Happy May!  It is hard to believe that there are only 2 more months of school left.  April has flown by.  May leader calendars were sent home on Friday.  The Sharing theme for May is animal research. The leader should choose an animal they want to learn more about, bring in a picture or representation and then tell the class 2 or 3 interesting facts they have learned.  It is a great introduction to doing research and a great way to teach your classmates new information.  Please see Mrs. Burn or Miss Santiago if you have any questions.

     We went outside with our Reading Buddies on Tuesday, looked for signs of Spring and made a list of what we saw. It is always nice to be outside and exploring nature in this wonderful weather.  We also began learning about plants this week.  We planted sunflower seeds and have placed our cups on the window ledge to get lots of sunlight.  The children enjoyed making a flip book and labelling what plants need to grow.  We have created sunflowers and will label the parts of a plant this week.  

     In the gym, Miss Santiago continued to teach the children new dances and this week the children learned "At the Hop" and "Cotton Eye Joe".  We split the children into 2 groups during our gym time, and each group has 20 minutes in the gym and 20 minutes in the classroom.  We are able to do some small group activities and games with the smaller groups.  This week the children played "I Have" and "Who Has?" with words and numbers.  Each child was given 2 cards and they had to listen to their classmates for their number or word and continue the game.  A great time was had by all!  In the computer lab, the children played Earth Day games on Starfall.

     Springfest, LKS's annual fun fair will be held on Saturday June 2.  The Grade Parents have sent out a sign up sheet for our basket, Summer Fun.  Each year, classes create baskets which are part of the Silent Auction.  Please see the sign up opportunity sent by the Grade Parents.  Donations may be brought to the classroom and will be placed in our basket.  Please contact the Grade Parents if you have any questions.  Thanks in advance to Candace, Artie and Linda for their organization.  It is greatly appreciated.  Mark your calendars for Springfest.  It is always a great day to see friends and neighbours.  More details regarding volunteering will be sent out soon!

This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)

Tuesday-Happy May!

               Snuggle Up books exchanged

Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)

Thursday-Return Sound Review Books and Sight Word books

Friday-Snuggle Up books exchanged

             Music

     Welcome to the last full week of April!  Fingers crossed that this wonderful Spring weather is here to stay!  (finally)  I would hate to jinx it, but hopefully we can put away the mittens and snow pants.  Thank you to everyone who attended our Open House on Thursday.  Miss Santiago and I loved watching your children show you all the great things they do in Room 159.  We hope you had a great visit and can now visualize the learning activities that your children participate in.  Thanks again for spending time with us!
     We had a busy week discussing Earth Day, measuring using balances and exploring many scientific fields with the scientist.  A big thank you to our volunteers Tuesday morning, we could not have done it without you!  Throughout the week, the children discussed how to take care of the Earth, we sorted helpful and harmful activities and made our own Earth using coffee filters, markers and a spray bottle.  These will be on display next week in the hall.  The children worked in partners to use balances to compare and record objects into heavier and lighter.  It was a wonderful opportunity for the children to co-operate and record their results.
     On Tuesday morning, Scientist Janet arrived with great activities for the children to rotate through.  The children investigated chemistry using water, sand, sugar, baking soda and water.  They were astronomers looking for constellations, and even created their own personalized constellation.  As palaeontologists the children looked for fossils, made their own fossils and matched fossils to dinosaurs.  They studied sea life at the marine biology activity and became meteorologists checking water temperature and making rain.  It was a  wonderful morning of discovery.  Thank you to Parent Council for funding this great activity.  We loved it!
     In the computer lab, the children worked on abc, ya completing activities with the 5 senses.  Miss Santiago did folk dancing in the gym including "Hot, Hot, Hot" and the "ChaCha Slide."  Ask your children for some dance lessons!
     Thank you so much for helping your child dress for Beach Day on Friday.  Student Council organizes our LKS spirit days and we often have short notice.  Thanks to the Grade Parents for helping us spread the news.  The children loved wearing their shorts, googles and sunglasses.  Maybe it helped to bring this great weather!  Thanks again!
     This week's upcoming activities include our April Sharing Assembly on Thursday at 9:00 am.  Everyone is welcome.  We will be sharing a Spring poem.  On Friday is Pizza Day.
     Just a reminder, at the front of your child's sight word book, there are words for you to keep at home.  Please put them in a prominent place that your child can practise them.  For example, if they were displayed in his/her bedroom, they could read 2 or more each night before going to bed, or use them to play school.  Putting the in the kitchen, then everyone could read them.  When you leave them in the book, they often fall out at school and we don't want to lose any of the words.
     Thank you very much for your wonderful emails.  You have touched my heart!


