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!
Friday, April 12, 2019
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!
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