First Week of February

 

Yeah, it is the first week of February starting on Monday. This is the month of love, kindness and friendship, not that every month is not this, but February is the month of truly celebrating these attributes.

 

On Tuesday, February 4th both the morning and afternoon SK students will have their Graduation Photos done. The photographer will be at the school in the morning and then once again in the afternoon. So be sure to have your SK students not miss this day, because there is not another time they will be able to have these photos done.

 

Thursday, February 6th both the JK's and the SK's will be bringing home their report card. Be sure to celebrate this time with your child by telling them how proud you are of their accomplishments. This is also the date of Kindergarten Registration from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. If you are aware of any children who will be four years of age before December 31st this year be sure to tell them to bring their child for registration. 

Add and Cover

 

I have added a math game that the students have played in class. Many of the SK students know what to do for the game. They roll two dice and I ask them to subitize one of the dice and then count on for the second dice. This assists the students to prepare for addition. If your child needs to count the dots on each die that is okay because that is where they are at this time. However, the ultimate goal is to get them to subitze the biggest number of dots, put that number in their head and then count on. I thought I would attach it for you to download and print off for additional practise with this math game. You will find it on the right hand side of the blog under the heading For Parents.

 

Just a little tip. It is easier for the students if you use two different coloured dice. Second tip is to place the dice in a small clear container with a lid. The students are taught to hold the lid and the bottom of the container when shaking the dice. This helps stop the dice from going out of control. I hope you enjoy working with your child on the game.

 



Evidence of Real Life into Play Situations

 

 

This afternoon four boys were very busy building roads and bridges in the sandbox using a variety of materials found around the classroom. As they were chatting about their play, a couple of them started talking about how hungry they were and how they hoped it would be snack soon. I told them that snack was not for a long time and they complained a little.

 

Suddenly one of the SK boys told the others to wait at the sandbox for him, he had an idea. He went to the counter of the bakery shop and asked for help that he wanted to place an order. He told them he want 7 cakes, 6 cookies and 5 muffins. Then he asked them how long that would take to bake.

 

After that he went back to the sandbox and told the others, "if we wait about 10 minutes we can have pretend food and if we really, really pretend we might not get hungry again because I ordered us all lots of food from the bakery".

 

Great problem solving and implementing the real world into his play.  I had to share this wonderful experience with all those who take the time to read the blog. To those I thank you because it tells me you really appreciate your child's learning.

Reading Across Canada

 

Wow! It is amazing because in the Kindergarten class there was 98% of the Kindergarten students returned their Reading Across Canada folders today and everyone of those students moved. I want to thank all the parents for their dedication to this program. You are reinforcing to your child at a very early age that reading is very important and for that I thank you!

 

 

Speaking about reading. When I feel an SK child is ready for reading I choose a book that I feel is at an appropriate reading level for them. Once the SK child has read the book to book, then they are able to bring the book home to read to Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, the dog or anyone else who will listen to them read. The only thing I ask is, if your child brings home a book to read you please return the book back to school after they have read it to you. The books I am sending home are very expensive because they can only be ordered through an educational publisher. Once your child read this book to whoever in the family be sure to record the book in their Reading Across Canada folder. For example, if they read the book four times, then record it four times.

 



Sweet Treat Anyone!

 

Well the bakery is up and running. This is a huge success, with many of the students patiently waiting for a turn in the centre. One of the morning boys told me today, "I think you should make a list so the same kids don't go in every day." So this is what we have decided to do. I wish I could post pictures of the students, because they look adorable with their little aprons and hats on. They are taking orders from the customers.

 

One of the girls in the morning class, who loves to write decided to work with me this morning. First she made the sign "Yummy Yummy" that is the name of the morning shop. Then she created a list of the items sold and wrote the prices. She decided to do two copies one for the customers and one for the bakers. She went so far as to show me where to place them on the customer stand so the signs could be seen by both the customer and the bakers. This will be a great reading and writing tool for the bakers.

In the bake shop there are: rolling bins, play dough, little bowls, mixing spoons, measuring cups, measuring spoons, oven mitts and lifters. I had two aprons and two more were donated and I made some baker hats from sentence strips and tissue paper. The students painted two small boxes and one box became the microwave and the other became the oven.

The afternoon class voted to name their bake shop the Sweet Shop. Two girls created the sign for the afternoon shop. I have included a few photos for you to enjoy!

 

 

 



Reminders for this week!

 

 

Just a reminder Reading Across Canada folders are to be returned on every Wednesday morning or afternoon. If the folder is late, for example on Thursday it will not be able to be recorded until the following Wednesday. The two staff members who do all the calculating and moving of suitcases, have kindly given up some of their time to complete the movement of every class in the whole school each Wednesday.

