Dear families,
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! The words of the week were ZOO, ZEBRA and ZERO. Our parent volunteer this week was Ayla's dad, who was our Mystery Reader!
The kids started out their week by writing and drawing a picture about Springfest! If they didn't go to Springfest, they wrote about their weekend.
This week we learned about parts of plants we eat, for example the stalk or stem (celery), flower (broccoli), leaves (lettuce), root (carrot) and seeds (sunflower). We also learned about the Five Food Groups (Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy and Protein), and completed a puzzle, writing the words and drawing pictures of examples of foods in those food groups.
They kids completed a pattern book called "Summer, Summer," and we are learning (remembering) about how to stay safe and healthy this summer (wear a PDF, wear a hat and sunscreen, wear proper footwear, for example). We also started some writing called "When I grow up..."
The SKs are very excited to be able to play in the "big kids' playground" as they get ready for Grade One!
We also practised our Sharing Assembly song on the stage for the first time, and also performed it for our Reading Buddies!
We are busy making Father's Day gifts for next weekend, too! Shhhhh!
As we prepare to say goodbye at the end of the month, we are reminding the children that behaviour expectations are the same in June as they were in September. Please also remember that your child needs safe outdoor play footwear such as running shoes. No flip flops please.
Exciting news from the Kindergarten playground!!! Two of the Robin's eggs have hatched! I took a photo and showed the children. Please keep a distance away from the nest if your child is in the playground on the weekend.
That's the news for this week! Tomorrow is a PA day for report card writing. We will see you on Monday!
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Week of May 27-31
Dear families,
We had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were FUN and FRIEND. This week we continued our inquiry on plants and seeds, and learned how dandelions grow. We also wrote a book with our Reading Buddies about how our sunflower seeds germinated and will (eventually!) grow into tall sunflower plants. This is all connected to learning about various Life Cycles, such as that of the butterfly which we learned in our previous inquiry. We planted our two extra sunflowers (egg cup and all) in our Kindergarten garden. We also learned about all the things that are in a garden - not just plants, but various flying pollinators, birds and nests, toads, worms, and insects! The children learned two poems called "What the Robin Told" and "A Little Seed." We are also learning about the many parts of plants we eat. The children also completed a colouring task demonstrating their understanding of symmetry, making both halves of the butterfly the same.
On Monday the children noticed the amazing Robin nest in our Kindergarten playground. This brave Robin is sitting on three beautiful blue eggs, and we spent a day learning about Robins, and watched a video about how the mother and father will take care of the chicks after they hatch! What an exciting thing for the children to have nature literally at our doorstep! They did a terrific job drawing a picture of the nest and are very respectful of the mother bird and know to not touch the nest or get too close.
The children also completed their "This is Me in May" drawing and writing, as well as their calendar. Shay played two songs for us on his beautiful violin, Ethan played us a song on the piano, and Rajan played the piano too! A big congratulations to Anilee, Ethan, Seth, and Shay for demonstrating the TDSB Character Trait of Integrity. Thank you as well to Olivia's mom who was this week's Mystery Reader!
Finally, we made still life paintings of real lilacs - the children were instructed to paint what they saw, and the paintings are beautiful and interesting!
I hope you have a wonderful time at Springfest if you are going! Have a wonderful weekend!
We had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were FUN and FRIEND. This week we continued our inquiry on plants and seeds, and learned how dandelions grow. We also wrote a book with our Reading Buddies about how our sunflower seeds germinated and will (eventually!) grow into tall sunflower plants. This is all connected to learning about various Life Cycles, such as that of the butterfly which we learned in our previous inquiry. We planted our two extra sunflowers (egg cup and all) in our Kindergarten garden. We also learned about all the things that are in a garden - not just plants, but various flying pollinators, birds and nests, toads, worms, and insects! The children learned two poems called "What the Robin Told" and "A Little Seed." We are also learning about the many parts of plants we eat. The children also completed a colouring task demonstrating their understanding of symmetry, making both halves of the butterfly the same.
On Monday the children noticed the amazing Robin nest in our Kindergarten playground. This brave Robin is sitting on three beautiful blue eggs, and we spent a day learning about Robins, and watched a video about how the mother and father will take care of the chicks after they hatch! What an exciting thing for the children to have nature literally at our doorstep! They did a terrific job drawing a picture of the nest and are very respectful of the mother bird and know to not touch the nest or get too close.
The children also completed their "This is Me in May" drawing and writing, as well as their calendar. Shay played two songs for us on his beautiful violin, Ethan played us a song on the piano, and Rajan played the piano too! A big congratulations to Anilee, Ethan, Seth, and Shay for demonstrating the TDSB Character Trait of Integrity. Thank you as well to Olivia's mom who was this week's Mystery Reader!
