Mathematics

 

The students will continue to learn about graphs and to tell which category has the most or least. I have been challenging the students to tell me how they know one category has more. I am amazed at how many of the students (JK and SK) know that some numbers are higher, more than, bigger than other numbers and they also know that some numbers are less or smaller than some numbers. For example, 8 is a higher number than 6 I was told by a JK student the other day.

 

The Kindergarten curriculum is very specific in the area of numeration and math. 
NS1.2 The students investigate concepts of quantity through identifying and comparing sets with more, fewer, or the same number of objects.
NS1.5 recogngize some quantitites without having to count, using a variety of tools, ten frames, dot plates, dice (e.g. composing or decomposing numbrs, subitizing).
 So even though your child may be able to count way beyond 10, I assess the student's mathematical  understanding about numbers from 1 to ten. To be able to tell me which numbers are bigger than a specific number and which numbers are smaller. An SK student may be asked to explain if the number is 7, how many more do I need to have 10?

 

In order to ensure many of the students have a better understanding of which number is bigger or smaller I have started to have them show the two graphing categories on two separate ten frames. This way all the students have a visual aid to assist them to understand 8 is more than 6.

 

In this example the students are able to visualize that 8 has more squares filled then the 6 does. Another way to visualize it is 8 only has 2 empty squares and 6 has 4 empty squares. Using a ten frame in this way the students can also visualize how many dots are needed to be added to the number 8 to make 10 and how many dots are needed to be added to 6 to make 10.

Language

 

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the short "a" sound. Please practise the letter and the sound with your child on a weekly basis for about 5 minutes. This can happen when walking to school, in the car driving or while you are preparing supper. It does not have to be a long time. The vowels are very difficult for the students. Some of the words we will be working on are: cat, hat, can, man, cap, bad, ham, jam, ball, tall, fall, tap, lap, back, pack, sack, rag, mad, sad, had.

 

The comprehension strategy the students will be introduced to is: making a prediction. During teacher read aloud, I will stop at various parts of the story and ask the children to predict what might happen next in the story and why they predict that might happen. They are to use clues from what has been read so far, and some of their own experiences to help them with their predictions. 

March Items

 

The March Kindergarten Calendar is now on the blog for you to download. Also, the parent volunteer calendar for both the morning and afternoon Kindergarten are up in the hallway just outside of the Kindergarten classroom. I have also put the school March Newsletter and the school March Calendar on the blog so you will be able to download all the calendars.

 

The saying goes March can come in like a lion or a lamb. However, my Mom told me when I was young you want March to come in like a lion so that it will go out like a lamb and that would mean we will have a nice spring. I don't care if it comes in like a lion or out like a lamb or visa verso, just as long March is not as bitter and frigid as February was!

The Mitten

 

During teacher read aloud the students have listened to several versions of the story "The Mitten". They have talked about what happened in each story and what was the same in each of the versions and what was different. Today in the morning a boy and a girl were very busy using the link cubes. As I was watching and listening to their conversations, I learned they had made a huge mitten with the link cubes. Then another little girl came and joined into the play situation.

Next they came and asked me if they could use some of the puppets and other stuffed animals to put into the mitten. They went on to explain that the mitten was huge so lots of animals could fit into this mitten. After they organized the animals into the mitten the three of them reinacted the story using the various animals they had placed inside the link chain mitten.



Wonderful Imaginations

 

I am constantly thinking of new inventive ideas in order to stimulate the students oral communication skills, imaginations, role playing activities, and opportunties for teamwork and sharing. A while ago I took tongue depressors and hot glued velcro on the ends of the tongue despressors. Today I finally decided to put them out in order to see what the students would do with them.

 

A couple of girls in the morning class used them to create a variety of shapes. Due to the fact I took pictures of what they created for their learning stories and they are in the pictures I can not put them on the blog. They created houses, squares, picture frames, a church, triangles, rectangles and I named one of the shapes as a pentagon for the girls.

 

Then I put them out for the afternoon class. It took a few minutes but then finally two boys took the same activity and they created a maze with the tongue drepressors. Next they went and added some of the various community helper vehicles and some of the Lego people. This is where there was lots of problem solving going on, as well as roll playing. They decided that there was a police officer and they were helping people because there was a big accident on the highway and they needed to get the cars off the road and people to the hospital. What wonderful oral communication skills were exhibited during this centre.

 

 

 

The learning that took place at this particular centre was far more important than any worksheet or teacher directed activity. Whenever I enter a play situation, it is as a listener. Then we I feel there is a need to stimulate more conversation I do so by asking probing questions and to assist the students to take on various roles when they engaged in play situations. 



 

Science Experiment

 

It is wonderful to have parent volunteers in the Kindergarten classroom because then more learning opportunities can be explored by the children. So in the afternoon the children were offered with a big challenge. They were to use some materials to build something for a gingerbread cookie to float on so it would not get wet in the water. The materials on hand for them to use were: masking tape, pieces of Styrofoam, and tin foil. All the students who worked with Mrs. P. planned their ideas in the heads and thought carefully before they were ready for the big experiment. "What it work or would it not"? Many of the students were very hopeful that it would work because they did not want to eat a soggy cookie and they could hardly wait to get to eat the cookie. Some of the students told me "this is the best day ever".

