Lent Begins

Wednesday is the beginning of Lent.  The Kindergarten classes will distribute ashes in our classes and we will have our own prayer service.

Symmetry

We have combined Art and Math to create beautiful mirror images!  Each child then titled their masterpiece!  Each picture is so different and unique, just like each of us!

Seuss Week!!

In honour of Dr. SEUSS' Birthday, we are having Seuss Week!! Please see the note below to see what to wear each day.  We will also read Dr. Seuss books each day.  Such fun!!

Vet Clinic Photos

Big Kids Playground

This winter has brought with it some crazy weather!  The sun was shining and we wanted to play in our playground, but unfortunately the ice made it unsafe.  That did not stop us from getting out though!  A few days last week we played in the "big kids yard" when they were not out.  The children loved having the big space to run and play tag games or just burn off some energy. We even got to play outside with our grade 4 Reading Buddies!!

100 Day Math Activities

Thanks for sending in 100 small items with your child!  We did some math activities in small groups last week.
The kids were asked to outline the perimeter of a heart with their items, and then find the perimeter by counting the objects.  This explores the concept of measuring using non-standard items of the same size.  It also practices estimating as they had to guess how many items they used. They also used one-to-one correspondence when counting the objects.
Some of the kids also practiced grouping the items in 10's and counting by tens!  Fun with math!

Rosary Apostolate

We had our Rosary Apostolate visit yesterday.  The focus was the Third Mystery of Light: The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God.  Each month we colour the corresponding page .

The childen Have Voted...

Our drama centre is being transformed into a vet clinic. If your child would like, they can bring in an animal for the clinic.  We are still under construction so photos will follow later.

This week

Letter O for PAT

Tuesday is Valentine's Day so wear red or pink.  Please see the note posted here Thursday about card distribution.

Wednesday is our visit from the Rosary Apostolate volunteers.

Boats and planes

Last week you may have noticed your child bringing home a paper boat or plane.  Some of the kids were interested in learning how to make paper boats and planes so we found easy videos to follow the instructions.  Why are we doing this you may ask?  One of the four frames of learning in our Kindergarten program is all about Problem Solving and Innovating.   These two activities provided the children with some excellent opportunities to problem solve.  The kids wanted to know if the boats would float.  We put them in water and found that they did float. Some kids put objects in their boats to see if they continued to float, which they did.  Then the students began to notice that the longer their boat sat in the water, the paper began to get soggy, or as one student commented, " it feels like material ".  The activity quickly changed directions from simply seeing if their boat could float to figuring out how they could protect the bottom of the boat so it wouldn't get soggy.  They talked about it and came up with the solution of putting a piece of cardboard on the bottom of the boats.  We found some cardboard and the kids tapped it to the bottom and discovered that it worked!  They used their technological problem solving skills in the design process, but the whole time they were having fun!  This is the learning through play that the Kindergarten program is all about.

Some other students were into making paper airplanes and seeing how far they could fly.  Some kids discovered that their planes did not fly straight. Upon further research they learned that flaps needed to be added to the plane wings to allow for continuous air flow over the ✈️.  The kids are learning the basics about aerodynamics without even knowing it.  Love it!

100th Day of School

Next week we will celebrate 100 days of school.  We are asking that each child bring in 100 small items in a labelled bag.  We will be doing some fun math activities with the objects.  Some examples are: dried beans, buttons, dried pasta etc.  Get your child involved in thinking about what they could bring in and help your child group them in 10's for ease of counting.
Please send the items in by Wednesday February 15th.

Valentine's Day

Tuesday is Valentine's Day.  If your child is handing out cards, please note we have 30 students in our class; 14 boys and 16 girls. 
For ease of card distribution we are asking that your child signs their name on each card, but does not address each card to individual students. 
Please do not send in any candy\chocolate treats as we need to be mindful of allergies.  Thanks.

I Wonder Wall

We have an I Wonder Wall where children can post their learning based on some research they have done, on a topic that interests them.   Children this age are naturally curious and we want to foster and encourage this curiosity.  Some examples of questions that they have asked are:

Why do pigs roll in the mud?
Why do people use cranes to build?
Why do trees lose their leaves?

How Rocket Learned to Read

We read a great book today about a puppy that is learning to read.  Rocket discovers that learning to read is a process. He first learns the letters of the alphabet and then the letter sounds and then he starts to sound out words.  We related it to our class and how each of us is at a different stage of our learning journey.  Some are still learning their letters and sounds and some are reading and sounding out words. 
It was a great reminder of how each of us learns at our own pace.

Extra mitts

It may be a good idea to keep an extra pair of mitts in your child's backpack in case the first pair gets wet.  We find even the "water-proof" mitts get wet.  Please make sure you show your child where the extra mitts are in their backpack.
Thanks