Last day of school!!

The last day of school always brings such mixed emotions for us educators. We are so excited for summer (as are all the kiddos) but we are also so sad to see this group of kids move on to the next chapter of their life. We are also so proud of what they have  accomplished over the past year and how much they have grown.

As a team we would like to thank all of you parents and your kids for a wonderful school year full of songs, smiles, learning, play and sharing and for the extreme generosity you have shown us through gifts, support, volunteer hours, and kind words. We want to wish you a safe and relaxing summer with your families. 

Please check your child's note tote one last time for a Pirate year book, a special award they received today as they graduated from kindergarten, and a little something from us :)

Thank you again from all of us- un gros merci!

Jessica, Amber, Gilda and Shanna

Sneaky Learning - Summer Edition - MATH ACTIVITIES

Here are some sneaky learning activities to help practice math skills over the summer months :) Click on the pictures to be sent to the blog or website that fully explains the activities.

This could be done using chalk on the sidewalk or drive way :)

Fun and easy to prepare. Grab some popsicle sticks from the dollar store and a patch of unused grass or garden space.

Not really an outdoor game but great for practising number formation.

http://www.messforless.net/search/label/Learning%20Activities?max-results=5

This website has great ideas!

A nice compilation of outdoor math activities.

A fun and active way to practice shape recognition in the house, the backyard and around the neighborhood!

Hide and seek with numbers! Great for active little learners who need to practice number recognition. You could also pair this with pictures of objects (ie. a picture of 10 ladybugs, they have to find the number 10 hidden in the garden and match it with the right picture).

This picture also links to a great site called Making Boys Men: Growing our Boys Through Fun, Play and Adventures! This site is wonderful for our boys who like to learn through more active play and are kinesthetic learners. 

Another compilation of indoor and outdoor math activities great for summer time learning.

Sneaky Learning Summer Edition - LITERACY ACTIVITIES

During many of our discussions with parents recently, we have been asked how the children can continue to practice and learn over the summer. Mrs. Steeves and I are strong advocates of learning through fun and play and therefore thought we would collect a number of different ideas of how the kids can do so through the summer months.

The following is a collection of fun ideas of games and ideas for practising LITERACY skills over the summer (another post is on the way with similar math games). The games can be played in both languages and we strongly encourage our students to continue learning through play over the summer! Click on the image to be taken to the page that explains the activity :)

TWISTER with Sight Words!!

A collection of great sight word games- remember: you can play these in either French or English. Just use the sight words we sent home in May!

Great backyard (or driveway) literacy activities!

This is a great activity for very active little people. Just hide foam letters (easily purchased at Dollar Store) outside in the back yard and have a "home base" bucket where they have to drop the letters in once they find them!

HOPSCOTCH and learning?!? Great for letter recognition, sight words, sound blends and even numbers!!

This is a great game that we have played frequently in the classroom. Great for kinesthetic learners.

FUN! (and educational!) Again, this game could be played with numbers, letters, sound blends as well. 

A fun way to practice sight words. Just print these cards and have your child pick one. They then follow the directions on the card and practice their sight words!

New items in the "Home Connections" tab

As promised to some parents during interviews, we have posted Mrs. Steeves' handy letter formation information in the "Home Connections" tab (see above). The pictures posted are little "poems" kids can say out loud while they write their letters in order to help them with proper letter formation :) Hopefully, you will also be able to print them out at home. 

Please check back soon for an addition of "Sneaky Learning" ideas that are great for practising over the summer months :) 

Un gros merci!!!

We realized today after parents had left that we didn't say a proper thank you after our spectacle. We are thrilled with the students performance and very proud of their hard work and the tremendous progress they have made over the past months. We hope that you enjoyed the 'spectacle' today and we are so thankful that you were able to join us. Thank you also for working tirelessly on the songs and play lines that went home. It is so wonderful to have such a helpful and supportive parent community. 

Merci!!

Reminders

A couple friendly reminders:

-tomorrow Wednesday June 3rd is our play "Les trois petits cochons" at 2:15 in Room 20. 

-please return the interview request forms  by Thursday June 4th. If you did not receive a form, please let us know by email

-please send back any library books or book-in-a-bag books to school

-please remember to keep checking and returning your child's note tote. As the year comes to an end we will have many things to send home and a note tote helps to keep us all organized. If your child has misplaced their note tote, a lare zip loc bag will do with their name on it :). Remind them (as we do each day) that it is their responsibility to bring it to and from school. This is great practice for future grades! 

Thanks for your continued support! Liking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow!

Interviews, Spectacle and more!

Hi parents!

