Books We Read
A Bad Kitty Christmas
The Legend of Old Befana
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Weekly Activities
December Portfolio
The fourth page was added to our portfolio, and it's getting ever more colourful. Mr. McCullough has been writing a lot for us now that we're getting the hang of describing our pictures and, soon, we'll be writing our own words!
Frozen Ponds
Using white, light blue and grey paint, as well as some glitter, we "snowed over" our ponds!
Reindeer Ornaments
Everybody got a triangle made of colourful popsicle sticks, which we were then asked to turn into a reindeer face!
Other Things We Did
We talked about the most important thing during the holidays, and we learned that it's not presents, or Santa, or a big meal or toys. The holidays are about spending time with the people we love and being happy we have them!
Our Holiday Show & Share was Tuesday and we saw a lot of interesting things, from favourite toys that were given to us on the holidays, to holiday themed toys like reindeer and snowglobes, to light up and musical items! There was even a letter from Santa!
Tuesday 17 December 2013
Friday 13 December 2013
Week 15: What's In A Name?
Books We Read
Lisa and the Snowman
Monty Goes South
The Little Engine That Could
Song of the Week
Winter Holiday
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
Some call it Christmas, some call it Hanukkah!
Candles for Christmas, candles for Hanukkah!
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
(song repeats two more verses with "candles" being replaced by "presents" and "parties")
Weekly Centres
Printing U and V
We doubled up on our letters this week, working on both the letter U and the letter V!
Snowman Names
After learning how to count the letters in our name, we wrote our names, one letter at a time, on circles. We then cut the circles out, glued them on a black construction paper board, and stuck them to a black poster board.
Snowy Ponds, Part 1
In the first part of a two-part craft, we used watercolour paper and food colouring to create ponds! Next week, we'll be "freezing" the ponds.
Patterned Links
Everybody got a strip of paper and created a pattern on that paper. We then added all of the papers together and created a line of links, making a whole new pattern by alternating the pink and the green of the construction paper.
Other Things We Did
We learned how to count the letters in our name, either by spelling our name out loud (or in our head) and counting on our fingers, or looking at our name and counting the letters that way. We also talked about ideas like more than and most, less than and least, and the same. We used this information to find out who had the longest name in the class (it was Shaugnessy at 10) and who had the least (it was Ezra at 4).
"ie" and "ee" were added to our Jolly Jingles!
We started adding "sight sounds" based on sight words we already knew. This week's sight sound was "ing", which we found on words like snowing, thinking and running!
We learned about migration, where animals move from one place to the other to find food or warmth, or even both.
Lisa and the Snowman
Monty Goes South
The Little Engine That Could
Song of the Week
Winter Holiday
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
Some call it Christmas, some call it Hanukkah!
Candles for Christmas, candles for Hanukkah!
Ding, ding, ding! A winter holiday!
Ding, ding, ding! A jolly holiday!
(song repeats two more verses with "candles" being replaced by "presents" and "parties")
Weekly CentresPrinting U and V
We doubled up on our letters this week, working on both the letter U and the letter V!
Snowman Names
After learning how to count the letters in our name, we wrote our names, one letter at a time, on circles. We then cut the circles out, glued them on a black construction paper board, and stuck them to a black poster board.
Snowy Ponds, Part 1
In the first part of a two-part craft, we used watercolour paper and food colouring to create ponds! Next week, we'll be "freezing" the ponds.Patterned Links
Everybody got a strip of paper and created a pattern on that paper. We then added all of the papers together and created a line of links, making a whole new pattern by alternating the pink and the green of the construction paper.
Other Things We Did
We learned how to count the letters in our name, either by spelling our name out loud (or in our head) and counting on our fingers, or looking at our name and counting the letters that way. We also talked about ideas like more than and most, less than and least, and the same. We used this information to find out who had the longest name in the class (it was Shaugnessy at 10) and who had the least (it was Ezra at 4). "ie" and "ee" were added to our Jolly Jingles!
