December 18-22

 Hello Families!

Wow! Can you believe it's Winter Break?! We had a magical last week of school before the holiday that included two breath-taking sunrises, lots of Christmas carolling, Sweater day, Pyjama day, a Special Story with Dr. Slater and lots and lots of learning and exploring with our friends.

This week we learned about the letter C.  We can identify lots of different things that start with the letter C, and can make the /c/ sound.  We also became very skilled at writing the letter C, as well as practicing printing all of our other letters we know now.  The letter C went very well with our Tasting Experiment this week as we tried  a cookie.  A gingerbread cookie!  We were able to use our 5 senses to describe what our cookie looked like, smelled like, felt like, tasted like and even the sound it made when we chomped into it!

As we celebrated Winter Solstice this week and discussed the changing of the seasons we were all able to go outside, lay down, look up and watch the sunrise as it happened overhead.  We saw brilliant colours like oranges, purples, pinks and blues.  We loved how the clouds changed and moved as the sunrise happened.  We noticed how the colours moved across the sky and we marvelled at just how beautiful it is to stop and watch nature unfold.  

This week we read different versions of "The Gingerbread Man", including "Gingerbread Cowboy", "Gingerbread Girl", "Ninjabread Boy" and "Gingerbread Baby".  We noticed the ways these books were all similar, and how they were different.  We also voted on our favourite version.  You can ask your child which one they liked best.  We even did a directed drawing of a Gingerbread Man and made it unique!

During centre times, we built the worlds longest train track, explored how coloured blocks in the window frame can reflect beautiful colours on our classroom walls and floor, how we can make shadows with our bodies when the light comes in, and we crafted and crafted and crafted some more!  We made cards, paper chains, ornaments, and paintings.  We also built marble runs, read stories in our cozy cube and made special cinnamon-cocoa playdoh that had the most delicious smell and was so warm and squishy.

This week, Parent Council brought a delicious treat to our classroom (oranges and candy canes) for all of the students to enjoy with our Special Story.  They also blessed the staff with an amazing lunch on the last day of school.  It was fabulous and very appreciated.  I want to send a big "Thank you" to all of the families who shared a little extra love this week through cards, words, or surprises.  It was all so kind and thoughtful. I am so grateful to have such wonderful and supportive families and such wonderful students. 

 I wish you all a wonderful and joyful holiday with your families, and I look forward to seeing all of the Kindergarteners again in the New Year.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joyful Everything to you and yours!

Gingerbread Cookies

 Hello Families, 

We have been reading lots of different versions of "The Gingerbread Man" in our class over the last few days.  You can ask your Kindergarten child which has been their favourite so far.  

To go along with our senses exploration in Science, we will each have an opportunity to taste a small Gingerbread cookie.  We will be noticing how it smells, looks, tastes and even how it sounds when we bite in.  The cookies are nut free.

If your child has any allergies or dietary restrictions, please email me and we will come up with an alternate tasting experience. 

December 11-15

 Hello Families!

These December weeks are so full of excitement as we approach our Winter Break.  We have had another busy week in Kindergarten.  After watching the sunrises out our window this week, we planned our own Sunrise Sensation morning on Friday- to attempt to watch the sun come up on the front lawn of the school.  As it turned out, we instead had the experience of navigating those moments when "what we have planned, doesn't happen how we planned it"- as the sky was so foggy that the sun was not seen at all.  We talked about how there are just some things that don't go according to plan, but we can still make the best of it- and make another plan.  We still had lots of fun rolling snowballs, singing "Oh Mr. Sun" and making snow angels instead- and all agreed that the next time a sunrise is starting off beautiful we would "jump into action".   

We will also cross our fingers that the PM class has a clearer morning when we try to watch the sunrise next friday morning!  

In Literacy we have been loving our "Post Office" writing center- creating lots of cards and letters for our friends and teachers in the classroom, and in the school.  At the end of the week we loved walking around the school to deliver our "mail" and make people smile with our thoughtfulness.  We also learned all about the letter B, and practiced printing letters and reading some beginning words using the letter sounds we know already!   We also enjoyed another round of "Kinder Theatre" acting out the story of "The Gingerbread Man".  Reading and then retelling stories are a favourite activity in Kindergarten- we practiced making predictions, talking about characters in a story, and noticing the differences between fiction and non-fiction stories.

