It was a busy week in our room! We read and coloured a book called "I Love You" and the children should be able to read it to you at home on Valentine's day. They also made a heart-shaped window hanger for you. This week the children coloured a heart-shaped puzzle, reading the colour words. They can cut the puzzle at home and practise putting it back together. They also completed the sentence "A friend is..." and drew an accompanying picture. These are displayed in the school hallway.
The children really enjoyed writing Valentine cards in our little Valentine Post Office, and reading various Valentine-themed words with their Reading Buddies, then drawing the pictures.
Our Valentine's party was a great success - thank you so much to the wonderful parent volunteers: Elizabeth's dad (who also pinch-hitted as Mystery Reader - thank you!), and the mom's of Lauren, Dima, Iris, Claire and Christopher. A special thank you to Claire's mom who arranged for all the children to make an original acrylic painting. The kids made glitter hearts, hole-punched Valentine cards (a surprising hit!), did a lovely heart art with a heart template, a pencil, and red paint (easy and pretty!), and ate delicious snacks provided by the parent volunteers.
The homework for the Seniors is to sort all the Valentines they received into different categories and to count and graph them, then conclude which kind they had most and least of. Then they write about their graph data and draw a picture of their favourite Valentine. The Juniors can practise doing their Valentine Colour Puzzle and can practise their Popcorn Words.
We are learning the song "Tony Chestnut" and the children will sing it for you at the next Sharing Assembly on the 19th. Aaden, Stella and Theo will be receiving certificates for Honesty at this assembly. Well done!
Our new Popcorn sight words are "are" and "at." The seniors are starting a new series of mini books called "Sight Words that Stick" and I am tracking their reading progress with this series.
It was a pleasure meeting with you this week to discuss your children's progress. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns. I sent home a letter about "Kid Writing" and how children start to write. I hope it is helpful.
Next week we are starting a new Inquiry on Oceans/Ocean Animals since so many children have shared stories about their travels to warm sunny places very different from our own (especially this time of year!). In the afternoons, after our 20 minute daily quiet time, we'll also do a mini inquiry on old fashioned pirate adventures, too, just for fun and to sneak in more numeracy and literacy activities! We'll also do a mini science experiment "turning pirate treasure into "gold" by dipping old pennies into a mixture of vinegar and salt. Our next Science Inquiry (starting in about two weeks) will be "All About Germs" since we've also talked a lot about germs this time of year!
This week the children also brought home their "100 days ago I didn't know ________ but now I do!" work. Very cute! For you for Family Day, they drew lovely detailed pictures ("Mrs. Tyndall is always says she wants to see lots of details! :) ) of their family.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and wish you a very Happy Family Day!
Friday, February 13, 2015
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Week of February 9-13
Dear families,
Our focus this week was on the number 100, leading up to Friday, the 100th Day of School. We counted to 100 in various ways (by 1s, 5s and 10s), using sticks in play-doh, using small cubes, with bingo dabbers, beads, Cheerios and other snacks, and small cups. Thank you to the parent volunteers who helped out with the centres on Friday and also provided snacks: Martel's mom, Megan's dad, Olivia's dad, Theo's mom, Jack's mom, and Luca's mom. The kids had a great time and said it was "the best day ever!." On top of that, we were celebrating Christopher's birthday so the children had cupcakes! Wow.
It was interesting to observe how the children made their structures of ten cubes: some made patterns, some spelled a letter with them, some made a design/structure. If your child is still learning how to count small objects, it helps if they touch each object and say the number at the same time, so that they're making a concrete association.
Monday was all about Groundhogs - what they looked like, habitat, etc., and we did a maze, sequencing activity, made a hat and made a word book.
On February 18th at 12:30 we are having a visit from the Brentwood Librarian. If you haven't been to the newly renovated Brentwood Library, it is beautiful. Much improved since when I went there as a child!
This week will be all about Valentines - writing, reading, making them for friends and family. Please remember to send in your child's Valentines by Wednesday so that they have time to put them into each child's collection bag.
I'm looking forward to speaking with you about your child's progress at next week's Parent-Teacher interviews.
