Home Reading

The nice weather has finally arrived and the children are busy with swimming, playing and even some sports. Many of the SK children do not want to be inside reading in June. I have decided the children will no longer bring home some little reading books. I do ask that you continue to practise the By Heart Words with your child and especially over the summer. Practising of these words will assist them to not lose what they have learned and assist them in early September for Grade One reading and word wall words. The children will continue for three more weeks to have a poem to take home. Thank you everyone for working with your child.

Fork Painting

I thought I would try a new painting experience with the children. I gave them some purple and pink paint and a couple of forks. Then I gave them a little green paint and a Qtip. All I told them was the forks would look like flowers if they used the green paint to add stems and leaves. The children loved the experience and I had to share some of the creations with everyone. It is hard to believe these were created by Kindergarten children. They are so creative!

These could be displayed in an Art Exhibit. Each one is unique just like the children who created them. Next week we will be creating painted pictures using corks and various sized lids. I can hardly wait to see the wonderful creations!!



Rankin Run

 

Thank you to Meadowvale children and parents who participated in the Rankin Run. There were thousands of participants in this excellent cause and what is wonderful all the money raised stays in Niagara. We had wonderful weather for the event. Thank you to all those who made donations to this wonderful cause. Our little Meadowvale School raised almost $1500.00. I am hoping next year we will have even a larger turnout. A very special thank you to Mrs. H for organizing everything for our school, including order Tshirts, delivery of Tshirts, recording of all donations, delivery of money and all the emails. All her hard work is greatly appreciated each and every day, but especially for this worthwhile cause. 

Language

 

The By Heart Word for this week is "has", since this word appears frequently in the children's reading and they often need the word when writing. I thank all the parents for working with your child with the By Heart Words. This has assisted many of the children with the reading and writing. Some of the SK children don't even need to get some of the words when writing because they have memorized the spelling.

 

 

In the area of Jolly Phonics many of the sounds that are left are the long vowel sounds and diphthongs (A sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another... Some of these include: ai, ie, ou, ea, au, ow.

Since teaching grade one for many years, I know the children are not ready for these sounds until after Christmas in grade one. Therefore, I have decided to revisit some of the consonant and short vowel sounds, that some of the children continue to experience difficulty with the sound. For this week the sound will be "h". Many of the By Heart words will be used to reinforce the sound and the spelling of these words: his, here, her, him, he, hug, help, hot, hop, ham, hand, hang, hush, have, hay, how.

 

 

Reading Comprehension Strategy

 

During my teacher read alouds the children will be asked to tell how the character is feeling and to give evidence from the story. Giving evidence from the story is very difficult for young children. However, with additional practise it will become easier for them. The children just have to tell orally how they know. The evidence could be from the picture or some words that were used.

 

 



Mathematics

 

This week we will continue with adding and then move into a little of subtraction next week. This will mainly be completed through some finger plays or using the children to reenact some problem solving questions. For example, there were 4 children in the circle and then 4 more children came. How many children were in the circle altogether. I want the children to understand with addition there is one number and then another number and then we count how many altogether. For the SK children I am hoping they will put the first number in their head and then count on. I also want the children to understand that with addition the altogether number becomes larger. 

 



Science

 

Many of the children have learned which items are magnetic and which items are not. They were able to tell me items were magnetic because they had metal on them. They were surprised by the wooden clothespin and that parts of the scissors were magnetic. This will continue to be at the centre for the rest of this week.

 

 

As a large group we will be learning about some things in the environment that are living and non-living. The children will also be learning about why some things are living.

 

On Friday, I introduced this topic and asked the children to tell me some things that were living. Most of the children told me about people, animals, and insects. When I asked them why this things were living they explained because they have ears, mouth, eyes, and they move. The next question was: Is a tree a living thing? The answer no because it does not have a mouth to eat with or ears, or eyes.

Now that I have examined what the children know about living things, I know what I want them to know about living things. For example, living things move, they breathe, they need food, water, and they make more that look like them (reproduce). 

Science

I was able to purchase a couple of large magnets, which I plan to place at the discovery centre. Included at the discovery centre will be a variety of materials that are magnetic and others that are not. The children will have opportunities to sort the items into the two various categories. I will ask the children to tell me what they learned while working at the centre.

On a little different note, I hope to be able to create a dinosaur land for the children. They will use Plasticine to create volcanoes, because they told me volcanoes would be needed for a dinosaur land. They also told me we would need: little rocks which I have, bones, trees, grass, and big rocks, which I think they can make. If anyone has some trees and bones they could let us use for this sensory bin that would be wonderful. Anything else you can think of for dinosaur land would also be greatly appreciated. This is a work in progress. The items can not be too big because the sensory bin is not large.

