Dear families,
I hope you have had a wonderful Mother's Day with your children! I hope you enjoy the Mother's Day gifts the children made for you. They were so proud of them and excited about hiding them until today! Included in the gift bag is something to hang their art on the window with. The children wrote "I love you because..." and their answers were all so sweet. Happy Mother's Day!
Last week we had two fun outdoor lessons about Aussie Rules Football. I think the kids had fun!
In our Kindergarten garden the children were very excited to find a beetle, an orange ladybug, a bee with lots of pollen on its legs (we'll learn a lot about bees this week), and ants. Thank you so much to Izzie who brought in a dragonfly nymph, which is the second last life cycle stage of a dragonfly. We watched a video about a dragonfly emerging from the nymph stage. Thank you as well to Cole who brought in books about insects and to Anderson who brought in an awesome guide to insects. And thank you Megan who brought in ants! We also learned, read and wrote a about the praying mantis, common house fly and ants. We wrote a little book called "My Book of Insect Facts" and reviewed all the things we have learned about insects so far.
We continued our Inquiry on Plants; the children have all planted their bean seed in peat, and pretty soon they will see the shoots appear! We learned about how plants grow, and about why plants make seeds. We are learning the who, what, where, why, when and how of plants! In the classroom window are also several different kinds of seeds that will produce different plants, such as beans, carrots, and flowers. Speaking of carrots, I sent home some carrot seeds to plant in your garden/in a planter. Have fun watching them grow and then eating them! We talked about which parts of plants we eat, for example:
Tubers - potatoes
Bulbs - onions, garlic
Stems - celery
Flowers - broccoli
Fruit - strawberries
Leaves - lettuce
Legumes - peanuts
Roots - carrots
Seeds - sunflower, pumpkin seeds
We learned and made booklets about what plants need: water, sun and air and about the parts of a plant. We also are singing a song called "The Farmer Plants the Grain." We are also making a booklet called "Five Little Seeds" which explains what happens to seeds (some are blown away by wind, some are eaten by birds, some grow into flowers, etc.).
With our Reading Buddies, the children used their "foot prints" (literally, a tracing of their foot that they cut out and used to measure) to measure each other, and items in the lunchroom. Then they recorded their results. And then they played together in the playground!
A big thank you to Megan who collated the last Scholastic Orders of the Year. The last orders are both due May 31. Books make wonderful gifts for summer reading! Scholastic order also help the classroom by funding books for our library.
During our daily morning reading time, the children read mini dictionary/alphabet folders I made with simple photos of items and the accompanying word i.e. an apple, "apple." You can make these too at home (summer is a great time for this, for example!) I simply used file folders to cut and glue words and pictures starting with each sound of the alphabet. and made sure the pictures were clear and of things the children were interested in, i.e. L for Lego, P for Princess. Flyers from Toys 'R Us or Mastermind, or catalogues (and of course Google Images) are great for this!
This week we'll wrap up our inquiry on insects and will use the Smartboard to compare and contrast insects with Venn diagrams. We will also learn a fingerplay about a growing seed and practise our song for the next Sharing Assembly. On May 20, we will be honouring Iris, Martel, Avery and Chloe for always demonstrating Integrity. In the classroom, this means always doing the right and kind thing, even if no one is looking :) It is tied with Honesty.
We'll continue to learn about plants and will review 2- and 3-D shapes as well.
In this week's white bag was a copy of the new May words. Please practise these at home with your child.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Week of May 4-8
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful Spring weather!
A lot is going on in Room 166, most especially about backyard bugs! We learned, read and wrote about the habitat, features and diet of stick insects, grasshoppers, beetles, fleas, fireflies and ladybugs. We took our magnifying glasses and bug catchers outside and saw bees collecting pollen, ants coming out of their nests in the ground, and wasps buzzing around. In the classroom, a centipede scurried by and we caught it and it's now in the Science Centre. It was a real-life opportunity for the children to remember that centipedes are not insects because they have (a lot!) more than 6 legs. We also saw a spider in the bathroom and remembered that spiders are not insects either since they have 8 legs. Jack brought in a caterpillar (thank you Jack!) which will turn into an insect when it is an adult. Izzie brought in a spider and a ladybug. Dima brought in binuculars and we discussed how we would use them compared to a miscroscope, a telescope and a magnifying glass. I set up my husband's microscope from when he was a child and the children took turns looking at a bee wing through it.
The children played a numeracy game called "Ants in your Pants" and a sight word game called "There's a Fly in my Soup." They looked at their friends' faces through a "bug's eye viewer" which was like seeing like insects see, through compound lensess, and they drew a picture of what they saw. They also wrote and illustrated "It really bugs me when..." and watched a grasshopper jump in slow motion on the Smartboard. We also saw hundreds of beautiful and colourful beetles on the Smartboard, and learned that they come in all colours and patterns, "just like jewels." Izzie also brought in a butterfly chart. Thank you! The children are also making firefly art and finished making their caterpillars and dragonflies. Look for a buggy bulletin board next week!
In numeracy we also continued our inquiry on Measurement. The children had fun when I drew a line around their little feet with which we'll measure things around the school. The children also used measuring tape, measuring cups and rulers to measure items around the classroom.
The new Popcorn Words are HAS and WANT. We played a "Find Your Word Friend" game in which the children had to find the other children in their group that had letters that made their sight word, i.e. one child had T, another had H, another had E and they had to find each other to spell THE.
On May 6 in the morning, and May 8 in the afternoon, the children will be participating in a special event called "Aussie Rules Football."
Next week we'll learn about more insects and will finish our book "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What Do You See?" as well as our "I Know Insect Facts" book in which the JKs will pick two insects to write about and the SKs will pick four. We'll also continue measuring and recording what we measure! Thank you so much to the children who brought in insects to share in the science centre. I think the kids are learning a lot and are enjoying this inquiry!
That's the news for this week. I hope you have a wonderful week!
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful Spring weather!
A lot is going on in Room 166, most especially about backyard bugs! We learned, read and wrote about the habitat, features and diet of stick insects, grasshoppers, beetles, fleas, fireflies and ladybugs. We took our magnifying glasses and bug catchers outside and saw bees collecting pollen, ants coming out of their nests in the ground, and wasps buzzing around. In the classroom, a centipede scurried by and we caught it and it's now in the Science Centre. It was a real-life opportunity for the children to remember that centipedes are not insects because they have (a lot!) more than 6 legs. We also saw a spider in the bathroom and remembered that spiders are not insects either since they have 8 legs. Jack brought in a caterpillar (thank you Jack!) which will turn into an insect when it is an adult. Izzie brought in a spider and a ladybug. Dima brought in binuculars and we discussed how we would use them compared to a miscroscope, a telescope and a magnifying glass. I set up my husband's microscope from when he was a child and the children took turns looking at a bee wing through it.
The children played a numeracy game called "Ants in your Pants" and a sight word game called "There's a Fly in my Soup." They looked at their friends' faces through a "bug's eye viewer" which was like seeing like insects see, through compound lensess, and they drew a picture of what they saw. They also wrote and illustrated "It really bugs me when..." and watched a grasshopper jump in slow motion on the Smartboard. We also saw hundreds of beautiful and colourful beetles on the Smartboard, and learned that they come in all colours and patterns, "just like jewels." Izzie also brought in a butterfly chart. Thank you! The children are also making firefly art and finished making their caterpillars and dragonflies. Look for a buggy bulletin board next week!
In numeracy we also continued our inquiry on Measurement. The children had fun when I drew a line around their little feet with which we'll measure things around the school. The children also used measuring tape, measuring cups and rulers to measure items around the classroom.
The new Popcorn Words are HAS and WANT. We played a "Find Your Word Friend" game in which the children had to find the other children in their group that had letters that made their sight word, i.e. one child had T, another had H, another had E and they had to find each other to spell THE.
On May 6 in the morning, and May 8 in the afternoon, the children will be participating in a special event called "Aussie Rules Football."
Next week we'll learn about more insects and will finish our book "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What Do You See?" as well as our "I Know Insect Facts" book in which the JKs will pick two insects to write about and the SKs will pick four. We'll also continue measuring and recording what we measure! Thank you so much to the children who brought in insects to share in the science centre. I think the kids are learning a lot and are enjoying this inquiry!
That's the news for this week. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Week of April 27-May 1
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather this weekend.
This week we continued our science inquiry on Insects and the children looked for "backyard bugs" in the playground. A big Thank You to my former student Angelina who donated a giant paper wasp nest. The children passed it around, learned how the wasps made it, and saw a science video on paper wasps. The nest is in our science centre now along with an ant farm and butterflies. They are also exploring the features of insects in our Insect centre, filled with life-like plastic insects. We watched a science video about dragonflies which the children found very interesting. We are also going to be learning, reading and writing about stick bugs, grasshoppers, fireflies, fleas, beetles, house flies, praying mantis, lady bugs, ants and, last but not least, butterflies. Our butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive May 19!
This week we also read the lovely Eric Carle books The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Busy Spider. Next week we will read more fiction and non-fiction books by Eric Carle such as The Very Lonely Firefly, and we'll save The Very Hungry Caterpillar and lots of learning opportunities for the week the larvae arrive.
This week was also Earth Day and the children did a colour-by-number Earth, and wrote "I care for the Earth when..." and "I love our Earth because..." and drew lovely accompanying pictures. Their ideas are posted in the hallway. Thinking about the Earth through the eyes of a child really makes you remember how precious it is.
In Numeracy, we discussed and reviewed Order Irrelevance, i.e. that no matter which order you count something in, the total remains the same. We also reviewed the fact that larger objects and small objects are counted the same (i.e. 3 giraffes is not more than 3 ants).
The Popcorn words this week are COME and LOOK. We practiced our A-P-R-I-L song and made daffodil art to go with the poem.
We completed the April calendar, numbers 1-30, and the children wrote about "This is me in April." They did a lovely job and their work is on display in the hallway. I am so pleased with how far they have all come reading and writing. They are definitely ready for next year!!
We also started our inquiry into Measurement. The children had fun as I drew a line around their foot. They cut the "foot print" out and will use it next week to measure different things around the classroom and the school. They will also use different lengths of yarn to explore measurement in the classroom and out in the yard. We will also learn what we use to measure things.
Thanks you Iris and Chloe for bringing in books about bugs. Thank you Chloe's dad for being Mystery Reader. Thank you Aaden's mom for helping with the Computer Lab. Thank you to Martel's mom and Megan's mom for helping with Pizza Lunch.
A reminder that April's Scholastic Order is due next week.
That's our classroom news. Have a great week!
I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather this weekend.
This week we continued our science inquiry on Insects and the children looked for "backyard bugs" in the playground. A big Thank You to my former student Angelina who donated a giant paper wasp nest. The children passed it around, learned how the wasps made it, and saw a science video on paper wasps. The nest is in our science centre now along with an ant farm and butterflies. They are also exploring the features of insects in our Insect centre, filled with life-like plastic insects. We watched a science video about dragonflies which the children found very interesting. We are also going to be learning, reading and writing about stick bugs, grasshoppers, fireflies, fleas, beetles, house flies, praying mantis, lady bugs, ants and, last but not least, butterflies. Our butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive May 19!
This week we also read the lovely Eric Carle books The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Busy Spider. Next week we will read more fiction and non-fiction books by Eric Carle such as The Very Lonely Firefly, and we'll save The Very Hungry Caterpillar and lots of learning opportunities for the week the larvae arrive.
This week was also Earth Day and the children did a colour-by-number Earth, and wrote "I care for the Earth when..." and "I love our Earth because..." and drew lovely accompanying pictures. Their ideas are posted in the hallway. Thinking about the Earth through the eyes of a child really makes you remember how precious it is.
In Numeracy, we discussed and reviewed Order Irrelevance, i.e. that no matter which order you count something in, the total remains the same. We also reviewed the fact that larger objects and small objects are counted the same (i.e. 3 giraffes is not more than 3 ants).
The Popcorn words this week are COME and LOOK. We practiced our A-P-R-I-L song and made daffodil art to go with the poem.
We completed the April calendar, numbers 1-30, and the children wrote about "This is me in April." They did a lovely job and their work is on display in the hallway. I am so pleased with how far they have all come reading and writing. They are definitely ready for next year!!
