Measuring in March!

Welcome to Tuesday, March 24th in the world of Kindergarten. :)

Today we learnt the /sh/ sound and practiced sounding out some words with that /sh/ sound.

 

Some students spontaneously started lining up their water/juice bottles in order of size!

 

 

This matched perfectly with what I had planned in math today! Here the students are working on arranging a variety of objects from shortest to tallest.

 

We also read the book Math at the Store. Math really is everywhere!

 

We also received some more mail from our Little Passports friends, Sam and Sophia. From the stamp on the envelope, we were able to narrow down our predictions to Africa. In fact, the letter was from South Africa. We read about Sam and Sophia's adventures on a safari where they got to see a lot of animals. They mentioned a kudu and impala, so we had to google them to see what they were!

 

We also read together a book called What I Can See in March. It was so great to have everyone reading the words all together! We will continue working with this story into next week to give students time to practice and colour their books.

 

We also worked on our monthly self portraits. This time students had to write their own words at the bottom of the page:

 

We also engaged in some literacy activities today. Students worked on tracing letters, changing the first consonant sound in a word to make a new word (like changing man to pan), and putting the alphabet in order. They also worked on looking around the room for words with the letter 'a' in them and wrote them in their journals.

 

We read a story called Alphabet Trucks before heading to the gym. Today we played with balloons! Students worked on passing the balloons to a partner without letting it touch the ground and then they got to each play with their own balloon. After our talking circle it was time to head home!

I will be out of the classroom for the next two Kindergarten days. I am sure that they will have a lot of fun. With Easter on it's way, I have a lot of Easter themed activities planned! :) I will update the blog again as soon as I have some photos to share.

For the Love of Literacy

March is literacy month! We had a literacy filled day today. It all started off with school wide buddy reading for half an hour. The grade tens joined us in our classroom and read stories to the students.

 

 

Students also engaged with a 3D pirate book and some props that the SLP left with us this week.

 

 

We also worked on some of our letter sounds. We learnt the sound /ch/ and also took a look at this beginning sound match for extra practice.

 

We read two cow themed stories today, as well, and did some comprehension and text to self connection work.

 

 

We also had our in motion walk around the gym last recess, followed by our gym class. Students played some tag games and then had the choice of playing with balls, hoops, and scooters.

 

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and Happy first day of Spring!

Weighty Wednesday

Hello! We had a very photogenic day in Kindergarten today. I take pictures to document our learning adventures everyday, but we had extra fun today because I had the yearbook camera on hand all day. :) We got some great shots and I saw a student pretending to take photos of their friends in their free choice time.

 

We had a new learning invitation today, which included several different types of scales.

 

 

So, if you guess that we were learning about weight in math today- you are correct! Students used scales to measure how many snap cubes some classrooms supplies weighed. They weighed scissors, crayons, books, paper, and pencils.

 

We also talked more about whole body listening today. To help us out, we read a story called Whole Body Listening Larry at School!

 

Here's what whole body listening is all about:

 

Students also worked on a writing activity. They had to cut and paste the sentence "I am very lucky" and then draw a picture and share why they are lucky.  

 

We were very lucky to be invited to view some puppet shows of familiar fairy tales. The Grade 9 class also presented their own play to help teach us about mental health. The Grade 9 teacher led a discussion for the Kindergarten to Grade 4 students and staff, which touched on bullying, anxiety, and ways that we can deal with emotions such as anger. They also shared ice cream cones with us afterwards!

Because of the presentation, we didn't make it to the gym today. However, we did do some Go Noodle body breaks, which included some new fitness workouts! Students did a great job at jumping and doing lunges. As you can see from the blurred photo, they got their bodies moving!

 

March is marching right along! We'll be back in class on Friday. :)

A Recap of Friday

Hello everyone! Here's a rundown of how our Friday went:

 

In math, we looked over our new class book "A Shape is Just a Shape." Then, we reviewed height and length. Students engaged in an activity where they chose colours of paper that were different lengths. They had to glue the shorter pieces of paper on one side and the longer pieces on the other side.

 

 

We also had some new mail from Little Passports! We read about Sam and Sophia's adventures in Mexico. Of course, some of our students have been to Mexico on family holidays so they could make some connections from their own experiences. 

 

We also talked about what it means to be responsible.

 

 

Afterwards, students worked in their All About Me booklets to show ways that they could help at home and at school.

 

We also talked about the method of Stop, Think, Do and the importance of stopping and thinking before we speak or act in order to help us be more responsible and safe.

 

Students then made their own traffic light to remind them of the Stop, Think, Do process.

 

 

Hands up for body breaks! We love them. Students really love the Go Noodle website. Our latest champ, Zap Von Doubler, reached the highest level yesterday. Now we have a new champ, Tangy Bodangy. For every ten activities we do, our champs grow in size and strength. It is a good way to help us think about what two numbers make ten! There is also some number recognition practice with the track activities, as students are enjoying reading the numbers of how far their javelin, for example, travels when they throw it.

