Dear families,
I hope you're having a nice weekend. What beautiful weather we've been having this October!
This week we focused on the numeracy skill of Patterning. First, we talked about sorting and why and how we sort things. For example, we can sort by shape, size, colour, type, and many other ways. In the Computer Lab, Ms. Santiago guided the children's learning about sorting with the program "Sammy's Science House" which has several sorting activities. We then moved our learning to patterning, starting with the basic pattern ABAB. This week children played and explored at several centres in the classroom with various objects: sorting and then patterning stones of three different colours; using bingo dabbers on cardstock; threading and patterning orange, white and black beads (Halloween colours :) on pipe cleaners; different kinds and colours of dinosaurs and bugs; with various sizes and colours of popsicle sticks; with colourful wooden cubes, and with cube-a-links. The children also watched a Peep and the Big Wide World video about Measurement and Patterning on the Smartboard. The Juniors are learning the basic ABAB pattern and all the children are encouraged to describe and create more complex patterns such as AABAAB, ABCABC, ABBABB, etc. When we talk about patterns the children are prompted to explain their pattern using these letters. This is another important numeracy skill.
The children also glued the pattern of wooden sticks they created onto cardstock and made Halloween sticker patterns, writing the letters (A,B,C as appropriate) under the stickers. The children are encouraged to find patterns in our natural and man-made world (such as clothing) and to practise making patterns at home. We'll continue with patterning next week (but with a Halloween and Fall theme). In Literacy, Science and Art, the children are learning about Signs of Fall. They are encouraged to look for signs of fall in the natural world and have started reading and drawing Signs of Fall in a little booklet with their Reading Buddies. We are reading fiction and non-fiction books about the Fall as well. The children did a lovely job finishing their Fall Tree Art (on display in the hall), inspired by Barbara Reid's book, "Picture a Tree." They also learned about texture and used toothpicks to add details to the plasticine leaves. Once the weather gets a little chillier we've go for an Autumn Scavenger Hunt around the school to look for more signs of Fall.
The sight words of the week were THE and DO. The Jolly Phonics letter sound we are currently focusing on is "P."
The children had fun on Blue Jays Spirit Day, as well as Letter Day. LKS has spirit! The kids also enjoyed shopping for books at the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library! The classroom Scholastic Order is due next week. On Friday the children were treated to a performance of STOMP by the Grade 8 Music Class, and Ruby's Grandfather was our awesome Mystery Reader this week, reading "Harry the Dirty Dog" (a classic!) and "How to Babysit a Grandpa." Thank you so much!
I have booked a Scientist-in-the-Classroom visit for November 10 from 8:45-11:20. We will need 4 parent volunteers. If you have already signed up for a classroom craft party please allow parents who have not had this opportunity to volunteer on November 10th. Thank you.
A reminder that LKS is collecting non-perishable nut-free food for the Daily Bread Food Bank over the next two weeks before Halloween. Each teacher has a box outside his/her classroom for the food items. Thank you so much.
In Friday's mail bag you received the Special Person of the Day Calendars from November-June. If you need to make any changes and need to switch with someone, just email them and please cc me so I can make the change in my Day Plans. Thank you.
Next week we will continue our patterning, learning about Fall, and will start some fun literacy and numeracy Halloween activities and centres.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Week of October 3-7
Dear families,
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. The children were so proud of the "stained glass" votive candle holder they made for you. We read "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr and the children wrote about what they are thankful for. The number one answer was "My Family." They also learned the poems "Gobble, Gobble," and "Five Little Turkeys."
The letter sound of the week was "P." The sight words were IN and SEE.
The children brought home their "Pete the Cat Loves Colours" folder. Please encourage your child to tell you about their work and to read it with you.
Ms. Zappi. Ms. Sunde and myself are organizing a "Scare Hunger" food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank. LKS is collecting non-perishable and nut-free foods for the next 2 weeks. Thank you for your support!
On Wednesday it is wear BLUE JAYS clothes to school day at LKS. Baseball caps are allowed woo hoo!
Thank you to Caelan's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week. She read some Curious George stories to the class.
With our Grade 4 Reading Buddies the children made a construction paper tree. When it's dry they will be adding fall-coloured plasticine leaves to follow up on our Barbara Reid book study of "Picture a Tree." www.barbarareid.com These will be put on display on the hall bulletin board.
The Scholastic Book Fair is this week. Group 1 goes on Thursday, Group 2 on Friday. If you would like your child to purchase a book/s, please send money in a plastic zip-lock bag marked with your child's name.
Our classroom Science Centre has changed from Simple Machines to Signs of Fall. Once the leaves turn a litle more, we'll go on an Autumn Scavenger Hunt in the Shale Pit and around LKS. The children are also painting "magic" sight word leaves for our big tree in the dramatic centre. This is easy to do at home. On white cardstock, write sight words with a white crayon. When your child paints it, the word will magically appear!
That's the news for this week! Happy Thanksgiving - we have so much to be thankful for.
Mrs. Tyndall
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. The children were so proud of the "stained glass" votive candle holder they made for you. We read "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr and the children wrote about what they are thankful for. The number one answer was "My Family." They also learned the poems "Gobble, Gobble," and "Five Little Turkeys."
The letter sound of the week was "P." The sight words were IN and SEE.
The children brought home their "Pete the Cat Loves Colours" folder. Please encourage your child to tell you about their work and to read it with you.
Ms. Zappi. Ms. Sunde and myself are organizing a "Scare Hunger" food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank. LKS is collecting non-perishable and nut-free foods for the next 2 weeks. Thank you for your support!
On Wednesday it is wear BLUE JAYS clothes to school day at LKS. Baseball caps are allowed woo hoo!
Thank you to Caelan's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week. She read some Curious George stories to the class.
With our Grade 4 Reading Buddies the children made a construction paper tree. When it's dry they will be adding fall-coloured plasticine leaves to follow up on our Barbara Reid book study of "Picture a Tree." www.barbarareid.com These will be put on display on the hall bulletin board.
The Scholastic Book Fair is this week. Group 1 goes on Thursday, Group 2 on Friday. If you would like your child to purchase a book/s, please send money in a plastic zip-lock bag marked with your child's name.
Our classroom Science Centre has changed from Simple Machines to Signs of Fall. Once the leaves turn a litle more, we'll go on an Autumn Scavenger Hunt in the Shale Pit and around LKS. The children are also painting "magic" sight word leaves for our big tree in the dramatic centre. This is easy to do at home. On white cardstock, write sight words with a white crayon. When your child paints it, the word will magically appear!
That's the news for this week! Happy Thanksgiving - we have so much to be thankful for.
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Week of September 26-30
Dear families,
I hope you are having a nice weekend.
This week we completed our inquiry on Primary Colours and colour mixing. We mixed colours with various media, including paint, water colour pencils and bingo dabbers. The children completed a colour wheel, tracing over the words and colouring appropriately. We watched a video of Peep and the Big Wide World on Colour Mixing, Ms. Santiago made play dough of different colours with the children.
We also completed our Author Study of James Dean and his Pete the Cat books. The children each got 4 "Groovy" buttons like Pete the Cat and we talked about adding and subtracting them. We made a graph about them together, they drew them freehand, and then coloured 4 buttons on a work sheet and wrote about them: "My Groovy Buttons are..."
The Popcorn Words (sight words) of the week were LIKE and MY. Please put them in your child's Bedtime Book Box for practice at home.
It was a week of "firsts" for the Juniors: first photo day, first pizza lunch, first Sharing Assembly, first Reading Buddies! We had fun meeting our Grade 4 Reading Buddies and reading and colouring a Pete the Cat booklet together.
The Grade 8 LIVE program is up and running as well; each morning two students read leveled readers one-on-one with two children in the hall for about 20 minutes.
The homework for this week is to complete the "I Can..." sheet, writing the word "I" in various patterned sentences.
Thank you so much to Hannah who collated and stamped this month's Scholastic order forms. They are due on October 17th. Thank you as well to Alexandra's dad who was our Mystery Reader. Ruby brought in her own copies of Pete the Cat books, too, and read to her friends. Thank you, Ruby!
This week we also did some Cosmic Yoga, which the children really enjoyed. It's a great website for kids, teaching them about Mindfulness, Relaxation and Self-Regulation.
We had fun coming up with "B" words and beginning sounds this week, with a definite Blue Jay theme :) Ball, bunt; bat, batter, blue, baseball, and lots more!
We have reached the end of September and the end of each month the children complete a "This is me in [month]" and they fill in a calendar with numbers. These are used to track progress and a copy is sent home. I keep the original for Parent-Teacher interviews.
Our very first Sharing Assembly of the year went well. The children sang "There's No One Else Like Me," and Alex, Phoebe and Rielle received certificated for Respect. Well done!
