Welcome to the end of January! I can't believe we have been back to school for almost a month. Time flies when you are busy learning! The children completed their bridge building activities this week along with a sequencing activity for The Gingerbread Man. We also gave the students an opportunity to draw and design their own gingerbread person and a gingerbread house. In addition they brainstormed who their gingerbread person who run away from. Mr. Currie dropped in to visit this week and added some pictures of us onto his Twitter feed. You may find his Twitter feed on the LKS website.
We also started shape activities this week. Beginning with 2d shapes, the children will participate in a variety of activities to explore the features of 2d shapes. It is important to be able to recognize and name the shapes, such as a triangle, but also be able to explain why it is a triangle and not all triangles look the same. We will also be introducing math vocabulary including sides, vertices, longer and shorter. This week we were able to explore shapes using the iPads and a Geoboard app. Using this app, the children used virtual elastics to create shapes. Please see pictures to the right of the blog. We will continue this activity next week when we borrow the iPad cart. The children will also be painting with shapes, making shape pictures, and creating shapes with a variety of materials.
We had a surprise author visit on Tuesday, so the team (A) did not have the opportunity to exchange their library books. They will exchange their books this Tuesday. The children are enjoying a new game in the gym called Dog House. Miss Santiago places hoops around the gym to be the dog houses and she then calls numbers, for the amount of children in a hoop, or hoop colours. The children run to find a hoop they can jump inside.
There were many notes and important information sent home this week regarding upcoming events. Information regarding Valentine's Day was sent home on Tuesday. Just a reminder to spread out the work with their valentines and it will be a much more fun and enjoyable experience. On Friday, the February calendar and 100 day information was in your child's mailbag. Please keep this information in a safe place, so you can review the dates if necessary.
With the uncertain weather, the children should continue to wear snow pants or splash pants as our playground can be very wet. No one wants to have wet pants during the day and it limits the fun if you have to stay on the pavement during outdoor play. Thanks in advance!
Report cards will be sent home for all students on Monday, February 12. The online interview schedule will be open on Monday, January 29. Booking information will be provided in the LKS Bulletin. Parents are welcome to book an interview if they have any questions or concerns regarding their child's progress. Miss Santiago and I will be contacting parents that we wish to meet with. If you have a quick question, please feel free to talk to us at drop off or pick up. Thanks in advance.
I will be absent Thursday and Friday this week to attend my nephew's graduation from the Armed Forces' Basic Training. Mrs. Champagne ( a regular supply teacher at LKS) will be in the class with Miss Santiago while I am away. We are very proud of Taylor for joining the military and want to support him as he continues his service to our country in Alberta.
Upcoming Event: February 9-Carlton the Bear (Maple Leafs Mascot) and some Maple Leaf players will be visiting LKS. They are part of a program for grades 4-8 entitled Future Goals. Carlton the Bear will be visiting our classrooms in the afternoon. Wear your blue and white clothing or Leafs shirts and let's show our school spirit! Go Leafs Go!
This Week:
Monday-Music
90th day of school, Zero the Hero visits
Tuesday-Library(A) Computers (B)
Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Last day of January
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Return your Sound Review book
Friday-Groundhog Day
Snuggle Up books exchanged
This was a busy, but short week in Room 159. The children created snowmen on Monday. This was a great opportunity to practise scissor skills and use imaginations to design their own snowman. We traced 3 snowballs of different sizes and the children were responsible for the rest! The results are wonderful. The students also completed their "This is Me in January" drawing and colouring. This month the children had a choice, they could do a winter picture on blue paper using chalk for the snow or a regular picture on white paper if they were not doing a snow scene. Miss Santiago and 1 love to see the progress in the children's drawing and writing. The January pictures will be posted in the classroom later this week. Our Reading Buddies visited on Wednesday this week and we made snowflakes. It was wonderful watching all the children work together with their buddies. The Grade 8's were learning some snowflake making techniques also.
We have completed our next set of letters in the Jolly Phonics program. The work was sent home on Thursday and the new poems are in your child's Sound Review Book. Enjoy sharing your child's Poetry Book this weekend.
