September 25-29

 

It was another very exciting week in Kindergarten as we started our Dance residency with "Three Left Feet".  We have been having lots of fun moving our bodies to music, following our dance teacher and learning new, impressive dance moves.  
This week in Kindergarten we also came together with our school community to acknowledge and further understand truth and reconciliation.  We listened to a story called "I Hope" and each took time to think about our own hopes for our school, our class and ourselves.   We each created our own "orange heart" with our "hope" on it, to add the whole school "Hope Tree".  I will post pictures of the tree once we have our hearts added to it!  

In the classroom, we have been continuing our exploration of patterns.  We can identify the "core" of a pattern, and can make and record our own AB and ABC patterns.  We also have been creating our own patterns with actions and sounds.  We were very exited to notice how many patterns we do while we are practicing our 3 Left Feet dance!  One Kindergarten student stopped dancing and exclaimed "WoW! We totally made a pattern guys!!!" in the middle of our practice.   We can find patterns EVERYWHERE and can make patterns out of practically anything now.  We are becoming "Pattern Masters!"

We have been observing the changing of the seasons, thanks to the help of our classroom "Weather person" (our special helper of the day).  We have been sharing what we are seeing outside, how things are changing, and what happens in nature during the transition from Summer to Fall.  We spent time journaling about our observations and practiced our illustration skills.  We are focusing on adding details to our drawings and adding colours that enhance and clarify our pictures.

During our center times, we have been loving our new dramatic play center "Yummy Tummy Little McTasty's Restaurant" (named by our very own Kindergarten students).  Students have loved "cooking" for each other, taking orders and being the cashier.  Students have been busy creating their own dishes, making their own money, "writing" out their own menus and inviting their classmates to come visit the restaurant.

Students have also been exploring colour mixing at the art table, creating marble runs and "look-outs" in different building centres and learning how to play new board games with their classmates.  

Next week we will continue our dance residency with our own showcases being held at the end of the week (more details to come).  Please continue to send students in clothing that is easy to move and groove in.  

*** For next week***

If you have time this weekend, please help your child to collect a few nature items from your yard or neighbourhood that we can use in our classroom for different activities- things like leaves, pinecones, stones and sticks- are perfect! We will make sure to return these items to the Earth after we spent time exploring and examining them in our classroom:)

Here are some pictures from our week together:

September 18-22

 Hello Families,

It was wonderful getting to meet so many families over the last few days during Parent-Teacher Conferences.  The Kindergarten students were so excited to have our room all ready to share with our families and worked very hard to create beautiful, detailed drawings for our Classroom Family gallery.

This week we participated in the Terry Fox Run and learned all about Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.  Just like Terry, we showed perseverance and determination setting a goal of how many laps we would do and we were very excited to participate as a group in this important event.  

This week we spent lots of time learning and exploring patterns.  We went on our own school "Pattern Hunt" and found so many patterns in our classroom, school and playground.  Using our own pictures- taken by the amazing Kindergarten photographers we were able to create our own pattern poster to show others all of the patterns that are all around us.  We are thrilled to notice patterns on our clothing, backpacks, shoes and even on our friends.  We also spent time creating and representing patterns with different materials.  We know that patterns can be shapes, colours, numbers, objects, sizes- as long as it repeats over and over and over.

We also worked on our illustration skills this week- spending time examining our unique features and noticing the details that make up our faces.  We used these observations to help us draw our most detailed self-portaits yet.  We added eyebrows, eyelashes, hairdos and even freckles to our drawings this week to show just how amazing we all are- and also to practice adding details to our drawings.

Next week we will resume Library.  The PM class has book exchange on Tuesdays and the AM class does book exchanges on Thursdays.  We will also be participating in a Dance Residency "Three Left Feet"- starting on Tuesday.

On Monday September 25, the school will be participating in Orange Shirt Day.  Students are invited to wear an orange shirt or orange clothing that day if they would like to. 

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have! 

September 11-15

 This Week in Kindergarten....

We had a busy week in Kindergarten!  We began our week beginning to explore the concept of patterns and where we can see patterns in the world.  We were excited to  notice patterns on our clothing, our shoes and in our classroom.  

We read a story about a little mouse with a BIG name called "Chrysanthamum".  We practiced scissor skills cutting out letters of our own names and trying to build our names in the correct order.  We were able to count the letters of our name and find out who else in our class has the same number of letters.  

Later in the week we read the story "Our Class is a Family".  Students shared "families are people who love each other" and "families take care of each other" and "lots of people can be in a family".  We learned that our class is our "class family" and we all have to work together to make our classmates feel safe, and loved.  We brainstormed together the ways we can work together to take care of our "classroom family".  We spent some time creating our own classroom friendship bracelets to give to one another and to remind us our classroom family and how we can find ways everyday to show kindness to each other.

We also celebrated International Dot Day! In the story the teacher says "Just make a mark- and see where it takes you."  We learned about taking risks, being creative and using our imaginations to make our own dot pictures- and our own HUGE Dot Day painting.

During our centre times, students enjoyed building marble runs with magnets, playing our group "fishing" game, making art with stamps and stickers, using scissors and glue and building very impressive cities and towers.    

We visited the Library, went to music class and did some running practice for the upcoming Terry Fox Run.  We also had time to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.  This week the PM class also participated in our first Fire Drill and did a fantastic job staying with the teacher and following our group plan to stay safe altogether.  

Next week, the Terry Fox Run will be on Tuesday- students can continue to bring in "Toonies for Terry" next week.

We will not be visiting the Library next week- as it is a short week and we have a few very exciting days.  Students can keep their books for an extra week.  

There is no school for Kindergarten students on Thursday and Friday.  There will be Parent-Teacher Conferences.  You can book a time on-line, to come in and see the classroom and hear all about the amazing things your child has been up to.  I look forward to meeting you soon:)

Please feel free to reach out at any time if you have questions or concerns.  I am always happy to connect.  

Have a fabulous weekend!