Mathematics

The children will continue to have opportunities to work on addition. There are a couple of games that I have made up in order to reinforce this skill.

Some children are able to add up to about 14. However, I want all the SK children to be able to successfully add numbers to 10 and the JK children to be able to add numbers to 5.

The children loved using the bingo dappers to make the numbers. Next week I think we will use stickers to make and then write addition number sentences. Not all the children are able to do this or want to do it. I simply ensure all the children who show a desire in this area have an opportunity to do so. 

Language

The By Heart Word for this week is the word "all". This words leads the children to spell many other words such as: ball, call, fall, hall, mall, and wall.

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the "th" sound. Some of the words the children will learn are: thin, think, thing, thank, that, thick, then, thud.

This week we will continue to work on inferring. The posters are working out wonderfully and the children are sharing their ideas of what they infer is happening in the poster and now beginning to give some evidence. Also when I have a teacher read aloud the children will be asked to infer what they infer the character is feeling and how they know. For example, one of the children was reading a book with me last week and I asked her to infer how little duck was feeling in the story. She told me that duck was feeling sad and she knew because she saw in the picture there was a tear in little duck's eye. Wonderful inferring was happening while she read. She told me what she inferred and gave the evidence from the story.

Fairy Land

 

Some of the girls in the class have been talking about fairies and bringing some of their little fairies to school. So I decided to create a little fairy land for the children to role play some of the adventurers the fairies could have. First I went to the dollar store and bought four little fairies, feathers, pom poms, shells, shiny stones, flower petals (about 5 different kinds). Then when grocery shopping I bought a big bag of rice and dyed the rice green to represent grass.

 

 

Little did I know that fairy land would be popular not only with the girls in the class, but also the boys, especially the boys in the afternoon class.

 

The boys in the morning told me I need to create some kind of the land for them. So now the wheels in my brain are turning. But instead I have decided to turn it over to them and they can tell me what I need to make it the land they want it to be. This way they will take more ownership of the land. Here is a picture of fairy land for all to see.

 

 



Wonderings

 

Our wondering board has become a huge hit and the children are constantly telling me their wonderings. It appears for this week we will be learning about worms. So once again I made a trip to the library and picked up a few books about worms. If anyone has a huge bottle (I don't need the lid) say from Mayonnaise I would love to have it. I want to try to make a worm farm for the children to examine and hopefully they will tunnel. I am hoping to start this some time this week. I have to do a bit of research on how to do this because this is a new adventure for me. 

 



Language

 

The jolly phonic sound is the "ch" sound.  We work on this as a large group and the children have an opportunity to stretch sounds together to make a word. The children often experience difficulty with the vowel sounds. Some of the words we will focus on are:  chat, chap, chop, chip, chin, chick, chest, rich, pinch, porch, chug, chill, lunch. It is important for the children to see some words begin with the sound and some words end with the sound.

 

 

The By Heart Word for this week is "went", since it is occurring in their reading and writing. Speaking of writing, I am amazed how these little children love to write. They often come and want to do this with me. They make the picture and many of the children write the words as I stretch out the sounds for them.

 

 

We will continue to infer what is happening in the stories we read and in pictures. The children are really becoming more at ease with this activity and eagerly share what they infer is happening and explaining what helped them with their inference. 

Mathematics

 

The children will be experimenting with some early addition of numbers to 10. We will be doing this as a large group and reenacting a bus story. I will line up 10 chairs in a line and someone will be the bus driver. The bus stops at Ontario street and picks up 3 children. Then the bus turns onto Linwell Street and 2 children get on the bus. How many children are on the bus. How do you know? (The children will be introduced to a number sentence). I know there are 5 children on the bus because 3 + 2 = 5. The children will be doing this several times each day.

 

Another early addition activity for the children is: they will roll a die and make that many dabs with a bingo dapper then roll the die again and make that many dabs and then write how many altogether.

 

I am hoping the children will want to make addition books by drawing pictures and writing a plus sign and more pictures, then an equal sign and write how many altogether.  

Word Activities On the Web

 

If your SK does not like to practise some of the words here are a couple of websites with games that they may be interested in. The level one would be the easiest one for the children.

