Update from Ms. R

This week the children learned to read "Zac the Rat", a story that uses simple, easily decoded words. A copy of this book was sent home with the students on Friday. Please have your daughter/son read this book to you (remember to use your "pointer finger" to point to the words as they are said). If your child does not recognize a word, they know to "s-t-r-e-t-c-h" out the letter sounds to decode the word.

This little book is from the learning to read website, http://www.starfall.com/. I encourage you to go to this site with your child to explore all the reading games and activities.

*Note: On Thursday, December 10th, our class will be celebrating the 100th Day of School. We need 2 parent volunteers for the morning class and 2 volunteers for the afternoon class. If you are able to help, please email me at nrawlinson@rogers.com.

Important Dates:

February 10 - 100th Day of School Celebration!
February 14 - Report Cards go home - Junior Kindergarten only
February 17 (evening) and February 18 (morning) - Parent Interviews
February 18 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
February 21 - Family Day - no classes on this day
March 14 to 18 - March Break

News for January 28

News for January 28

This week we started a unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. It's always fun to read nursery rhymes to young children and have them start to "read" along. They are always amazed to realize they have so many little stories already inside them! Nursery rhymes are a wonderful way for children to practise listening to the sounds in words, especially the rhyming words. We also learned about the "beat" in rhymes and poems by clapping the beat as we recited the nursery rhymes. We also had fun playing clapping games with a partner while saying the rhymes Pat-A-Cake and From Wibbleton to Wobbleton. We now have a set of little nursery rhyme books in the reading centre that the children love to pick up and read.

The class had fun listening to the classic fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs. The students are learning what makes a classic fairy tale so special. A few things this week that we talked about was that the stories begin with "Once upon a time..." indicating that the stories are set in a time long ago (e.g., before computers and cars) and the fact that animals act like people (e.g. they talk and wear clothes). As always, more information on the books read aloud in class can be found at our sister blog, http://planet5books.blogspot.com/.

The students have worked very hard to learn the sounds and shapes of 21 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. This week, the class learned the shapes, sounds and songs for C, K and T. They are getting very good at sounding out phonetic words (e.g., dog) and recognizing irregular words (e.g., the). They are now writing regularly in their journals and becoming more confident in their attempts to write words on their own. We learned the story of Zac the Rat and the children practised reading the words of the story as they touched each word. A copy of this story was sent home with each child on Friday.

Together we wrote an article about the scientist's visit to our class last week. It was very interesting to see what they remembered and which activity was a favourite. Everybody loved the Fishing Game! This article will be in the February school newsletter.

There was a school-wide dental screening this week. Carol, a dental hygenist, came and checked the teeth of the students in both classes. Before her visit, the children discussed how and why it is important to take care of your teeth. We also talked about dentists and the job they do in our community.

Update from Ms. R

We learned a lot about magnets with Scientist Lindy on Thursday! Thank you to Emma, Liam and Raghav's mom (morning class) and Anthony, Oliver and Tyler's mom (afternoon class) for volunteering. We could not have done it without you!

Attention JK Parents! Remember that the French Immersion Information Night is this Thursday, January 27 at 7:00 PM in the gym. If you are interested in enrolling your child for this program next year (senior kindergarten), the deadline for completed applications is February 4th.

News for January 20

News for January 20

It was a short, 4-day week and we had two special visitors!

The big news was the visit of Scientist Lindy to our morning and afternoon classes. The students learned lots of new things about magnets. The children made and decorated a paper fish, put a paper clip on it and then used "fishing poles" with a magnet on the end of the string to go "fishing". The children used wand magnets to do an experiment where they had to predict and then test if different materials were attracted to magnets (e.g., buttons - no, screws - yes). There was a table with lots of different toys that used magnets. Students got the chance to search for buried metal treasure in a big container of sand using wand magnets. Children also got to sit with Scientist Lindy to learn more about the "pull" (attract) and "push" (repel) when two magnets are put together. Your child took home the materials they made during the day plus a bookmark, activity sheet and a magnetic fishing pole! A video of our time with the scientist can be found at the end of this posting.

PULL AND PUSH (sung to "Mary Had a Little Lamb")

Magnets like to pull and push,

Pull and push, pull and push,

Magnets like to pull and push,

Magnets are such fun!

Attract means pull, repel means push,

Repel means push, repel means push,

Attract means pull, repel means push,

Magnets are such fun!

Officer Marcie, is our school's Toronto Police Community liason, and she visited with our morning and afternoon classes this week. The focus of her talk was to tell the students how to recognize a Toronto Police Officer (dark blue uniform with a Toronto Police crest on both sleeves near the shoulder, a red band and badge on the hat and a red stripe down the side of each pant leg). She also spoke about what to do in an emergency (call 9-1-1) and the different kinds of jobs that police do in our city.

We learned the shape, sound and songs for the capital letters O and G.

In math, the students focused on learning how to recognize by sight the number of a group of dots (0 to 6) and how to 1:1 count the dots for higher numbers (7 to 10). We read aloud the book, Ten Black Dots, to help review 1:1 correspodence of objects and numerals and to practice using our imaginations to use black dots to represent something else (e.g., black dots can be balloons). The students each created a piece of art by gluing dots on paper and drawing in some details. They then counted and told me how many dots they used and what their dots represented. I typed up the students' words and now the art and words are on display in the hall outside our classroom.

We read aloud the book, The Moccasin Goalie, over several days. It is a Canadian classic story about a little boy who loved hockey. This is a good book to discuss with the class how the characters are feeling at different parts of the story. As usual, details about the books read aloud each week can be found at our sister blog at http://planet5books.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to the snowfall this week, the children made "Frosty" the snowman. Of course he had to have a carrot nose!

