please encourage your child to sound these words out at home. Even if s/he already knows how to read them, you can extend their learning by asking them to spell them, which will improve their writing skills.
SNOW!! What is it, how is is made, how can we describe it, how can we draw it, how many flat sides and points does each ice crystal have, why and when does it fall, and why do some parts of the Earth have snow and others don't? These are some of the things we learned about this week. With their reading buddies, the children enjoyed making 3-D snowflakes, which are on display in our classroom.
We also continued our study of "The Snowy Day." The children are doing a good job re-telling this lovely story using picture clues. They also read and coloured a mini "Snowy Day" book, and are making connections between the main character in the story called Peter, and themselves.
In numeracy, the children are practicing their tally skills and measuring skills.
For art, the children are painting baby and adult penguins.
On Monday, we welcomed a Scientist in our classroom who taught the children all about Marvelous Machines! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers! Casey's dad, Shay's mom, Ella's mom, and Elise's mom helped our Scientist with the lessons.
The children are completing their "This is me in January" monthly writing and drawing, as well as their January calendar.
The new list of February words went home on Friday. You will also find a purple note in your child's mailbag about the fast-approaching 100th Day of School, which is on February 11th. Each child should count and bring in 100 items that can fit in a clear, plastic bag. The children will present their 100 items to the class and then put them in our display area. Please ensure that your child's 100 items are brought in by February 8th.
Valentine's Day is also coming so, and this is a good opportunity for your child to practice writing his/her friends' names on Valentines. Please send in your child's Valentines before February 14th so that s/he can have time to sort them in the bags I will provide. Thank you!
A big Thank You as well to Ella's dad who read two terrific books that the children loved - "The Book With No Pictures" and a pop-up book about dinosaurs!
Since Saturday is Groundhog day, the children learned a lot about groundhogs, what Groundhog Day is all about, and had fun doing a maze, some artwork, and learning a groundhog song.
That's the news for this week! Next week we'll finish our Book Look about The Snowy Day, do lots of counting to get ready for the 100th Day of School, and learn about Chinese New Year!
Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend!
Brrr! What a snowy and cold week this has been! Perfect for talking about "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats and for learning about snow!!
The sight words of this week were IT and WHY. The letter sound of the week was Jj. Every few weeks I send the SKs home with a big list of many words that can be made using the letter sounds we have learned so far. Please encourage your child to sound these words out at home. Even if s/he already knows how to read them, you can extend their learning by asking them to spell them, which will improve their writing skills.
SNOW!! What is it, how is is made, how can we describe it, how can we draw it, how many flat sides and points does each ice crystal have, why and when does it fall, and why do some parts of the Earth have snow and others don't? These are some of the things we learned about this week. With their reading buddies, the children enjoyed making 3-D snowflakes, which are on display in our classroom.
We also continued our study of "The Snowy Day." The children are doing a good job re-telling this lovely story using picture clues. They also read and coloured a mini "Snowy Day" book, and are making connections between the main character in the story called Peter, and themselves.
In numeracy, the children are practicing their tally skills and measuring skills.
For art, the children are painting baby and adult penguins.
On Monday, we welcomed a Scientist in our classroom who taught the children all about Marvelous Machines! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers! Casey's dad, Shay's mom, Ella's mom, and Elise's mom helped our Scientist with the lessons.
The children are completing their "This is me in January" monthly writing and drawing, as well as their January calendar.
The new list of February words went home on Friday. You will also find a purple note in your child's mailbag about the fast-approaching 100th Day of School, which is on February 11th. Each child should count and bring in 100 items that can fit in a clear, plastic bag. The children will present their 100 items to the class and then put them in our display area. Please ensure that your child's 100 items are brought in by February 8th.
Valentine's Day is also coming so, and this is a good opportunity for your child to practice writing his/her friends' names on Valentines. Please send in your child's Valentines before February 14th so that s/he can have time to sort them in the bags I will provide. Thank you!
A big Thank You as well to Ella's dad who read two terrific books that the children loved - "The Book With No Pictures" and a pop-up book about dinosaurs!
Since Saturday is Groundhog day, the children learned a lot about groundhogs, what Groundhog Day is all about, and had fun doing a maze, some artwork, and learning a groundhog song.
That's the news for this week! Next week we'll finish our Book Look about The Snowy Day, do lots of counting to get ready for the 100th Day of School, and learn about Chinese New Year!
Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend!
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Week of January 21-25
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful winter weekend. Here is an update about our classroom activities:
The letter sound of the week was Bb and the sight words of the week were HAS and WANT. Thank you so much to Emma's mom who was our Mystery Reader and to Casey's mom who helped with Friday's pizza lunch!
The children continued to practise graphing and tallying, as well as measuring classroom objects using standard and non-standard tools. They also played in our Weights and Measures centre. The SKs enjoyed helping the JKS with these activities. The children measured the height and width of penguin drawings with cubes, and compared how tall they are with various kinds of penguins. Providing your child with measuring tape or a ruler at home will encourage him/her to develop these important skills.
The children put goldfish crackers on penguin pictures, saying the letter (JK) and letter sound (SK) as they did. They also coloured upper and lower case letters in a penguin pictures to practice their letters and sounds. Their penguin folders went home in Friday's mail bag.
With snow finally on the ground, it was time to start a book study of "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. This Caldicott award-winning book is excellent for developing children's re-tell skills and developing text-to-self comprehension. With their reading buddies, the kids made a 3-D pop-up setting of the story to encourage re-telling, and started a text-to-self activity, relating tyhe main character Peter's experiences to their own.
We are also continuing our daily mindful meditation practices and yoga (this week it was Pedro the Penguin). If you Google search "mindful meditation for kids" your child can practice this at home, too. It's the one with the picture of the meditating monkey :)
Mila brought in jello cups for all her classmates (January's show-and-tell item is "my favourite food!) and we watched a little video on how jello/gelatin is made. Te kids were very interested about gummy bears being made from gelatin!
The next Scholastic order is due on February 8. Books and phonics sets make nice Valentine's Day gifts!
Next week will be our Scientist-in-the-Classroom visit on "Marvelous Machines" and we will also start a new inquiry on Arctic animals. Brrr!
That's the news for the week. Unfortunately I have come down with the chest infection that has been going around (and around!) our classroom, but I hope February is a healthier month! Only about 7 weeks until the first day of Spring!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful winter weekend. Here is an update about our classroom activities:
The letter sound of the week was Bb and the sight words of the week were HAS and WANT. Thank you so much to Emma's mom who was our Mystery Reader and to Casey's mom who helped with Friday's pizza lunch!
The children continued to practise graphing and tallying, as well as measuring classroom objects using standard and non-standard tools. They also played in our Weights and Measures centre. The SKs enjoyed helping the JKS with these activities. The children measured the height and width of penguin drawings with cubes, and compared how tall they are with various kinds of penguins. Providing your child with measuring tape or a ruler at home will encourage him/her to develop these important skills.
The children put goldfish crackers on penguin pictures, saying the letter (JK) and letter sound (SK) as they did. They also coloured upper and lower case letters in a penguin pictures to practice their letters and sounds. Their penguin folders went home in Friday's mail bag.
With snow finally on the ground, it was time to start a book study of "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. This Caldicott award-winning book is excellent for developing children's re-tell skills and developing text-to-self comprehension. With their reading buddies, the kids made a 3-D pop-up setting of the story to encourage re-telling, and started a text-to-self activity, relating tyhe main character Peter's experiences to their own.
We are also continuing our daily mindful meditation practices and yoga (this week it was Pedro the Penguin). If you Google search "mindful meditation for kids" your child can practice this at home, too. It's the one with the picture of the meditating monkey :)
Mila brought in jello cups for all her classmates (January's show-and-tell item is "my favourite food!) and we watched a little video on how jello/gelatin is made. Te kids were very interested about gummy bears being made from gelatin!
The next Scholastic order is due on February 8. Books and phonics sets make nice Valentine's Day gifts!
Next week will be our Scientist-in-the-Classroom visit on "Marvelous Machines" and we will also start a new inquiry on Arctic animals. Brrr!
That's the news for the week. Unfortunately I have come down with the chest infection that has been going around (and around!) our classroom, but I hope February is a healthier month! Only about 7 weeks until the first day of Spring!
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Week of January 14-18
Dear families,
It looks like we are finally going to get some snow this weekend! The children will be so happy!
This week the sight words were COME and LOOK. "Come look at the penguins!" The Jolly Phonics letter sound of the week was Ff.
The children have a new seating plan at their tables and are working well. Periodically Mrs. Mosun and I will re-arrange the seating plan to optimize learning and so the children can make new friends. We are also thinking about which children will work together well in Grade One.
