Super Friday!!!

 

Today was Super Hero day at school! It was great to see all of the fun costumes throughout the school. I've really enjoyed Spirit Week and I think most of the students have as well. :)

Here are the highlights from our day:

*It was another cold one! We spent our recesses inside and last recess was our In Motion activity of walking around the gym with the rest of the school.

 

*We had an impromptu discussion about our class promise and what it means to be kind, to share to include others, etc... We looked through a book called I Am Caring and had a great discussion about the picture on the cover of the book. We talked about what we thought was going on in the picture, what they were feeling, and what they were saying.

 

*In Math, we worked on measuring some articles of winter clothing with snap cubes.

 

 

* Students worked on their "This is me in February" self portraits and then went to the library.

 

*For our learning centers, students were broken into groups of 2. We had a group at the computer/I-pad group, writing center, math/science center, and puzzle center.  Students then showed in their journals what they had worked on during their center. We worked on listening to the beginning sound in the word so that they could start to spell their center name.

 

*In gym, we played Octopus tag and then students had a blast using scooters and hoops. They loved pulling each other around and we even had a chain of 5 students being pulled by 2 students at one point.

 

*Finally, we finished My Father's Dragon! Everyone was very excited that the character finally reached and rescued the dragon.

 

There's our day in a nutshell. I hope that everyone has a great weekend. :)

Measurement, Movement, and Magnetics!

Well, today was a chilly day that kept us inside for our recesses. We also saw some interesting hairstyles today, as it was Crazy Hair Day! We also had some great learning opportunities:

 

We viewed some songs/videos about 2D and 3D shapes before turning our focus to measurement. Students were asked to find one item in the classroom and bring it back to the carpet. Then, they had to find something smaller than that item. Finally, they had to find something that was larger than their original item. Afterwards, I read a funny short story called You are (Not) Small and then students worked on putting snowmen in order by their size.

The Occupational Therapist visited us today and talked to the students about the importance of our big and small muscles, including ways that we can strengthen them.

 

During our learning centers, students work on the computer, I-pads, with magnets and the light box, and in the writing center with stamps and card making items.

 

We also acted as scientists today, choosing four items in the classroom and then predicting if they would be magnetic or not. Then, students tested their predictions and observed if their chosen objects were actually magnetic or not.

 

We were also treated by a visit from the Speech and Language Pathologist! He shared a few stories on the I-pad and gave us a review on the Zones of Regulation.

 

We also learnt the sounds for /ee/ and /or/ and in gym we had relay races, practiced animal movements, and tried making different letter shapes with our bodies.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the outfits that students will wear to school on Friday, which is Superhero Day!

Back from the Break

We're back! I hope that everyone had a fantastic Winter break. Today was pajama day, so everyone looked cozy and comfortable. Here are some highlights from our day:

 

We looked over the Shape Monsters that students made on Feb. 12th. They had to use a variety of shapes to create a monster. Which discussed which shapes they used and what their monsters names are. We also reviewed what 3D Shapes are. Later in the day, for our learning centers, students rotated through three different materials to help them make a 3D shape. We had marshmallows and hard spaghetti noodles, magnets, and plastic sticks.  

 

 

We also discussed promises; examples of promises, what they mean, and how we feel when they are broken. We then read Robert Munsch's story A Promise is a Promise. We rounded off a lesson by brainstorming what we could promise to one another in our classroom. Here is what they came up with:

 

The next day we are in school, we will all sign the promise.

 

We also viewed a new classroom book called Mix It Up, which is an interactive look at how to mix paint colours. Everyone really enjoyed it! We read another chapter in My Father's Dragon, and students played some tag games in gym.

 

Our next day in school is Wacky Hair Day! I am looking forward to seeing what the students come up with. :)

Shapes, Forces, Dances and more!

Welcome to our Kindergarten adventures for Tuesday, February 10th.

 

In math today, we discussed 2D and 3D shapes, watched two videos about both, and went on a shape hunt around our classroom. This was a neat find- a large rectangle with smaller rectangles inside of it:

Students also worked on a colour, trace, and draw shape sheet that had squares, triangles, and circles on it.

 

Our small group learning centers today included computers, the writing center, and the art center.

 

In Science, we began our unit about the forces of energy. We discussed the forces of push and pull.

Some pages from the book that we looked at today.

We discussed various examples of movements and decided if it was a push or pull force. Then students worked on a sheet individually to show what they learnt today.

 

We also learned the jolly sounds /ai/ and /j/.

 

To get geared up for the upcoming holiday, we read the story, The Day It Rained Hearts and watched Franklin's Valentines.

 

We also learnt about some First Nations and Metis dancing by watching videos of hoop dancing, jingle dress dancing, and jigging. Students gave the footwork a try and wanted to see how they could do with hoop dancing, so in gym we experimented with hula hoops.