I hope you have a terrific weekend!
Our focus this week was on the number 100, leading up to Friday, the 100th Day of School. We counted to 100 in various ways (by 1s, 5s and 10s), using sticks in play-doh, using small cubes, with bingo dabbers, beads, Cheerios and other snacks, and small cups. Thank you to the parent volunteers who helped out with the centres on Friday and also provided snacks: Martel's mom, Megan's dad, Olivia's dad, Theo's mom, Jack's mom, and Luca's mom. The kids had a great time and said it was "the best day ever!." On top of that, we were celebrating Christopher's birthday so the children had cupcakes! Wow.
It was interesting to observe how the children made their structures of ten cubes: some made patterns, some spelled a letter with them, some made a design/structure. If your child is still learning how to count small objects, it helps if they touch each object and say the number at the same time, so that they're making a concrete association.
Monday was all about Groundhogs - what they looked like, habitat, etc., and we did a maze, sequencing activity, made a hat and made a word book.
On February 18th at 12:30 we are having a visit from the Brentwood Librarian. If you haven't been to the newly renovated Brentwood Library, it is beautiful. Much improved since when I went there as a child!
This week will be all about Valentines - writing, reading, making them for friends and family. Please remember to send in your child's Valentines by Wednesday so that they have time to put them into each child's collection bag.
I'm looking forward to speaking with you about your child's progress at next week's Parent-Teacher interviews.
I hope you have a terrific weekend!
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Week of February 2-6
It's going to be an exciting week in Room 166! On Monday we will do lots of fun Groundhog Day-themed literacy and numeracy activities. The rest of the week will be focused on our countdown to Friday, which is the 100th Day of School! Thank you in advance to the parent volunteers who are helping out with the activities on Thursday. Look for lots of fun work in this Friday's mail bag! Next week will be all about Valentine's Day. Thank you in advance as well to the parent volunteers helping out with that craft day on Thursday.
The children have already almost finished some Groundhog day art and drawing: They cut out a glued together a groundhog face and drew pictures to match the words "6 more weeks of winter" and "spring is here."
Last week we were busy graphing, tallying and sequencing. We graphed and tallied our favourite pets and favourite colour. The children also finished the sentence with the popcorn words, "I can _____________" and drew an accompanying picture. They are terrific! Look for them on our class bulletin board.
The children also read and drew matching pictures to a little book called "I Made a Frosty Snowman."
Our Word Wall popcorn (sight) words this week were for, and went. Next week we'll do "the" and "do." After the children have made their little mini sight word books I ask them to spell the sight word for me.
Please note that the children will not be taking books out of the Library on Wednesday or Thursday since the Library computer system will be down.
Several children have brought in their 100 items in the water bottle, and wrote what they brought. These are posted in the school hall outside my door.
Subway Sub forms are due on Monday, and Subs will be served each Monday (as requested). The next Scholastic order is due February 27.
The homework for the SKs this weekend is to put the "One Little Alien" poem sentences in order. If they haven't done so in class, they are also to finish writing words from the "Aliens Love Underpants" lesson.
Your child received the names of his/her classmates to help them write their Valentines. It may be too much for the Juniors to write everyone's name, and they might want to write their own name on each Valentine. The Seniors should write both TO and FROM on their cards with the names. If you are sending in Valentine treat please ensure they are nut-free.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Theo's grandmother who read "The Runaway Bunny, Dear Zoo and Harry McLary from Donaldson's Dairy.
With our Reading Buddies this week we made a 100th Day of School Bookmark.
Have a wonderful week!
The children have already almost finished some Groundhog day art and drawing: They cut out a glued together a groundhog face and drew pictures to match the words "6 more weeks of winter" and "spring is here."
Last week we were busy graphing, tallying and sequencing. We graphed and tallied our favourite pets and favourite colour. The children also finished the sentence with the popcorn words, "I can _____________" and drew an accompanying picture. They are terrific! Look for them on our class bulletin board.
The children also read and drew matching pictures to a little book called "I Made a Frosty Snowman."
