Dear families,
I hope you're enjoying the gorgeous Spring weather today or are at least watching the Masters indoors!
Last week we continued our Inquiry on Ocean Life, learning about Pufferfish and Jellyfish. They made awesome "Jellyfish in a Bottle" with Miss. Santiago, the SKs made jellyfish from clear plastic for our bulletin board, and the JKs will make floating Man-O-War Jellyfish. With their Reading Buddies they completed Seahorse and Jellyfish adjective/fact sheets. We watched awesome BBC Earth videos about Pufferfish and Jellyfish including an amazing video of a Japanese Pufferfish making a nest with amazing precision. The children drew their own pufferfish and nests and also made a larger one for the bulletin board display. We also tried a toothpick/water experiment in which the 10 toothpicks moved to form a star. The children are starting to decorate their dioramas with ocean objects. Exciting!
Thank you so much to Ethan who brought in a shark's jaw and to Kate who brought in a real starfish! The kids loved touching them and looking closely at them! Thank you also to Sebastian's dad who told me about the "jellyfish cam" and the "live shark cam" at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium! We will look at these tomorrow!
Thank you to Ethan's dad who was our Mystery Reader and to Hannah who shared her awesome Ocean Book with the class. Maya brought in her "Littlest Mermaid" book and Menaal shared her seashells and Mermaid book with her friends.
On Thursday we watched a terrific presentation about Birds of Prey by the Mountsberg Raptor Centre in Halton. The children saw and learned about the American Kestrel, the Red-tailed Hawk and the Great Horned Owl, and then drew a picture and wrote about the presentation.
We also started learning about (JKs) and reviewing (SKs) 3D Shapes in the man-made and natural world, for example the puffer fish becomes a sphere, an aquarium is a rectangular prism, an owl's eye is a cylinder and so on. It was great hearing the children use this knowledge in conversation, such as "My lunch bag is a cube" "My yogurt cup is a cylinder" and "The bubbles in Bubbles' tank are spheres." Please encourage your child to describe objects with this vocabulary.
To celebrate Earth Day which is April 22nd, I sent a note home about making a toy or object our of recycled materials. We reuse and repurpose a lot of objects in Kindergarten! Our Mystery Object (a daffodil bulb) sprouted roots and leaves but didn't bloom. Maybe it needed soil!
Next week we will continue our Ocean Inquiry, learning about Mollusks and Sea Shells, which is a terrific way to talk about living vs. non-living things. We'll also be learning about Sand, which will end our Inquiry (did you notice we went from Largest to Smallest, starting with the Blue Whale?). We'll also celebrate Spring with a Craft Party! Thank you in advance to the parents who have volunteered for this fun day!
That's the news for this week :)
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Week of March 27-31
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the gorgeous weather today! What a change from last week when the kids had to put their snow coats on!
Last week we continued our inquiry about The Ocean. The children learned about starfish and sea horses, made them from paper and wrote about them. We read Eric Carle's book "Mr. Seahorse" and learned about other ocean animals in which the dad takes care of the babies like sea horses do. The children also made clay starfish and positioned them on real shells to dry for their dioramas. They are also making puzzles from their big Ocean colouring page. Because (most) Starfish have five arms, the children played at a "Make Five" Centre, too this week. We watched National Geographic Kids videos about Sea Stars and Sea Horses. With our Reading Buddies we completed a Starfish adjective chart and also started classifying ocean animals into the categories of mollusks, crustaceans, fish, mammals, invertebrates and sea birds. Next week we will learn more about invertebrates (the jellyfish!) and mollusks, which leads nicely into a discussion about living and non-living things (mollusks vs. sea shells). The kids also made as many words as they could with the letters in the word SUBMARINE and STARFISH, and did a word search with ocean words beginning with the letter "S."