We started adding "sight sounds" based on sight words we already knew. This week's sight sound was "ing", which we found on words like snowing, thinking and running!
We learned about migration, where animals move from one place to the other to find food or warmth, or even both.
Monday 2 December 2013
Week 14: Only in Winter
Books We Read
Press Here
Tap the Magic Tree
Malke's Secret Recipe
Snowy Sports: Ready, Set, Go!
Snowball
Weekly Centres
Letter L
We worked on the second hardest letter to print in the whole universe, the letter L. We didn't really find it that hard, but maybe some people do.
Dress the Snowman
Mr. McCullough gave us a piece of paper with three stacked circles on it. It was our job to dress the circles to make a snowman. Using googly eyes, pipe cleaner, tissue and construction paper, white glue and glue sticks, we gave our snowmen eyes, noses, mouths, hats, arms, legs and, for a couple, dresses!
Only in Winter
Using the other side of our "Only in Fall" picture, we created Only in Winter pictures. We talked about things we could only do in the winter and drew a picture of that activity. Mr. McCullough then strung a ribbon through the top and created fall/winter mobiles in the room!
Other Things We Did
We incorporated Chanukkah into our daily math, answering questions like how many candles were on the menorah and how many have been lit so far.
We created "Hand Menorahs". We chose our coloured construction paper, then a colour for our hands. Mr. McCullough painted our hands, and then we planted them on the paper. We added lights to the menorahs on our own! We also solved pattern mysteries where we had to figure out how to get two attributes (hand colour and paper colour) to match to continue our pattern.
After reading Press Here a second time, we figured out action words in the book. Words like press, rub, tap, shake and blow! Tap the Magic Tree also taught us other action words! We'll be using these words when we create our own Press Here books with our Reading Buddies.
We talked about authors and how they write different books with different characters. Mme. Degroot taught us that the author of the Charlie and Lola books had written other books, and we looked for the similarities between the two. Mr. McCullough read Snowball, which was written by Lois Elhert, who had also written Leaf Man. We looked at both books for similarities and differences.
This also led to some talk about how books can remind us of other books.
Press Here
Tap the Magic Tree
Malke's Secret Recipe
Snowy Sports: Ready, Set, Go!
Snowball
Weekly Centres
Letter L
We worked on the second hardest letter to print in the whole universe, the letter L. We didn't really find it that hard, but maybe some people do.
Dress the Snowman
Mr. McCullough gave us a piece of paper with three stacked circles on it. It was our job to dress the circles to make a snowman. Using googly eyes, pipe cleaner, tissue and construction paper, white glue and glue sticks, we gave our snowmen eyes, noses, mouths, hats, arms, legs and, for a couple, dresses!
Only in Winter
Using the other side of our "Only in Fall" picture, we created Only in Winter pictures. We talked about things we could only do in the winter and drew a picture of that activity. Mr. McCullough then strung a ribbon through the top and created fall/winter mobiles in the room!
Other Things We Did
We incorporated Chanukkah into our daily math, answering questions like how many candles were on the menorah and how many have been lit so far.
We created "Hand Menorahs". We chose our coloured construction paper, then a colour for our hands. Mr. McCullough painted our hands, and then we planted them on the paper. We added lights to the menorahs on our own! We also solved pattern mysteries where we had to figure out how to get two attributes (hand colour and paper colour) to match to continue our pattern.
After reading Press Here a second time, we figured out action words in the book. Words like press, rub, tap, shake and blow! Tap the Magic Tree also taught us other action words! We'll be using these words when we create our own Press Here books with our Reading Buddies.We talked about authors and how they write different books with different characters. Mme. Degroot taught us that the author of the Charlie and Lola books had written other books, and we looked for the similarities between the two. Mr. McCullough read Snowball, which was written by Lois Elhert, who had also written Leaf Man. We looked at both books for similarities and differences.
This also led to some talk about how books can remind us of other books.
Wednesday 27 November 2013
Week 13: Growing and Shrinking Snow!
