So Much Learning

Our Favourite Part of the Day:

On Monday it was Thanksgiving and we didn't have school. 

On Tuesday Ms. Olga did her show and tell. 

On Wednesday we had snack and calendar. 

On Thursday we learned about pumpkins and read the story "Pippa the Pumpkin Fairy". 

On Friday we went to the park and made a paper chain. 

5 Little Pumpkins:
We have been practicing the poem "5 Little Pumpkins". We have been practicing our counting and rhyming words. Practice reading the poem with your child at home.

Pumpkin Life Cycle:
We learned about the pumpkin life cycle this week and completed a craft to show our parents what we learned.

The pumpkin starts out as a seed.

It grows a sprout.

This grows and turns into the vine.

A flower grows on the vine.

A small pumpkin grows from the flower (this is how the blossom end is formed on the pumpkin).

The pumpkin continues to grow and turns orange when it is ripe. 

Pumpkin KWL:
We discussed what we learned about pumpkins and added to our KWL from the beginning of the unit.

Writing:
We are still practicing our writing. The children were able to choose from a variety of topics this week and they were asked to try their best at writing their idea down.

Here are samples taken from this week:

I am so impressed with the details and the writing that they are doing. It is so nice to see them trying and experimenting with letters and words. The writing will become more understandable as we learn sounds and they have more practice. 


Math

This week we finished our patterns unit by creating a long paper chain. We will be using it to decorate our classroom.

The patterns centre will be open for the rest of the month but we will be starting numbers next week.


Continue practicing all sorts of patterns with your child at home. 

Animated Literacy:

On Tuesday we drew an ax.












On Thursday we sung "Skip to my Lou" and changed the nouns and
verbs. It was silly and a lot of fun!

For more information on this program please visit http://www.animated-literacy.com/Animated_Literacy_Home.html

Handwriting Without Tears

This week we learned how to write uppercase letters L and U. 

For information on the order that I will be teaching letters please go to their website: http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/why-it-works/teaching-order

Don't Forget:

It is starting to get colder outside so please send mittens and warm jackets with your child.
Send a healthy snack with your child. A list has been sent home or you can visit 100 Days of Real Food for some awesome ideas.

Each child needs to have indoor shoes, a backpack and appropriate clothing for the weather.

Feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. I can be reached at the school, by email or just drop in (I am usually around before school).

Pumpkin Everything!

Our Favourite Part of the Day:

On Monday we saw a pumpkin float and ate snack.

On Tuesday we had pumpkin seeds and the librarian came. 

On Wednesday we learned about Actress Annie and went outside. 

On Thursday we made turkeys and did pumpkins. 

On Friday we went on a field trip!

Do Pumpkins Float?
We completed my favourite lesson of the year this week: "do pumpkins float?"
I showed the children various fruits and vegetables and asked them what they thought would happen. Then we filled in the chart.

I put the food in one at a time and the kids were amazed! Some floated and some sank. The orange floated but when we took off the peel it sank. Then I took out the heavy pumpkin. We did a countdown...3...2...1...

IT FLOATED!!! The children cheered and laughed.

Is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable?
After the experiment I explained to the children what makes something a fruit and what makes it a vegetable. A fruit is something that grows on a tree, vine, bush or cane and it has seeds. Pumpkins, apples, oranges, cucumbers and green peppers are all fruit.

Then I cut up the fruits and vegetables to show the seeds, discuss if it was a fruit or vegetable and then gave a piece to each child to try. This was a great way for the children to try something new. Many asked for seconds!

Then I cut open the big pumpkin and explained all of the parts of a pumpkin. The children were able to come up and feel the different parts. The stem was rough. The rind was smooth and had bumps (ribs). The pulp was hard and moist. The fibrous strands were slimy.

We took out all of the pumpkin seeds and washed them. After adding some oil and salt we baked them in the oven. The next day, the children ate the pumpkin seeds. 

Parts of a Pumpkin:
We learned the parts of a pumpkin. Pumpkins have: a stem, tendrils, leaves, rind, ribs, pump, fibrous strands, seeds and a blossom end.

The children coloured and labeled a pumpkin. 

Field Trip:
We went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.

The children found pumpkins.

 The children wrote their names and drew a face on their pumpkins. 

They moved from table to table decorating the pumpkins with various materials.

The finished product! The pumpkins looked awesome.

Then we went to the petting zoo and fed the goats. 

Art Centre:
The children worked on a few projects this week.
1) Texture Pumpkins: The children painted the pumpkins and then glued tissue paper to the ribs and stem. They look great!

2) Skeletons: The children created skeletons by cutting out a head and drawing a face then gluing q-tips to create the different bones.

3) Hand Turkeys: I painted their hand to make a turkey. This paper included a nice poem and is a great keepsake for parents.

Centres:
Every month we will have new items in the word work centre. Here are the new items for the month of October:

Matching the letter to the beginning sound.

Sort the letters into the uppercase and lowercase categories. 

Place the missing letter.
Math

This week the children had to solve pattern story problems. This was a little tricky for some of them but by the end of the week they were catching on. Next week we will be finishing our unit.

Thanks to Kindergarten...Kindergarten blog.

Animated Literacy:

This week we learned about Actress Annie who acts out things that start with A and adds things on her abacus.

For more information on this program please visit http://www.animated-literacy.com/Animated_Literacy_Home.html

Handwriting Without Tears

This week we learned how to write uppercase letters H and K. 

For information on the order that I will be teaching letters please go to their website: http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/why-it-works/teaching-order

Don't Forget:

Remember that we will be going on a field trip this Friday! Please send your child in appropriate clothing with correct footwear.

Send a healthy snack with your child. A list has been sent home or you can visit 100 Days of Real Food for some awesome ideas.

Each child needs to have indoor shoes, a backpack and appropriate clothing for the weather.

Feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. I can be reached at the school, by email or just drop in (I am usually around before school).

Pumpkins and Patterns

Our Favourite Part of the Day:

On Monday we sang songs and learned how to write N and M. 

On Tuesday we learned about patterns and practiced writing. 

On Wednesday we learned about pumpkins and had snack.

On Thursday we painted pumpkins and learned about number patterns. 

On Friday we drew an ox and went to the park. 

Apples & Pumpkins

We finished our apples unit by writing down what we learned about apples. The black writing is what we already knew and the green shows the new things that we learned.

We started our pumpkins unit by writing down what we already knew about pumpkins.

We learned about the life cycle of pumpkins and started a pumpkin craft as well.

Math

We continued learning about patterns. The students learned how to write their patterns and create similar patterns.

On Thursday we learned about number patterns. 

 

Animated Literacy:

On Monday we sang "Are You Sleeping" and substituted sounds of animals. For example Mimi's dogs would say mark, mark, mark instead of bark, bark, bark.

On Wednesday learned about Max the Ox and Felix Fox who like to box with socks.

On Friday we drew an ox.

For more information on this program please visit http://www.animated-literacy.com/Animated_Literacy_Home.html

Handwriting Without Tears

This week we learned how to write uppercase letters N and M. We also completed a listening activity to practice writing all of the letters that we have learned so far (F, E, D, P, B, R, N and M).

For information on the order that I will be teaching letters please go to their website: http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/why-it-works/teaching-order

Don't Forget:

Remember that we will be going on a field trip this Friday! Please send your child in appropriate clothing with correct footwear.

Send a healthy snack with your child. A list has been sent home or you can visit 100 Days of Real Food for some awesome ideas.

Each child needs to have indoor shoes, a backpack and appropriate clothing for the weather.

Feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. I can be reached at the school, by email or just drop in (I am usually around before school).