Friday was a CRAZY day because it was Crazy Hair Day at LKS, Pizza Day (thank you parent volunteers Elea's mom and Phoebe's mom!) and the Sharing Assembly (congratulations to Ellie, Riley and Sarah who received well-deserved certificates for Honesty!).
A friendly reminder that April's Scholastic orders are due on Monday. The words of the week were WHAT and NEW, like "What's new?"
Thank you so much to Maddie's grandpa who brought in a Conch Shell (wow!), to Ruby who brought tiny seashells, Hudson who shared his Sea Turtle from Chile, and Jackson's Dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
In Friday's mailbag there was the new April Words and Homework Bingo.
Next week we'll continue our inquiry on the Ocean! Thank you for bringing in clear plastic bottles (with lids!) for our jellyfish activity which we will start this week!
That's the news from Room 166. I hope you have a great week!
I hope you are enjoying the gorgeous weather today! What a change from last week when the kids had to put their snow coats on!
Last week we continued our inquiry about The Ocean. The children learned about starfish and sea horses, made them from paper and wrote about them. We read Eric Carle's book "Mr. Seahorse" and learned about other ocean animals in which the dad takes care of the babies like sea horses do. The children also made clay starfish and positioned them on real shells to dry for their dioramas. They are also making puzzles from their big Ocean colouring page. Because (most) Starfish have five arms, the children played at a "Make Five" Centre, too this week. We watched National Geographic Kids videos about Sea Stars and Sea Horses. With our Reading Buddies we completed a Starfish adjective chart and also started classifying ocean animals into the categories of mollusks, crustaceans, fish, mammals, invertebrates and sea birds. Next week we will learn more about invertebrates (the jellyfish!) and mollusks, which leads nicely into a discussion about living and non-living things (mollusks vs. sea shells). The kids also made as many words as they could with the letters in the word SUBMARINE and STARFISH, and did a word search with ocean words beginning with the letter "S."
Friday was a CRAZY day because it was Crazy Hair Day at LKS, Pizza Day (thank you parent volunteers Elea's mom and Phoebe's mom!) and the Sharing Assembly (congratulations to Ellie, Riley and Sarah who received well-deserved certificates for Honesty!).
A friendly reminder that April's Scholastic orders are due on Monday. The words of the week were WHAT and NEW, like "What's new?"
Thank you so much to Maddie's grandpa who brought in a Conch Shell (wow!), to Ruby who brought tiny seashells, Hudson who shared his Sea Turtle from Chile, and Jackson's Dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
In Friday's mailbag there was the new April Words and Homework Bingo.
Next week we'll continue our inquiry on the Ocean! Thank you for bringing in clear plastic bottles (with lids!) for our jellyfish activity which we will start this week!
That's the news from Room 166. I hope you have a great week!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Week of March 20-24
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying this windy Sunday! A big WELCOME to our new SK student Nathan and his family!
I'll start with all the "Thank Yous" this week: Thank you to Ella, William, and Alex for bringing in and sharing books about the Ocean; Alex, for bringing in ROM coloring sheets from the whale exhibit; Ruby for sharing her ocean puzzle; Sarah, Andrew and Menaal for bringing in sand from their holiday which their classmates will use in their dioramas; Ellie for bringing in shells and sand from her Florida trip; Rielle and Andrew for bringing in shells; Maddie's mom who was our Mystery Reader; and Ruby for collating this month's Scholastic Order! This Scholastic order is due on April 3.
This week we learned two new poems - about Crabs and Lobsters - and circled the "popcorn" (sight) words. They also helped me complete two schema/new learning/misconceptions charts about the octopus and crab. With their Reading Buddies, the children wrote what octopi HAVE, CAN (do) and EAT, and also wrote facts and adjectives about them. We watched National Geographic Kids videos about crabs and octopi.
The children have been asking some awesome questions during this inquiry which led to a great discussion about under-water volcanoes and ocean oil rigs! I have a chunk of lava in the science centre along with shells and sand. In the Computer Lab the children followed up these discussions with more learning about volcanoes and ocean life.
