News for May

Visitors:

This month pre-kindergarten children are visiting our classroom during the mornings.  These will be short visits, to give our visitors a taste of the kindergarten program.  Our daily schedule will be altered from time to time to accommodate these very young guests, and we thank you in advance for your understanding.

Science and Math:

We have loaded the incubator!  Barring power failure or other catastrophes, the first eggs should hatch on May 16^th.  Hatching usually takes place over a 48-hour period.  As the chicks hatch, we remove them from the incubator (the “delivery room”) and place them under a heat lamp (the “maternity ward”).   

We counted all the eggs by ones, twos, fives and tens.  We sorted them according to colour, shape and size (and learned in the process that 8 hens had laid the eggs that we selected for the incubator).  We made patterns with them, examined the contents (there was some speculation that they looked as different on the inside as the outside), and finally selected the best ones for the incubator.

Last week we estimated and then counted out broccoli, alfalfa and mung bean seeds before putting them in the sprouter.  The sprouts were delicious!  This week we are starting pumpkin seeds, which we saved these seeds from our jack o’lantern last fall.  At some point these seedlings will be coming home with your child, to be planted in a sunny place in the garden where you’ll remember to water them. 

During all this, we are learning about living things:   about growth in baby animals, growth in baby plants, and how all these living things change according to the seasons. 

 We are also working on making addition sentences that correspond to sets of numbers, and on making number sets that correspond to addition sentences.  We are trying to apply strategies to guess how many groups of ten are in a given number.   We still practice counting by ones, twos, tens and fives.

Literacy: 

This term most of the seniors are reading  or sounding out high-frequency words of one or two syllables, and the juniors are working on letter sounds.  We are play games such as Bang! And Bingo with our sight words, and play blackboard games involving initial, middle and final sounds.  The children write on individual blackboards and on in their journals, and the seniors are beginning to work in small groups writing sentences. 

It is normal for children at this age to experience confusion about the “left to right” word order during reading and writing.  You can reinforce this skill at home by moving a finger or popsicle stick underneath the words as you read with your child.  You can also help your child by practicing correct letter formation at home. 

The most important way to help your child progress, however, is to read on a daily basis and to talk together about the stories you read.

Social Development: 

Our social discussions and stories are largely influenced by social problems that arise in the classroom.  Recent topics have been the right of everyone to choose for themselves who they will or will not play with; where it is safe to play; the importance of never going someplace without the knowledge of one’s parent, teacher or caregiver; and the importance of respecting others’ personal space.  We are also honouring the virtue of empathy this month. 

We are also discussing different jobs people do in the community.  You can help us by sending in photos of you at work, so that we can talk about the different jobs our parents perform and how they help others.

Thank you

·         For the newspapers you have already begun to send in for the chicks’ bedding

·         For volunteering your time to help small groups of children with their reading and counting

·         For sending in special books to share with the children

·         For taking the time to complete and comment on your children’s reading logs each night

·         For your enthusiasm and support of the kindergarten program!

News for April

Coming Events:

Easter:  In previous years some classes have had small celebrations for Easter.  This year the school is making a policy of asking parents who wish to send in treats to ensure that said treats are healthy and nutritious.  

Hatching chicks:

In mid-April, we are setting chicken eggs to incubate.  Incubation takes 21 days, and I will time the incubation so that the eggs should hatch over a 24-hour period mid-week.

Classroom Learning: 

Literacy:  We do most of our writing while seated at the carpet, using individual blackboards.  Our focus continues to be correct letter formation, predicting the letters in a word, and writing high-frequency words.  Children enjoy regular “book looks” where they choose their reading material, reading aloud together as a class, and reading individually or in small groups to the teacher.  At home you can help your child by encouraging him or her to point at the words while s/he is reading aloud, and to make a game out of identifying high-frequency words in different texts.  The children who use their word cards frequently at home are able to recognize many of these words at school now, so thank you for your hard work in these regard. 

Numeracy:  We count and compare sets of objects, read and write numbers, identify “mistakes” in the calendar, identify patterns and create our own, read and discuss simple graphs, and create pictures and structures with different shapes and solids.  We also continue to talk about units of time (days, weeks, months).  You can help your children by counting aloud with them, reviewing your household calendar for important events, and discussing numbers in terms of  “more than” and “less than”. 

Springtime:  We are learning about the changing season, with seeds, birds (especially robins) and animal babies playing a starring role.  Much of our artwork, poetry, songs, science investigations and games relate to this unit.  This week we are talking about how important it is to never touch or pick up baby animals, because the parents can be scared away and not return to care for their babies.  At home you can talk about the animals you see, sign books about spring out of the library, and discuss how different animals raise their babies.

Science:

Bird Feeders: Intermediate students came to visit for the afternoon and helped the kindergartens implement their designs for bird feeders. We have discussed where we placed our feeders, and our observations of the animals that visit our feeders (not all of them have been birds), and compared our initial designs to our final plans. Our last step is to discuss how we might alter our designs if we were to redo the project.

Buoyancy: We are exploring the differences between things that sink and things that float. (The students have particularly enjoyed sorting themselves into float/sink categories.)