This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Thursday-Sharing Assembly at 9:00 am
              -return Sight Word books and Sound 
              Review books
Friday-Pizza Day
            Music
           Snuggle Up books exchanged

    Welcome to the middle of April, if only the weather would co-operate!  Fingers crossed for a warmer and drier week ahead.  Thank you very much for all your support this week, helping your children participate in all of our special days.  The classroom was pink on Wednesday to celebrate Pink Day.  We have been discussing being a good friend and being tolerant of others and their differences.  When our Reading Buddies visited on Tuesday, they helped us trace our hands, cut them out and decorate them.  These hands became part of a poster to show that we are all special and we belong.  This poster is on display in our classroom.  On Wednesday, the children created figures wearing pink shirts.  The children added positive messages on their shirts to reinforce being a good friend.  This wonderful art is on our classroom door.  On Thursday, we showed our support for Humboldt by wearing our jerseys, LKS shirts and green and gold.  Thank you so much for helping to explain this unimaginable tragedy to your children.  It was touching to hear the children discuss why they were wearing jerseys, how their parents wore jerseys or green and gold to work.  They also talked about leaving hockey sticks outside their homes.  The children were so proud to be part of something that everyone in the school, the city and the country were participating in. 
     The class also completed their April pictures this week.  The children participated in a variety of measuring activities using cubes and marshmallows for non-standard measurement.  In the computer lab, they used ABCya to connect the dots and put numbers in numerical order.  During gym classes the students played a co-operative game in pairs called "knee to knee" and practised their dance moves.
     We will be having a scientist visit Tuesday morning to guide us through a variety of activities.  Thank you very much to our volunteers for the morning.  If you are volunteering, please arrive at school at 8:35 so the scientist has the opportunity to discuss your activity with you.  Volunteers are listed on the April calendar.  Volunteers will have to sign in at the office and get a visitor's tag. If you are unable to attend, please let the grade parents know as soon as possible.  The scientist's visit is always a great learning opportunity.
     On Thursday, April 19, LKS will be hosting a "Day in the Life of your Student".  Everyone is invited to visit our classroom with your child acting as a guide and host.  Miss Santiago and I will be setting up a variety of favourite classroom activities for you to do with your child.  These include drama, math, reading, sight words and building centres.  The Kindergarten Open House is from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.  This evening is organized as a drop in activity and you will not need to attend for the entire hour.  Miss Santiago and I look forward to seeing you then.  Please see us if you have an questions.  Thanks in advance.

This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Scientist visits in the morning
               Snuggle up books exchanged
Wednesday-Library (B), Computers (A)
Thursday-Return Sound Review books and Sight  
                 Word Books
               *LKS Open House   6:00 pm-7:00 pm
Friday-Music
             Snuggle Up books exchanged

Special days this week:

Wednesday, April 11-wear pink

Thursday, April 12-wear a hockey jersey to honour the Humboldt Broncos hockey team

Friday, April 13-wear your Terry Fox shirt to remember the first day of the Marathon of Hope

Thursday and Friday special days were just announced today.  Sorry for the short notice.

     I hope that everyone had a wonderful first week of April.  It was hard to believe it was April with all the snow flurries and cold weather.  Fingers crossed that this week will be warmer and hopefully not too rainy.  The children visited the book fair in the library this week.  Thank you very much for returning all the wish lists and payments for the books you wished to purchase.  Many books were sold out when we visited on Friday and those books will be ordered and your child's purchases will be delivered to our classroom when they arrive.  We do not know the timeline for delivery, but hopefully it will be quick.  Thanks in advance for your patience as we work through this new system with Mabel's Fables.  If you have any questions, please see Ms. McGee.  
     This week the children completed their April calendars and made robins in nests for the artwork.  The children are also enjoying inspecting the birds' nests we have in the classroom.   In math, we are starting measurement activities using non-standard units including cubes and paper clips.  Our Reading Buddies traced the Kindergarten students' feet on Tuesday and the children measured and recorded the results on Friday.  This activity can be seen on our bulletin board outside our classroom. Pictures to follow.  We will continue with measurement activities in the following weeks.
     In the computer lab, Miss Santiago had the children use Pebblego to research facts about the rain.  There was no gym this week due to volleyball and badminton tournaments in the gym.  The children used their library period this week to visit the book fair.  Regular library periods will resume this week.
     On Wednesday, April 11, LKS will be participating in Pink Day.  Pink Day is the International Day against bullying and discrimination.  It is a day to celebrate diversity.  Let's show our support and wear PINK on Wednesday!


This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
              Scholastic Book Orders Due
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Pink Day
                   Library (B), Computers (A)
Thursday-Return Sound Review Books and Sight 
                  word books
Friday-Music
            Snuggle Up books exchanged