Happy June!  It is difficult to believe that this is the last month of school.  This Spring has gone by so quickly!  As always, June is a busy month.  It begins today with Springfest from 10:00-2:00 at school.  It is a great fundraiser for all the wonderful things we do at LKS.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Springfest basket and everyone who has volunteered their time to make Springfest a success.  Your support and generosity is greatly appreciated!  Our baskets are in the gym all ready for the Silent Auction.  If you preordered wristbands for Springfest, they are in your child's mailbag.  It has been a very hot week in Toronto.  The air conditioning is our classroom continues to work inconsistently and we often still have very warm temperatures in our classroom.  Thank you to everyone who takes their child home for lunch for a cool break.  It is greatly appreciated.  Our lunch hour is from 11:20 to 12:30.  Thank you to everyone who sends sunscreen and a hat for your child to protect them from the sun.  We continue to help with sunscreen and search for as many hats as we can find in backpacks.  Sunglasses are also a great idea!
     A reminder to unpack your child's mailbag on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Please continue to read the Snuggle Up books with your child and discuss the work they have done that week at school.  They have wonderful learning to share with you.  Mailbags will continue until Friday, June 15.  Please keep looking for library books, Ms. McGee will be sending home reminders for last books soon.  We are always excited to hear our name on the announcements when we clear our classroom account.
     We have introduced the quarter and the loonie this week.  The children are also enjoying using real coins in our classroom store.  The children completed their June calendar on Friday.  They are completing a multi-stage art project for the top of the calendar.  We started  colouring with oil pastels and then we painted black over our colourful abstract art.  The next step will begin on Monday.  All will be revealed on Friday!  Hint-it involves chopsticks!  On Wednesday, we created rekenreks with our Reading Buddies.  Rekenreks have 2 rows of 10 beads and are used to support numbers sense.  They help to build awareness of numbers 0-20 and number combinations of 5 and 10.  We will use these in upcoming math activities.  As always it is a pleasure for Mr. Bracht, Ms, Santiago and I to watch the Grade 8 students work with our Kindergarten students.  Both classes are always so excited when we get together.
     The Senior Kindergarten students received their Graduation invitations in their mailbags Friday.  Please fill out the bottom portion and return it to school.  Also baby pictures are due by the end of the week.  Please feel email your baby pictures to ellenburn@bell.net  Thanks in advance.
     Ms. Santiago taught the children a new game in the gym called Guardians of the Farmhouse.  In the computer lab, the students played Sight Work Bingo on the Abcya website.

     Have a wonderful weekend!  A reminder there is no school on Friday.  Please return your child's Sight Word book and Sound Review book on Wednesday, so we have time to add the new work.


This Week:

Monday-Music
Tuesday-Library (A), Computers (B)
              Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Terry Fox cookie sales  $2.00 each
                  Return Sight word books and Sound Review books
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
               Snuggle Up books exchanged
                
Friday-PA Day-No School!

     Welcome to the last week of May!  The countdown to summer vacation will begin soon!  Just a reminder to continue to read the blog weekly, as this time of year there are often special activities and changes in schedules.  Thanks in advance.
     We had a short, but busy week in Room 159.  We continued to work on our Van Gogh paintings and many of our masterpieces are complete.  Please have a look at our bulletin board in the hall.  We have received many compliments on our art and Mr. Currie included us on his twitter feed this week. We went outside with our Reading Buddies and looked in the playground for examples of living and non-living objects.  We have also introduced the features and value of the dime this week.  Everyone was excited to discuss seeing the Queen at the Royal wedding after talking about her on our coins.  We have also been counting nickels and dimes, since we are able to count by 5's and 10's.  Our "This is Me in May" pictures are also completed and will be in our classroom later this week.
     On Friday morning, we had a wonderful presentation entitled Visions of Turtle Island.  This was presented by members of the Six Nations Reserve and they introduced the audience to First Nations' powwow singing and dancing.  We learned that dance and music the First Nations' people's way of giving thanks and enjoying each other's company through social dances.  
     In the gym this week the children played Clean the Gym and in the computer lab, Ms Santiago introduced Number Bingo on abc.ya.  
     The Grade 7 classes are continuing to accept donations to the Children's Book Bank until Monday morning.  Thanks for all your donations.  Please bring in any last minute donations with your child at entry on Monday.
     June calendars were sent home on Friday.  It includes June, July and August birthdays.  Please let me know if I have missed any birthdays.  As you can imagine, this calendar is full.  
The award winners for the Sharing Assembly on Thursday have been notified.  I will notify the June winners in the upcoming weeks.
     Just a reminder to SK parents to please sent me your child's baby picture or toddler picture for our Senior Kindergarten graduation.  Thanks so much!
     This is also the last week for Springfest basket and Tombola donations.  We would like all Springfest basket donations Monday morning.  Tombola donations should be sent in by Thursday.  Thanks again for your generosity.  It takes everyone to make Springfest a success.  Please see e-mails from the Grade Parents for your opportunity to volunteer.  See you on Saturday, fingers crossed for wonderful weather.