Our Word Wall popcorn (sight) words this week were for, and went. Next week we'll do "the" and "do." After the children have made their little mini sight word books I ask them to spell the sight word for me.
Please note that the children will not be taking books out of the Library on Wednesday or Thursday since the Library computer system will be down.
Several children have brought in their 100 items in the water bottle, and wrote what they brought. These are posted in the school hall outside my door.
Subway Sub forms are due on Monday, and Subs will be served each Monday (as requested). The next Scholastic order is due February 27.
The homework for the SKs this weekend is to put the "One Little Alien" poem sentences in order. If they haven't done so in class, they are also to finish writing words from the "Aliens Love Underpants" lesson.
Your child received the names of his/her classmates to help them write their Valentines. It may be too much for the Juniors to write everyone's name, and they might want to write their own name on each Valentine. The Seniors should write both TO and FROM on their cards with the names. If you are sending in Valentine treat please ensure they are nut-free.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Theo's grandmother who read "The Runaway Bunny, Dear Zoo and Harry McLary from Donaldson's Dairy.
With our Reading Buddies this week we made a 100th Day of School Bookmark.
Have a wonderful week!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Week of January 26-30
Dear families,
We are busy doing lots of things in our classroom: we're counting down to the 100th day of school (February 6), we are continuing our inquiry about measurement, tallying and graphing (which we do all year but focus on in second term), and we finished our book studies on The Snowy Day and Thomas' Snowsuit. We completed text-to-self writing (comparing the character Peter's feelings to their own) and text-to-text work. The kids did a great job!
In this week's white bag I sent home a copy of Oh Canada with sight words ("popcorn words") in bold. I'm really pleased how the children are pointing out the words they know when they are reading. I also sent home a list of common sight words, which is also known as a Dolch list, for your reference.
The JK homework for this weekend is to trace their name in upper and lower case letters. The SKs' work is to unscramble the sentences on the "There's 'snow' fooling me" page.
If you have a tape measure (the soft kind for sewing, or a paper one like IKEA has), encourage your child to measure things around the house, and to compare what they measure.
Last week's two sight words for our word wall were IN, and SEE. Please practice them and keep them in the Popcorn Word folder at home. The children are also completing mini sight word books that correspond to the two new words we put on our word wall. Look for those in their white bags too.
The next Scholastic order is due February 27. Thank you so much as always to Megan and her family for collating, date stamping and stapling all those order forms! There are some Valentines items in some of the order forms, so if you would like those earlier let me know. There is a good set of books in the Elf Order called "Guided Science Readers Set A-D" that I would recommend, and the kids might also enjoy the Disney or Superman phonics sets. I have several phonics sets that we rotate through (last week it was the Bob Books, next week it will be the Biscuit books) and the children enjoy reading them to each other.
We are also finishing our fun mini unit on Aliens! The children squished and pulled and squished yellow and blue Model Magic together until green started to appear, then rolled it into a ball to resemble Earth. Then they made a little alien out of white Model Magic, let it dry, and painted it. They look great on our classroom bulletin board. The seniors also created drew and wrote about a pattern block spaceship they designed, then counted, graphed and tallied the blocks they used to make it. They did a terrific job. Congratulations to the SKs too for coming up with over 30 words from the Aliens Wear Underpants story - making 30 words from the letters in "underpants." Silly, but fun and the kids were so thrilled to show me the words they had made with their letters. They are now working on writing out those words. You can do this with any long word. Try it at home! Games like Scrabble are terrific for this kind of exercise.
Thank you so much to our volunteers last week: Claire's dad was the ever-popular Mystery Reader, and Matthew H.'s mom helped out in the Computer Lab. Thank you so much for your time and energy.
February is always a very busy month in Kindergarten with lots of extra opportunities for learning: Groundhog Day is on the 2nd, the 100th Day of School of on the 6th, our Valentine's Craft Party is on the 12th, and Chinese New Year is on the 19th this year.