 

It was a busy, fun day. :) We have one more day of Kindergarten on Thursday and then it will be our Winter Break! I have a substitute teacher in for me on Thursday so I will try my best to update the blog as to what was planned for that day. :)

B-b-b-blustery!

Today was another indoor recess day! It was definitely very snowy and blowy, with some big drifts building in our playground.

 

We did have a nice treat indoors, however. This morning two other schools joined us to watch an hours worth of Robert Munsch stories performed by the Wide Open Theatre group. Everyone in the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. :)

 

 

This morning we also learnt all about the jolly phonics sound /b/ and students had their free choice centers. In the afternoon we had learning centers where students worked with the computer, building center, and art center. We had a discussion about ways that we could deal with disagreements so that we have a win-win.

 

 

We also read the story The Little Bully and discussed how others feel when we are unkind.

 

We worked a little bit with sight words today with a trace, write, and glue activity.

We read a story called Winter on the Reading A-Z website.

Since it was Friday, we had our in motion activity during last recess, which is where the whole school walks laps around the gym. Since our Phys. Ed class is scheduled in last period, we just stayed in the gym afterwards. We worked on stretches, some warm up activities, and then played Octopus Tag and Duck Duck Goose. We also had some body breaks with Go Noodle today and our champ Bart Reynolds got bigger!!! Finally, we had a talking circle and ended off our day/week.

 

I hope everyone stays warm this weekend! :)

Love is...

Welcome to Wednesday!

 

With the addition of a cash register to our classroom, we once again had a store running during our free choice centers. You could get a pencil for $60, an eraser for $80, and a crystal pyramid for $46 dollars. There were also a lot of tools for sale, but I don't recall the price of those. :) The store did close at one point, though:

 

During math, we had a launch lesson for our shape and space unit. We viewed pictures of the story Goldilocks and the 3 bears and discussed the sizes of everything in the pictures. Then, we watched a video version of the story. We had 8 students today so it was perfect to break them into 2 groups (1 Goldilocks, 1 mama bear, 1 papa bear, and 1 baby bear in each). They took turns acting out the story for one another.

 

 

The speech and language pathologist was in today and taught our class about the four zones of regulation. The green zone is optimal for learning. The blue zone is when we are tired or sick. The yellow zone is when we are a bit too hyper or frustrated. The red zone is when we are very angry or extremely hyper.  The zones are used throughout the grades in our school as a check-in for students to realize where they are at and how they can get themselves back to a 'just right' space for learning.

 

 

Students also went to the library. When we had our learning center groups, 2 students were on the computer working with the Starfall website, 2 were in the building area, and 3 were in the art center.

 

They made an ice shack- tv included!

An artist at work.

 

We also had a discussion about what love is and discussed some examples. Then students each coloured their page and shared what they feel love is. So sweet!

 

We ended the day with some races and a game called Hungry Hungry Hippos in gym, where students race to bring bean bags back to their 'hippo home' (a hula hoop).

 

One more day of K this week!

 

 

A New Term- A New Classroom!

 

 We have a new classroom!!! The students (and their teacher!) were very excited to have a new, larger classroom. Today was our first day together in our new space. Have a look!

 

Our drama center

Our current learning invitation for students to explore.

Our art center.

Our writing center.

Our reading area~ plus it also serves as a building space.

Our "Little Passports" area.

We will be exploring the 7 habits from the Leader in Me this term.

Math and Science centers.

Our group discussion area at the front of our classroom.

Our fish, job chart, and sand table.

We have our own sink!

View from the front looking towards the back.

Our new calendar routine is going to involve a few extra things, such as the weather, a number, and our jolly sounds.

 

We began our day with free choice centers. Our schedule is going to be a bit different now, as we will be having Phys.Ed on our own (rather than with the Grade 1 and 2 class) and it will be at the end of the day.

The jolly sound that we learned today was the sound of the letter l.

 

To go with our learning invitation and the a new addition of a tipi to our classroom, we had some discussions around First Nations culture today. We read the story of Raven, which is a tale from the Pacific Northwest of how the people got the sun.

 

 

We had a look at the medicine wheel and discussed the shape and how many parts it has. We talked about how their are four directions and four seasons. Then we focused on the seasons. Students worked in the The Circle book. They practiced printing the season words and then drew a picture for each season.

 

 

Everyone did a great job! I've never seen them work so hard and quietly! A few of them even noted the difference with one commenting on how peaceful it was! :)

 

We also had learning centers today, where I assigned groups of students a specific center for them to explore.

2 worked on the Starfall website on the computer.

2 explored the writing center.

3 explored the art center and chose play dough.

 

It was a fantastic way to start our third term. I look forward to the adventures that we will have in this new learning space.

 

 

Yes we are!