 

 

SK Graduation Photo Day!

 

If your child is an SK be sure to mark the following date on your calendar. Tuesday, February 4th the morning and afternoon SK students will have their Kindergarten graduation photo's taken. You are under no obligation to purchase the photos. However, each SK will have a photo done on this date. 

Language

 

The "by heart words" for this week is my and are. I have decided to add two because some of the SK students are displaying a keen interest in reading. These two words occur most often in some of the easier to read books. Knowing these words will assist them to read more fluently and want to read more and more books. If your SK child brings home a book to read, this is because they have first read the book to me and are ready to read it at home. Please encourage your child to look at the beginning sound when they get to a word they don't know and look at the picture to help them with these words. Please don't automatically tell them the word, because then they will always expect someone to tell them the word.

Once your child reads the book to you at home, I ask that you return the book. When they have read another book to me they will then get another book to bring home. Thank you for helping and encouraging your child with their reading. The most important key is to practise the "by heart words" daily. I will be sending home this week a list of the words we have learned so far.

The jolly phonic sound is the "z" sound. The students will be introduced to words that start or end with the z sound. For example, buzz, jazz, fuzz, whiz, zoom, zoo, zag, zig, zip, zebra, zero, and zap.

The word family for this week is the use of the "by heart word" all. For example, ball, call, fall, gall, hall, mall, tall, wall, small.

 

 



Science

 

 

Last week I placed two same sized containers at the discovery centre. One container half filled with hair gel and one large marble and two small marbles. The other container contained clear dish soap and the same sized and amount of containers. A few of the students showed interest in the centre but not as many as I hoped. I wanted them to describe what they noticed and why they thought the marbles moved faster in one container than the other. The majority of the students felt it was because of the colour. This let me know they were not familiar with the terms thick and thin. This is something we will work on in the future.

 

This coming week, I plan to have small containers with an ice cube in each container. The students will examine whether the the ice melts faster when certain materials are placed on top of the ice. For example, what happens when: salt is applied, sugar, sand, or water? Hopefully this centre will create more interest with the students. I will let you know the outcome.

 

I also plan to have two different sized snowballs and we will test which one will melt faster and why they think that will happen. The students will be introduced to the word hypothesis. What a huge word for kindergarten students. But one thing about young children they have a keen interest in big words and often the bigger and more difficult the word the more they like it and want to say it. So don't be surprised if you hear it at home. 

 



Quote

 

 

"When we feel love and kindness toward others,

it not only makes others feel loved and cared for,

but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace."

Dalai Lama XIV

Scavenger Hunt Ten Frames

 

Many of the SK students in the morning and afternoon enjoyed participating in a new game of ten frames which was a scavenger hunt. I printed off a variety of snowmen ten frames from the internet. I placed the snowman in different areas in the classroom. Some were on a door near the creative cente, the door to the classroom. a bulletin board, on various shelves and other places around the room. The students took a tracking sheet, found the letter of that snowman and used the ten frame to figure out how many dots were on the ten frame. A number of the students subitized effectively because I heard them say, " there are 5 on the top room and then they counted on 6, 7. They wrote the number that was displayed on the ten frame on their tracking sheet next to the particular number. Some of the students required additional practise identifying the numbers above 5. But they had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the experience. That is the most important thing for the students to look forward to the learning and to enjoy the whole experience and learning that takes place on a daily basis.

 

Here are some pictures to help you understand.

 

 

 

 



Reading Across Canda

 

I wish to thank all the families for their dedication to the reading across canada program. Almost every Kindergarten student returned their folder and had read a book. Just a reminder, if you are a parent who reads a bedtime story to your child every evening this counts, so don't forget to record the book. If your child goes to the library and you read books to them their this counts. Any time anyone reads to your child or their read by looking at the pictures and making up the story this counts.

Once again thank you for your support and dedication. Keep on reading and recording the reading. Their are prizes for the students. A book for them to choose and keep forever!

Mathematics in the Kindergarten Classroom

 

There was wonderful mathematics happening in the Kindergarten classroom today. This morning a group of students worked very hard to connect the links together. At first they were using the links to make leashes and attached them around the waist of some of their peers to pretend they were dogs on a leash. This was okay because they were actually reinforcing what they knew happened in the real world and putting it into their play. But I wanted them to enhance their learning and connect it with some of the learning in mathematics. So I challenged the group to make it as long as they desired and then use it to measure something in the classroom. They decided to measure the width of the classroom. Here are two pictures to show the evidence of the learning.