The new October word list and October Bingo Calendar was sent home in Friday's mail bag. Please put the word list on the fridge or your child's Bedtime Book box. When they can read a word (alone or using the picture), they colour it in!
We have a few more things to do before the "Pete the Cat Loves Colours" folder goes home in Thursday's mail bag.
On Friday it is a PA day. The Kindergarten Team will be reviewing and discussing the Kindergarten Curriculum document. Monday is Thanksgiving, and this upcoming week we will be focused on this special day when we remind ourselves to be thankful. Look for some Fall-themed and Thanksgiving art and work in this week's mail bag!
That's the news for this week - I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. I also hope the Blue Jays win tonight! :)
Mrs. Tyndall
I hope you are having a nice weekend.
This week we completed our inquiry on Primary Colours and colour mixing. We mixed colours with various media, including paint, water colour pencils and bingo dabbers. The children completed a colour wheel, tracing over the words and colouring appropriately. We watched a video of Peep and the Big Wide World on Colour Mixing, Ms. Santiago made play dough of different colours with the children.
We also completed our Author Study of James Dean and his Pete the Cat books. The children each got 4 "Groovy" buttons like Pete the Cat and we talked about adding and subtracting them. We made a graph about them together, they drew them freehand, and then coloured 4 buttons on a work sheet and wrote about them: "My Groovy Buttons are..."
The Popcorn Words (sight words) of the week were LIKE and MY. Please put them in your child's Bedtime Book Box for practice at home.
It was a week of "firsts" for the Juniors: first photo day, first pizza lunch, first Sharing Assembly, first Reading Buddies! We had fun meeting our Grade 4 Reading Buddies and reading and colouring a Pete the Cat booklet together.
The Grade 8 LIVE program is up and running as well; each morning two students read leveled readers one-on-one with two children in the hall for about 20 minutes.
The homework for this week is to complete the "I Can..." sheet, writing the word "I" in various patterned sentences.
Thank you so much to Hannah who collated and stamped this month's Scholastic order forms. They are due on October 17th. Thank you as well to Alexandra's dad who was our Mystery Reader. Ruby brought in her own copies of Pete the Cat books, too, and read to her friends. Thank you, Ruby!
This week we also did some Cosmic Yoga, which the children really enjoyed. It's a great website for kids, teaching them about Mindfulness, Relaxation and Self-Regulation.
We had fun coming up with "B" words and beginning sounds this week, with a definite Blue Jay theme :) Ball, bunt; bat, batter, blue, baseball, and lots more!
We have reached the end of September and the end of each month the children complete a "This is me in [month]" and they fill in a calendar with numbers. These are used to track progress and a copy is sent home. I keep the original for Parent-Teacher interviews.
Our very first Sharing Assembly of the year went well. The children sang "There's No One Else Like Me," and Alex, Phoebe and Rielle received certificated for Respect. Well done!
The new October word list and October Bingo Calendar was sent home in Friday's mail bag. Please put the word list on the fridge or your child's Bedtime Book box. When they can read a word (alone or using the picture), they colour it in!
We have a few more things to do before the "Pete the Cat Loves Colours" folder goes home in Thursday's mail bag.
On Friday it is a PA day. The Kindergarten Team will be reviewing and discussing the Kindergarten Curriculum document. Monday is Thanksgiving, and this upcoming week we will be focused on this special day when we remind ourselves to be thankful. Look for some Fall-themed and Thanksgiving art and work in this week's mail bag!
That's the news for this week - I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. I also hope the Blue Jays win tonight! :)
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Week of September 19-23
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying this lovely fall weather.
This week we continued learning about primary and secondary colours. to inspire us we read the wonderful Herve Tullet books "Press Here," "Mix it Up" and "Let's Play" as well as "Mouse Paint." We graphed our eye and hair colour, mixed primary paint colours together and did primary colour "math" (i.e. red + blue = purple). Next week we will make and mix primary colour play dough together as well.
We also learned about one of the simple machines in our classroom (door stopper) and how wedges made jobs easier. The children helped me identify wedges in the playground and in the classroom (e.g. wood chips, sand tools, eating utensils).
We are completing Pete the Cat pattern books which reinforce colour words and sight words, and which the children can read with you at home.