Here is a video our our time with Scientist Lindy:

Update from Ms. R

Thank you to all the parents that volunteered for our Scientists in the Schools day coming up on January 20th. We now have enough volunteers.

Please read with your child the "Shapes" poem that was sent home on Friday. The children also know the American Sign Language (ASL) signs for the shape names in the poem.

News for January 14

News for January 14

This week the children focused on geometry, snowflakes and magnets.

In math, the class continued to learn about and explore geometric shapes. By folding a square of paper in half into a rectangle, then in half again to make a square and in half once more into a triangle, the students were set to cut out chunks of the folded triangle and then unfold it to make a paper snowflake. This was also great practise for using their scissor skills.

The children learned how the basic geometric shapes are different from each other (number of corners, number of sides, side length). They identified plastic shapes and used them to sing and do the "Shapey Pokey" (a version of Hokey Pokey). The students learned the American Sign Language signs for circle, triangle, square and rectangle and used these signs when learning the poem "Shapes". A copy of this poem was sent home with the children on Friday.

The students had several opportunities to explore pattern blocks (wood and plastic shapes). Students used these to create pictures (for example, a house or flower) as well as tile-type patterns where several of the same shapes are put together without any space between them. The class also started to "train their brains" to see geometric shapes in the real world. For example, the clock is a circle and the side of a Kleenex box is a rectangle.

We talked about magnets and how they can be used to stick things together without glue or tape. The children explore the "feeling" of the push and pull of magnets and used a variety of magnetic pieces for building.

The class learned the shape, sound, action and song for the letters Y and Z. They experimented with letter stamps to create words and patterns and matching the stamps to the proper place when putting the stamps away.

As we continue to learn about snow, the class learned about a real man nicknamed "Snowflake Bentley" who was the first person to photograph snowflakes over 100 years ago. We even looked at a book of his snowflake photographs! (Luckily it snowed several times this week and the students had a new appreciation for the delicate six-sided snowflake patterns.) His story reflects basic scientific thinking (questioning, solving problems) and how persistence pays off in the long run. This week I often referred to Snowflake Bentley with the children in situations where they were frustrated doing something, that is "Keep trying! Remember Snowflake Bentley? He never gave up!)

More information on the read aloud books for this week can be found at our sister blog at:

http://planet5books.blogspot.com/

The children also had some messy fun playing with fake "snow" paint (a mixture of glue and shaving cream!).

Update from Ms. R

This week was spent getting back into the routines of kindergarten (for the students and their teacher!). Please remember to encourage your child to get their outdoor gear on independently. I know it is faster to help your child, but many children need the practise. Here is the order that we talk about at school: shoes off, snowpants on, boots on, jacket on, hat and scarf on, backpack on and mittens on last.

A poem, The Snowman, was sent home on Friday. Please read this poem with your child by having them point to the words as he/she says them.

Please let me know if you are able to volunteer on Thursday, January 20th as we have a visiting scientist coming to our class (nrawlinson@rogers.com). We need 4 volunteers for the morning class and 4 volunteers for the afternoon class. Thanks!

A pink form was sent home to the junior kindergarten families about the possibility of your child entering French Immersion Senior Kindergarten next year. The deadline for completed forms is February 4th. If you have questions about this program there is an Open House on January 27th at 7:00 PM in the gym.

Important Dates:

January 17 (AM) and January 18 (PM) - Police officer Marcie visits our classroom.
January 20 - Scientists In The Schools - science activities (magnets)
January 21 - P.A. Day - no classes on this day
January 27 - French Immersion Open House (gym) - 7 PM

News for January 7

News for January 7

Welcome back! Here are some of the activities your child did in kindergarten this week.

In math, we reviewed representing numbers from 0 to 10. We also started a unit on geometry by learning about some two-dimensional shapes: circle, triangle, square and rectangle.

The children created collages by gluing paper circles, triangles, squares and rectangles on larger paper. It is interesting that the students now remember the proper way to use a glue stick and to always put the glue on the smaller piece of paper. I know this because I did not have to clean up any stray glue on the art table at the end of the day!

The class talked a lot about ice and snow this week. We did an experiment where the students touched and observed different sizes and shapes of ice as the pieces melted in the warmth of the classroom. Words that the children used were: cold, hard, wet and slippery. We also observed snow melting in the classroom. The students had a great discussion about how ice and snow are made of water and ice and snow only exist where it is cold (that is, outside in winter and in the freezer part of the refrigerator).

The students worked on new drawings for our January bulletin board. I took new photos of the students to go with the new display and took down the photos I took of them in September. One student asked me why I put up new photos. I replied that I needed new photos of the children because I wanted pictures of the students now that they are 77 days smarter than when I took the last photos. (We like to count things in kindergarten!)

The class reviewed recognizing the numbers and words for the numbers 0 to 6 and the letter names, sounds and shapes of the 13 capital letters we've studied so far (recall: B, D, E, F, H, L, M, N, P, R, U, V, W) and a new capital letter, X.

The students learned a new poem, The Snowman. They learned how to "touch read" the words and some actions to go with the poem. A copy of the poem was sent home on Friday for your child to read with you at home.

Four books about snow were read aloud to the class this week. As always, details of the books we share together and how these stories connect with our classroom activities, can be found on our sister blog at:

http://planet5books.blogspot.com/.

Finally, here is a photo of students enjoying our Friday treat of freshly popped popcorn!

Here is a site for you to visit with your child, as a link to our unit on ice and snow. It's a game where you build a snowman and then sing a song:

http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/snowman/load.htm