Thursday 28 January 2016

Photos de la semaine

We have been having a busy week! Tuesday was lots of fun with Mr. Bubbles from Star Gymnastics! We got to try trampolines, balancing beams and even back flips.

Yesterday we went to the library for the book exchange and everyone got a new book to take home! 

The letter of the week is G and we discovered that we have one friend in the class whose name starts with G. Here is the link to the song we've been singing. G comme...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=54t84EPoI5Y

We had fun painting and practicing our letters on the Buddha Board. It was cool to watch our paintings disappear as the water "paint" dried! 








Tuesday 26 January 2016

This Week in Kindergarten

We have been so busy that the week seems to be flying by.  As you now know, Friday will be Mme Anna's last day at our school.  We are all very sad and are trying to make this week last longer! The kids have learned so much in French over the past 5 months because of her hard work and dedication to her students.  We wish Mme Anna all the best on her new journey at St. George School.  

In Language, we have continued to look at book conventions such as the title, the author and the illustrator.  Ask your child about these during your nightly reading.  Our letter of the week is "g" and our word of the week is "go".  We buttered our "go" poem and then came up with words that rhymed with go.  Some children find rhyming a difficult concept so if you could continue to practise it at home, it would be very beneficial.  Make it fun by turning it into a game.  We often practise rhyming in class as well as read a lot of rhyming books to teach the concept.  It is ok if the word is not an actual word (eg cat - gat) as long as they understand how to rhyme.

In Math, we are continuing to look at numbers and what make up each number.  Many of the students are enjoying simple addition through games.  We are also continuing to explore 2D shapes.  It has been fun finding shapes all around us in our school environment!  We are finding triangles, rectangles, squares, circles, pentagons,  hexagons and octagon.   We have been talking about the number of sides each shape has and what the differences are between these shapes.

Here are some pictures from the week:








Literacy Day January 27th Book Exchange

To celebrate Family Literacy Day on January 27th there will be a book exchange at St. Gabriel. Please send in a used book or two for the exchange. The goal is for every student a St. Gabriel's to go home with a book. This means that even if you bring in more than one book, your child may still only go home with one book. Thank you for your support!

Thursday 21 January 2016

Pictures from the week

Here are some pictures of the things we have been working on this week. Enjoy!















Wednesday 20 January 2016

Cette semaine dans la classe


We have been practicing the letter of the week "c" with a song that has French words that start with "c". We have also discovered that we have five friends in our class with names that start with "c"!  Here is the link to the song we've been singing: C comme...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GR3-ufm0ZQ

We have been having fun with science too! We have frozen water outside and done an experiment on whether objects sink or float. We are learning to make predictions, observations, and record our results using pictures and words.

At the art table we have been ripping and cutting paper to make collages. We have also been painting on paper as well as snow and ice! They had a lot of fun creating pictures on the frozen snow boulders yesterday!






Tuesday 19 January 2016

This Week in Kindergarten!

This week, we are looking at the letter "c" and it's different sounds.   We came up with a long list of "c" words.  We even came up with a good list of "c" words that make the sound "s"!   The students are really coming along with their letter and sound recognition.
Our word of the week is "can".  We buttered our  "Can" poem and then the sk's went and wrote amazing sentences using "can" in their journals.  They LOVE writing in their journals and are very proud to show off their work!

In Math, we are continuing to work on measurement using non-standard units (cubes, pieces of yarn, blocks, hands, feet etc).  The students are enjoying measuring objects with their tall towers of cubes!  We have also had fun ordering ourselves from tallest to shortest and then shortest to tallest right after.  It's fun to watch them try and organize themselves quickly!
We have also continued to look at numbers and what makes up each number.  We have explored and examined ways to make a number (eg. 2 + 3= 5, 4+1=5) and the students really enjoyed writing down all the possible number sentences.  The sk's are having fun with addition and subtraction and are quite quick at doing mental math.
Some students are still learning numbers and number concepts ( what does the number look like in print, what is it's value, what it looks like in a ten frame and when counting).  Please continue to point out numbers around you at home (in books, on a clock, etc) and count with your child.  Making it fun is the best way to learn so make up a number game or play "I Spy" (with numbers) if you have a few extra minutes!
In Science, Mme Anna is teaching the students about objects that sink and float.  She had a great experiment going today which started off with student predictions.  The students were all really engaged and excited to test out the different objects in the water.
In Phys. Ed, we are continuing to work on coordination with our feet as well as with our hands and eyes.  We have been enjoying different stations focusing on coordination such as scoops, badminton, target games, hula hoops and skipping.
Just a reminder that Friday is a PD day so there is no school for the students.

