Great Learning about how to ask a question

The other day I found a bug crawling on the counter around the sink. Luckily I am not afraid of any kind of bugs, insects or spiders. Now snakes that is a different story. I decided to collect the bug and place it into my bug jar, which happens to magnify things on the bottom. I offered both the morning and the afternoon children an opportunity to carefully examine the bug, investigating all its characteristics and to think of an "I wonder" question. The children's questions were amazing so I thought I would share them with the parents.

I wonder if it can fly?          I wonder if he can do a bug walk?   

I wonder if it has a family?       I wonder if it is a baby or an adult?

I wonder where it came from?    

I wonder if it has eyes because I don't see them.

I wonder if it lives in a tree because some bugs live in trees.

I wonder how it got all it's colours.

I wonder what it is thinking or does it have a brain.

I wonder what it eats?

I wonder if the spots get bigger when the bug gets bigger.

I wonder what it does with those things on it's head?   (antenna)

Then the children started to wonder how the beetle got into the classroom. Some of their ideas where:

I noticed there are cracks along the outside of the school so maybe it went through the cracks into our classroom. Maybe it crawled over the top of the door that leads to that outside part of the school ( the peace garden area).

Maybe it crawled under that same door.

We may never know where the beetle came from or how it came into the school. But I do know that one little beetle did create a lot of rich communication, questioning and learning in the Kindergarten classroom!

I took some of the children's questions and went to the Internet to find some of the answers.   

The beetle I found is known as a box elder beetle. It was an adult beetle because as the beetle becomes older the orange markings become more visible and larger.

Science

 

 

The children have had several opportunities to demonstrate an awareness of natural occurrences using their observations. These opportunities were offered when the leaves were changing colour, in the examination of various rocks, and when they examined water which included a variety of different liquids. 

For this week the children will have opportunities to examine how water affects various materials in the area of sinking and floating. The children will have opportunities to examine what happens with various materials when they interact with water and to think about why some materials float and some sink.



Math

 

This week the children will be introduced to 3D figures. The expectation is for the children to build three-dimensional structures using a variety of materials, and begin to recognize the three-dimensional figures that the structure contains. The plan is to have the three-dimensional figures in the construction area to see what the children do with them and examine how they incorporate these materials into the structures they build. I will be making notes of exactly what they have made and ask them to orally tell me about the structures and the figures they used. The next challenge will be to investigate if the children can tell me why they used those particular figures.

Language

 

 

This week the By Heart Words will be:  up and come. Every day we practise printing the words on white boards and we orally spell the words. Orally spelling the word assists the JK children to identify the letters of the alphabet and assists the SK's to memorize the spelling of these important words. I also attempt to use the words in the morning/afternoon message and have one child take the word from the "By Heart Wall" and print the word into the message.

 

The Jolly Phonic sound for this week is  the "j" sound. This is a difficult sound for the children because at this young age they often confuse the "g" and the "j" letter and sound. Some of the simple words we will be working on are the following: jam, jaw, jet, job, jazz, jelly, jello, jot, jog, jump, junk, jug, just.

 

 

The word family for this week is the "ap" family. Some of the words are the following: cap, clap, gap, lap, map, nap, tap, sap, tap, trap, flap. If the children can say the "ap" sound this assists them to chunk these two sounds together and then they just have to place the first sound in front of the chunk. For example if the word is cap- c-ap, rather than stating all three sounds. 

Language

 

 

The "By Heart Words" for this week are:  purple and said. In Jolly Phonics we will be working on the "b" sound. Every day in the morning message we practise some of the words with the sound and stretching out the sounds and chunking the sounds are practised as a large group on a daily basis.

 

We will be working on the "ot" family this week. There are many words that assist in reading if one can chunk the "ot" sound, such as  cot, dot, got, hot, jot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot, spot, shot, slot, trot. I try to focus mainly on the short vowel sounds. The long vowel sounds are very difficult because there are so many different variations for these vowels.

 

 

The reading strategy will continue to be Retelling. There are many, many winter books that lead themselves very nicely to the retelling strategy.

 

 

There are many children who are becoming ready and eager to read or are already reading. I will be meeting with these children individually and see where they are comfortable reading. This is dependent upon how fluently they read, how they use the punctuation when reading and their knowledge of the "By Heart Words". Once I have a clear indication of the comfort level of each child's reading I will send home little books for them to read on a weekly basis. At this time this will apply mainly to the SK children. I want the children to be able to read and to use some of the strategies they have been taught during teaching time. Some of these strategies include: it is a by heart word, look at the beginning sound, use the picture to help you figure out the word. 

Math

 

This week the children will be completing a review of patterning and also numerations activities. I want to ease the children back into the program and most of the children are very comfortable with patterning and can name a pattern. I want to observe the children who can successfully and independently create and name a variety of patterns, especially the SK children. Hopefully they will be able to create and name many of the following patterns: ABAB, AABB, ABCABC, AAB, AABBCC.

 

 

In the area of numerations a few of the expectations are: demonstrate an understanding of number relationships for numbers from 0 to 10 ( I know there are 7 counters because all of the ten frame is full except for 3 spaces), begin to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects (I counted 5 children so I need 5 napkins), identify which number quantities are more or less (I have 5 marbles and Karen has 3, that means I have more than Karen).

Welcome Back Everyone

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, spending quality time with family and friends. I want to thank everyone for their thoughtful gifts and cards. I truly appreciate your kindness.

 

The beauty salon is all ready to go with lots of activities to entice the children to use their prior knowledge of what happens in the salon. Before the break the children offered 4 names for the salon and they were voted on. The names were: One of a Kind Salon,  Kindergarten Salon,  Princess Salon, Pretty Girl Salon. The winning name of the salon is "Kindergarten Salon". The children will be creating the sign this coming week. I have created little sheets for them to complete which entails a little writing, which meets one of the Kindergarten expectations in the area of writing. They will also fill their names on a calendar when it has been their turn in the centre.