Hello everyone and welcome to the first week of June!
Last week, the children began exploring life in a Rain Forest. We will continue our investigations this week.
In Math, the children have been reading the Big Book titled "Graphing the Rain Forest". This non-fiction book looks at the different types of animals found in the Rain Forest and also gives many different examples of how scientists track the animals they see. So far, we have looked closely at tally charts and have made several of our own! This week we will look at and make pictographs. Children will also design and administer their own surveys. They will come up with their own questions and gather and present the results using a tally chart!
In Language Arts, we will be focusing on Jan Brett's book "The Umbrella", which is set in the Rain Forest. Children will have many oppportunities to hear and discuss the story. We will be focusing on 'characters' and retelling. We will use masks and props to help us retell. Students will also be writing about their favourite part of this book. Again, please remember that 'writing' at this stage varies greatly from student to student. The focus is on encouraging the children to see the importance of writing, the different purposes it serves and ultimately, that they themselves ARE writers! At this stage, their writing might be pictures, random letters, words or sentences.
In the Arts, we will be designing and creating a cooperative Rain Forest mural using a variety of materials. We will also continue performing our "Animal Boogie" dance and we will continue exploring the classroom instruments.
Our Creative Play area has been converted into a Rain Forest Ranger Station and the students are busy under the canopy tallying the various animals and birds that they spot!
The children are doing a wonderful job with this month's Show and Share! Many students are able to identify some Canadian coins already! Well done!
June's Scholastic Book orders will be due on Monday, June 6th.
Please note that Friday, June 3rd is a PD DAY, and therefore there are no classes.
Lice Alert!
We do not actually have any cases of lice at this time, but please continue to check your child regularly as there have been some recent cases in other classes. Thank you for your keen attention to this matter.
Wishing you a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Ms.Cox
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
May 16-20
Hello everyone and welcome to another week. I cannot believe it is mid-May already...
SPRING CONCERT
What a show! The Kinders kicked-off the evening with a fantastic rendition of 'Mr. Sun', followed by a carefully choreographed, crowd-pleasing 'Rockin' Robin'! Too cute! The kids did a wonderful job and thanks to all of you for helping them practise at home and for bringing them to the show (I know how busy the evenings can be!). Thank you!
FIRE DRILL
The school had a fire drill last week and the Kinders did a FANTASTIC job! Everyone remembered to stay calm, to stop talking, to drop any toys, to line up quickly at the back door and to walk quietly, in our line, to our designated spot. Well done, SK!
THIS WEEK...
The children enjoyed learning about frogs and their habitats so much the last 2 weeks, that we've decided to continue our study of 'things slimy'! We are now investigating worms and learning all about what hard workers they are.
In Math, the children are using worm manipulatives to measure and compare various classroom objects. They are encouraged to draw and label their results in their notebooks. We are also investigating Canadian coins and have set up a patterning station with coin patterning cards.
Our Dramatic play area has been transformed into the "Carleton Heights Fine Flowers and Garden Centre" where the children have been busy 'planting' and selling flowers. Markus, Adrienne, Abbey, Liam and Abasiofon worked together today to make a list of the different flowers they sell as well as their prices (you might want to shop elsewhere...our tulips cost $45 a stem!?). Lots of learning and lots of fun!
Our Language focus this week is on book writing. The children have made a variety of collaborative books this year and now they are beginning to write their own individual stories. After modelling how to write a book called "My Weekend" the children were invited to think about their own weekends and write their own stories. They took this very seriously and several children continued writing even after Choice Time began! Please remember that writing at this stage involves thinking about the ideas, drawing pictures to represent the ideas, orally telling about the pictures, labelling with random letters, labelling with beginning sounds, labelling with words, writing phonetically, and perhaps writing with accuracy. There is a broad range at this stage, and I meet the children where they are and encourage them to take steps forward on the continuum as they feel ready. The main goal is to show them that writing has many purposes and, most importantly, to help them see themselves as writers!
We are also learning a variety of new worm songs, finger plays and poems (watch for the worm/cup puppets). To encourage and strengthen your child's phonemic awareness (letter-sound recognition) try playing rhyming games at home (simply substituting the first letter of family members' names will get quite a laugh!). Please continue to encourage your child to identify letters and simple words as you go about your day.
SHOW AND SHARE
May's Show and Share schedule has been sent home. Thank you in advance for participating. We have a Math focus this month (more/fewer and coins). The schedule does not always end up being exact due to illness and occasional forgetfulness, but rest assured your child will come home with the case at some point!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
May's book orders are due Friday, May 20th.