March Newsletter

Notes from Ms. Wright’s “Kinder-Surprises”

Soup Day:  Thank you all very much for making our Soup Day so successful!  Almost everybody tasted our soup, and many returned for seconds – and often thirds.  We predicted how many items were in a bowl or package, and then compared the actual quantity to our predictions.  A bowl of 100 grains of rice, at first glance, appeared to be a far smaller quantity of items than 25 carrots.  A plastic bag of noodles, which the children predicted would hold 100 noodles, astounded them by being just as full after 100 noodles had been teased out.  Who knew there was so much learning in soup?  The curriculum focus was estimating numbers in a set, and collecting and interpreting information while preparing the soup.

Bird Feeders:  The students are very involved in planning and designing their bird feeders.  They’ve been asked to consider what different birds eat, how they’ll keep the feed dry and contained; what the birds will perch on; and where they’ll hang or attach their feeder.  We’ve looked at examples of bird feeders made from recycled materials, and hope to begin building our own before March Break.  Thanks to everyone who has sent in materials for this project.  Our curriculum focus is building 3-D structures (Math); making and communicating predictions and observations (Science); and presenting findings to others using a variety of media (Language). 

Spare Clothes:  The weather has been so changeable that our children frequently come in from recess with snowpants and mittens soaking wet.  Sometimes I have spare mittens for the children to wear home, but not always.  Please pack extra socks and mittens for your child this month, and consider packing waterproof splash pants as a supplement to their snow pants.

 Safety:  Because of recent incidents in this part of the province, we have been talking about ways to stay safe.  I downplay potential threats, and emphasize instead that children’s parents need to know where they are at all times.  We discuss the principle of only going someplace – even our best friend’s house next door - with the knowledge of our parents or caregivers.  We’ve talked a bit about ways people might try to trick us into going with them and how we can avoid being tricked.  This is done in a very low-key and matter-of-fact manner to avoid causing anxiety and making the children afraid of all strangers, since every day they encounter strangers in public settings such as the grocery store.  Please get in touch with me if your child seems to be displaying an unusual level of anxiety in this regard.

Kindergrad:  It has become our  tradition to present a slide/video show in June to celebrate the graduation of our seniors.  As the production takes many, many hours, I am taking some time during March Break to select some preliminary material.  The video is played for the Toniata students and for the kindergarten families, but is not distributed in any form because of privacy issues.  Please send me a note if you do not want any images of your child used in this video.

Reading:  This year’s crop of seniors are, on average, reading at the highest level I have seen since I began teaching kindergarten.  This is a tribute to you, their families.  You have been not only conscientiously reading with your child, but have provided invaluable feedback about your child’s reading abilities, preferences and development.  I cannot over-stress the positive influence you have provided for your children.  You have given them a wonderful start in literacy.  Thank you!

Other Notes:  Besides the curriculum focus  described above, we are collecting and examining data regarding objects that sink or float.  The seniors are beginning to use small picture dictionaries and other resources to support their writing, and we are trying to find small words in big words to help us read unfamiliar texts.

 Enjoy your March Break!

February Newsletter

Happy Year of the Dragon! Happy Groundhog Day! Happy Valentine’s Day! 

The A class will celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 13^th, and the B class on the 14^th.  We will have a small party each afternoon.  If your child wishes to distribute Valentines, we will be setting aside time for this on Wednesday.  If your child brings Valentines and/or treats, please ensure that he or she does so for every child.  The names of the kindergarten children are coming home in their communication bags.

Math:  This month our focus is on measurement, and tools we use to measure our weight, the length of different objects, the temperature, etc..  As we explore these ideas, we also work on ordering objects according to their size, weight, etc.  We are continuing to work on number recognition, matching numbers to sets, and identifying missing numbers on a number line or hundreds chart. 

 Soup Day!  On February 28^th and 29^th, we will make Hundreds Soup to support our learning in measurement and numeracy (and, of course, literacy).  A week in advance of Soup Day, I will ask each child to bring in a particular item (pasta, carrot slices, etc.) for our soup. 

Literacy:  We have been reading and discussing Chinese New Year, and are branching out now into Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day.   The children are encouraged to share their predictions about the stories we read, and to retell the stories in the drama centre, at the sand table, or through their art.

These conversations about books are an important component of emergent literacy, and one which you support at home whenever you read with your child.

Thank you all so much for your Christmas gifts of Indigo/ Chapters cards.  I bought a variety of storybooks and non-fiction books for the classroom, which were all huge hits with the children.  I also bought some high-quality model animals for the sand table, to encourage the children to re-tell their favourite stories with relevant props.  They also invent their own stories using these animals; these days I love eavesdropping at the sand table.

Science:  We are planning and designing bird feeders from found materials, and talking about our observations.  Please encourage your child to choose some items that he or she thinks would be suitable for making a bird feeder, talk about how they might be used and assembled, and bring them to school.

Fitness:

In the gym we are exploring stamina and cardio-fitness with such games as noodle hockey, scooter races, cooperative games and variations on tag.  We are also reviewing  safety and teamwork.  In the classroom, we do a variety of dances and exercises through the course of the day.  This keeps us fit, energizes us, and provides the body breaks so badly needed at this age.