Finally, we made still life paintings of real lilacs - the children were instructed to paint what they saw, and the paintings are beautiful and interesting!
I hope you have a wonderful time at Springfest if you are going! Have a wonderful weekend!
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Week of May 20-24
Dear families,
Happy weekend!
The words of the week were WOULD and THEY. Thank you to our Mystery Reader this week, Kipling’s mom! The children also enjoyed a visit from author Deborah Kerbel, who wrote the lovely book “Sun Dog.”
In Friday’s mailbag you will find all the children’s learning about insects! We finished this inquiry this week, learning about metamorphosis, hives, bees, beeswax, and honey! The children “made” the cells of a hive using a hexagram block, practiced their symmetry skills by drawing the second half of a butterfly, watched Science Show Kid’s videos on metamorphosis and bees, and watched a “Magic School Bus” episode about bees.
We also read Eric Carle’s lovely book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” practising our retell skills and playing in a Very Hungry Caterpillar centre. The kids also wrote a little book.
This week the children’s sunflowers successfully germinated and sprouted, and the kids brought their egg cups home to plant in your garden or a large pot, in a sunny spot! In our classroom, we also planted a pea from Hope’s snack that had germinated!
Next week we will continue our learning about plants.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Go Raptors!
Happy weekend!
The words of the week were WOULD and THEY. Thank you to our Mystery Reader this week, Kipling’s mom! The children also enjoyed a visit from author Deborah Kerbel, who wrote the lovely book “Sun Dog.”
In Friday’s mailbag you will find all the children’s learning about insects! We finished this inquiry this week, learning about metamorphosis, hives, bees, beeswax, and honey! The children “made” the cells of a hive using a hexagram block, practiced their symmetry skills by drawing the second half of a butterfly, watched Science Show Kid’s videos on metamorphosis and bees, and watched a “Magic School Bus” episode about bees.
We also read Eric Carle’s lovely book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” practising our retell skills and playing in a Very Hungry Caterpillar centre. The kids also wrote a little book.
This week the children’s sunflowers successfully germinated and sprouted, and the kids brought their egg cups home to plant in your garden or a large pot, in a sunny spot! In our classroom, we also planted a pea from Hope’s snack that had germinated!
Next week we will continue our learning about plants.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Go Raptors!
Friday, May 17, 2019
Week of May 13-17
Dear families,
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your weekend! The weather is beautiful!
This week was another busy one! The words of the week are DID and SOME. We had a wonderful trip to Reptilia, and the children saw so many small and big reptiles! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers: the wonderful moms of Evelyn, Casey and Reina! They did a follow up activity with their reading buddies, drawing turtles and other reptiles.
The children also enjoyed going to the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library.
We have started to learn about how plants grow (after the pistol has been pollinated by the pollen on the stamen and then makes seeds!), and the children have all filled their empty eggs with potting soil and planted a sunflower seed. We are tracking what happens to them each day. We also planted a sunflower seed in a little sealed bag with soil and water (like a mini terrarium). This sunflower seed pollinated quickly! A bpacket of sunflower seeds is in your child's mail bag to plant at home!
We also learned about pollination and bees. The children watched short educational videos about pollinators and parts of flowers, and they are taking a closer look at a real tulip and the pollen on the stamen. Then they are putting a bit of white glue on a diagram of a bee, and then sprinkling "pollen" on the bee's legs. They also did a dot-to-dot number picture of a bee hive.
The children also enjoyed taking apart a big Paper Wasp nest, and looking at the "cells" inside. We also looked at their friends through a view finder to see how insects see, with compound eyes. Then they drew their friends faces many times, just like an insect would see.
The children really enjoyed playing "Hangman" with Mrs. Mosun, guessing the names of different insects. We also compared insects and spiders. The children will finish their Insect Inquiry and folders when we come back next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your weekend! The weather is beautiful!
This week was another busy one! The words of the week are DID and SOME. We had a wonderful trip to Reptilia, and the children saw so many small and big reptiles! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers: the wonderful moms of Evelyn, Casey and Reina! They did a follow up activity with their reading buddies, drawing turtles and other reptiles.
The children also enjoyed going to the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library.
We have started to learn about how plants grow (after the pistol has been pollinated by the pollen on the stamen and then makes seeds!), and the children have all filled their empty eggs with potting soil and planted a sunflower seed. We are tracking what happens to them each day. We also planted a sunflower seed in a little sealed bag with soil and water (like a mini terrarium). This sunflower seed pollinated quickly! A bpacket of sunflower seeds is in your child's mail bag to plant at home!
We also learned about pollination and bees. The children watched short educational videos about pollinators and parts of flowers, and they are taking a closer look at a real tulip and the pollen on the stamen. Then they are putting a bit of white glue on a diagram of a bee, and then sprinkling "pollen" on the bee's legs. They also did a dot-to-dot number picture of a bee hive.
The children also enjoyed taking apart a big Paper Wasp nest, and looking at the "cells" inside. We also looked at their friends through a view finder to see how insects see, with compound eyes. Then they drew their friends faces many times, just like an insect would see.
The children really enjoyed playing "Hangman" with Mrs. Mosun, guessing the names of different insects. We also compared insects and spiders. The children will finish their Insect Inquiry and folders when we come back next week.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, May 10, 2019
Week of May 6-10
Dear families,
Happy Mother's Day! Your children have two special gifts to give you on Sunday :). I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday! You deserve it!
This week we continued our inquiry on Insects! We learned facts about the firefly and the praying mantis. We also watched a Binoc episode about mosquitoes and a Magic School Bus episode about insects. We watched a Binoc episode about fireflies, and read Eric Carle's lovely book "The Very Lonely Firefly." The children made firefly and praying mantis puppets. With their reading buddies, the kids read and coloured a little book I made called "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What do you See?," following the pattern of Eric Carle's beloved book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." Pattern books (books with repeated words, phrases on each page), are an important step in teaching children to read, and they give children a feeling of success because the patterns are easily followed. The children also made a pattern booklet called "Is it an Insect?" and learned about which creatures eat insects, and what insects eat. They are also learning about where they live and how they build their homes.
We continue to do Mindful Meditation every day during Quiet Time, and this week they did Cosmic Kids Yoga "Fairy Floss" and "Frozen" episodes. They enjoyed holding onto feathers and pompoms to help refocus their minds and be calm.
We have also started to rehearse for the June 21st Sharing Assembly! I think the children are enjoying learning how to and teaching their friends how to say "Hello" in their native language and the language of their ancestors!
Our Mystery Reader this week was Chris' father - thank you! Thank you as well to the moms of Abigail, Emma, twins Estella and Simonne, Kipling and Reina for assisting the children during the Art in Action Artist visit!
The words of the week were THERE and THAT. We are also working on the double letter sounds TH, SH and CH. These double letter sounds occur in many English words.
This Wednesday is our field trip to Reptilia. Please remember to pack two snacks and a litterless lunch.
This Thursday, May 16 is the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. Don't forget to send money in a plastic baggie with your child's name on it, if you wish your child to purchase a book.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a lovely weekend and I wish you a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!!
Happy Mother's Day! Your children have two special gifts to give you on Sunday :). I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday! You deserve it!
This week we continued our inquiry on Insects! We learned facts about the firefly and the praying mantis. We also watched a Binoc episode about mosquitoes and a Magic School Bus episode about insects. We watched a Binoc episode about fireflies, and read Eric Carle's lovely book "The Very Lonely Firefly." The children made firefly and praying mantis puppets. With their reading buddies, the kids read and coloured a little book I made called "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What do you See?," following the pattern of Eric Carle's beloved book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." Pattern books (books with repeated words, phrases on each page), are an important step in teaching children to read, and they give children a feeling of success because the patterns are easily followed. The children also made a pattern booklet called "Is it an Insect?" and learned about which creatures eat insects, and what insects eat. They are also learning about where they live and how they build their homes.
We continue to do Mindful Meditation every day during Quiet Time, and this week they did Cosmic Kids Yoga "Fairy Floss" and "Frozen" episodes. They enjoyed holding onto feathers and pompoms to help refocus their minds and be calm.
We have also started to rehearse for the June 21st Sharing Assembly! I think the children are enjoying learning how to and teaching their friends how to say "Hello" in their native language and the language of their ancestors!
Our Mystery Reader this week was Chris' father - thank you! Thank you as well to the moms of Abigail, Emma, twins Estella and Simonne, Kipling and Reina for assisting the children during the Art in Action Artist visit!
The words of the week were THERE and THAT. We are also working on the double letter sounds TH, SH and CH. These double letter sounds occur in many English words.
This Wednesday is our field trip to Reptilia. Please remember to pack two snacks and a litterless lunch.
This Thursday, May 16 is the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. Don't forget to send money in a plastic baggie with your child's name on it, if you wish your child to purchase a book.
That's the news for this week! I hope you have a lovely weekend and I wish you a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!!
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