Lots of exciting things happening in Room 20 lately! I'm sure many of your kiddos have told you about the newest addition to our class-- baby chicks!!! (Well 'des oeufs' for now but in the next few weeks we hope to seem some 'poussins'!) We are learning all about chicks and chickens an Mme Gilda is teaching us all about how to use a flashlight to see forming veins and body parts of little chicks in their eggs!

We are also doing chick crafts and making egg "protectors" that you may see coming home. 

Reports and Interviews:

In the next day or two you will see a note come home in your child's note tote about upcoming report cards. Please take a moment to fill out the form an return by June 4th. As always, we welcome your questions!

Also, a quick reminder that Wednesday June 3rd at 2:15 is our Room 20 End of the Year Spectacle!! We will be putting on the play "Les trois petits cochons" and singing some songs. We look forward to seeing many parents then!

Check back soon for a calendar of events (June is a very busy and exciting month!) for the next month of school :) 

Field trip postponed :(

Hi parents,

As you may have guessed, we had to postpone our field trip today due to bad weather. Thank you for your support and offers to volunteer. We will be rescheduling the field trip for Friday May 15th at 1:30-3:00pm and crossing our fingers for good weather. 

Due to the change of date, we will need to have new permission forms filled out and these will be in your child's note tote today. 

We do not NEED parent volunteers but always welcome them. If you would like to join us, please fill out the form again. Sorry for all the confusion and extra paperwork :(. We are looking forward to a less soggy and much more fun and educational trip on Friday. 

2 reminders

Please check your child's note tote for a field trip permission form.

Also, Book Bonanza is tomorrow. If you would like your child to purchase books, please remember to send in money in a labelled container or ziploc bag.

Thank you!

Book Bonanza

A quick reminder that parent council is currently looking for used book, cd and dvd donations for the annual book sale next week. Please either drop them off in the gym before school (labelled with the class name) or send them with your child and we will forward them on. The sale begins next Wednesday.

April Update

 A LITTLE UPDATE...

News Items:

Many parents have been asking when we will be performing our play "Les trois petits cochons". We will be putting a special open house and 'spectacle' in early June and we will let you know shortly the exact date and time. 

Inquiries:

We are very busy in room 20 right now and we have a couple different inquiries going on. The students are interested in plants and flowers and have opened a flower shop in our dramatic play area. They have also planted beans and making keen observations and drawings of their growth. We are also interested in clouds and are learning all about different types of clouds and how they are formed. Another mini inquiry (sparked by an impromptu introduction of fancy hot wheel cars to the toy bins) is ramps and tubes. Many of our boys and girls have experimented with building ramps and slides out of blocks and paper towel tubes to test how far or high their cars will go!

What We're Working On:

Math: 

We have been learning about number patterns and reviewing counting by 2s. We will also be reviewing many of the math concepts we have been working on throughout the past few months as we approach the end of the year and continuing to work on simple addition. 

Literacy: We will continue to work on recognizing high frequency sight words in French such as 'les', 'le' 'la', 'ma' 'tu' and 'je' and will be expanding our list of words we can read at a glance.  We will also continue working more on our writing journals in French and English and writing full sentences with appropriate punctuation. We have also been focusing on developing critical thinking skills through literary experiences and have read many fairy tales and other stories and begun to ask deep thinking questions and writing an drawing responses to what we've read. 

Science: We have have been learning about the life cycle of plants and watching our beans grow!

Sensory Play: Gardening centre!

Art: we are currently displaying beautiful mixed media paintings/collages of rainforest birds for Arts Alive a have just completed a top secret art project ;)

Home Connection:

1) Our home reading program will continue until the end of next week but will then be wrapping up. ** Please send back any books tounmay have at home and your child's reading program ziplock.

We encourage you to continue reading daily with your child in French and English but will not be sending home books on a weekly basis. We will instead be sending home a simple math problem solving booklet that can be completed once a week an returned in the ziplock. Instructions will be included in the bag. 

*please note that we will not be "correcting" or marking these math problems. They are simply for practicing and reinforcing the skills we are working on in class. 

2) As it seems that spring is finally here and warmer weather is coming our way, please remember to send your kiddo in layers of clothing (since temperatures seem to change quite a bit throughout the day) and with a hat and sunscreen so we can safely and happily play outside and enjoy the end of our hibernation season. :) 

Pigeon's birthday party!!!

Just a quick note from our lovely ECEs that following our rainforest and "Les aventures de Pigeon" inquiries, tomorrow Wednesday April 1st we will be celebrating Pigeon's (a literary character who the room 20 kids have become quite find of) birthday!! Gilda will be preparing snacks including fruits an veggies and mini vegetarian hot dogs (hot dogs are Pigeon's all time favorite food) for the party but this will only be a small snack and students are still asked to bring lunch and snacks as usual. 