 

http://www.starfall.com/n/matching/short-vowels/play.htm?f

To practise beginning and ending sounds and word families there is this site

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

Missing vowel sounds there is this site

http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/phonics/missing_vowel.jsp

These should keep the children busy for awhile and assist to reinforce the skills learned during centre time.  Remember to continue to have your child read to you each night and to practise reading the By Heart Words, especially the SK children.


 

 

 



Video

 

DSBN has put out a video with some very talented high school students. Some of these students attended Meadowvale in their younger years and were shy and quiet when they were in the primary grades. It is wonderful to see how they and their confidence have developed over the years. I thought I would share this with the Kindergarten parents.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRz2Po7T_JQ



Language

 

For this week the jolly phonic sound will be "sh". The children will bring home the new sheet because this is not a review. It is time for the SK children to have some time with learning the few blends, since these appear in their reading and their writing and will assist them for grade one next year. The following are some of the words we will focus on:

shack, sharp, shape, shot, shape, sheet, sheep, shell, shift, shine, ship, shock, shot, shoot, shop, short.

 

 

There are two By Heart Words for this week:  him and her.

 

 

The children are really developing their inferring strategies. On Friday, I showed the children a poster where there was one boy in a white shirt yelling at another boy in a red shirt. The boy in the red shirt had his fingers in his ears. I asked the children to explain what they inferred was happening between the two boys. The following are some of their explanations.

 

1. The boy in the red shirt does not want to listen to the other boy. I know because he has his fingers in his ears.
2. I think the boy in the white shirt is yelling and angry at the other boys because his mouth is wide open and I know when someone is yelling their mouth is wide open, and he is angry because his eyebrows are pointing down.
3. I think the boy in the white shirt is yelling because the boy in the red shirt said something mean to him and the boy in the red shirt is teasing the other boy. He is probably humming or singing and not listening to the boy.
4. Maybe the boy in the red shirt won't be his friend and this is upsetting the other boy.

All of this inferring from one poster. I asked them what they would do if they were the boy in the red shirt and there answers were fabulous.

I would try to listen to the other boy and be his friend that is what kind hearts do.

I would tell him talk to me, please don't yell and scream at me because it hurts my ears.

I would tell him when you want to talk that is kind but when you yell you upset me and then I would walk away.

 

This was a fabulous learning experience for me and for all the children. I am glad they are focusing on what a kind heart would do. Hopefully they will remember this lesson and carry it through their interactions with other children.



Mother's Day Celebration

 

Most of you have received your invitation for the Mother's Day Celebration. If your child was away yesterday I forgot to send yours home today. You will receive it on Monday. If you are unable to attend due to working, perhaps grandma could come in your place. The following is the schedule:

 

At 9:50 or 12:50 parents may enter the school with the children. The children will go into the classroom and parents can go into the gym. The children will be in the gym after attendance has been taken.

 

The children will sing two songs for Mom and one poem. Then the children will sit with Mom and have a refreshment (ice tea or lemonade). The children will present their card and little gift to Mom. Mr. Hawkey will take a picture of Mom or Grandma and the child. If you have two children in Kindergarten, it may be nice to have a picture of yourself and the one child and then one with the other child (just a thought). You will receive a copy of the photo but unfortunately it won't be until after Mother's Day.

 

The children and I are very excited. We will be very busy next week making things for the celebration therefore the children will not be bringing home a poem this week. If you volunteer next week, I may send you out of the room to do a job when we are practising our songs and poem. 

I Wonder...

 

One of the JK children raised her hand and told me, I think we have learned enough about giraffes and their babies, but now I wonder "how many stripes does a tiger have?" Well this generated a whole new slew of questions about tigers and lions. The thing I find the most intriguing about our I Wonder board, is the depth of some of the children's questions, when the majority of them are only 4 and 5 years old. Here are some of the questions:

 

How long do they live?

Cats can climb trees and other places, can tigers and lions climb tree?

How many whiskers do tigers have? Do they have the same number of whiskers on each side of their face?

How many babies do they have? Do tigers ever have twins?

How sharp are their claws? What do they use their claws for? Do tigers ever dig?

 

Why do lions have fur around their faces?

How big are tigers when they are born?

Are tigers and lions friends?

Do tigers sleep in the day time or at night?

Do tigers just nap the way the giraffes do?

Why do they say lions are king of the jungle?

 

Can anyone guess what we will be learning about soon? Perhaps not next week because we are very busy getting ready for our Mother's Day Punch. The children are very excited. The invitation went home today. Mom if you can't make it perhaps a grandma or an aunt could make it for you.

 

The one song is not a Mother's Day song but it is a lovely song. Look for more postings on the weekend.