Check back tomorrow to see pictures of the students exploring and learning in the classroom.

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Another Exciting Week in Room 138!

Although it's only Tuesday, we have had a very productive and fun week so far! Our letter of the week is "d".  We looked at how a "d" is formed and thought of a trick to remember the difference between the "d" and the "b".  Our trick is that the "b" has a big belly pointing out to the right.  This really made the kids giggle and helped them remember that the "d" goes the other way!  We also brainstormed a big list words that started with "d".  They did a great job!

Our word of the week is "and".  We looked at several books and noticed that "and" is a very important word because it is used so often in sentences. The sk's then independently sounded out their own sentences in their journals using "and".  Please have your child point out "and" during nightly reading.  You can even incorporate Math into your reading by counting all the "and" (s) you find in the book.

Raz Kids login information was sent home on Monday and many student were excited to share that they were reading the books already!  This is wonderful news! It is a great program for kids to play around with at home.  The sign up is free and it is really easy to get started. If you are experiencing difficulties, let me know and I can help you get registered.  It is a very beneficial program for your child.

In Math, we have been exploring and comparing lengths as well as ordering ourselves from tallest to shortest.  We have also been continuing with 10 frames and tally marks.  Ask your child to show you any number from 1  to 10 using tally marks...they have caught on quick!

Here are some pictures from the week:





                                           







Friday 8 January 2016

C'est l'hiver!

The cold weather is here and we have lots of opportunities to use winter clothing vocabulary! 


We also enjoyed this song: C'est l' hiver!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q_C8JvQi0lk

Today we had fun spelling words in the shaving cream.








Tuesday 5 January 2016

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  We had a great first day back yesterday!  The kids enjoyed sharing what they did over the holidays and were excited to see their friends.  They were all right back into the routine and it was like they never left!!!

Our letter of the week that we will be focusing on is "w".  We brainstormed a bunch of words that started with "w" or had a "w" in it.  The kids did a great job and we came up with a very big list!

Our word of the week is "we".  We buttered the word in our January poem and then the sk's wrote a sentence in their journal using "we".  They are really working hard at sounding out their words.  Their progress is so amazing to see.  During nightly reading, have your child point out our word of the week.

We also talked about New Year's resolutions and setting a goal for ourselves.  Lots of children are going to continue to be kind and helpful whereas some want to eat healthy or learn to read.  2016 is going to be a very productive year!

Raz Kids accounts have been set up for the class and I will send home more information this week on how to access and use it at home.  Raz Kids is a great reading program for the kids to use at home and at school. The books are very age appropriate and interesting.  More information to come soon!

Starting this month, I will be sending home a weekly reading program for the senior kindergarten students.  The children will come home with one book a week.  On the first day, the parents will read the book to their child.  On the  second day, you can read it together.  On the third day, your child can try and read it independently if possible.  These books are short, simple books with high frequency words.  There will also be a tracking sheet where you can write down comments about your childs' reading progress.

Reminders:
Since the blankets were sent home before the holidays to be washed, some students haven't brought them back.  If you could send them in tomorrow, that would be much appreciated.
With the cold, snowy weather comes wet socks and pants! Please ensure that your child has a full set of spare clothes (including underwear and a few pairs of socks).  Since the students go out for recess at temperatures of -24 degrees and above, please make sure they come to school dressed appropriately.

Here are some photos from the week so far.