I have included some of the photos of their creations. Everything worked and not one student had to eat a soggy cookie. The morning students will have an opportunity to complete the experiment tomorrow (Thursday).

 



Anti-Bullying Day

Wednesday, February 27 is set as Anti-Bullying Day. In order to show that we care about this huge issue of bullying, all the students and teachers are encouraged to wear pink in support of Anti-bullying day. If your child does not have a pink shirt, perhaps you could buy a cheap white T-shirt at a thrift store or Old Navy and dye it pink.

 

First thing in the morning there will be an assembly regarding Anti-bullying and what it means. The students will learn a bully is and what to do if someone bullies them. Let's try our very best to stamp ou bullying from all schools and all over the country of Canada!

 

Pink shirt day comes from two high school students in Nova Scotia who decided to take a stand against bullying.

 

Your child can support this special campaign to stamp out bullying by wearing a pink T-shirt, pink shirt or pink sweater. It would be wonderful during the assembly to see a gym filled with pink!

 



 



 



Language

 

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the S s sound. Please review the letter, sound and action with your child. Some of the words I will use in sentences during the week are:  sad, say, set, sum, son, sat, sit, saw, see, said, sky, sob, six, sell, sick, sap, sled, sank, sang.

 

 

The By Heart Words for this week are: be and up.

 

The word family is ug family using such words as:

bug, dug, hug, lug, mug, pug, rug, tug, jug, drug, chug. 

Evidence of Thinking Mathematically

 

The students are becoming very familiar with graphing and explaining what the graph shows us. Many of the students understand we have to count the two categories to find out which has the most and which has less. They are very comfortable with a number being more or higher than another number, or being lower or less than a number.

 

Then we moved onto proving our mathematical thinking. The students were asked how they knew one number was bigger, higher or larger than another. I am amazed at their mathematical explanations and thinking. I have a number of examples below for you to view. Remember we are talking about 4 and 5 year old students.

 

 

In one of the examples one category had 10 and the other had 6. One of the girls explained she knew 10 was a bigger number because it was a two digit number and 6 is only a one digit number, and two digit numbers are more than one digit numbers.

 

When there were 8 and 4 one of the boys explained, 8 is more because it takes 4 and then 4 more to make 8 but 4 is just 4.

 

Another boy explained it as, when I count I say 4 but then I count more for 8 because I say 5, 6, 7 and 8.

 

Another boy explained it as, 8 is more than 6 because there is 7 in the middle of 6 and 8 and I have to add one more to 6 to get to 7 and then one more to 7 to get to 8.

 

 

Another student added so that means that 8 is 2 more than 6.

 

 

Excellent mathematical thinking and explanations are happening in the Kindergarten classroom. 

Jolly Phonics

 

In the jolly phonics program there are the long vowel sounds and some of the blends. I feel the long vowel sounds are more for grade 1. When I taught grade 1 they were not introduced to the long vowel sounds until January. Since we have finished all the consonant and short vowel sounds in the jolly phonics program it is now time to review them.  We will begin next week February 24th with the letter and sound s. I have posted the sound page for you to download if you wish to do so.
You can assist your child by practising the letter name, the sound and having your child print the letters (both upper and lower case letters). Practise with identifying the letter name, sound and printing will be beneficial for both grade 1 if your child is SK and Senior Kindergarten if your child is now a JK. Thank you for assisting your child in their education.

Light Table

 

 

Many of the ELKP (full time kindergarten programs), have a light table. These are very expensive, so instead of a light table I decided to bring an overhead projector into the classroom and added some 2D shapes for the students to use to create various designs and creations. Some of the students created puzzles and pointed out on the whiteboad the place they wanted their partner to place the next shape. Others created rocketships and wonderful designs.

The students work with a partner and work as a team to create something. They create their design on the overhead and it is projected onto the whiteboard in the classroom.

This has been a wonderful new centre and there have been a few times where the students have lined up waiting for a turn at the light centre. I have included just a few pictures to show everyone what the students have created.

 

 



Mathematics

 

In the area of Math the students will be introduced to data management, mainly graphing. The students will be asked to choose something they like better between two things. For example: "What do you like better cats or dogs." Then each student will choose which one they prefer and place their name in the graph chart either under the picture of the cat or the dog. Then they will be asked what they notice about the graph. The students are expected to be able to orally explain that one of the groups has more or less than the other. They will then be challenged to explain how they know. 

Language

 

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the V v sound. You can download the v sound page to assist you to learn the action for the sound. The students love to play "Detective Eyes" in order to find the jolly phonic sound in my silly little stories. For example: There was a girl named Violet who loved to drive in her van with all her friends. Vicki loved to play her violin,  while Valerie was vacuuming the carpet in her violet vest.

 

The By Heart words for this week are: so and no.