SUNNY WEATHER...
if we ever get any, please ensure your child has a hat and sunscreen (put on at home) as our play area gets full sun in the afternoons.
That's it for now. Thank you for checking in and enjoy the upcoming long weekend!
Warmly,
Ms. cox
SPRING CONCERT
What a show! The Kinders kicked-off the evening with a fantastic rendition of 'Mr. Sun', followed by a carefully choreographed, crowd-pleasing 'Rockin' Robin'! Too cute! The kids did a wonderful job and thanks to all of you for helping them practise at home and for bringing them to the show (I know how busy the evenings can be!). Thank you!
FIRE DRILL
The school had a fire drill last week and the Kinders did a FANTASTIC job! Everyone remembered to stay calm, to stop talking, to drop any toys, to line up quickly at the back door and to walk quietly, in our line, to our designated spot. Well done, SK!
THIS WEEK...
The children enjoyed learning about frogs and their habitats so much the last 2 weeks, that we've decided to continue our study of 'things slimy'! We are now investigating worms and learning all about what hard workers they are.
In Math, the children are using worm manipulatives to measure and compare various classroom objects. They are encouraged to draw and label their results in their notebooks. We are also investigating Canadian coins and have set up a patterning station with coin patterning cards.
Our Dramatic play area has been transformed into the "Carleton Heights Fine Flowers and Garden Centre" where the children have been busy 'planting' and selling flowers. Markus, Adrienne, Abbey, Liam and Abasiofon worked together today to make a list of the different flowers they sell as well as their prices (you might want to shop elsewhere...our tulips cost $45 a stem!?). Lots of learning and lots of fun!
Our Language focus this week is on book writing. The children have made a variety of collaborative books this year and now they are beginning to write their own individual stories. After modelling how to write a book called "My Weekend" the children were invited to think about their own weekends and write their own stories. They took this very seriously and several children continued writing even after Choice Time began! Please remember that writing at this stage involves thinking about the ideas, drawing pictures to represent the ideas, orally telling about the pictures, labelling with random letters, labelling with beginning sounds, labelling with words, writing phonetically, and perhaps writing with accuracy. There is a broad range at this stage, and I meet the children where they are and encourage them to take steps forward on the continuum as they feel ready. The main goal is to show them that writing has many purposes and, most importantly, to help them see themselves as writers!
We are also learning a variety of new worm songs, finger plays and poems (watch for the worm/cup puppets). To encourage and strengthen your child's phonemic awareness (letter-sound recognition) try playing rhyming games at home (simply substituting the first letter of family members' names will get quite a laugh!). Please continue to encourage your child to identify letters and simple words as you go about your day.
SHOW AND SHARE
May's Show and Share schedule has been sent home. Thank you in advance for participating. We have a Math focus this month (more/fewer and coins). The schedule does not always end up being exact due to illness and occasional forgetfulness, but rest assured your child will come home with the case at some point!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
May's book orders are due Friday, May 20th.
SUNNY WEATHER...
if we ever get any, please ensure your child has a hat and sunscreen (put on at home) as our play area gets full sun in the afternoons.
That's it for now. Thank you for checking in and enjoy the upcoming long weekend!
Warmly,
Ms. cox
Monday, May 2, 2011
May 2-May 6
Happy 'Music Monday', Education Week and election day! And, welcome to May!
Here's what we're working on...
The theme for this year's Education Week is "Learning Together, Succeeding Together". This theme runs deep all year round in our Kindergarten classroom!
HOMES/HABITATS/FROGS/CONCERT REHEARSAL and MOTHER'S DAY
This week, our focus is a bit wider than usual! We continue to discuss spring changes and we have set up a science centre full of various nests (mouse, hummingbird, oriole) and our water table has been transformed into a pond full of (fake) frogs, ducks and fish. The children have been examining how various animals build their homes and today we read "A House Is A House For Me" by M. Hoberman. This book introduces children to the concept that all living things create shelter for themselves. The book gets a bit 'carried away' and starts pointing out 'houses' for non-living things (a jar for jam, a glove for hands, etc.). The children then thought about their own homes, cut and coloured a house and drew the members of their families. We will continue to investigate different types of homes and habitats. We will also investigate frogs, their habitat, as well as their life cycle. Don't forget to check out the Museum of Nature's permanent frog exibit with your child!