 

 Five students worked on this finished product and they each placed it down carefully on the floor to show how wide the classroom is.
Next I challenged them further by asking them if they thought the link chain would be long enough to measure the length of the classroom. They were in agreement that it would not be long enough. One of the little girls added: "we would have to add lots more links because the long ways of the classroom is longer than the width". Wonderful mathematical learning in the classroom.

The afternoon students were challenged to use a balance scale. There were a variety of items: stone, marker, key and lock, small car, scissors and a ball. It was at the centre and the students were to place one item on the one side of scale and then find out how many cubes it took on the other side of the scale to balance the scale. The students really enjoyed this.

The JK students used cubes on both sides of the scale and kept adding or taking away from the one bucket in order to balance the scale. Many of the JK students who did not have a turn with the balance scale asked to have a turn tomorrow. This was a great learning centre.

 



Change to Dramatic Play Centre

 

It is the afternoon students who have a turn to decide what the dramatic play centre should be. Some of their ideas were:

 

Bakery Store

 

Grocery Store

 

Pizza Place

 

Hair Salon

 

And the winner is the Bakery Store. The change to to Bakery will take place on January 27th. So if you have some wonderful things to make our bakery successful all donations would greatly be accepted. We do have measuring cups and some bowls and some small cupcake tins. Anything you wish to donate please make sure the things are well labelled.

 

We would really appreciate rolling pins, some small aprons, chef hats, oven mitts, small brown paper bags, small styrofoam containers or small boxes (like a real bakery use) to name a few.

 

The students will decide upon a name for the Bakery, which is always a fun activity and they will have opportunities to make the sign for the bakery. I plan on looking for a small box or two that the children can paint and they will become the ovens.

 

In the Dramatic Play centre they students have opportunities to enhance their oral language skills, reinforce their prior knowledge of what happens in a bakery, and work on their writing skills (creating lists of food to sell) and math skills (setting prices for the items they sell). 

Jolly Phonic Sound

 

The Jolly Phonic Sound for this week is the Jj. Some of the words we will be working on stretching out the sounds for are: jab, jag, jam, jar, jet, jig, jog, jot, job, just and junk. One of the new activities I do in order to assist the children to remember the letter and sound we are working on for the week is I write each day I write two sentences that have words with the sound in them and volunteers come and put a red circle around the sound.

 

For example this past week the sound was "b". So one of my sentences was: There was a beaver taking a big bubble bath while reading a brand new book. Look at all the "b" words and the students seem to love this activity and can't wait for a turn. The hard part is thinking of two different and silly sentences each day for five days.

 

The word family for this week is "ap" and some words we will be working on are: cap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap.

 

 

The By Heart Word for this week is the word "for"

Five and Six Year Old Imaginations

 

Finally after two days of being couped up inside the classroom, I decided it was time to go outside to play with the afternoon class. At first I worried about what will they do, because after all there is no snow and I don't allow the children to use the climbers when they are wearing boots and mittens. But we went outside for about twenty minutes and yes it was very windy but not one child complained about the wind or the chilly day. So I thought I would offer parents a glimpse into the great adventures that occur on an empty playground!

 

Instead the boys were under the climber playing a game and building pretend fires to keep warm. Then in a flash they would take off and run to the far away climber and get rid of the danger that was lurking in that area and dash in a flash under the climber to keep warm around the (pretend) fires they had built.

 

The girls were prancing around the yard in a line one after another. They were the reindeer prancing around the yard and driving Mrs. Clause in her sleigh around the North Pole.

 

The children did not need any Ipads, DS's or any other technology tool to participate in these fun and exciting activities. All they used were their wonderful creative and playful imaginations. Teaching is definately the most wonderful career there is on the face of this earth. I have free entertainment five days a week. 

French Immersion Program for Grade 1

 

Some of the SK parents have been asking about registering their child for the grade 1 French Immersion program at Dalewood School. There was some information about registration in the January School Newsletter. I have decided to attach some of the information to the blog for those of you who visit the blog on a more frequent basis.

 

Registration will begin online January 6, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. Go to www.dsbn.org/fi to register.

For more information please contact:

Julie Stapleton, French as a Second Language and International Languages Consultant, School Support Services – 905-227-5551 ext 52220 or Julie.stapleton@dsbn.org

OR Kelly McDonnell, Student Achievement Leader – French Immersion, School Support Services - (905)-227-5551 ext 52402 or Kelly.mcdonnell@dsbn.org



Quote for the week:

 

 

 

 

DREAM

 

"We all have our own life to pursue,

our own kind of dream to be weaving.

And we all have some power to make wishes come true,

as long as we keep believing!"

 

Louisa May Alcott

Language

 

Some parents of the SK students are asking when their child will be bringing home little reading books to practice. I know there are about four or five SK students who are showing a readiness in the area of reading and I will probably start sending home little readers for them after the PA day.