We also started our inquiry into Measurement. The children had fun as I drew a line around their foot. They cut the "foot print" out and will use it next week to measure different things around the classroom and the school. They will also use different lengths of yarn to explore measurement in the classroom and out in the yard. We will also learn what we use to measure things.
Thanks you Iris and Chloe for bringing in books about bugs. Thank you Chloe's dad for being Mystery Reader. Thank you Aaden's mom for helping with the Computer Lab. Thank you to Martel's mom and Megan's mom for helping with Pizza Lunch.
A reminder that April's Scholastic Order is due next week.
That's our classroom news. Have a great week!
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Week of April 20-25
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Spring weather! Well, we've said, "Bye-bye Birdies" to our Inquiry and I think the children learned a lot about birds' habitats, their diets, their young, and fun facts. We saw a video of an Ostrich running (and even chasing a jeep!), hummingbirds in flight, and watched as the baby bald eagles have grown and are starting to stand up in their nests. We learned about the life cycle of a chicken, all about the size, shape and colour of eggs, and put our "Ducks in a Row" by putting words in the correct order to make a sentence, then writing the sentence down. We wrote about eggs in some egg art that is displayed in the hall. The children found it interesting that eggs come in so many different colours, from white to blue to brownish colours with spots, and all the way to black (Emu). We also did "Home Tweet Home" math by helping a bird go home by adding up numbers, and learned how to read and sort our Bird Facts/Not Bird Facts folder. We also completed the booklet "All About Birds", which has all the fun facts about the birds we learned about. We wrote about our favourite birds, why we like birds, and drew our favourite bird. Blue Jays, Owls, Hummingbirds, Penguins, Flamingos and Ostriches were favourites (Go Jays!). The kids also had fun sorting the birds we learned about in groups of "Angry" birds and "Scaredy" birds. All the children's wonderful work went home in Friday's white bag. I hope you have fun listening to your children tell you all about birds!
As a follow up to last week's rain, we wrote about why we like/don't like rain. This work is on display in the classroom.
This week's Popcorn Words are HE and SHE. Last week's words were BIG and RUN. The homework for this weekend is to do the mini books for those words.
A big Thank You to: Megan's family who collated the Scholastic order forms; Avery's dad and Adam's dad who were Mystery Readers; Izzie and Sophie for bringing in bird toys to talk about, and Martel's mom who helped with Computer Lab.
Next week we'll start two new Inquiries, on Measurement and Backyard Bugs.
I hope you have a terrific week!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Spring weather! Well, we've said, "Bye-bye Birdies" to our Inquiry and I think the children learned a lot about birds' habitats, their diets, their young, and fun facts. We saw a video of an Ostrich running (and even chasing a jeep!), hummingbirds in flight, and watched as the baby bald eagles have grown and are starting to stand up in their nests. We learned about the life cycle of a chicken, all about the size, shape and colour of eggs, and put our "Ducks in a Row" by putting words in the correct order to make a sentence, then writing the sentence down. We wrote about eggs in some egg art that is displayed in the hall. The children found it interesting that eggs come in so many different colours, from white to blue to brownish colours with spots, and all the way to black (Emu). We also did "Home Tweet Home" math by helping a bird go home by adding up numbers, and learned how to read and sort our Bird Facts/Not Bird Facts folder. We also completed the booklet "All About Birds", which has all the fun facts about the birds we learned about. We wrote about our favourite birds, why we like birds, and drew our favourite bird. Blue Jays, Owls, Hummingbirds, Penguins, Flamingos and Ostriches were favourites (Go Jays!). The kids also had fun sorting the birds we learned about in groups of "Angry" birds and "Scaredy" birds. All the children's wonderful work went home in Friday's white bag. I hope you have fun listening to your children tell you all about birds!
As a follow up to last week's rain, we wrote about why we like/don't like rain. This work is on display in the classroom.
This week's Popcorn Words are HE and SHE. Last week's words were BIG and RUN. The homework for this weekend is to do the mini books for those words.
A big Thank You to: Megan's family who collated the Scholastic order forms; Avery's dad and Adam's dad who were Mystery Readers; Izzie and Sophie for bringing in bird toys to talk about, and Martel's mom who helped with Computer Lab.
Next week we'll start two new Inquiries, on Measurement and Backyard Bugs.
I hope you have a terrific week!