Should you have any questions, please direct your emails to Gilda.castiglione@ocdsb.ca :). Thanks! An update and pictures coming soon!

Friday Popcorn Party, Twin Day and Kinderlude!

During the first term, our class won a contest run by parent council for bringing in the most canned goods per division. The prize was a popcorn and movie party. Recently, the class also reached the goal of filling our classroom bucket with popcorn kernels (one of the class bucket filling initiatives- the bucket filler of the day gets to add one spoonful of popcorn to the bucket at the end of the day). We thought that in light of both of these events, a popcorn party is in order! This Friday we will be watching a short movie and enjoying a popcorn treat. If you have any concerns or questions about this, please email us to let us know.

We will also be having a "kinderlude" on Friday where we will be going outside to build multi-coloured snow sculptures, so be sure your child is dressed for the weather.

Friday also marks another spirit day for the school. This month, it is Twin Day. We know it can be hard for this age group to coordinate getting a partner to dress alike, so to make it easier, if you wish you can have your child dress in either black pants or jeans, and a black or white shirt, and they will be assured of having a twin in the class.

Update March 2015

 A little update...

News Items:

March 10- Junior Students Musical performance

March 12- Scientists in the Schools Visit 

March 13- Twin Day and Movie and Popcorn prize in afternoon 

Inquiries:

We are very interested in rainforest animals right now and have started to learn about differet animals and their habitat. We have started to work on a mini research project where students chose an animal to learn about and research. Please ask your child about which animal thy have chosen and what they are learning so far. (Note that they did not have to chose a rainforest animal) As always, we encourage you to ask our child questions at home about what they are learning and what they are wondering about. 

What We're Working On:

Math: 

We have been learning about 3D shapes and how many sides, corners, etc that they have. We will also be reviewing many of the math concepts we have been working on and continuing to work on simple addition. 

Literacy: We will continue to work on recognizing high frequency sight words in French such as 'les', 'le' 'la', 'ma' 'tu' and 'je'. Look for a full list of sound blends and sight words that will be sent home this week for your child to practice.  We will also continue working more on our writing journals in French and English and writing both lists and full sentences. 

Science: We are exploring scientific tools such as magnifying glasses and discussing animal habitats and possibly ecosystems if our inquiries lead in that direction. 

Sensory Play: Coffee beans and rainforest animals for small parts/dramatic play. 

Home Connection:

1) Our home reading program will continue this week as usual. We will also be sending home the script of the play we have started working on called "Les trois petits cochons" that your child can read with you and do the gestures (this is an AIM play which is an approach to teaching language that pairs a hand gesture with spoken words to help visual and kinesthetic learners. 

2) Please remind your child (we have talked to them in class) that we ask that they leave their stuffed animals and toys at home. They can become distractions, cause conflicts or be lost or dirtied in our classroom and are better left at home. Thank you for your help and support with this!

3) Also, check for the 3 petits cochons song in your child's note tote this week!

One more item we're looking for.

We would like to have the students make dioramas from Jan Brett's book Under the Umbrella Tree as part of our learning for rainforest animals. If you have any empty shoeboxes that you could donate to help us with these projects, they would be appreciated!

Looking for...

... Egg cartons and paper towel rolls for an activity this week. If you have any in your recycling box, please send them in!

Thank you!

A Few Things To Keep You Informed...

It's a busy time in room 20! Today the students will be enjoying their time outside as "Minion Chasers" (their chosen team name) during the Kindergarten Winter Carnivale! Tomorrow, February 12, they are encouraged to wear yellow as part of a school wide spirit day. Each class in every division will be wearing a different colour, so if you have other siblings in the school, don't be confused by the different colour instructions! We will also be making yellow Minion headbands to wear tomorrow to help display our school and class spirit.

As mentioned in earlier posts, Thursday, February 19th will be our next open house in room 20. Parents are invited to join our class at 12:40 as students finish up their lunches and then observe a typical group activity in our classroom. The open house will run from 12:40-1:10. Future dates for the months of March and April will be posted shortly.

Lastly, we are looking for four volunteers who can join us Thursday March 12 to help out with our Scientists in the School program. This is a Parent Council funded event that helps lead Science based workshops and learning centres in the classroom. Volunteers would need to be available from 12:45 until near the end of the day (3:30ish). Please email us if you are able to help out.

Thank you!