On Friday they started their Glyphs, which reinforce basic numeracy concepts. The children are making a picture/puppet of themselves based on the following criteria: boy/girl; age; whether they prefer the ocean or a pool; and they favourite beach toy. Look for them on display soon in our classroom!
That's the news this week from Room 166. I hope you have a terrific week!
I hope you are enjoying this windy Sunday! A big WELCOME to our new SK student Nathan and his family!
I'll start with all the "Thank Yous" this week: Thank you to Ella, William, and Alex for bringing in and sharing books about the Ocean; Alex, for bringing in ROM coloring sheets from the whale exhibit; Ruby for sharing her ocean puzzle; Sarah, Andrew and Menaal for bringing in sand from their holiday which their classmates will use in their dioramas; Ellie for bringing in shells and sand from her Florida trip; Rielle and Andrew for bringing in shells; Maddie's mom who was our Mystery Reader; and Ruby for collating this month's Scholastic Order! This Scholastic order is due on April 3.
This week we learned two new poems - about Crabs and Lobsters - and circled the "popcorn" (sight) words. They also helped me complete two schema/new learning/misconceptions charts about the octopus and crab. With their Reading Buddies, the children wrote what octopi HAVE, CAN (do) and EAT, and also wrote facts and adjectives about them. We watched National Geographic Kids videos about crabs and octopi.
The children have been asking some awesome questions during this inquiry which led to a great discussion about under-water volcanoes and ocean oil rigs! I have a chunk of lava in the science centre along with shells and sand. In the Computer Lab the children followed up these discussions with more learning about volcanoes and ocean life.
On Friday they started their Glyphs, which reinforce basic numeracy concepts. The children are making a picture/puppet of themselves based on the following criteria: boy/girl; age; whether they prefer the ocean or a pool; and they favourite beach toy. Look for them on display soon in our classroom!
That's the news this week from Room 166. I hope you have a terrific week!
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Week of March 6-10
Dear families,
Last week we continued our inquiry on the Ocean! We read and coloured a booklet called "In the Deep Blue Sea" and have started to decorate the hall bulletin board with ocean life. The children first each painted a large piece of paper blue, and that is our background for the bulletin board. They have finished making Blue Whales and Orcas and have started making sharks! They will be learning and writing about Octopi, Crustaceans, Seahorses, Jellyfish, Mollusks and Sand, and we'll add their work to the board as well go along. It will be awesome! Some of the children said they were going to a beach for the March Break so I gave them little bags to bring some sand back - that will go in their dioramas and they can share it with their friends for their dioramas, too.
We read lots of fiction and non-fiction books about ocean life, whales and sharks, including the classic "Amos and Boris." Our science centre has shells, sand, a sea sponge, coral, a sand dollar, a bracelet made of shell, a real sea horse, a horseshoe crab, and a shark tooth in it!
The children are learning several poems about ocean animals and the ocean. This week they learned "Smiley Shark" and "I'm a Great Big Whale." With their Reading Buddies, they filled out a shark adjective chart, and wrote what sharks CAN (do), HAVE, and EAT. We also watched National Geographic Kids videos about humpback whales, sharks and Orcas, and learned the word "diversity." They listened to the sound of ocean waves during quiet time, and during quiet time they took turns working with us on their bulletin board art. The children helped fill out a Shark Chart with SCHEMA (what they already know), NEW LEARNING ("there are over 400 different kinds of sharks) (sharks have cartilage, not bones) (baby sharks are called pups!) and MISCONCEPTIONS (i.e. "sharks are mean").
Thank you to Sebastian for bringing in an Ocean book; Catherine for bringing in a mermaid puzzle; Ella for sharing her sea turtle stuffy and shell; Rielle for sharing her sea shells; Alex for bringing in amazing photos of the ocean life he saw in Hawaii (a starfish, whale, and dolphins!); Maddie for sharing her stuffy dolphin; and Kate for the postcards she brought from Mexico. Thank you as well to Michai's mom who was our Mystery Reader; Adam from Ms. Kim's class who brought in an amazing painting he made of a real hammerhead shark he saw; and my former students Carly and Lola for pair-share reading "Shark Trouble."
