Ready for Grade One

Our SK students visited a grade one class last week.   They were paired with a grade 1student who showed them around the class and the school.  Later in the week they went out for recess in the big yard with their buddies!  They enjoyed the experience and they are very excited to go to Grade one!

Camping Anyone?

Our dramatic centre is currently a campsite!  We have a tent, a fire and “marshmallows”!  The kids are loving it!

Important Dates

The year is quickly coming to a close and there will be lots happening in the next few weeks.  We wanted to give you some important dates to mark in your calendar.  More information will follow regarding these events, but we wanted to let you know early.

Thursday June 14 A.M. We will be attending the last school Mass of the year at Mary Mother of God.  Parents are welcome to attend the Mass and we will need a few volunteers to accompany us on the bus.

Friday June 15th:  SK Graduation at 1:30 p.m.  Due to classroom space size, we will be inviting SK families only.

Tuesday June 19th:  Field trip to Springridge in the morning.

Again, more information and requests for volunteers will come home shortly.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Grandparents Tea

Thank you to all our grandparents, family members and care givers for coming to our tea today!  The children were so excited to share their class with you.  We had an amazing turn out, and I think everyone enjoyed planting, painting and playing!

Dinosaurs

We have a dinosaur inquiry taking place in our classroom right now.  Below the kids have written about what they have learned through their dinosaur research.  We also are making dinosaur fossils!

Still Life

Have a look at our beautiful Still Life art!

Recycled Art

In the spirit of Earth Day, the kids got busy creating with our recycled materials.  We are always amazed by their creativity.  An empty tape dispenser becomes a snail in a child’s hands!  In Kindergarten we promote the process of creating ( selecting materials, designing,  problem solving when designs don’t work, collaboration) not the final product.  Here are some creations.

A race track and a photocopier 

A jellyfish and a bird

Ballet

We had a special visit today from a grade 8 student named Sophia who performed ballet for the class. It was an amazing display of talent!  I dropped by the Volunteer Tea yesterday, in time to see Sophia perform for the parents.  I asked her if she would be willing to perform for the class as we had students doing their own “ballet recital “ in our class.  She was more than willing to come by today.  She danced and then she showed the kids her ballet slippers, tap shoes AND she brought in 3 of her costumes that she has danced in!  We learned that she has been dancing since she was 3 and she now dances 5 days a week, for about 13 hours in total.  We were so impressed with her confidence and poise- what a great role model for our kids!  

Soap For Hope and Beautiful Junk

Please send in soap products this week for our Soap for Hope drive.

 In anticipation of Earth Day on April 22nd, we are also asking for you to send in any “beautiful junk” that you have around the house.  During the week of April 23rd we will be creating art using recycled materials.  “Beautiful junk” includes things like the following:

Cardboard, tubes, small boxes, egg cartons

String, yarn, material scraps

Buttons, feathers, beads

Cards, envelopes, wrapping paper

Lids, extra screws, bolts, washers 

Whatever else you may have around the house that we can use...

Looking ahead...we will be having a Grandparent Tea on Tuesday May 8th.  More information will follow soon.

Jersey Day

We had a math  number line lesson with our jerseys on Thursday.  Thursday was also our school healthy snack day!  Thanks parent volunteers for putting together such a creative tray!

The Easter Story

 Today many of the kids in class decided to re-enact the Easter story.   They completely organized themselves, set up the church on the carpet and decided the different roles for each other.  Someone played Jesus, others were the soldiers and the rest were parishners, watching the Easter Story.  It was amazing how serious the kids were, they were quiet, reverent and very respectful of their classmates as they role-played the Easter story.  Here is a picture of the kids praying in “church”.  It was an amazing example of kids staying together, listening to each other and cooperating.