 

 

When I am reading aloud stories for the next two weeks the students will be asked to describe how the characters from the story are feeling. The more difficult question they will be asked is to give evidence from the story. Orally giving evidence from the story will assist the SK students in the area of comprehension (understanding) the story. Offering your SK additional practise with this strategy when you read to them would be very beneficial.

Valentines Celebrations

 

The dance-a-thon was a great success. Thank you for all the wonderful and generous donations. All the monies raised from this fundraiser go directly to Hospice Niagara on Ontario Street. They will be shocked at the generous donation from one small school population. Thank you once again.

 

The students loved the dance-a-thon. In their words I quote: "The dance-a-thon was amazing", "this was the best day ever", "this was the most amazing Valentine's Day ever!"  Every Kindergarten child danced their little hearts out and got lots and lots of exercise. By the way, just so everyone knows I did not stop dancing either. Great success!!!

Beautiful Junk Creations

 

Even in Kindergarten the students do not need all the fancy things that are sold in the store in order to get their imaginations operating. I have been saving all kinds of recyclable materials for a couple of weeks and decided to put out the box of materials to see what they would build or create.

 

First two JK boys in the afternoon created a city for the cars to travel around. The road for the cars they told me was the table because it was dark brown and most of the roads are black. "But we are pretending it is dark brown. Then we built a city of buildings around the road, because when we are in the cars we see gas stations, buildings, houses and restuarants".

 

 

Another day three SK boys built a castle using many of the materials. Inside the castle were dinosaurs, but they were pretending they were dragons. The dragons were protecting the princess from a wicket fairy who wanted to kidnap the princess and change her into something ugly. All the people in the kingdom liked the princess because she was so kind to them and helped the poor people.

 

At the beginning of the week the boys asked me if I could buy them a car mat so they could use it for the cars to drive on. First, I asked them what they wanted to have on the car mat. They explained, they wanted lots of roads, buildings, houses, stop signs and traffic lights. I explained to them I could not afford to buy them a car mat but I could give them a large piece of brown paper and they could create their own.

The boys and the girls liked this idea and became very busy with the markers to create their own car mat. Personally I think it is far better and is put to greater use than a purchased car mat. Examine what the wonderful Kindergarten creative imaginations made.

 







• Language

The By Heart Words for this week are: do and she. These are part of the kindergarten word list. However, this is mainly for the SK students to assist them for next year in grade one and to help them in the area of reading and writing. Not next week but the following week the SK students will come home with a list of all the words we have learned so far.

 

The Jolly Phonic Sound for this week is the "y" sound. The students love the silly sentences that I make using as many of the words as possible. Then volunteers (JK and SK) come to the front and circle the sound when they find one in the word. This strategy is really assisting all the students to learn the letter and sound. This is by far the best learning strategy I have come up to assist the students to learn the letter and sound jolly phonic learning.

Some of the words I will be using this week are" yak, yam, yap, yard, yarn, you, your, yawn. yea, yell, yet, yelp, yolk, yo-yo. yes, yesterday, and yoga.

 

 



 

Calendar and Newsletter

 

The school calendar and newsletter for February are now on the blog. You can click on the right hand side of the blog and download both the calendar and newsletter. Some parents have found this to be beneficial so I will continue to do this each month.

 

 

 

 

Kindergarten Registration

 

Just a reminder, Kindergarten registration is on Thursday, February 6th from 4:00 to 6:00. So if you or anyone you know has a child who will be four years old before the end of this year be sure to tell them about registration. Also this is the year that all Kindergarten programs in Ontario are full day. This is a very exciting time for all the schools in the Niagara region and across Ontario. 

Language

 

The jolly phonic sound for this week is the Ww sound. Some of the easiest words are: west, went, we, will, well, web, wig, won, win, wet, wad, wed, wee, was, wag, way. In order to assist the students to identfy the jolly phonic sound/letter when written with other words, each day I write two silly sentences using as many words with that sound in it and the students have a turn to come to the front and circle the sound and do the action. I have found this has assisted many of the students to remember what the sound looks like and to identify the sound.

 

For example on Monday the sentences will be:

When I was walking down the west side of the street on Wednesday, there was a big wad of weeds on the ground. I told you they were silly sentences but the students love them and can't wait for a turn to come and circle the sound.

 

The By Heart Word for this week is the word in and oh. Oh is not one of the words the kindergarten students are required to know, but it does occur in many of the simple books.

 

The word family for this week is the in. Some of the words the students will be blending together to make are: bin, chin, fin, grin, pin, tin, win.

Mathematics

 

Next week the students will be introduced to the measurement of capacity. They will have some different sized containers and use some materials to decide which container will hold the most or the least. This learning experiece will assist the student with their visualization skills about different sized containers and how some containers can be deceiving. For example, a container that is short but wide may hold as much as one that is tall and narrow. Young students often will think the tall and narrow container will hold a lot more than any other container.

You can further your child's learning with capacity when baking or cooking and show them some different sized bowls, cake pans, etc.