This Week:

Monday-Bring your book bank donations
               Bring your Springfest basket donations
               Music
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
               Library (A), Computers (B)
Wednesday-Smile!
Thursday-Sharing Assembly
                 Library (B), Computers(A)
                Return Sight Word books and Sound Review Books
              Scholastic Book orders due!
Friday-Happy June!
            Snuggle Up books exchanged 

Saturday-Springfest 10:00-2:00  See you there!
           

     Happy Victoria Day weekend!  Hopefully the weather will co-operate for the rest of the weekend.  Enjoy the long weekend and travel safely.   
     The children explored living and non-living things this week.  They had the opportunity to sort pictures on a "T" chart and on Tuesday they drew pictures and labelled their own ideas of living and non-living things.  Miss Santiago and I loved their great ideas and writing.  We also began our study of money, beginning with the nickel.  We will discuss the features and values of Canadian coins.  Our classroom store is also open, with a cash register, real coins and a variety of things to purchase.   We also practised counting by 10's and 5's this week.
     After planting and watching our sunflowers grow, we have also introduced the children to some of the art of Vincent Van Gogh, especially his sunflower paintings.  The children are in the process of completing their own sunflower masterpiece.  You can see the process in the pictures to the right of the blog.  We will put the paintings in the hall as they are completed this week.  One amazing fact we discovered this week, Van Gogh only sold one painting while he was alive and now his paintings are priceless.
     We also discussed the Royal Wedding on Friday.  The children were excited to discover that Queen Elizabeth was Prince Harry's grandmother.  We had been talking about Queen Elizabeth during our discussion of coins.  It is wonderful when information we are learning overlaps into other areas.  The children were excited to watch the wedding on Saturday.  I hope none of the children woke you up at 4:00 to see the wedding live.  I have to admit that Steve and I were up this morning at 4:00 am to watch every minute!
     Ms. McGee has sent home overdue library notices this week.  As the end of the school year approaches, we will continue to look for overdue books.  All books must be returned to the library by June 11.  We have sent home the last Scholastic Book order for the school year.  Your book orders are due to school by May 31.  You may place your order on-line if you wish.  Thanks in advance.
     In the computer lab this week, the children worked on BookFlix and read the story, "It Could Still be a Flower".  They watched the story, "Planting a Rainbow."  In the gym, Miss Santiago, introduced "Ribbit, Ribbit, Jump" and "Robot".
     The Grade 7 classes are continuing to collect books for The Children's Book Bank.  They are collecting slightly used children's books to be donated to less fortunate children.  All donations may be brought to our classroom this week.  Friday is the last day for donations.  Thanks in advance.
    The Springfest Committee is collecting Tombolas for Springfest.  Please read the information email from the Grade parents for more information.  Tomblas should be brought to the classroom also.
     The Terry Fox committee is selling ice cream sandwiches and cookies on Wednesdays to raise money for our Terry Fox campaign.  The Kindergarten teachers have discussed this and due to the timing of lunch periods, the size of ice cream sandwiches and the mess, Kindergarten children will not be able to purchase the ice cream sandwiches.  They will be able to purchase the cookies if you wish.  As always there is no obligation to participate in this fundraiser.  More information can be found in the LKS Bulletin.  Thanks for your support in this decision.  

This Week:

Monday-Happy Victoria Day!
Tuesday-Library (A), Computers (B)
               Snuggle Up Books exchanged 
Wednesday-Bring your donations for the Book Bank
Thursday-Library (B), Computers (A)
                Bring your Sound Review Books and 
                Sight Word Books 
Friday-Pizza Lunch
            Snuggle Up books exchanged 