Next week we'll finish our little unit on Aliens and focus our inquiry on measurement as well as the numbers 1-100: counting by 5s and 10s, recognizing numbers in random order, correct writing of numbers and so on. We are also learning a new song/poem called The Mitten Song. Wednesday is the next Sharing Assembly and Ms. McGee and Ms. Ede-Smith will be directing the children (I will be on a field trip to the Daily Food Bank with the LKS Seeds of Hope students).
I hope you have a wonderful week!
We are busy doing lots of things in our classroom: we're counting down to the 100th day of school (February 6), we are continuing our inquiry about measurement, tallying and graphing (which we do all year but focus on in second term), and we finished our book studies on The Snowy Day and Thomas' Snowsuit. We completed text-to-self writing (comparing the character Peter's feelings to their own) and text-to-text work. The kids did a great job!
In this week's white bag I sent home a copy of Oh Canada with sight words ("popcorn words") in bold. I'm really pleased how the children are pointing out the words they know when they are reading. I also sent home a list of common sight words, which is also known as a Dolch list, for your reference.
The JK homework for this weekend is to trace their name in upper and lower case letters. The SKs' work is to unscramble the sentences on the "There's 'snow' fooling me" page.
If you have a tape measure (the soft kind for sewing, or a paper one like IKEA has), encourage your child to measure things around the house, and to compare what they measure.
Last week's two sight words for our word wall were IN, and SEE. Please practice them and keep them in the Popcorn Word folder at home. The children are also completing mini sight word books that correspond to the two new words we put on our word wall. Look for those in their white bags too.
The next Scholastic order is due February 27. Thank you so much as always to Megan and her family for collating, date stamping and stapling all those order forms! There are some Valentines items in some of the order forms, so if you would like those earlier let me know. There is a good set of books in the Elf Order called "Guided Science Readers Set A-D" that I would recommend, and the kids might also enjoy the Disney or Superman phonics sets. I have several phonics sets that we rotate through (last week it was the Bob Books, next week it will be the Biscuit books) and the children enjoy reading them to each other.
We are also finishing our fun mini unit on Aliens! The children squished and pulled and squished yellow and blue Model Magic together until green started to appear, then rolled it into a ball to resemble Earth. Then they made a little alien out of white Model Magic, let it dry, and painted it. They look great on our classroom bulletin board. The seniors also created drew and wrote about a pattern block spaceship they designed, then counted, graphed and tallied the blocks they used to make it. They did a terrific job. Congratulations to the SKs too for coming up with over 30 words from the Aliens Wear Underpants story - making 30 words from the letters in "underpants." Silly, but fun and the kids were so thrilled to show me the words they had made with their letters. They are now working on writing out those words. You can do this with any long word. Try it at home! Games like Scrabble are terrific for this kind of exercise.
Thank you so much to our volunteers last week: Claire's dad was the ever-popular Mystery Reader, and Matthew H.'s mom helped out in the Computer Lab. Thank you so much for your time and energy.
February is always a very busy month in Kindergarten with lots of extra opportunities for learning: Groundhog Day is on the 2nd, the 100th Day of School of on the 6th, our Valentine's Craft Party is on the 12th, and Chinese New Year is on the 19th this year.
Next week we'll finish our little unit on Aliens and focus our inquiry on measurement as well as the numbers 1-100: counting by 5s and 10s, recognizing numbers in random order, correct writing of numbers and so on. We are also learning a new song/poem called The Mitten Song. Wednesday is the next Sharing Assembly and Ms. McGee and Ms. Ede-Smith will be directing the children (I will be on a field trip to the Daily Food Bank with the LKS Seeds of Hope students).
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Week of January 19 - 23
Dear families,
This week we completed and wrote about our science experiment, worked more on our unit on The Snowy Day, and focused on our sight words on our word wall: I, is, can, and, am, like, me, my. Next week's Popcorn Words will be CAN and SEE.
We also did a lot of practice with tally marks, graphing and counting. We talked about text-to-self connections when we read books, and how stories can relate to our own lives. "The Snowy Day" was a perfect book for this. We also talked about how stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the children sequenced The Snowy Day. They also coloured and sequenced a little copy of The Snowy Day to take home so that they can read it to you, as well as key pictures from the story to help them with the skill of retelling the story in the correct order. The children also listened to the story with their eyes closed so that they could visualize what was happening. We also talked about making predictions and about their opinions of the story. All important literacy skills moving forward. The children will bring their folders home on Friday. Next week we'll read Munsch's funny classic "Thomas' Snowsuit" and we'll make text-to-text connections together.
We also had fun re-reading "Aliens Love Underpants" then "Aliens in Underpants Save the World." The children helped me write as many words as they could make from the word U-N-D-E-R-P-A-N-T-S which was 45! They also did that activity with letter cards at their centres.
Our "first-thing-in-the-morning" books are now Bob Books. Bob books (Scholastic) are such an excellent series to teach children to read. The kids really like them and feel so accomplished when they can read them and read them to their friends.
On the Smartboard, we focused on beginning sounds, ending sounds, and double consonant sounds. It's terrific how things are really clicking for the children!
The children played at the snowflake centres for the last few days before I changed it to a numeracy centre with small blocks.
The homework for the Juniors is to complete the counting exercise "Frosty Friends" and "It's Winter Weather." The Senior homework is to write the compound words with 'snow.'
Since the weather has been a bit mucky please have an extra pair of mitts or gloves in your child's backpack. When their mittens get wet they don't want to put them on!
Thank you very much to Anderson's mom who helped out in the Computer Lab, and to Olivia's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week.
It's not too early to start counting your child's 100 items for the 100th Day of School which is Friday, February 6. Please have your child put the items in a small water bottle. It's also not too early for your child to start writing Valentine Cards with their name "from" on each one.
On February 9 the Juniors will receive their first report card. Both Juniors and Seniors will receive another report in June. Please read the LKS Bulletin regarding online interview booking.
I hope you have a terrific week!
This week we completed and wrote about our science experiment, worked more on our unit on The Snowy Day, and focused on our sight words on our word wall: I, is, can, and, am, like, me, my. Next week's Popcorn Words will be CAN and SEE.
We also did a lot of practice with tally marks, graphing and counting. We talked about text-to-self connections when we read books, and how stories can relate to our own lives. "The Snowy Day" was a perfect book for this. We also talked about how stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the children sequenced The Snowy Day. They also coloured and sequenced a little copy of The Snowy Day to take home so that they can read it to you, as well as key pictures from the story to help them with the skill of retelling the story in the correct order. The children also listened to the story with their eyes closed so that they could visualize what was happening. We also talked about making predictions and about their opinions of the story. All important literacy skills moving forward. The children will bring their folders home on Friday. Next week we'll read Munsch's funny classic "Thomas' Snowsuit" and we'll make text-to-text connections together.
We also had fun re-reading "Aliens Love Underpants" then "Aliens in Underpants Save the World." The children helped me write as many words as they could make from the word U-N-D-E-R-P-A-N-T-S which was 45! They also did that activity with letter cards at their centres.
Our "first-thing-in-the-morning" books are now Bob Books. Bob books (Scholastic) are such an excellent series to teach children to read. The kids really like them and feel so accomplished when they can read them and read them to their friends.
On the Smartboard, we focused on beginning sounds, ending sounds, and double consonant sounds. It's terrific how things are really clicking for the children!
The children played at the snowflake centres for the last few days before I changed it to a numeracy centre with small blocks.
The homework for the Juniors is to complete the counting exercise "Frosty Friends" and "It's Winter Weather." The Senior homework is to write the compound words with 'snow.'
Since the weather has been a bit mucky please have an extra pair of mitts or gloves in your child's backpack. When their mittens get wet they don't want to put them on!
Thank you very much to Anderson's mom who helped out in the Computer Lab, and to Olivia's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week.
It's not too early to start counting your child's 100 items for the 100th Day of School which is Friday, February 6. Please have your child put the items in a small water bottle. It's also not too early for your child to start writing Valentine Cards with their name "from" on each one.
On February 9 the Juniors will receive their first report card. Both Juniors and Seniors will receive another report in June. Please read the LKS Bulletin regarding online interview booking.
I hope you have a terrific week!
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