In Math, we worked on representing the number 9 different ways, as well as playing 3 new math games.  We love practicing subitizing and comparing numbers through games.

In Science- we continued to learn about the 5 senses, and focused on "Touch" this week.  We played a guessing game with our "Feely Box" using descriptive words to talk about what different things felt like.  We came up with so many great words like "squishy, mushy, freezing, bumpy, silky, smooth and squiggly".  

Here are some pictures from our busy week!

Magic of Christmas!

The Magic of Christmas Fundraiser

This holiday season, McKenzie Towne students and staff are encouraged to support The Magic of Christmas. 

Every Christmas Eve, The Magic of Christmas loads up Calgary Transit buses that are magically transformed into “reindeer buses”, with hundreds of gifts and volunteers dressed as Santa and his elves.  Then they deliver Christmas spirit into the homes and hearts of those who need it most.  The school wil be collecting until December 18.  Please bring in new, unwrapped donation items (not food) and place them in the boxes located in the front foyer. 

Please see the attached wish list for ideas of items to donate.

For more information or to make a monetary donation, please visit
https://www.themagicofchristmas.org/

Thanks for your support!

December 4-8

 
We started the week with sunshine and mild weather, and ended it with lots and lots of fluffy snow!  How exciting it was to watch the snowflakes fall outside of our window all day.  Watching the seasons change right before our eyes is incredible.  We are so lucky to have big windows to make observations out of!

We had to make sure we could go outside to play in the fresh falling snow! Our Kindergarten friends are doing absolutely incredible at being independent and getting on all of their snow gear.  We can do it so fast now and can't wait to get outside everyday- even if it is just for a little bit of time.  We were able to make so many descriptive comments using our 5 senses as we played outside.  We noticed how the snow felt, smelled, the sound it made when we stepped on the ice, and in the thick piles of snow.  Some students tried catching snowflakes on their tongues and liked "tasting the coldness" and some noticed all of the delicate designs on each of the snowflakes.  One student exclaimed "the snowflakes are unique! They're all different!"

This week we said "Good-bye" to Mr. Arcila as he wrapped up his student- teaching practicum and will be returning to campus to continue his studies.  He taught us how to count to the number 8 in Spanish this week.  Number 8 was our number of the week, and we were so surprised to learn that Mr. Arcila speaks Spanish.  We loved practicing our counting with him and made sure to send him off with lots of good wishes and lots of high fives!

Our word of the week was "Thoughtful".  We learned that being thoughtful means that you think of others and their needs, as well as your own needs.  We know that being thoughtful means we think about ways we can make other people feel loved and cared for!  We brainstormed ways that we can show that we are thoughtful and also discovered how many ways we already show "thoughtfulness" everyday in our classroom.  Lots of friends made cards and art to gift to others, and others found ways to help their classmates with cleaning up, doing up their zippers, holding their hands and including them at the park and inviting new friends to play as we displayed thoughtfulness in our classroom family.  

This week we learned about the letter N and did writing about another one of our senses.  Our "Sense of Smell" made it a very "smelly week!"  We did our own smell test experiment, and recorded our smell predictions like real scientists.  We were able to follow all procedures to smell "smelly jars" and guess what was inside.  It was so interesting to see just how strong our sense of smell is when it is our only sense we can use!  Our noses have very powerful sensors that work with our brains.  You can ask your child what kinds of smells they could identify and which smells were their favorite.

During center times, students had lots of fun playing in our "Candy Cane Cafe" coffee shop making special yummy drinks, paying with "money" for their snacks and taking turns working in the "kitchen", behind the counter or being the customer.  We also had fun doing a Winter Word Scavenger Hunt, creating blow paintings at the art table, building with lego and blocks and learning new math games.

Here are some pictures from this week:

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