Canada Inquiry

Our Canada inquiry is still continuing in our class.  A student brought in the book “Why I Love Canada”, which led to us creating our own class book of why we love Canada.  Each child contributed a page explaining why they love Canada.  Here are a few examples:

Body Calm

Sometimes we all need to calm our bodies by laying down and listening to some gentle music.  It helps relax everyone and keeps us in the green zone for optimal learning!  These kids are awesome! They are always eager to try new things!

Last supper

We had our “Last Supper” on Holy Thursday.  Someone played Jesus and we talked about how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples as a way to show his service to others.  We talked about how our job is to help others, just like Jesus did.

Diversity

We have been talking a lot about diversity these last two weeks, how we are the same and different.  We asked the kids to draw myself and Ms. Araujo last week.   Here is their art work!

Holy Week

Please return the Holy Childhood milk cartons this week.  The Kindergarten students will be having their own “Last Supper” on Holy Thursday.  We will be providing grape juice (a very small amount) and pita bread to  re-create Jesus’ last supper.

Reading Buddy Fun

Our Grade 4 Reading Buddies came last Friday with some exciting games to play with the kids.  As part of a class assignment the grade 4’s had to make their own game and then teach it to the Kindergarten kids.  It was amazing to see 50 kids all in a room completely engaged in what they were doing.  Thanks Grade Fours for your awesome leadership!

Canada Inquiry

The kids have been interested in learning about Canada so we have been looking at maps, reading books, and learning the Province and Territory song.  Students have been bringing in items from home, including a Vtech interactive Discovery Globe.  We love their inquiring minds!!

Bird Inquiry

We had a bird inquiry taking place in our class before March break.   Have a look and see what the kids want to know about birds!

Spring

 Well it may not officially be Spring, we have said goodbye to winter and hello to Spring in our class!

Have a look at our Spring bulletin board and our Spring art.  We asked the children to look outside and then paint a picture of what they see using water colours.  So beautiful!

Olympic Spirit

The Olympic spirit is alive and well in our class.  Check out the bobsled being made.  The kids took great care in painting it last week.  Today it was ready for action!  Today’s bobsled action inspired other creations such as skis and a snowboard.  We love the imaginations of children!!

Lent

We have introduced a new prayer for Lent.  You can also see Jesus’ cross that two of the boys decided to make.

We also had our Rosary Apostolate visit today.  The children learned about the third Glorious Mystery: “The Descent of the Holy Spirit”.  This is where The Holy Spirit comes to Jesus’ followers after they have been praying for 10 days and he fills their hearts with love.  This descent is called Pentecost and it is the birthday of the Church.

Cosmic Yoga

It has been a rainy couple days, but that has not stopped us from keeping active indoors!  We have been doing some Cosmic Yoga for kids.   You can find it on YouTube!  Here is a picture of the kids in action.

Kindness Tree

Wow check out our Kindness Tree.  We are sharing the bulletin board with our other Kindergarten classes.  So many wonder examples of kindness!

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Today we talked about Lent and how Lent is a time for us to grow closer to God by doing 3 important things : prayers, almsgiving and fasting.
The focus of our almsgiving will be the country of Haiti.  In each child’s mailbag there is a “milk carton” in which children can collect spare change for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.  Please do not send them back until Holy Week.
Our “fasting” is not giving up food, but we discussed what we could give up in order to be more like Jesus.  I have included the list that we brainstormed with the kids.

After our discussion about Lent, we had our class Liturgy and ash distribution.  The kids were awesome during our liturgy, so reverent and respectful.  We were so proud of each and everyone of them!

Olympic Medal Count

We are keeping track of Canada’s medal count!  GO CANADA GO!!

Heart symmetry

We have combined Math and Art in this symmetry activity.  The kids painted one side of their heart and then folded it in half to create a mirror image on the opposite side.  We asked the kids to look at their art and give it a title.  Have a look below.  So colourful!

Craft Materials

We love it when you send in craft materials!  Look what amazing things the kids make with beautiful junk.  The kids select the materials and then using the design process they create.  It is great for their problem solving skills and innovation.  Such creativity!
A party
Bunk beds
A rocket ship