Week of April 6-10
Dear families,
I would first like to say a big thank you to our Parent Volunteers who helped the children make their papier mache eggs at our Spring Craft Party: Elizabeth's mom, Christopher's mom, Olivia's dad, Stella's mom, Matthew H.'s mom, and Anderson's mom all gave their time and energy to making the party fun for the children. Thank you so much! The eggs look beautiful! I sent them home with the balloon still inside so they wouldn't break in transit and so you could put chocolates in them if you wish.
Thank you as well to Martel's mom who helped get the computers ready for the Computer Lab class, and thank you to Martel's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
This week we learned about eggs and the children had fun cracking the (empty) ones and looking inside. We learned that many other creatures aside from birds lay eggs: turtles, fish, some sharks, lizards, frogs, insects. Chloe brought in a tiny bird nest and Theo brought in a big bird nest and a photo of an owl they spotted on their street. Thank you for sharing those with your friends. We also learned about Feathers and about the three different kinds of feathers a bird has: down, to keep them warm, contour feathers in between the body and the outer feathers, and larger and strong wing feathers. We also talked about all the things we use feathers for.
We also learned more about our first two birds - the owl (a bit of review from first term), and the duck: their habitat, diet, what their young are like, and fun facts. The children are making Flip Books with words and pictures about those facts.
The children also enjoyed colouring their eggs with a "magic" crayon and dipping them in food colouring, then decorating them with gold or silver paint. They look beautiful! Anything the children do with their hands assists their manual dexterity and small motor skills which in turn assists their writing and drawing skills. They did a great job weaving ribbon in their Easter baskets as well!
The children also had fun gluing mini marshmallows on a bunny face and then they counted them and wrote the number.
It was an exciting week on our bald eagle's nest live cam, because over the weekend the eagle had caught a fairly large black furry creature (a bear cub?) and brought it to the nest along with several large fish. The parents are still sitting on their chicks to keep them warm but for the first time they left them alone for a short period of time since the weather was warmer. Lots to learn!
We also started practising our new April words and your child received a copy in this week's white bag. Our new Popcorn words will be BIG and RUN.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter/Spring weekend!
I would first like to say a big thank you to our Parent Volunteers who helped the children make their papier mache eggs at our Spring Craft Party: Elizabeth's mom, Christopher's mom, Olivia's dad, Stella's mom, Matthew H.'s mom, and Anderson's mom all gave their time and energy to making the party fun for the children. Thank you so much! The eggs look beautiful! I sent them home with the balloon still inside so they wouldn't break in transit and so you could put chocolates in them if you wish.
Thank you as well to Martel's mom who helped get the computers ready for the Computer Lab class, and thank you to Martel's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
This week we learned about eggs and the children had fun cracking the (empty) ones and looking inside. We learned that many other creatures aside from birds lay eggs: turtles, fish, some sharks, lizards, frogs, insects. Chloe brought in a tiny bird nest and Theo brought in a big bird nest and a photo of an owl they spotted on their street. Thank you for sharing those with your friends. We also learned about Feathers and about the three different kinds of feathers a bird has: down, to keep them warm, contour feathers in between the body and the outer feathers, and larger and strong wing feathers. We also talked about all the things we use feathers for.
We also learned more about our first two birds - the owl (a bit of review from first term), and the duck: their habitat, diet, what their young are like, and fun facts. The children are making Flip Books with words and pictures about those facts.
The children also enjoyed colouring their eggs with a "magic" crayon and dipping them in food colouring, then decorating them with gold or silver paint. They look beautiful! Anything the children do with their hands assists their manual dexterity and small motor skills which in turn assists their writing and drawing skills. They did a great job weaving ribbon in their Easter baskets as well!
The children also had fun gluing mini marshmallows on a bunny face and then they counted them and wrote the number.
It was an exciting week on our bald eagle's nest live cam, because over the weekend the eagle had caught a fairly large black furry creature (a bear cub?) and brought it to the nest along with several large fish. The parents are still sitting on their chicks to keep them warm but for the first time they left them alone for a short period of time since the weather was warmer. Lots to learn!
We also started practising our new April words and your child received a copy in this week's white bag. Our new Popcorn words will be BIG and RUN.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter/Spring weekend!
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