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!