Children will be sorting and patterning with frogs this week. They will also have the opportunity to play 'roll and count' with dice and frogs. Children who are ready will add and subtract with their frogs! We will also continue counting and working on number-word recognition.
The children have also been discussing the characteristics of poems. We will be sharing some froggy poems this week. Please watch for "Polliwog School" in your child's note tote and enjoy reading it with him/her.
With the help of Zeinab, the students will be creating their own 'frog and fly' craft, as well as experimenting with various tools to create their own frog paintings.
Our sunflowers are really starting to sprout and the students described what they observed and then measured (using unifix cubes) and recorded their observations on Friday. Green thumbs abound!
SPRING CONCERT
The CHPS Spring Concert will be held next Thursday, May 12 from 6:30-7:30pm.
I hope that you and your child(ren) will attend! All 3 Kinder classes will be performing the song "Mr. Sun". Get your cameras ready! Watch for more details to follow. I will also send home the lyrics soon so you can practise at home.
SHOW AND SHARE
Thanks again for participating in April's Show and Share. Our bulletin board is now full of the children's 'passports' and we have yarn pointing to all the destinations, near and far! May's schedule will be sent home next week.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
Book order forms will be sent home tomorrow and orders are due by May 12th.
GLUE STICKS
Our glue stick stash is getting dangerously low! Please send in a glue stick with your child (I think 1/student should see us through to the end of June). Thanks so much!
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
WELCOME COLIN!
The SK class is so happy to welcome our new friend, Colin! Today was Colin's first day and he was warmly welcomed by all the kids and I know that he will quickly feel at home in our class. Welcome, Colin!
Thank you for checking in have a fantastic week!
Warmly,
Ms.Cox
Here's what we're working on...
The theme for this year's Education Week is "Learning Together, Succeeding Together". This theme runs deep all year round in our Kindergarten classroom!
HOMES/HABITATS/FROGS/CONCERT REHEARSAL and MOTHER'S DAY
This week, our focus is a bit wider than usual! We continue to discuss spring changes and we have set up a science centre full of various nests (mouse, hummingbird, oriole) and our water table has been transformed into a pond full of (fake) frogs, ducks and fish. The children have been examining how various animals build their homes and today we read "A House Is A House For Me" by M. Hoberman. This book introduces children to the concept that all living things create shelter for themselves. The book gets a bit 'carried away' and starts pointing out 'houses' for non-living things (a jar for jam, a glove for hands, etc.). The children then thought about their own homes, cut and coloured a house and drew the members of their families. We will continue to investigate different types of homes and habitats. We will also investigate frogs, their habitat, as well as their life cycle. Don't forget to check out the Museum of Nature's permanent frog exibit with your child!
Children will be sorting and patterning with frogs this week. They will also have the opportunity to play 'roll and count' with dice and frogs. Children who are ready will add and subtract with their frogs! We will also continue counting and working on number-word recognition.
The children have also been discussing the characteristics of poems. We will be sharing some froggy poems this week. Please watch for "Polliwog School" in your child's note tote and enjoy reading it with him/her.
With the help of Zeinab, the students will be creating their own 'frog and fly' craft, as well as experimenting with various tools to create their own frog paintings.
Our sunflowers are really starting to sprout and the students described what they observed and then measured (using unifix cubes) and recorded their observations on Friday. Green thumbs abound!
SPRING CONCERT
The CHPS Spring Concert will be held next Thursday, May 12 from 6:30-7:30pm.
I hope that you and your child(ren) will attend! All 3 Kinder classes will be performing the song "Mr. Sun". Get your cameras ready! Watch for more details to follow. I will also send home the lyrics soon so you can practise at home.
SHOW AND SHARE
Thanks again for participating in April's Show and Share. Our bulletin board is now full of the children's 'passports' and we have yarn pointing to all the destinations, near and far! May's schedule will be sent home next week.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
Book order forms will be sent home tomorrow and orders are due by May 12th.
GLUE STICKS
Our glue stick stash is getting dangerously low! Please send in a glue stick with your child (I think 1/student should see us through to the end of June). Thanks so much!
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
WELCOME COLIN!
The SK class is so happy to welcome our new friend, Colin! Today was Colin's first day and he was warmly welcomed by all the kids and I know that he will quickly feel at home in our class. Welcome, Colin!
Thank you for checking in have a fantastic week!
Warmly,
Ms.Cox
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