Sssssuper day!!

Happy Thursday everyone! We had many things going on at our school today.

 

During our calendar meeting, I explained why we have a new yes/no question to answer as a part of their morning jobs. For the last three months, they had to answer, "Do you have the letter ____ in your name?" and place their name under the yes or the no. Today, the question was, "Do you like snakes?" This was because we were going to be introduced to Stretchy Snake and the ssss sound! Even before I got started introducing the snake story, someone said "S is for snake!". 

We read the first page in the book Jolly Stories, practiced making the action to go with the sss sound (waving your hand in the air like an S or snake shape), and then students took turns tracing the s shape with their finger. There is texture to the S in the story book, so that makes it even more exciting. We discussed some words with the ssss sound and then sang the Jolly song to go with this sound:

The snake is in the grass

The snake is in the grass

Ssssss, ssssss

The snake is in the grass

(Sang to the tune of The Farmer In the Dell)

 

For math, students were given 5 small pieces of paper. They were to write one number on each paper so that they would have the numbers one to five. Then they had to represent that number by placing the correct amount of objects underneath each number. So, under the number one they put one object, under number two they put two objects etc...

 

 

After finishing up our math, we were called to the gym to be a part of the celebration of Dustin Tokarsky, a goalie for the Montreal Canadiens who attended our school up until Grade 8. A news crew was in the building today and, amongst other footage, recorded the entire school cheering "Go Dustin Go!" We also wore red, white, and blue to show our support.

 

When we returned back to class, we reviewed some of our "All About Me" activities and what it means to be unique. I told the students that we would be talking about what is the same and what is different between us and other children around the world.

We started off by reading Around the World We Go! It's interesting that some of them already recognize some landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower. We also had a discussion about compasses as well. After going through the book, we read and discussed two short videos. The first video showed us how other children around the world get to school. We were also able to compare the way our school looks with how some other schools in the world look. The second video showed photographs of children from all around the world and what their bedrooms look like. This one seemed to really get across the idea that not everyone has all of the luxuries that we do! They started to spontaneously discuss how they could donate their clothing and toys. We didn't get to discuss this topic any further, because then it was lunch time. The SRC had set up a hot lunch option for today~ Subway! Yum yum.

 

I had intended to set up some new items in our classroom for our upcoming unit~ including a variety of maps. As the perfect introduction, during their free choice center time, one of the students exclaimed, "I'll make a treasure map!" So, out came the maps and atlases! 

 

Some students were pretty excited about how huge the map of Saskatchewan was.

 

Treasure maps were a hit! I heard that there were three hidden treasures. :)

 

After our last recess, our eventful day continued. The elementary students who chose to dress up took part in an Elf Contest. The winners get to spend the day with Santa at the town's annual Santa Clause Day. The contest went right into our Raider of the Month Assembly. The 3/4 class had organized a relay race where students had to put together a large snow man. There was a runner for each group (4 groups) for each grade, so three of our K's got to put their running shoes to the test! There was a lot of cheering and it looked like a lot of fun.

 

By the time we returned back to our classroom, it was time to bundle up to head home. Today was our last day of Kindergarten in November! The countdown to Christmas holidays will soon begin. It feels like we have a lot to accomplish before then! I'm looking forward to some exciting lessons on the seasons, spatial relationships, and holiday related art activities. :)

 

Meet you back here in December!

Miss Gagnon is missing!!

Well, I was off to a Jolly Phonics workshop today so I'll do my best to report what was planned for the students today. :)


Since I was way and purposely didn't give the students notice, the students read Miss Nelson Is Missing.


They were to then brainstorm ideas as to wear I was today and then represent their best idea on this paper:

 

I'm excited to see what they came up with!

 

They also read the story Chicka Chicka 1 2 3 and followed up with a roll, count, and colour activity. They were to roll a dice, count the dots, and then colour that number on their sheet.

 

 

It was a story kind of day! They were also reading Penguin's Hidden Talent to lead into a discussion about something that they are really good at. Then they were to continue working on their All About Me books.

 

Those were the main activities for the day. Sometimes the greatest adventures are those that are unplanned! I'm excited to be back in the classroom on Thursday. We only have one more Kindergarten day left in November! Wow. All things Christmas are just around the corner. :)

We are unique!

It was great to be back today after having been away for the last few Kindergarten days. I was excited to see the work that the students had accomplished while I was away!

 

Here is one of our new bulletin boards, displaying some "All About Me" artwork:

 They have also started working on brainstorming ways that we are the same and ways that we are different. We will continue to add to these charts in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

 Here's some more artwork on display!

During today's math class, we did some number review. We viewed a picture of farm animals and counted to see how many of each animal was showing in the picture. We also experimented with different ways to show each number 1-5 on one hand and using both hands.

For Health, we continued our All About Me unit. Students demonstrated that they could talk about themselves through interviewing one another. This is one of my favourite All About Me activities! Students are given questions (what is your favourite ice cream, what do you want to be when you grow up, who is in your family, etc..), a clipboard, and a pencil. The interviewer and interviewee sat in chairs while everyone else acted as the audience during the interview. I recorded the interviews and hopefully can upload the videos onto their e-portfolios.