**ALL WEEK**-Bring your Donations for the Book Bank
   Bring in your tombolas

     We have been very busy this week completing special projects for Mom.  The children were so excited to make their gifts and then take them home.  We hope everyone can wait until Sunday to open them.  Thank you to all the Moms in Room 159, enjoy your special day, you deserve it.
     In the gym this week, Miss Santiago played a parachute game involving colours.  The children explored living and non-living things on Pebblego during our computer time.  During our small group time, the children coloured the popcorn words from Popcorn Song #2, and we played "I Have, Who Has? with numbers to 30.  
      On Wednesday, we had a special guest visit our classroom.  A student's grandfather, a former chemistry teacher came and demonstrated clock reactions to the class.  It was so cool watching the chemical reactions.  You can research clock reactions on Youtube.  The reactions we observed were "Old Nassau Reaction"-orange/brown. the "iodine" clock reaction and "Landont" reaction.  
     Springfest is quickly approaching on Saturday, June 2.  Tombolas (small prizes for the Tombola game) may be dropped off at the classroom all month.  Please see the letter sent home on Tuesday or Springfest emails for additional information.  We are also accepting contributions for our Springfest basket.  Thank you to everyone who have already brought their donations.  Please contact the Grade Parents if you have any questions and check out the Springfest Bulletins via email.
     We are also accepting donations of gently used books for the Children's Book Bank.  Please bring any donations to our classroom beginning Monday.  These books will be donated to children who do not have access to books.  Thanks in advance.  
     Just a reminder, please do not send your child to school with tie up shoes.  The laces become untied and pose a safety hazard while playing and going up and down the stairs.  We try to monitor untied laces, but we want to prevent any accidents.  Also, please do not have your child wear open toed shoes.  
     This week we will be discussing and sorting living and non-living things.  Later in the week, we will also be introducing Canadian coins to the children.  The children always enjoy learning about money and we will be  opening a store in the drama centre with real coins.

Thank you very much for all your help with your child's leader day projects.  We are loving learning interesting facts and vocabulary about animals and the children have become very interested in what groups of animals are called.  For example, a group of owls is a parliament, a group of penguins in the water is a raft and a group of kittens is a kindle.  

This Week:

Sunday-Happy Mother's Day

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged 
Wednesday-Library (A), Computers (A)
Thursday-Return Sound Review books 
                Return Sight Word books
Friday-Music
          Snuggle Up books exchanged 
     
A reminder Monday, May 21 is Victoria Day and there is no school.   Enjoy your long weekend!

     Welcome to the first full week of May!  It has been an exciting week in Room 159 as we watched our sunflowers seeds grow.  All of the children's seeds have sprouted and have leaves growing.  The plants will be sent home this week. The children also labelled parts of a sunflower by writing on stickers.  Writing is always more fun on stickers.  We completed our May calendar and created beautiful flowers using scrapbook paper and bubble painting.  The children had the opportunity to blow coloured bubbles on paper and when the paper was dry, they used this unique paper to design their flowers.  We watched time lapse photography of sunflowers seeds growing on the smart board.  The children then completed a sunflower sequencing activity.  Our Reading buddies visited this week and they traced the children's hands, which we will use for counting activities this week.  They also played a variety of games together.  We always love it when our buddies visit.  We will be working on some "secret projects" this week in anticipation of Sunday.  If you know that your child will be absent on Friday, please let us know in advance.  Thanks so much.
     We enjoyed the wonderful weather this week.  Just a reminder to please have your child wear closed toed shoes to school for safety.   We would like the children to keep their indoor shoes at school, in case of muddy feet and for gym classes.  This is the perfect time of year for the children to start wearing hats for protection from the sun.  We are outside during the day when the sun is at it's hottest.  We will also help the children with sunscreen if they bring it.  There are a variety of types available and the children are able to apply the stick sunscreen independently and we are teaching them to apply the cream variety.  We will spray the children who bring the spray sunscreen.  Sunglasses are also a great idea!
     In the computer lab, the children explored plants, including where they can be found and types of plants using PebbleGo.  The children played bean bag toss in the gym.  They also learned 2 new dances, the Mayim and the Roadhouse.
     Springfest, our spring fundraising activity will be held on Saturday, June 2.  The organizing committee is looking for donations for the Tombola game.  Tombola is ball toss game where everyone who participates receives a prize, a tombola. A tombola, is a small bag of treats or toys, similar to a loot bag.  Families are asked to create small loot bags and mark them boy or girl.  These bags should be brought to your child's classroom between May 7-31.  Financial donations are also accepted.  There will be additional information sent home on Tuesday and via emails.  Please see the grade parents if you have any questions.  We are also accepting donations for our class basket which will be available  at the Silent Auction.  The Grade Parents have created a sign up sheet on-line to organize the contributions.  Thanks in advance to everyone who has donated.  


This Week:

Monday-Library (A), Computers (B)
Tuesday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
Wednesday-Computers (A), Library (B)
Thursday-Return Sight Word books and Sound Review books
Friday-Snuggle Up books exchanged
            Music

Bring your tombolas to class any day this week!

Sunday-Happy Mother's Day!
   

     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