February is Here!

Our favourite part of the day:

On Monday we learned new shapes and had calendar.

On Tuesday the librarian came and we learned the letter T.

On Wednesday we learned about the continents and did pin poking.

On Thursday we learned the letter S and we exercised.

On Friday we had listening centre and we started our Shape Museum.

3D Shapes:
We continued learning about 3D Shapes this week. The children are enjoying it and are starting to find shapes in everything. I introduced them to the actual shape piece by piece while comparing and contrasting the various shapes.

Once they were introduced to all nine shapes I showed them the nomenclature activity to go with it.

Next I showed them a shape sort where they had to sort various objects into each of the shapes.

*I got the nomenclature and shape sort from Montessori For Everyone

Finally we started organizing our "Shape Museum." The students were asked to bring in an object that we could sort into one of the shape groups. This makes the learning their own and they feel special when we discuss their object. Please remember to send an object for the Shape Museum if you haven't already.

Power of 10:
Last week I attended a professional development day where I learned about the Power of 10 program. It was created in British Columbia and is designed around 10 frames. It is a wonderful program that you can check out here: Power of 10

This week we talked about 1,2,3 and 10. Then we discussed 6 on Thursday to go with the date. We learned the different ways to make 6 and created story problems and equations for each.

For example: 

4+2=6 

2+4=6 

6-4=2 

6-2=4

Each equation can make 3 other equations just by moving numbers around.

We played some games with these cards and will continue to use this program for the remainder of the year. It teaches subitizing, counting, numbers, addition and subtraction.

Olympics:
We have been learning about the Olympics both during Kindergarten and daycare hours. The children have learned about flags, the rings and the continents. They have created medals, flags and torches. Starting on Monday we are going to keep a tally chart of 5 teams and the medals that they earn. On Wednesday we will also be having our very own mini Olympics. Start watching them at home if you can.

Geography: Learning the Continents:
I introduced the students to the continents of the world. We talked about each continent and who knew that was from there. As an extension we began tracing and pin poking North America. We will trace and pin poke each of the continents to make a world map when we are done. It is one of their favourite centres at the moment.

Centres:
I introduced a new way to do centres this week. I created six specific centres that the children had to attend within the week as well as opened some of the play centres such as drama and listening. Then I gave each child a passport and they had to mark down when they were at one of the six specific centres. They enjoys the responsibility and it stopped any fighting over who got to participate in what centre. A friend of mine gave me the idea and it has worked wonders! Here is the passport:

The new Valentine's centres are:

"Fair Share Treats" 

The students had to split up the cookies to show odd or even if things were fair or not. 

"Share-a-Spin"

The students worked in pairs and each spun a wheel then added up the numbers.

"To Sum It All Up..."

The students used the erasers as counters, added it up and then placed the card in the correct group.

*The Valentine Centres are by Alessia Albanese

Dancing Like Crazy:
We continued dancing. The students are starting to become more comfortable and are using more movements. They are listening more to the rhythm and the songs. Now when the song changes from just music to a familiar dance they get into formation and complete the actions. For example they form two lines to do the "Cha Cha Slide" or get into a circle for the "Chicken Dance." It is a fun part of the day.

"Bossy E":
I started teaching some of the students about the "bossy e". We took normal CVC words and added the bossy e. Due to the popsicle stick they were able to move the e around. They would bop the vowel and say "Say your name!" to remember to say the vowel name. For example: cap becomes cape. The children loved this activity and wanted to keep playing over and over.

*This activity was made by Mrs. Pollard

After the game we read "Chicken Soup with Rice and Mice". They could read some of the words and liked all of the new ones.

Animated Literacy:

Over the past two weeks we have learned about S, T, R and D in Animated Literacy. we reviewed A and X and created the word ax. We took the time last week to draw an ax and write a sentence. The children did a wonderful job! Here is an example:

The new characters were Sadie Seal who likes to surf, Timmy Tiger who likes to tickle, Rosie Raccoon who likes to rope and ride Rhino Ralph and Daisy Dragon who likes to Dance. Please go over the handouts that have been sent home with your child to review the sounds and letters. They can colour the picture and then circle the special sound within the song at the bottom. 

This week was brought to you by: The letters u, i, e, and l

This week we practiced writing more lowercase letters. When you have a moment practice writing u, i, e and l as well as what words start with "uh" (for "up"), "i" (for "igloo"), "eh" (for "egg") and "luh" (for "log"). Another activity could be finding different objects in the house that start with the letters/sounds that we have been learning. 

Don't Forget:

On cold days please make sure to send hats and mittens. Also, on days where there is snow or it is slushy please send boots and snow pants. Thank you!