We were treated with a surprise today~ new toys! We greatly appreciate it when people donate their used toys to our classroom. It's very exciting having new items to explore! Everything was a hit.

The rice table saw some action today too~ construction work and baking!

 

 

Since our students have been so interested in the farm toys and have requested that combines be added to our collection, today they found 2 new combines in their farm set. There were some challenges with sharing them peacefully, so they were also put away today! This prompted a request to write the following letter to Santa:

 

 During our morning meeting, I brought in some crystals to show the class. We had received a small amethyst in our Little Passports package from Brazil, so I brought in a much larger piece. They were very intrigued and chose the amethyst for our talking circle at the end of the day.

 

 

A colourful new addition to our talking rock collection!

 

We also visited the library at the end of the day. Students listened to the story A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, which explores the possibility of what can happen if we aren't true to ourselves! When I chose the story, I didn't even realize at the time how well it fits with our All About Me/We're All Unique theme we have going on right now. :) Students then chose books to sign out, we had our talking circle, and we were at the end of the day!

 

 

Another week of Kindergarten 'in the books'. Have a great weekend everyone! There is a no school on Monday, so we will meet back here again on Tuesday. :)

A Counting We Will Go....

So, yesterday our K's started looking into numbers. They read a story together about counting and then were asked to put the numbers 1 to 5 in order with a cut and paste activity.

 

Then we continued on with our All About Me unit. We read the story Whoever You Are, which touches on our similarities and differences while driving home that we are all special.

Students were to next brainstorm ways that we are the same and ways that we are different.

 

 

Next came this activity:

 

 

This work combined our All About Me unit with our learning of colour words through our PWIM poster. The practicing of colour words and some printing practice came later in the day as well. Students love the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? They had the chance to make their own Brown Bear book by tracing all of the colour words and then coloring the pictures to match the sentence.

 

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! We'll be back next week with more counting and All About Me fun. :)

All About Me!

We're beginning one of my favourite units; our All About Me! unit. We will be learning about how we are the same, how we are different, and that we are all unique!

 

The main activity for Wednesday, November 13th will be coming up with a word to describe themselves, or to complete the sentence, "I am..."

 

Students will listen to the story I Like Myself.

Then, once they choose their word it will be written on a large piece of paper (colour of their choice). Then they will glue pieces of paper onto the lines of the letters to create a piece of artwork, something like this:

Hopefully they will be on display in the hallway soon!

 

 

The students will also be going to the library. They will listen to the story The Colors of Us, which explores creative ways to describe different skin tones. Then students will find their own books to explore for the rest of their library time.

 

We will explore more All About Me lessons on Friday. :)

Observing, Peace, & Remembrance

Our first week of November has seemed to fly right by! We began our day with Phys.Ed., calendar meeting, and snack. We then went into a Science lesson on observing people. We've been focusing on observing plants (pumpkins), so it was time to switch gears. I used the boy on the cover of the book No Excuses by Wayne Dyer to practice how we would observe someone and describe how they look. Then I drew a few examples on the white board and got student feedback on what I could do better.

 

Then, students had to choose someone in the classroom to observe and draw a picture of that person. They were to then tell me two details that they observed about that person (ex: "They have brown hair.")

With Remembrance Day coming up, I wanted to focus on peace. We discussed how the soldiers fought in the war for our freedom and for peace. Then, we read the book Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class, which is a story about a class that is always squabbling. The teacher declares it Peace Week and every day of the week after that, each student stops and thinks before they act and when they remember that it is Peace Week, they make a good choice to create a peaceful situation.

Students then brainstormed about what peace means to them. They recorded their thoughts on paper; printing "Peace is" at the top of the paper, then drawing a picture to show what they feel peace or a peaceful situation is, and finally explaining it to me so that I could write it down.  

 

It was a great lead up into the weekend, with next Tuesday being Remembrance Day. In addition, we ended off our day with the school Remembrance Day Program. Our class recited the poem Little Poppy with the Grade Ones and Twos and also took part in the laying of the wreaths with their Grade 12 partners from Tuesday. It was so sweet watching them walk up the center isle next to a Grade 12 student during such an important event.

 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend and that we are all able to take a moment to reflect upon the meaning of Remembrance Day and, perhaps, also on how each one of us can bring more peace into our own and others' lives.

 

:) 

 

Learning About the World Around Us

Welcome to November!

We received and opened a new Little Passports package today. Sam and Sophia wrote to us about their adventures in Tokyo, Japan! They sent us a picture of a really cool Japanese castle, origami paper, their boarding pass, stickers, and an eraser in the shape of sushi. We also looked at our Little Passports world map today to talk about where the World Wars took place. We also watched a video about poppies that was based out of Scotland, so we looked that up too!

 

Our main activity today was a buddy activity with the Grade 12 class. The students worked together to make wreaths for our Remembrance Day Program on Thursday.

Students traced their handprints.

They glued their handprints and some construction paper poppies onto a pie plate.

Afterward, the Grade 12s read books to their Kindergarten partners.

Those who finished earlier than others helped me with completing some self-assessments for the end of Term One.

We also started to practice our poem that we will be reciting with the Grade One and Two classes at the Remembrance Day ceremony. They are a lot better at memorizing the words than I am!

 

They day was over in a flash!

Here's to an exciting month ahead. :)