Many of the Juniors are still learning to form letters (their name being the most important word!). Any extra small-motor practice they have at home as well is terrific, including using child-appropriate round-edge scissors, glue sticks, and tracing and writing with various writing utensils. I remind the children to write letters and numbers with pencil, and to colour with crayons/pencil crayons etc. For the Juniors, tracing is a very good activity that strengthens their small motor ability and control of writing utensils. I have sent home a tracing alphabet for practice. Writing your child's name in highlighter and having them trace over top of it is also helpful.
The Popcorn Words of the week are CAN and ME. Your child's first Snuggle Up and Read Book went home in Friday's mail bag. Please return the book each week so that s/he can get a new one.
The SKs received their Journals on Friday. When our child completes a journal entry, I will "mark" it (I will write a note to them in the journal) and will put awesome stickers on it, too. :)
I also sent home instructions on how to make a Bedtime Book Box out of a shoe box, which is where your child keeps his/her popcorn words and Snuggle Up books. There is no need to bring it to school when it is done. It's just a fun way to inspire your child to read before bedtime.
We will meet with our Grade 4 Reading Buddies from Mrs. Shkler's class next week! Each week on Day 2 we will read books together, write together, and make new friends. The children will also take turns reading with three Grade 8 volunteers during each Homeroom period.
The whole school also participated in a Wellness Activity on Thursday by talking about what makes us happy. Our answers are on a paper chain outside the classroom.
Our very first Sharing Assembly this year will be on September 30th. We are going to sing a song called "There's No One Like Me."
I hope you have a lovely weekend. See you Monday!
I hope you are enjoying this lovely fall weather.
This week we continued learning about primary and secondary colours. to inspire us we read the wonderful Herve Tullet books "Press Here," "Mix it Up" and "Let's Play" as well as "Mouse Paint." We graphed our eye and hair colour, mixed primary paint colours together and did primary colour "math" (i.e. red + blue = purple). Next week we will make and mix primary colour play dough together as well.
We also learned about one of the simple machines in our classroom (door stopper) and how wedges made jobs easier. The children helped me identify wedges in the playground and in the classroom (e.g. wood chips, sand tools, eating utensils).
We are completing Pete the Cat pattern books which reinforce colour words and sight words, and which the children can read with you at home.
Many of the Juniors are still learning to form letters (their name being the most important word!). Any extra small-motor practice they have at home as well is terrific, including using child-appropriate round-edge scissors, glue sticks, and tracing and writing with various writing utensils. I remind the children to write letters and numbers with pencil, and to colour with crayons/pencil crayons etc. For the Juniors, tracing is a very good activity that strengthens their small motor ability and control of writing utensils. I have sent home a tracing alphabet for practice. Writing your child's name in highlighter and having them trace over top of it is also helpful.
The Popcorn Words of the week are CAN and ME. Your child's first Snuggle Up and Read Book went home in Friday's mail bag. Please return the book each week so that s/he can get a new one.
The SKs received their Journals on Friday. When our child completes a journal entry, I will "mark" it (I will write a note to them in the journal) and will put awesome stickers on it, too. :)
I also sent home instructions on how to make a Bedtime Book Box out of a shoe box, which is where your child keeps his/her popcorn words and Snuggle Up books. There is no need to bring it to school when it is done. It's just a fun way to inspire your child to read before bedtime.
We will meet with our Grade 4 Reading Buddies from Mrs. Shkler's class next week! Each week on Day 2 we will read books together, write together, and make new friends. The children will also take turns reading with three Grade 8 volunteers during each Homeroom period.
The whole school also participated in a Wellness Activity on Thursday by talking about what makes us happy. Our answers are on a paper chain outside the classroom.
Our very first Sharing Assembly this year will be on September 30th. We are going to sing a song called "There's No One Like Me."
I hope you have a lovely weekend. See you Monday!
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Week of September 12-16
Dear families,
It was a pleasure meeting with you on Curriculum Night and having the opportunity to present information about the Kindergarten Curriculum with our Kindergarten Team. Please click on the link above for further information about the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum Expectations.
The children participated in the Terry Fox assembly and did a terrific job in our very first Fire Drill.
A huge thank you in advance to our Grade Parents this year: Simone (Caelan's mom) and Tiffany (Hudson's mom). There are many opportunities to volunteer in our classroom each year, such as Mystery Reader (weekly) and craft parties (October, December, April) as well as Scientist in the School, a field trip and the 100th Day Math Party. A Mystery Reader is a volunteer (usually a parent). They sign in at the office, the office buzzes our classroom that "the Mystery Reader is here," two children bring him/her to the classroom, and the reader reads 1-2 books. Our first Mystery Reader was my former student Megan! Thank you Megan! Please contact our Grade Parents if you would like to volunteer in the classroom this year.