Solar System Taste Test

This week, as our space inquiry continues, students will be making a model of the solar system using the following food items: yellow peppers, veggie crackers, lemons, blue berries, short cake, radishes, pepperoni, oranges, dried apricots,  and blueberry fruit bars. There will be a taste test component to this activity. If you have any concerns with your children eating any of the above items, please let us know by Wednesday so that we can make sure to exclude the food, or provide a substitute. Thank you !

An Invitation from Broadview Parent Council

School council is reaching out to you to make sure that you're being included in all of the great volunteer opportunities at our school - after all, you are our 'next gen' of parents! 

Broadview School Council request for Volunteers

Broadview has a strong, vibrant school community, thanks in part to the amazing contribution of parents throughout the school year. There are dozens of volunteer opportunities to suit all interests, talents and schedules, both during and outside of regular school hours. Opportunities range from larger multi-day events like the Book Bonanza in early May, shorter half-day events such as the bike rodeo in the spring, to occasional small jobs, like helping out with the school photo days in the fall. Below, you can find a link to the Broadview School Council volunteer form, which includes a list and descriptions of all kinds of volunteer opportunities throughout the school year. The volunteer coordinator will put you in touch with school staff or other parents who are organizing and running the various activities.Please don’t hesitate to contact the volunteer coordinator (volunteer@broadviewparents.org) if you have any questions! If you are interested in volunteering in your child’s classroom (including field trips), please contact your child’s teacher directly.
We are always happy to welcome new volunteers to help out on school council. Please contact our school council chair directly at broadviewpschair@gmail.com or tick the school council box below to get in touch with us and find out where help is needed. A list and descriptions of the positions can be found on the school council website: www.broadviewparents.org.
Thanks and here’s looking forward to another great school year!

2 more too exciting not to post!

Congratulations Mme Byrd! Baby Byrd due this summer!

Wordless Wednesday!

A picture-only posting:

Weekly Update - January 19- 23

Weekly Update - January 19 - January 23

First let me apologize for the blog post hiatus. Between the holidays, flu season and report cards, it has been a very busy month. Hopefully, we are now back on track and we will give you an update on what has been happening in Room 20.

News Items:

Please welcome new students William M. and Janessa to our class :) 

Inquiries:

We are very interested in space and our solar system presently. Mrs. Shanna has created a fantastic space control center and rocket ship for the students to explore in in the dramatic play center, as well as a planet themed sensory bin seek and find game and a felt story board with planets and rockets. The kids are really enjoying learning about different planets, stars and what it's like in outer space. We encourage you to ask our child questions at home about what are learning and what they are wondering about. 

What We're Working On:

Math: creating our own board games! This is a fantastic math activity where we have encouraged students to create game boards using color patterns, numbers and symbols to create a game that they can play with family and friends. Playing these games helps them practice one to one correspondence (rolling the dice and moving that many spaces), creating and recognizing patterns and exploring the beginning stages of addition and subtraction (moving forward and back depending on the space they land on). Try playing your child's game with them when they bring it home :)

Literacy: We will be working on recognizing high frequency sight words in French such as 'les', 'le' 'la', 'ma' 'tu' and 'je'. A full list of sound blends and sight words will be sent home in the coming weeks for your child to practice.  We will also continue working more on our writing continuum. Some of you may remember seeing a "Bump it Up" wall (or "Echelle de succes" en francais) in our classroom. This wall has samples of student work at various levels of completeness which serves as a tool to help students "Bump up" their work and improve upon it as they go. We will specifically be working on writing in our writin journals and ensuring that our written text uses appropriate upper and lower case letters, is dated and matches the pictures we have drawn above. 

Science: We are exploring simple machines! specifically this week: pulleys (les poulies) and pendulums (les pendules).

Sensory Play: I spy seek and find sensory bin with space themed objects. 

Home Connection:

1) We took a short break from our home reading program but it will continue this week as usual. 

2) Please remind your child (we have talked to them in class) that remembering their note tote, library book, etc is their responsibility. We are working towards preparing them for future grades where they will have an increasing number of responsibilities. Thanks!

3) Also, new songs will be added to your child's note tote soon!

4) A few parents asked questions about our Open Houses and mentioned when we cancelled last week's open house that they were not aware it was happening in the first place. We would like to clarify that while the dates for all of our open houses were posted in a previous post, we understand that it was a while ago and that we should give reminders closer to the time. The reason we didn't do so this time was because, while the first two open houses we rather extravagant affairs, our open houses going forward will be much more like a regular day with open doors. We do not want parents to feel pressured to attend as we know that it can be very difficult to get time off work. We also don't want to have students upset if their parents aren't able to come. Therefore, going forward we will post the dates again (hopefully in the next couple days) and then post a quick reminder on the blog closer to the date. We will not be informing the students in advance. Hope this clears things up and sorry again for any confusion.