 

I do not want the students to read by memorizing the words. I want them to be able to blend sounds together to determine the word, rather than memorizing. The only words I want the students to memorize are the By Heart Words. I hope parents are having their SK children practise these words, since these are the words they will most frequently find in the early readers and when they are writing. I thank the parents for assisting their child in this area of their learning.

 

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the Bb sound. Some of the simple words we will work on are: bat, band, ball, big, bad, bag, but, bend, bent, bit, bib, bed. Parents can assist their child by blending the sounds for them and asking them to figure out what the word is. For example: You stretch out following sounds, over emphasizing them is a big help to the child    b   e    d and then asking your child to tell you the word. The more you practice this skill with your child the better they will become. You should print out little cards with one letter on each card and then put them in front of the child so they can visualize and hear each sound as you state them.

 

The word family for this week is the: ag family. Some of the words are: bag, gag, hag, lag, nag, sag, tag, rag, wag, drag, and flag. The students love working on these word families.

 

The By Heart word for this week is: look.

Mathematics

 

This week in the area of mathematics the students will continue with mass measurement. The focus will be measuring various items and determining which is heavy and which is light. The challenge will be to determine the heaviest item of all. The students will also be using balance scales and determining how many cubes it will take to balance the scale when measuring a variety of items. We may have to go into next week before finishing the unit on mass since Monday is a presentation day and Friday is a P.A. Day.

Dairy Farm Presentation

 

 

The Dairy Farmers are coming to Meadowvale School to do a presentation to all the classes on Monday, January 13, 2014.

 

They will do their presentation to the morning kindergarten students first thing on Monday morning. During the presentation the students will learn about the importance of dairy farmers and what they do for the community. The students will have an opportunity to make butter during the presentation. This sounds like a fun learning experience. The Dairy Farmers will do their presentation to the afternoon Kindergarten students at 1:40 in the afternoon. 

Math Journal

 

Some of the students have shown a keen interest in the area of Math. They are independently challenging themselves to create complicated patterns using the various coloured cubes and then further challenging themselves by finding things in the classroom that are the same length or longer than the length of pattern they have created.

 

This is proof to me the success of the Kindergarten program. The Kindergarten Curriculum states what strands the students are required to learn in the area of Mathematics. I offer the students mini lessons and then put out various manipulatives that I think will promote their learning. Then the students take the lead and often they challenge themselves by connecting what they have learned and often they incorporate two strands together in order to demonstrate their learning.

 

Just a reminder the Kindergarten program is a two year program. This means a JK student has two years to demonstrate their learning in the various Mathematical strands.

 

At this time the students are being introduced to the strand of measurement in the area of mass. Many of the students enjoy working with the teacher. Today the students were introduced to a Math Journal in which they were asked to draw (write) about two things in the classroom that were heavier than a water bottle and two things that were lighter than a water bottle. Some of the students rose to the challenge and completed the task independently. Other students required a little prompting from the teacher in order to successfully find something that was either heavier or lighter.

 

This was an excellent observation for me because now I know which students may require additional assistance to understand the term (heavier) or (lighter) and which students can move onto a more challenging task in the area of Mass. 

Language

 

The By Heart word for this week are two words, "said" and "all".

 

The word family is the "ot" family. Some of the words the students will be asked to blend together are: bot, cot, dot, got, hot, jot, lot, pot, rot, shot, tot and spot.

 

The jolly phonic sound is the Ff sound. Some of the words the students will be introduced to are:

fat, fan, fun, fin, fish, for, fast, fill, fell, fall, fib, fit, fix, fly.

 

Just a reminder the students voted to have the Dramatic Play Centre be a winter wonderland. Some donations of odd mittens, scarves, lids from shoe boxes (to make into snowshoes), sugar cubes (to make igloos) and some Arctic stuffed animals would be appreciated. The students will have opportunities to make snowmen, snowflakes, igloos and an other items they feel would be in a winter wonderland.



Welcome Back

 

Happy New Year to all the kindergarten families. This week will be a week for the students to return back to school. We will take the first couple of days slowly so they all have time to adjust to the routines after an enjoyable break.

 

In Mathematics the focus for this week will be on measurement of mass. The kindergarten students are expected to explain which things are heavier and lighter and tell how they know. The first day they will be asked to find things that are heavier than a water bottle and lighter than a water bottle. Later on during the week they will be using balance scales to find things that have the same mass, greater mass and lighter mass. At the end of the unit they will be asked to explain either orally or with pictures what the balance scale looks like when something is lighter, heavier or when the two items have the same mass.