In our inquiry on Penguins, we learned more fun facts about the Emperor Penguin. With their Grade 4 reading buddies, the children read and coloured a life cycle wheel and booklet about this amazing penguin. They also watched a short video about the Macaroni penguin. To explain how penguins and other antarctic animals don't get cold in freezing water, I sealed lard (fat = blubber) in a bag, and made it into a sleeve. Then the children took turns putting their hand in the bag of "blubber" and then in a tub full of ice. They observed that they didn't feel cold at all! We talked about how penguins, like all life, adapts to the environment around us. Kids wear coats, hats, mitts, boots and snow pants to keep them warm and dry! We also saw an amazing slow motion video of penguins launching themselves out of the water back onto land. We will finish up with our penguin inquiry next week and then the kids will bring all their learning home to show you!
To tie into our numeracy unit of Measurement, the children used Goldfish crackers to measure a paper penguin (a non-standard unit of measurement). They measured their penguin with the crackers facing upwards, and then sideways, but not both at the same time, because the children know that measuring tools need to be the same size. They also measured each other with their footprints, remembering to start at the edge and not leave spaces. The children also played with our scales, comparing different objects and numbers of objects. As a STEM learning activity, they are playing a penguin puzzle game and "Rush Hour." Playing games at home are an excellent way of strengthening numeracy skills.
The January Scholastic order is due Monday. Thank you for supporting Scholastic!
Thank you so much to Reina's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
I hope you have a fun weekend. Friday is a Report Card Writing Day for teachers. See you on Monday!
It looks like we are finally going to get some snow this weekend! The children will be so happy!
This week the sight words were COME and LOOK. "Come look at the penguins!" The Jolly Phonics letter sound of the week was Ff.
The children have a new seating plan at their tables and are working well. Periodically Mrs. Mosun and I will re-arrange the seating plan to optimize learning and so the children can make new friends. We are also thinking about which children will work together well in Grade One.
In our inquiry on Penguins, we learned more fun facts about the Emperor Penguin. With their Grade 4 reading buddies, the children read and coloured a life cycle wheel and booklet about this amazing penguin. They also watched a short video about the Macaroni penguin. To explain how penguins and other antarctic animals don't get cold in freezing water, I sealed lard (fat = blubber) in a bag, and made it into a sleeve. Then the children took turns putting their hand in the bag of "blubber" and then in a tub full of ice. They observed that they didn't feel cold at all! We talked about how penguins, like all life, adapts to the environment around us. Kids wear coats, hats, mitts, boots and snow pants to keep them warm and dry! We also saw an amazing slow motion video of penguins launching themselves out of the water back onto land. We will finish up with our penguin inquiry next week and then the kids will bring all their learning home to show you!
To tie into our numeracy unit of Measurement, the children used Goldfish crackers to measure a paper penguin (a non-standard unit of measurement). They measured their penguin with the crackers facing upwards, and then sideways, but not both at the same time, because the children know that measuring tools need to be the same size. They also measured each other with their footprints, remembering to start at the edge and not leave spaces. The children also played with our scales, comparing different objects and numbers of objects. As a STEM learning activity, they are playing a penguin puzzle game and "Rush Hour." Playing games at home are an excellent way of strengthening numeracy skills.
The January Scholastic order is due Monday. Thank you for supporting Scholastic!
Thank you so much to Reina's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
I hope you have a fun weekend. Friday is a Report Card Writing Day for teachers. See you on Monday!
Friday, January 11, 2019
Week of January 7-11
Dear families,
I hope you’re having a great weekend! The words of the week were HE and SHE. The letter sound was Ll like lollipop. This week we started our inquiry on Measurement and an inquiry on.... PENGUINS!
On chart paper, we started with a schema of what the children knew already, which was a lot! Then we wrote what the children said they wanted to learn. We watched two interesting age-appropriate videos on penguins on the Smartboard which helped answer some of the kids' questions! For our quiet thinking time this week, we did Cosmic Kids Yoga to Pedro the Penguin. We also made a penguin puppet, did dot-to-dot alphabet penguins, did a Venn diagram together comparing kids and penguins, and read some penguin books. I have a terrific STEM penguin game that the children can play with, too. Next week we'll continue our inquiry, and when we're finished the kids will take home their penguin folders. A special thank you to Hope who shared penguin books, toys and photos with her classmates, and even brought little chocolate "penguin" eggs for her friends. Abigail shared her movie "Happy Feet" and the kids really enjoyed watching (part of) it on Friday, as a school-wide reward for exceeding last year's Terry Fox donations.