The words of the week are SAY and WITH. Before we said goodbye for the March Break, the children shared their guesses about a "mystery object" (a daffodil bulb :)). We put the mystery object in some water and will revisit our observations and predictions when we come back after the break.
I hope you have a lovely holiday with your wonderful kids - when we come back it will officially be Spring!!
Last week we continued our inquiry on the Ocean! We read and coloured a booklet called "In the Deep Blue Sea" and have started to decorate the hall bulletin board with ocean life. The children first each painted a large piece of paper blue, and that is our background for the bulletin board. They have finished making Blue Whales and Orcas and have started making sharks! They will be learning and writing about Octopi, Crustaceans, Seahorses, Jellyfish, Mollusks and Sand, and we'll add their work to the board as well go along. It will be awesome! Some of the children said they were going to a beach for the March Break so I gave them little bags to bring some sand back - that will go in their dioramas and they can share it with their friends for their dioramas, too.
We read lots of fiction and non-fiction books about ocean life, whales and sharks, including the classic "Amos and Boris." Our science centre has shells, sand, a sea sponge, coral, a sand dollar, a bracelet made of shell, a real sea horse, a horseshoe crab, and a shark tooth in it!
The children are learning several poems about ocean animals and the ocean. This week they learned "Smiley Shark" and "I'm a Great Big Whale." With their Reading Buddies, they filled out a shark adjective chart, and wrote what sharks CAN (do), HAVE, and EAT. We also watched National Geographic Kids videos about humpback whales, sharks and Orcas, and learned the word "diversity." They listened to the sound of ocean waves during quiet time, and during quiet time they took turns working with us on their bulletin board art. The children helped fill out a Shark Chart with SCHEMA (what they already know), NEW LEARNING ("there are over 400 different kinds of sharks) (sharks have cartilage, not bones) (baby sharks are called pups!) and MISCONCEPTIONS (i.e. "sharks are mean").
Thank you to Sebastian for bringing in an Ocean book; Catherine for bringing in a mermaid puzzle; Ella for sharing her sea turtle stuffy and shell; Rielle for sharing her sea shells; Alex for bringing in amazing photos of the ocean life he saw in Hawaii (a starfish, whale, and dolphins!); Maddie for sharing her stuffy dolphin; and Kate for the postcards she brought from Mexico. Thank you as well to Michai's mom who was our Mystery Reader; Adam from Ms. Kim's class who brought in an amazing painting he made of a real hammerhead shark he saw; and my former students Carly and Lola for pair-share reading "Shark Trouble."
The words of the week are SAY and WITH. Before we said goodbye for the March Break, the children shared their guesses about a "mystery object" (a daffodil bulb :)). We put the mystery object in some water and will revisit our observations and predictions when we come back after the break.
I hope you have a lovely holiday with your wonderful kids - when we come back it will officially be Spring!!
