Week of May 24-27

Dear families,

The mail bags went home early, on Thursday, because it is the Victoria Day long weekend and traditionally several children are absent on the Friday before. Inside the bags was your child's amazing Dinosaur work! This was a fun inquiry and I think all the children enjoyed it and learned a lot. We finished off the unit this week by doing three bubble maps: of T-Rex, Triceratops, and Pterodactyl. The kids also made a Pterodactyl puppet using water colours ("since the Pterodactyl ate fish and lived close to the water"). I sent home a copy of all the words they made from the word DINOSAUR, and we watched a little Dino Dan video about dinosaurs. Thank you Avery for bringing in a nest - we put it in our dinosaur centre and put a big "dinosaur" egg in it.

We started our new inquiry on Canadian Coins and their values. So far we have learned about the penny, the nickel, the dime and the quarter. We are learning about the penny even though it is no longer in circulation because it helps the children understand the concepts of, for example, "10 CENTS, 5 CENTS, etc.. The children are excited about this unit! I start off teaching each coin with a magic box that makes the coins disappear! The children are coming up with all kinds of theories as to where the coins are! We are identifying and colouring the coins, learning two money songs (a favourite is the Honey Bunny Money song on Youtube), and learned about saving money instead of spending money from a Berenstain Bears story. We are learning about the symbols on the coins and why they were chosen (maple leaf; beaver - fur trade; dime; Bluenose; quarter- elk, etc.)I showed the kids a photo of the Bluenose II that I took on a trip to Halifax, and our Money Centre has coins and symbols displayed in it for the children to explore, as well as Special Coins such as Olympic coins. We also watched a video from the excellent series "Making Stuff" on how coins are minted. We also started a chart with Schema (what we know about money) and Questions (things about money they want to learn). We will answer those questions nexty week. Next week we'll also learn about the loonie and the twoonie, and we will do several summative exercises and activities to reinforce their learning. I encourage you to let your children play with, count and explore coins at home.

The children also had fun during outdoor play playing with bubbles and water, and came up with some interesting ways to keep the water inside the bin while using pipes and funnels and measuring cups.

Thank you so much to Catherine's mom who was our awesome Mystery Reader this week. Thank you as well to Stella's and Matthew's moms who helped in the Computer Lab. When there are no volunteers for the computer lab or pizza lunch or other volunteer slots, it is often our amazing Grade Parents Theresa and Mary who fill in the gaps and volunteer their time. I can't thank them enough for all their time and energy! Thank you Mary and Theresa.

Our Popcorn words this week were DID and SOME.

If you would like your child to purchase books at the Book Fair next week, please send in money in a baggie with your child's name clearly marked. Thank you. Group Two Library goes on the 25th, Group ONE Library goes on the 27th. Computer Lab times remain the same. Window shopping is fine too and reinforces the concept of saving money :)

Please return your child's permission forms for Springridge Farms by the 25th along with a cheque for 23.00 payable to LKS (which is a combined cost of the Artist visit on May 31 and the Field Trip). Several parents have already indicated they would like to volunteer. Please kindly note that priority will be given to those parents who have not volunteered on the Scientist-in-the-Classroom Day. Names will be drawn from a hat and those parents will be notified. Thank you so much for offering your time and energy!

As the Senior Kindergarten Graduation Day approaches, I will start compiling all the lovely photos of the kids' learning to make the year-end DVD. SK PARENTS ONLY, please send in a photo of your child as a baby so I can add it to the DVD. Please send in a hard copy; do not email it to me. Thank you. I will scan it and return it to you. Please send this in by JUNE 14 at the very latest. Thank you.

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!