 

 

Everyone left in an excited whirl for a classmates birthday party at the end of the day. I'm sure that starting the weekend off that way was the best way to begin the long weekend! We have a Collaborative Learning Day on Monday so we will meet again in Kindergarten on Wednesday. :)

Skating and Reading

Welcome to our Wednesday! Our day had a few different experiences. We started off with our free choice centers. The most popular spots today were the drama center and art center. We had a morning visit from the Speech and Language Pathologist. He talked to the students about being rude vs. being polite. He also brought in some books and some I-pads.

 

This book folds open into a castle with pieces that you can move around. He also brought a story with pop up dragons. Students were choosing these books over the I-pads!

 

We also had a skate-a-thon this morning, followed by a hot lunch of burgers and fries. The students were very excited to be going to the rink!

 

We also had the first of three school-wide buddy reading events this month. It is part of our celebration of March being a literacy month. Our students were paired with Grade 10 students, who came to our classroom and read to them.

 

We also began work on a class book called A Shape is Just a Shape. Students chose a shape to cut out and glue onto their page. Then they had to decide what to add to it so that they could create something new! We ended up with a house, a rocket, a robot, a swimming pool, and a kite. :)

 

It was a windy day, but fun filled with activity indoors. Thanks to those who read our blog! Since it is literacy month, I challenge you to read to a young person today and have them read something to you. I always tell my students that they can always read from memory or by reading the pictures. They are getting really good at it too! I also enjoy when students write their own stories. They have such great imaginations! :)

 

Take care.

It's heating up!

Welcome to a fresh new, warmer week in Kindergarten! Here are the highlights from our day:

 

We learnt all about the /v/ sound.

 

 

As we were practicing sounding out words, we decided to work on spelling a really big word! Check it out!

 

 

In Science, we learnt about a third type of energy: heat! We had our group discussion, watched a video, and students recorded three sources of heat.

 

In Math, students chose a set of objects to cut out and paste into order from shortest to tallest.

They also visited the library and were read a story about a goose and a gander that were always competing to see who was the greatest champion.

 

We played some tag games in gym and got to enjoy some time outdoors today as well!

Our next day in school will have us moving, as well. It will be the school wide skate-a-thon. :)

I'll meet you back here on Wednesday to report back on how it went.

Light, Measurement, Centers, and Sportsmanship

Happy Thursday! It finally did warm up for us to get outside today. We had a wonderful day of learning. In math, we lined ourselves up from tallest to shortest. Then students went on a hunt around the classroom to find something that was shorter and another thing that was taller than themselves. We worked on rainbow poems, learnt about the /ng/ sound, and had some fun on Go Noodle.

 

We also discussed light and watched a video to help expand our learning. Students then showed what they know by drawing three sources of light.

 

 

During our learning centers, we had three groups running. Group one worked on building 3D shapes.

 

Group two was in the writing center making cards for friends and family.

 

Group three worked on self portraits in the art center. They all chose to represent themselves with play-doh. After the learning centers were complete, students drew pictures and wrote in their journals about their center activity.

 

We also had another piece of Little Passport mail. This time our friends Sam and Sophia wrote of their travels to Australia!

 

Before gym, we read Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship. Then we played Hungry Hippos. Students also made a circle with their bodies while holding hands. They had to try to work a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of one another.

 

I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend! Here's to warmer days ahead. :)

March Begins

Hello to March! Hopefully some Spring-like temperatures start showing up soon. We had another chilly day of indoor recess today. Here are some of the highlights of what kept us busy and warm inside:

 

In Math, we read a book about Snoopy looking for a bunch of shapes. Then we viewed a picture with a variety of everyday items that were 3D shapes and students took turns pointing out the different shapes. We also had a look at an inuksuk and discussed if it would be easier to build with 2D shapes or 3D shapes. Finally, students used a variety of building materials to come up with their own creation made with 3D shapes.

 

In Science, we continued talking about forces of energy. Today, we discussed sound. First, we brainstormed everything that we know about sounds. Then, we watched a cartoon with a lot of information about the topic so that we could add more to our chart. Finally, students showed what they know by drawing pictures of 3 things that make sound.

 

 

We read a story called Pips Magic Rainbow Wish, about a mouse who wishes that he could catch the rainbow to give to his friends. Students all drew something that they would wish for and then began working on their own rainbow.

 

We also read a silly story called Hiccupotamus.

 

In gym, we started a new unit on relationships. We began talking about the importance of safety in the gym and some things that we can remember to keep ourselves and our friends safe. We tried a co-operative activity where students sat back to back with their arms linked. Their goal was to have both students standing up without breaking their link. We also played octopus tag, a crowd favourite.

 

We rounded off the day with a talking circle and then it was home time! We have one more day of K this week. Hopefully we'll be able to go outside for recess. :)