On Thursday, we began an investigation of the book, The Gingerbread Man. The children are completing a sequencing activity, which assists in retelling the important parts of the story. This is a wonderful way of practising comprehension which is an important part of reading. The students are also involved in a problem-solving challenge. We have put the children in partners and they are building a bridge for the gingerbread man to get across the river, so the fox does not eat him. Each group has the same materials and they are to work with their partner to build a bridge stable enough to hold the gingerbread man. The children are doing a great job and I have put some pictures to the right of the blog to show our wonderful bridges. We will continue with sequencing and bridge building on Monday.
In the Computer Lab the children are continuing to explore BookFlix; 123's and ABC's. In the gym, the children began to play "What Time is it Mr. Wolf" using animal addition. We also played "I Have, Who Has?" with numbers to 30. We will continue this fun game when we have an extra 5 minutes. It is becoming a class favourite!
Our January Sharing Assembly is Friday, January 26. The award winners will be notified this weekend. Friday is also Pizza Day!
This Week:
Monday-Music
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Happy Wednesday!
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Return your Sound Review Book
Friday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Pizza Day
Sharing Assembly-9:00 am in the gym
Enjoy the last full week of January!
Welcome back! We had a busy first week of January in Room 159. With the changing temperatures, we have started to discuss the temperature daily, using a demonstration classroom thermometer. Friday has been the most interesting day to date, we started the day with 9C, it was 1C at lunch and at dismissal we were at -4C. Just a reminder to please label mittens, gloves and hats that your child wears to school. We have been using the Kindergarten dryer to dry wet items between outdoor play periods, when time permits, and it makes sorting out similar items much easier. It also helps us to get everything back to the correct owner. Thanks in advance!
The children completed a sheet titled, "Holiday Memories" on Monday. They drew and wrote about something they remembered about their holidays. This great writing and drawing task is displayed on the bulletin board in the hall. Have a look the next time you visit the school. The students also completed their January calendar. The Junior Kindergarten students are practising their numbers to 20 and the SK students are completing the entire calendar and adding important classroom dates. For this month's calendar, Miss Santiago took pictures of the children and assisted them making snow globes. The results are fantastic! These are definitely keepsakes beyond the month of January!
During our large group time, we introduced counting by 10's and played a circle game where each child in the circle continued the counting from 10-100. The child who says 100 has to sit down until we are left with only 2 students to complete the counting. We also played a game called "I have, who has?" Each student has a card with 2 sight words. They listen for the sight word on their card and then proceeds with, "I have, who has-and reads a new sight word." It is a great reading and listening game. We will also play this game with numbers as we continue to practise our numbers from 1-30.
In the gym this week, the children played Follow the Leader (being animals), Great Wall of China and Going on a Bear Hunt. The children also explored Going on a Bear Hunt in music class. During computer lab, the students continued to explore Bookflix-people and places.
Reminders:
- Scholastic Book orders are due Wednesday, January 17. You may now complete your order and make your payment on-line at the Scholastic website. You may continue to complete the order form and submit the order form and payment directly to the classroom.
- Friday, January 19 is a PA Day and there is no school. Snuggle Up books will be exchanged on Thursday. Please return your Sound Review books on Wednesday, so we have time to add the new sheets. Poetry books will be sent home for the long weekend. Enjoy!
This Week:
Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Computers (A), Library (B)
Return your Sound Review books
Scholastic Book orders due
Thursday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Friday-PA Day, No School
Happy 2018! Wishing you all the best in the new year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful time with their family during the holidays. Hopefully the weather forecast is correct and we will have warmer weather for the start of the week and back to school. Miss Santiago and I collected mailbags during the last week of December and they will be sent home again on Tuesday, January 9.
Thank you to everyone who donated their time, food and drinks to our holiday party. The children had a wonderful time creating ornaments. We also made reindeer food before the holidays. Hopefully it helped Santa to find your house on December 24.
We will be completing activities relating to the New Year and January this week.
If you are planning a holiday in the upcoming months, please let us know the dates in advance, to help with scheduling your child's leader day. Thanks in advance!
This Week:
Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Library(B), Computers (A)
Thursday-Happy Thursday
Friday-Music
Happy 80th Day of School
Zero the Hero visits
Snuggle Up books exchanged
This Week:
