Week of January 8-12

Dear families,

Welcome back to school! I hope you had a wonderful holiday in spite of the freezing temperatures! We did a graph about which toys Santa brought and the most was "Hatchimals!" Thank goodness the cold snap is over and the kids can enjoy their time outside.

Last week we started our inquiry on Germs and Healthy Habits. We talk throughout the year about good hand hygiene, but now that winter is here it's a good time for a refresher on keeping germs away. To start things off, I put hand sanitizer and glitter on my hand and shook all the kids' hands to demonstrate how easily germs are spread. We watched a "Sid the Science Kid" called "the Journey of a Germ," read a book with our Reading Buddies about germs, read other books about germs, talked about what germs CAN, HAVE and DO, created a web chart called "Stay Away Germs!," put germ stickers around the classroom, glued pictures of germs on paper hands, sang "If You're Healthy and You Know It" and "Wash Your Hands," and are reading and colouring booklets called "Germs are Ick, They Make Me Sick." We also passed around two pieces of bread (with no preservatives!) and the last child coughed on it. We put it in a baggie beside identical pieces of bread that I put in the bag wearing gloves, and we'll watch what happens as the germs and bacteria grow! We also sequenced the steps involved in proper hand washing, and talked about healthy food versus junk food. Dr. Vivian Wong (Elea's mom) has very kindly offered to talk to the kids about staying healthy. She will come in Monday morning, and we will finish our inquiry next week. PLEASE remind your children to keep their hands out of their mouths (whether it's nail biting or in their mouth or nose) so that we can all stay as healthy as possible. When children do this in the classroom they are asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer. Thank you.

In Numeracy, we also completed a STEM activity based on The Gingerbread Man. First we read the story. The children helped me figure out how to divide the class into three equal groups using tally marks, and then each group had a separate building task. Group One had to build a bridge, Group Two had to build a boat, and Group Three had to build a hideout. The children communicated and worked cooperatively to complete their task, and then explained how they did it. Great work!

We had a fantastic snowfall at the end of the day on Friday and the children "caught" snowflakes on black paper and looked at them through magnifying glasses. Some of the centres that the children will be working in are making snowflakes, looking at actual photographs of snowflakes and drawing them,

The words of the week were COME and LOOK. Our Jolly Phonics sounds were M and D and L.

The kids are really enjoying doing "Cosmic Kids Yoga!" They did a Star Wars one, a Penguin One, a Polar Bears one and a Christmas one.

The children also enjoyed our scheduled time in the gym. We played Duck Duck Goose, Mrs. Mosun lead them on a Bear Hunt, and they "skated" on pieces of paper. They love our time in the gym. Thank you Mr. Currie for providing this time for the Kindergarten classes. Please remember that your child needs running shoes in order to participate in gym activities.

The next Scholastic Order is due on January 26. Thank you so much to Maya's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!

Next week we will start a Jan Brett Author Study, starting with the beautiful story "The Mitten." We will also be learning a lot more about winter, and I am preparing a special unit on The Winter Olympics which are February 9-25. Go Team Canada!

That's the news for this week! I hope you have a terrific weekend!