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). 

Look At Our Week

Our favourite part of the day:

On Monday we practiced numbers in different ways and we learned about Max the Ox.

On Tuesday we spilt milk and we danced. 

On Wednesday we drew an ox and danced. 

On Thursday we had a fire drill and we learned about the orange puzzle piece. 

On Friday we started learning about 3D shapes and learned about Actress Annie. 

Practicing Numbers:
I found this great resource on Teachers Pay Teachers by Liv to Teach for subitizing. Subitizing is being able to know how many of an object there is without counting. These cards are great for recognizing numbers in different ways. 

3D Shape Introduction:

We started learning about 3D shapes. We compared a cube and a rectangular prism. We discussed the difference between a rectangle and a rectangular prism. I will slowly be introducing the 3D shapes to the children and begin playing with the shapes and comparing them.

Cube and Rectangular Prism

Comparing Rectangular Prisms

 Comparing Rectangular Prisms and Rectangles

Dancing Like Crazy:
We started a unit on dance and the children love it! We have talked about using different parts of our body: legs, arms, head, shoulders, fingers, hands, toes and so on. We practiced using different levels (low, medium and high) and different speeds (slow, medium and fast). I even introduced the children to different dances. This week they learned the bunny hop and chicken dance. They even had an introduction to the "Cha Cha Slide". So put on some music and dance around your living room. It is so much fun!

More Nutrition:

We read the book "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" and created our own pictures.

We also discussed the dairy food group.
We cut out food from flyers and placed them in the correct food groups.

Animated Literacy:

This week in Animated Literacy we reviewed O and X and created the word ox. We took the time on Wednesday to draw an ox and write a sentence. The children did a wonderful job! Here is an example:

The new characters were Felix Fox and Max the Ox who like to box with socks and Actress Annie who adds on her abacus. Please go over the handouts that have been sent home with your child to review the sounds and letters. They can colour the picture and then circle the special sound within the song at the bottom. 

This week was brought to you by: The letters d and g

This week we practiced writing more lowercase letters. When you have a moment practice writing d and g as well as what words start with "duh" (for "dog") and "guh" (for "gum"). Another activity could be finding different objects in the house that start with the letters/sounds that we have been learning. 

Don't Forget:

On cold days please make sure to send hats and mittens. Also, on days where there is snow or it is slushy please send boots and snow pants. Thank you!

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). 

Shapes and Nutrition

This week we continued our 2D Shapes and Nutrition units. 

Our favourite part of the day:

On Monday we had centres and played with beanbags. 

On Tuesday had centres and practiced the letter v.

On Wednesday we learned about my favourite letter and had centres. 

On Thursday we did vegetable stamping and counting by 10's. 

On Friday we practiced the letter a and did exercises. 

2D Shapes Continued:

We continued learning and discussing 2D Shapes. We created a chart showing how many sides and corners each shape has as well as the type of line. Here is the before and after:

Later in the week I added a new column: "Looks like..."

The children had to search around the room to see if they could spot each shape. They had fun and continued trying to find shapes the rest of the day. The hexagon, trapezoid and oval were a bit tough so I am leaving those for this week. Here is the poster now:

More Nutrition:

We learned about the fruit and vegetable food groups this week. This is a group that the children are very familiar with. I cut up some fruit and vegetables and then the children did vegetable stamping. 

I added a few more activities to our nutrition centre: 

"Can" You Count? (Counting by 10's)

Cracked Eggs! (Reading CVC Words)

Scrumptious Spelling (Phonics Spelling)

Pretend Play and Food Group Sorting with Different Foods

Animated Literacy:

This week in Animated Literacy we reviewed P and U and created the words up and pup. We took the time on Monday to draw a pup and write a sentence. The children did a wonderful job! Here are a couple examples:

The two new characters were Dr. Ollie Ostrich who heals animals with olive omelets and Mimi Mermaid who makes monsters march to mud with her magic mop. Please go over the handouts that have been sent home with your child to review the sounds and letters. They can colour the picture and then circle the special sound within the song at the bottom. 

Chinese New Year:
We have started decorating for Chinese New Year. We will begin talking about this event later in the week and celebrating it on January 31. 

This week was brought to you by: The letters v, w, t and a

This week we practiced writing more lowercase letters. When you have a moment practice writing v, w, t and a as well as what words start with "vvv" (for "van"), "wuh" (for "wet"), "tuh" (for "tap") and "aa" (for "ant"). Another activity could be finding different objects in the house that start with the letters/sounds that we have been learning. 

Don't Forget:

On cold days please make sure to send hats and mittens. Also, on days where there is snow or it is slushy please send boots and snow pants. Thank you!

