Snowglobes

Time to dust off the Christmas decorations!  If any of you have a snowglobe that you could send to school next week, it would be much appreciated!  We are doing an activity with them and having many would greatly enrich the experience.

Please do NOT send anything that you would be devastated to see broken.  We haven't had any problems in previous years, but it could happen.

Thanks!

Late arrivals

Just a reminder that if your child arrives late to school, it is necessary for you to sign him/her in at the office.  Attendance is done immediately at the 8:50 bell.  I close the classroom door at that bell to signal that attendance is or has been taken.

Thanks! 

Books

Hi everyone!

Table groups are rotating through a reading centre this week.  Between now and Thursday, your child will bring home a booklet that they can read to you!  They are super excited about it!  At this point, I am ONLY asking them to repeat the story for me.  I am not yet asking them to track words with their fingers.  If you have already practiced this will your child, feel free to continue with this book; however, I am going to hold off on this step for a bit longer.

In Kindergarten, our focus is on the mechanics of reading or "the idea" of reading.  Specifically right now,  recalling/repeating the story, turning pages, and using picture clues.

Enjoy!

Tell me Quick - recognizing familiar arrangements at a glance

We have started to look at the math concept of recognizing familiar arrangements of dots...think Dice.    Many of them know these arrangements, especially if they place dice games at home.  That became clear pretty quickly as we explored the topic today!

So, we added the challenge of looking at unfamiliar arrangements of dots.  These would include numbers to six (so far) that might be arranged in, for example, a group of four and one off to the side to make five.  The really interesting part is when you ask them how they got the answer.  Some of them move the dots in their mind's eye to make the arrangement more familiar.  Some count by 2's, some see groups of 3's or 4's and add up from there and some "just know."  Fascinating!

Below are a couple of pictures of a simple game introduced today.  They play with a partner, roll their die and color in the corresponding number of dots on their card.  First one to fill their card knows that they rolled more high numbers than their partner (AKA, wins;-).  Incorporates fine motor, counting, and the concept of recognizing familiar arrangements.

New this week

The past couple of weeks we learned about compound words.  These words occur when two stand-alone words combine to make a new word.  For example, Snow and Man make Snowman; Butter and Fly make Butterfly.  I find this to be the easiest language element for them to learn, especially the act of combining the two words together to make a new word  The trickier part is asking them to leave one part out.  For example, say "cowboy" without the "cow."  What's left?

Also new the past couple of weeks is learning about "part-part whole" in math.  They find various ways of showing a number using two parts - for example, show 5 using two hands (hold up 2 fingers on one hand and 3 on the other or 4 on one hand and 1 on the other).  We do this for numbers up to 10.  This is a precursor to addition.

We also started Guided Art today!  In guided art we use pencils only and complete a step-by-step drawing together.  At the end of the drawing they have creative time to add to the drawing as they wish.  Soon, we will also add a written element where they are asked to write a title for their drawing.  For example, if we draw a person, they would be asked to write the word, "person."  They are encouraged to use what we call, "invented spelling" which goes uncorrected; however, I do give them the correct spelling once they have made their attempt.  I ask them NOT to erase their version  so that they understand that there is value in the sounds that they found, however many that may be.

Other current or upcoming topics include Fall and Family in Science and Social Studies respectively.

I hope this gives you some things to talk about with your child :-)

Cheers!

Scholastic/Christmas

The last scholastic magazines before Winter Break came home this week.  I will order on Friday the 20th to ensure that we receive the order before the break.  If you would like your order to be kept secret so you can use it as a Christmas gift, please let me know.

Thanks!

Remembrance Day

Mrs. Schwarzbach organized another touching Remembrance Day Ceremony today.  I think that much of it is lost on the Kindergarten children but hopefully they can tell you a little something about it.  Due to the involvement of the whole school, I am unable to post pictures here.

In class we focussed our discussions around the idea of "peace" and the five senses.  After a story, we shared our ideas about what peace feels like, smells like, tastes like, etc. and then completed journal entries about what makes each of us feel at peace.  Their ideas were wonderful and ranging from the smell of pizza on family movie night to the sound of a purring kitten :-) 

I hope you are all lucky enough to be able to enjoy a family day this Wednesday.  See you on Thursday! 

Signs of Fall

We took a walk outside to look for signs of Fall...a topic we will learn about this week and next.  If you find any great things in your yard or neighborhood walks, please feel free to send it to school (acorns, leaves, etc.).

Halloween Party

Friday was a GREAT day!  Thank you to everyone who contributed items for our party :-)  They grazed all day and left with tons of sugar and smiles.  Here are some pics from slime to our little cemetery.