Mathematics

 

The SK students will continue to be challenged in the area of problem solving. One of the problems for next week will be: At the farm there were 3 pigs and 2 chickens. How many legs were there altogether at the farm?

 

The SK and the JK will also be challenged to show what they know about the number 7 and the number 8. This is where they can show the number by drawing something to represent the number, show the number through addition or subtraction, or show the number on a rekenrek or a ten frame.

 

The students will also be introduced to some of the three dimensional figures. At one of the centres they will have an opportunity to make some of the figures and to use some of the figures in the construction area (block centre). 

Language

 

Most of the Kindergarten By Heart Words have been learned. Each day we review five of these words by playing the game "Find the Word". Volunteer students find the word stated by the teacher. They find the word, point to the word and tell the rest of the class the letters in the word. Sometimes I print the word on the whiteboard to help some of the students. Due to the fact that many of the students are showing a keen interest in reading and writing, I have decided to add words that they often come upon in their reading and writing. So this week the By Heart Words are, "this" and "her".

 

 

The Jolly Phonic sound for this week is the "e" sound. The students often experience difficulty with the short vowel sounds because they sound very similar.

Some of the words for the short e sound are: hen, pen, red, pest, pet, end, set, men, elf, fed, den, neck, met, test, get, leg, wet, well, yes, and hem. 

 

 



May Calendar

 

The May Kindergarten Calendar is ready for you to print out. On the calendar you will see Friday, May 9th there will be a Mother's Day Celebration. The children will be bringing a letter home explaining the celebration in more detail. I realize that many Mother's have to work but perhaps a grandmother or aunt could come in your place.

 

This year because there are only 15 students in the morning and 13 in the afternoon, I have decided to have the celebration in the morning, in the gym from 10:30 to 11:10. The afternoon students will still have the afternoon program. I have made this decision because I have learned the children will perform better in larger numbers, rather than smaller numbers. The letter explains things in more detail. If you have any questions after reading the l

Building in Kindergarten

 

The construction area of the Kindergarten room is always very busy. Both boys and girls enjoy working at this particular centre. The construction area (block area) assists to develop many of the student's social abilities because they learn to work as a team, they learn to listen to each other's design ideas, suggestions, it builds on their self-confidence, and they take what they know about the real world and implement it into their play situations.

I think we may have some future engineers or architects by looking at some of these designs and creations. This is a castle hotel in the background and you will notice there is a tunnel and roadway leading up to the castle hotel.

 

I placed a picture of Meadowvale School up on the rad, along with other buildings and bridges. The students took the photo of Meadowvale School and designed their building to look like it. They made the sign for the school and even included the parking lot and walkway up to the school. They explained there is no roof because they did not have enough of the longer blocks. More blocks will be ordered for the students to use next year.

Another Two Recipes

Great News - Another parent has taken the time to send me two of her recipes that her family loves to eat and they are a real treat for the children. I hope you enjoy all the new recipes. I love the zucchini muffins and look forward to making the brownies for my family who adore brownies. 

I want to take this opportunity to wish all the families a very Happy Easter. Enjoy the time with your children and extended family. 

Mathematics

 

The students are becoming very good with subitizing the number on a ten frame. Next week the SK's will be challenged to find to ten frame cards in order to make a specific number. For example, if the student was given the number 8 they could find a card with 4 and another card with 4 on it, or 5 on one and another one with 3. This will be a great introduction to addition which we will be working on after Easter.

 

The JK's will be given a number and asked to show that many counting various items. Young children require lots of practise with counting objects in order to ensure they tag and count each object correctly. They will be encouraged to identify the numbers from one to 10 in random order, count that many objects and then find the ten frame that shows that number.

Language

 

The jolly phonic sound to review this week is the "c/k" sound. It is important for all the SK students to know most of the sounds by this time. Practising the sounds (moreso than the letters) would be beneficial. Most of the students struggle with the vowel sounds because they sound very similiar to their ears.

 

Some of the words we will focus on are: cat, car, can, cart, cut, cub, cap, cab, cry, cow, cob, cot, and cup.

 

The By Heart Word for this week is the word "was". This word is difficult for the students and it appears in many of the books that so many of them are beginning to read and when they want to write a sentence or two.

 

This week I have written some of the By Heart Words on plastic Easter eggs. The students will stamp the words using the letter stamps. When your child brings home their work see how many of the words they are able to read.