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). 

We're Back!

I haven't posted since the end of November because December went by in a blur.

We learned about holidays around the world. I found a great resource by Rachelle Smith. The children enjoyed learning about all of these different places and completing the pages. We learned about England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Australia, Greenland, Mexico, Israel (Hanukkah), United States (Kwanzaa) and Canada. 

We had our Winter Concert. The children had a fantastic time and did a wonderful job! They sang "Frosty the Snowman" and songs from France, Sri Lanka and Croatia. They ended the concert by acting out Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by: Eric Litwin". 

We read the Polar Express and the next day had a pajama party while watching the movie. The children received a ticket and a bell at the end. They really enjoyed this story.

One of the centres completed in December was matching mittens. Some of the girls decided to alphabetise these and create a path. The girls had so much fun!

On the last day of school we decorated gingerbread men, completed various centres and had a great day!

This week we started back at Kindergarten and had so much work to do. We started learning about shapes and nutrition. 

Our favourite part of the day:

On Monday we had snack and went outside.

On Tuesday we had centres and the librarian was here.

On Wednesday we had centres and went outside.

On Thursday we did calendar and read a story.

On Friday we learned about Uncle Upton and had show and tell.

2D Shapes Exploration:

We started our math unit on shapes. This week the focus was on learning the similarities and differences between 2D shapes. We explored shapes that they knew in a new way. 

The first day they tried to fill a circle with cubes.

They soon discovered that they couldn't make a completely round circle with the squares. When asked why they understood that squares had edges and circles were round so it would never work. Then they used the cubes to make squares and rectangles. This was possible due to the edging.

Finally they attempted to make triangles out of the cubes. They were frustrated right away because they knew that it wouldn't work. They could make most of the triangle but were unable to make the bottom part work. 

Another day the children were placed in groups and had to use different shapes (pattern blocks) to fill triangles and hexagons. They enjoyed this exploration. Some figured it out right away and used a variety of shapes. Some used the same shapes. Others tried to make all of the shapes work but soon realised that some shapes did not contain the right type of edges needed. They will use this knowledge next week to come up with a graph describing each of the shapes. 

Nutrition:

We have started discussing the different food groups and what is healthy to eat. We have even started learning some fruits and vegetables in French. The children are enjoying the games and centres that we have.

 Build a Healthy Plate centre. This is where they learn correct portions and what types of foods go in what group.





I bought a nutrition packet from Teachers Pay Teachers by: Alessia Albanese It has many wonderful centre ideas. Here are some of the ones that the children have been working on.

One Potato, Two Potato... (counting after a number)

Shake it Up! (blends)

Add 'Em Up, Apples! (Adding two groups)

The First Bite (beginning sounds)

Coloured Pasta Sorting (Sort by shape or colour)

I got the recipe online (it smells like vinegar still)

Animated Literacy:

We have begun the animated literacy program. This is a great program used to teach phonics, graphemes and reading to children. I am excited to start this with the children. Each session begins with review, activating prior knowledge, hearing a story, learning the sound and gesture and putting it into practice. Each sound comes with a special character. This week the children learned about Polly Panda who paints purple P's and Uncle Upton who is an umpire that hangs upside down. Each day that we have animated literacy a handout is sent home showing the character, the sound and the song. Please go over this handout with your child to review. They can colour the picture and then circle the special sound within the song at the bottom. At the end of the day on Friday I showed the children that with these two sounds we can start to form words. With these two sounds we made the words up and pup. They were very excited!

Social Studies Puzzle Pieces:

We are now done with the multicultural show and tells. To replace this we are starting puzzle pieces. Each puzzle piece will pertain to an objective of the social studies curriculum. There will be 9 pieces altogether and will form a puzzle about your child by the end of the year. This puzzle will be displayed at the graduation in June. So far a yellow piece has been sent home to describe their name and a purple piece was sent home to describe their interests. Examples can be found on the whiteboard. If you have any questions please contact me. 

This week was brought to you by: The letters C, O and S

We have completed the uppercase letter portion of the Handwriting Without Tears program and have begun learning lowercase letters. This week we began with "magic c" then moved into o and s. The students tend to like the "magic c" letters. When you have a moment practice writing c, o and s as well as what words start with "cuh" (for "can"), "aw" (for "ostrich") and "sss" (for "sub"). The letter "s" is especially difficult due to the curves and change in direction. Please practice this letter with your child because it will become easier with review. Another activity could be finding different objects in the house that start with the letters/sounds that we have been learning. 

Don't Forget:

On cold days please make sure to send hats and mittens. Also, on days where there is snow or it is slushy please send boots and snow pants. Thank you!

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).