Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the mild Fall weather today.
Last week in Numeracy we focused on the number FIVE. When learning about numbers, we learn about: Conservation (understanding that the count for a set group of objects stays the same whether they are spread apart or close together); Stable Order (understanding that the counting sequence stays consistent i.e. 12345 not 12368); One-to-One Correspondence (understanding that each object gets only one count); Movement to Magnitude (understanding that as you move up the counting sequence the quantity increases by one; Order Irrelevance (understanding that the counting of objects can begin with any object in a set); Abstraction (understanding that the last count of a group of objects represents how many there are); and Unitizing (understanding that in our base ten systems, objects are grouped into tens once the count exceeds nine).
The children learned about the number 5 by exploring and playing with dice, beads, Fall objects, rocks, counters, cube-a-links, pine ones, and magnets. They also explored and practiced numeral formation and base ten by drawing on clear tablecloths I made on their tables. They traced numerals and played with base ten frames. Ms. Santiago had a great idea of painting the children's fingers and thumb with Halloween colours to show addition i.e. 2 black fingers + 3 orange fingers = 5. They'll make this "high five hand print" into a little Halloween monster. Cute!
The Halloween Party and Parade are on Monday at 1:30 and 9:00 respectively. Please remember that the children can bring masks but cannot wear them during the school day for safety reasons (tripping etc).
This week we celebrated two birthdays! Congratulations Elea and Henry!
The children did their "This is me in October " picture and sentence and their October calendar which are used for assessment purposes. I can see a lot of progress already!
On Monday we went on an Autumn Scavenger Hunt in the school yard and in the shale pit. The children had to find several signs of Fall using their 5 senses. They loved it!
Thank you to Ella's dad who was our Mystery Reader, and to Ethan and Kate's moms who helped with pizza lunch. Thank you Ruby for preparing the next Scholastic order, which will go home next week. It will be due on November 22.
In Art, the children made a "funny mummy" and in Science we weighed our little class pumpkin and we will count the seeds by 10s on Monday. Thank you Rielle for cleaning out the pumpkin! We also learned about how pumpkins grow; we watched a video called "A Season for a Pumpkin" and then sequenced 6 pictures of pumpkin growth from seed to pumpkin. We also practiced the poem "Five Little Pumpkins" which the children recited at Friday's Sharing Assembly. Congratulations to Lucas, Ruby and Sebastian who received certificates for Responsibility.
The children read, traced the words and coloured Halloween pictures in a booklet, and are making another booklet called Halloween Colours" with their Reading Buddies.
We also started our next inquiry which is on Feelings, and read "It's OK to Make Mistakes " and "I'm not Scared" by Todd Parr. All of Parr's books are wonderful in how they promote individuality and self-confidence.
That's the news for this week. See you tomorrow!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Week of October 17-21
Dear families,
I hope you are having a relaxing Sunday.
Last week we continued learning about, identifying and making patterns with various manipulatives. The children also continued learning about Signs of fall. We are learning the poem "If I Were a Leaf" and re-told the story "Lionel in the Fall." The children continued "discovering" sight words on leaves by painting them fall colours (I pre-wrote the words on the leaves using a white crayon). They are reading and illustrating a little booklet with their Reading Buddies called "Signs of Fall" and are reading non-fiction books about fall. Due to Friday's rainy weather our Autumn Scavenger Hunt had to be postponed until (hopefully) tomorrow. Speaking of rain, please remember that your child's indoor shoes should stay at school. Crocs or slippers work well. Thank you!
The sight words of the week were THE and DO. Our Jolly Phonics Sounds of the week are P and N. We've finished our first set of the Jolly Phonics sounds, which are SATIPN. There are so many words we can make with just those 6 letters!
We also combined our learning with fun Halloween=themed activities. The children: made more patterns with orange, black, white and glow-in-the-dark beads; read Halloween books; helped graph, tally and write the number of different costumes we'll wear for the Parade,; wrote what they would be on Halloween for a class book; helped write Halloween words; played with Halloween concentration cards; learned the poem "Five Little Pumpkins" on the Smartboard; played with our "Haunted House' by counting and writing the number of objects in the house; traced dot-to-dot lines with "pumpkin doodle;" estimated the weight of and number of seeds in our class pumpkin. Next week we'll continue with fun literacy, science and numeracy Halloween activities. If you are sending in items for Halloween for your child's classmates, please be sure to send them in by Wednesday at the latest so the children have enough time to sort them in the bags. Thank you.
Last week the children participated in a Power of One presentation. Thank you Ms. Norton for organizing this awesome presentation! Thank you Alexandra for sharing her book "Arthur's Halloween" with us! Thank you Catherine's mom for being Mystery Reader! Some of the children's work was on the LKS Twitter feed!
Next week in Numeracy we will focus on the number FIVE and sequencing. We'll also weigh, open up, count the seeds, weigh the seeds, and then weigh our class pumpkin again. When you carve your own pumpkin at home don't miss the terrific opportunity to sort the seeds into groups of 10 an count them!
I hope you have a terrific week - eight more sleeps until Halloween!
Mrs. Tyndall
I hope you are having a relaxing Sunday.
Last week we continued learning about, identifying and making patterns with various manipulatives. The children also continued learning about Signs of fall. We are learning the poem "If I Were a Leaf" and re-told the story "Lionel in the Fall." The children continued "discovering" sight words on leaves by painting them fall colours (I pre-wrote the words on the leaves using a white crayon). They are reading and illustrating a little booklet with their Reading Buddies called "Signs of Fall" and are reading non-fiction books about fall. Due to Friday's rainy weather our Autumn Scavenger Hunt had to be postponed until (hopefully) tomorrow. Speaking of rain, please remember that your child's indoor shoes should stay at school. Crocs or slippers work well. Thank you!
The sight words of the week were THE and DO. Our Jolly Phonics Sounds of the week are P and N. We've finished our first set of the Jolly Phonics sounds, which are SATIPN. There are so many words we can make with just those 6 letters!
We also combined our learning with fun Halloween=themed activities. The children: made more patterns with orange, black, white and glow-in-the-dark beads; read Halloween books; helped graph, tally and write the number of different costumes we'll wear for the Parade,; wrote what they would be on Halloween for a class book; helped write Halloween words; played with Halloween concentration cards; learned the poem "Five Little Pumpkins" on the Smartboard; played with our "Haunted House' by counting and writing the number of objects in the house; traced dot-to-dot lines with "pumpkin doodle;" estimated the weight of and number of seeds in our class pumpkin. Next week we'll continue with fun literacy, science and numeracy Halloween activities. If you are sending in items for Halloween for your child's classmates, please be sure to send them in by Wednesday at the latest so the children have enough time to sort them in the bags. Thank you.
Last week the children participated in a Power of One presentation. Thank you Ms. Norton for organizing this awesome presentation! Thank you Alexandra for sharing her book "Arthur's Halloween" with us! Thank you Catherine's mom for being Mystery Reader! Some of the children's work was on the LKS Twitter feed!
Next week in Numeracy we will focus on the number FIVE and sequencing. We'll also weigh, open up, count the seeds, weigh the seeds, and then weigh our class pumpkin again. When you carve your own pumpkin at home don't miss the terrific opportunity to sort the seeds into groups of 10 an count them!
I hope you have a terrific week - eight more sleeps until Halloween!
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Week of October 10-15
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
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)