For our numeracy inquiry on measurement, the children learned the three first rules of measuring: 1) Start at the edge; 2) no spaces between measuring tools 3) use the same tools to measure. This rule is especially important when using non-standard tools to measure something, for example popsicle sticks (they all have to be the same size). We watched two little videos on how and why we measure things, and what we can measure (everything!). We practiced our measuring skills with sticks, measuring tape and rulers, by measuring various things in the classroom. If you have a measuring tape at home, let your child play with it and measure things! The children also measure many things on the first floor of our school with their reading buddies, using standard and non-standard measuring tools. They were a great help. The children also completed a measuring task which involved colouring, cutting, and gluing 7 groups of cub-a-links in the correct order, from lowest to highest. This was a relatively simple task for the SKs and challenging for the JKs. We will do this task again next week. I sent some extra rulers home for the kids to keep and use. We will continue learning about measurement next week.
Thank you so much to Emerson's mom who was our Mystery Reader!
Please ensure your child has enough healthy snacks and lunch to last the day. I do have extra goldfish crackers in case of a "snackless emergency :) ). Thank you to Arlo's mom who generously donated a box of goldfish crackers to the classroom! We will use some of those next week when we measure how tall penguins are with goldfish crackers, since penguins eat fish!
The online booking system for first term interviews will soon be available. As has been the case for the last few years, a teacher requests a term 1 interview only when they have a concern or feel the need to further discuss a student's progress, although any parent can request an interview. I will contact you if an interview is necessary at this time. Thank you!
That's the news for this week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Let's hope for some snow for the children to play in!
I hope you’re having a great weekend! The words of the week were HE and SHE. The letter sound was Ll like lollipop. This week we started our inquiry on Measurement and an inquiry on.... PENGUINS!
On chart paper, we started with a schema of what the children knew already, which was a lot! Then we wrote what the children said they wanted to learn. We watched two interesting age-appropriate videos on penguins on the Smartboard which helped answer some of the kids' questions! For our quiet thinking time this week, we did Cosmic Kids Yoga to Pedro the Penguin. We also made a penguin puppet, did dot-to-dot alphabet penguins, did a Venn diagram together comparing kids and penguins, and read some penguin books. I have a terrific STEM penguin game that the children can play with, too. Next week we'll continue our inquiry, and when we're finished the kids will take home their penguin folders. A special thank you to Hope who shared penguin books, toys and photos with her classmates, and even brought little chocolate "penguin" eggs for her friends. Abigail shared her movie "Happy Feet" and the kids really enjoyed watching (part of) it on Friday, as a school-wide reward for exceeding last year's Terry Fox donations.
For our numeracy inquiry on measurement, the children learned the three first rules of measuring: 1) Start at the edge; 2) no spaces between measuring tools 3) use the same tools to measure. This rule is especially important when using non-standard tools to measure something, for example popsicle sticks (they all have to be the same size). We watched two little videos on how and why we measure things, and what we can measure (everything!). We practiced our measuring skills with sticks, measuring tape and rulers, by measuring various things in the classroom. If you have a measuring tape at home, let your child play with it and measure things! The children also measure many things on the first floor of our school with their reading buddies, using standard and non-standard measuring tools. They were a great help. The children also completed a measuring task which involved colouring, cutting, and gluing 7 groups of cub-a-links in the correct order, from lowest to highest. This was a relatively simple task for the SKs and challenging for the JKs. We will do this task again next week. I sent some extra rulers home for the kids to keep and use. We will continue learning about measurement next week.
Thank you so much to Emerson's mom who was our Mystery Reader!
Please ensure your child has enough healthy snacks and lunch to last the day. I do have extra goldfish crackers in case of a "snackless emergency :) ). Thank you to Arlo's mom who generously donated a box of goldfish crackers to the classroom! We will use some of those next week when we measure how tall penguins are with goldfish crackers, since penguins eat fish!
The online booking system for first term interviews will soon be available. As has been the case for the last few years, a teacher requests a term 1 interview only when they have a concern or feel the need to further discuss a student's progress, although any parent can request an interview. I will contact you if an interview is necessary at this time. Thank you!
That's the news for this week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Let's hope for some snow for the children to play in!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)