This week we continued learning about colours and Pete the Cat books. The children learned a song called "Rainbow" and the poems "Rainbow Hair" and "Am I...?" about colours. They counted Pete the Cat 10-frames, helped spell adjectives describing Pete, and are making a pattern booklet called "I Like My Shoes" patterned after the Pete the Cat book.
The Popcorn (Sight/High Frequency) words this week are IS and AND. The first two Jolly Phonics sounds we are learning are S and A. The children also took turns playing and exploring various letter and number centres this week.
In Art the children made "Eye Spy Letters (JK) and Eye Spy Letter Sounds (SK) collages, which are on display on the classroom bulletin board.
In Science the children have started playing with the "simple machines" and tools in our little Science Centre, for example various hole punches, a stapler, paper clips, and fasteners.
We also started Daily Physical Activity (as well as outdoor play) in the classroom with the terrific website Go Noodle.
The Snuggle up and Read a Book exchange will start this upcoming Friday. Each Friday the children will take a classroom book home in their mailbag, and return on Monday. They will get a new book each week (upon returning the previous one). Once again our wonderful Grade 8 student volunteers will be reading one-on-one with the children each homeroom period. We will also be doing weekly Reading Buddies with Mrs. Shklar's Grade 4 class.
A small note about lunches and snacks - please ensure your child has enough food for their lunch and two snacks, as well as utensils. If you are packing apple sauce or yogurt, a good idea is to freeze it the night before so that it's not as messy and also keeps the other food cool!
Thank you for your Scholastic Orders. They are due by September 28. If you are ordering online, please ensure you send me your order forms as well. Thank you! Scholastic helps teachers buy books and materials for the classroom.
That's the news for this week! I hope you are having a terrific weekend!
It was a pleasure meeting with you on Curriculum Night and having the opportunity to present information about the Kindergarten Curriculum with our Kindergarten Team. Please click on the link above for further information about the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum Expectations.
The children participated in the Terry Fox assembly and did a terrific job in our very first Fire Drill.
A huge thank you in advance to our Grade Parents this year: Simone (Caelan's mom) and Tiffany (Hudson's mom). There are many opportunities to volunteer in our classroom each year, such as Mystery Reader (weekly) and craft parties (October, December, April) as well as Scientist in the School, a field trip and the 100th Day Math Party. A Mystery Reader is a volunteer (usually a parent). They sign in at the office, the office buzzes our classroom that "the Mystery Reader is here," two children bring him/her to the classroom, and the reader reads 1-2 books. Our first Mystery Reader was my former student Megan! Thank you Megan! Please contact our Grade Parents if you would like to volunteer in the classroom this year.
This week we continued learning about colours and Pete the Cat books. The children learned a song called "Rainbow" and the poems "Rainbow Hair" and "Am I...?" about colours. They counted Pete the Cat 10-frames, helped spell adjectives describing Pete, and are making a pattern booklet called "I Like My Shoes" patterned after the Pete the Cat book.
The Popcorn (Sight/High Frequency) words this week are IS and AND. The first two Jolly Phonics sounds we are learning are S and A. The children also took turns playing and exploring various letter and number centres this week.
In Art the children made "Eye Spy Letters (JK) and Eye Spy Letter Sounds (SK) collages, which are on display on the classroom bulletin board.
In Science the children have started playing with the "simple machines" and tools in our little Science Centre, for example various hole punches, a stapler, paper clips, and fasteners.
We also started Daily Physical Activity (as well as outdoor play) in the classroom with the terrific website Go Noodle.
The Snuggle up and Read a Book exchange will start this upcoming Friday. Each Friday the children will take a classroom book home in their mailbag, and return on Monday. They will get a new book each week (upon returning the previous one). Once again our wonderful Grade 8 student volunteers will be reading one-on-one with the children each homeroom period. We will also be doing weekly Reading Buddies with Mrs. Shklar's Grade 4 class.
A small note about lunches and snacks - please ensure your child has enough food for their lunch and two snacks, as well as utensils. If you are packing apple sauce or yogurt, a good idea is to freeze it the night before so that it's not as messy and also keeps the other food cool!
Thank you for your Scholastic Orders. They are due by September 28. If you are ordering online, please ensure you send me your order forms as well. Thank you! Scholastic helps teachers buy books and materials for the classroom.
That's the news for this week! I hope you are having a terrific weekend!
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