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Week of February 27 - March 3
Dear families,
This week we started our inquiry on THE OCEAN! We started small - by learning about our classroom fish, Bubbles the Betta fish :) We went went BIG by learning about the biggest creature on Earth, the Blue Whale! We watched a National Geographic video about the Ocean and about Blue Whales, and played in various classroom centres: tracing blue whales, making a 3-D Blue whale, doing a large ocean puzzle (thank you Ruby for sharing that with us!), writing Blue Whale facts and adjectives, reading ocean and whale books (thank you Alex for sharing books with us!), counting and sorting sea shells on ten-frames (thank you Ella and Alexandra for bringing in extras!), playing pirates and ocean animals in the dramatic centre, doing a blue whale crossword puzzle, labeling a blue whale, and putting together small ocean puzzles. The kids also made 3-letter words in a "There are words in my submarine" centre. During quiet time the children listened to real whale sounds. In Numeracy, the children counted goldfish in groups of 2, 5 and 10 and also added goldfish together. The they ate them :)
We also started our Ocean dioramas - thank you for bringing in shoe boxes for this project. If you have extras we would really appreciate them! The children painted the inside of their shoe boxes and we will be creating a 3-D diorama with each of the ocean animals we learn about. This ties in nicely to the Kindergarten Curriculum expectation of learning about 3-D shapes. We are learning a song called "In the Ocean" and will be learning several poems about ocean animals during this inquiry, copies of which will be sent home. With our Reading Buddies, we wrote what Blue Whales CAN (do), HAVE and EAT, and read a booklet called "In the Deep Blue Sea." In the Computer Lab, the children are learning more about oceans on "Pebble Go." ***This March Break at the ROM there is a special exhibition on WHALES*** - I'm sure the kids would LOVE to see it!!! www.rom.on.ca
The kids had a great time on Wednesday's Field Trip to see Musician Jack Grunsky. Thank you so much to Andrew's mom and Michai's dad for volunteering!! Thank you also to my former students Izzie and Nathalie for reading to the class, to the Grade 8 students who read with the kids each day during home room, and to Jackson's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
The children are also making super-cute Leprechaun masks for St. Patrick's Day. Thank you Miss. Santiago for assisting the kids with this!
Next week we will continue our inquiry into oceans, and will learn about Orcas and Sharks!
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you are having a great Sunday.
This week we started our inquiry on THE OCEAN! We started small - by learning about our classroom fish, Bubbles the Betta fish :) We went went BIG by learning about the biggest creature on Earth, the Blue Whale! We watched a National Geographic video about the Ocean and about Blue Whales, and played in various classroom centres: tracing blue whales, making a 3-D Blue whale, doing a large ocean puzzle (thank you Ruby for sharing that with us!), writing Blue Whale facts and adjectives, reading ocean and whale books (thank you Alex for sharing books with us!), counting and sorting sea shells on ten-frames (thank you Ella and Alexandra for bringing in extras!), playing pirates and ocean animals in the dramatic centre, doing a blue whale crossword puzzle, labeling a blue whale, and putting together small ocean puzzles. The kids also made 3-letter words in a "There are words in my submarine" centre. During quiet time the children listened to real whale sounds. In Numeracy, the children counted goldfish in groups of 2, 5 and 10 and also added goldfish together. The they ate them :)
We also started our Ocean dioramas - thank you for bringing in shoe boxes for this project. If you have extras we would really appreciate them! The children painted the inside of their shoe boxes and we will be creating a 3-D diorama with each of the ocean animals we learn about. This ties in nicely to the Kindergarten Curriculum expectation of learning about 3-D shapes. We are learning a song called "In the Ocean" and will be learning several poems about ocean animals during this inquiry, copies of which will be sent home. With our Reading Buddies, we wrote what Blue Whales CAN (do), HAVE and EAT, and read a booklet called "In the Deep Blue Sea." In the Computer Lab, the children are learning more about oceans on "Pebble Go." ***This March Break at the ROM there is a special exhibition on WHALES*** - I'm sure the kids would LOVE to see it!!! www.rom.on.ca
The kids had a great time on Wednesday's Field Trip to see Musician Jack Grunsky. Thank you so much to Andrew's mom and Michai's dad for volunteering!! Thank you also to my former students Izzie and Nathalie for reading to the class, to the Grade 8 students who read with the kids each day during home room, and to Jackson's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week!
The children are also making super-cute Leprechaun masks for St. Patrick's Day. Thank you Miss. Santiago for assisting the kids with this!
Next week we will continue our inquiry into oceans, and will learn about Orcas and Sharks!
That's the news from Room 166 - I hope you are having a great Sunday.
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