Books We Read
The Great Paper Caper
The Chanukkah Guest
Press Here
Song of the Week
Douglas Mountain
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain,
Snows are a falling so deep!
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain
Putting all the bears to sleep!
Putting all the bears to sleep....
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
Shining up the chimney so bright!
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
So we can bring the night!
So we can bring the night...
Weekly Centres
November Portfolio
We added another page to our portfolio, and boy are our drawings getting more detailed! Mr. McCullough is asking us to use at least two colours and the results are astounding!
Growing and Shrinking Cubes
Using snap cubes, we created crowing and shrinking cube patterns. We tried to make them as big as we can, with some of us getting seven levels high!
Growing Buildings
In our building centre, we created pyramid-style buildings with a bunch of different blocks
Melting the Ice
We experimented with ice cubes and blocks of coloured ice, seeing what we could do to make them melt faster. We figured out that leaving them in the water, holding them in our hands and rubbing them, or swirling them around in the water made them melt faster.
Other Things We Did
We discussed proper snow attire and learned THE ORDER to put on our snow gear! The most important thing to learn was shoes off, snowpants first, mittens last!
Our clue finding skills were worked on in The Great Paper Caper and The Chanukkah Guest as we tried to figure out who was chopping down trees in the forest and why, and why an old grandmother thought that a bear was her Rabbi!
We learned that heat makes snow and ice melt, that you can't freeze ice cubes in an afternoon and that a container of snow takes longer than a whole afternoon to melt. We're also experimenting with one of our class pumpkins to see if keeping it in the snow outside will make it last longer before it rots away...
...and it couldn't rot away because it was TAKEN!!! What a mystery!!! We're looking at a few different clues about where it went, including one student seeing "a man in a dark shirt and a grey beard" taking it away, and a letter that was left behind by "Officer Peter Pumpkineater", who we don't think is actually an officer! I wonder if we can follow the clues to find out who took our pumpkin and why???
Our daily survey is in full swing, with questions this week asking us to match numbers to patterns, figure out which pattern was growing, an who was better dressed for winter.
A Latin band came into our school for our first assembly! We listened to music from all over Latin America and one of our classmates was picked by the band to get up on stage and play the maracas! We all got to dance along to the music at the end!
"B" and the "AI" combination became a part of our Jolly Jingles!
We read the fantastic "Press Here" with our Reading Buddies who, next week, will be helping us make our own "Press Here" books!
The Great Paper Caper
The Chanukkah Guest
Press Here
Song of the Week
Douglas Mountain
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain,
Snows are a falling so deep!
Snows are a falling on Douglas Mountain
Putting all the bears to sleep!
Putting all the bears to sleep....
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
Shining up the chimney so bright!
Trimming the wicks on Douglas Mountain
So we can bring the night!
So we can bring the night...
Weekly CentresNovember Portfolio
We added another page to our portfolio, and boy are our drawings getting more detailed! Mr. McCullough is asking us to use at least two colours and the results are astounding!
Growing and Shrinking Cubes
Using snap cubes, we created crowing and shrinking cube patterns. We tried to make them as big as we can, with some of us getting seven levels high!
Growing Buildings
In our building centre, we created pyramid-style buildings with a bunch of different blocks
Melting the Ice
We experimented with ice cubes and blocks of coloured ice, seeing what we could do to make them melt faster. We figured out that leaving them in the water, holding them in our hands and rubbing them, or swirling them around in the water made them melt faster.Other Things We Did
We discussed proper snow attire and learned THE ORDER to put on our snow gear! The most important thing to learn was shoes off, snowpants first, mittens last!
Our clue finding skills were worked on in The Great Paper Caper and The Chanukkah Guest as we tried to figure out who was chopping down trees in the forest and why, and why an old grandmother thought that a bear was her Rabbi!We learned that heat makes snow and ice melt, that you can't freeze ice cubes in an afternoon and that a container of snow takes longer than a whole afternoon to melt. We're also experimenting with one of our class pumpkins to see if keeping it in the snow outside will make it last longer before it rots away...
...and it couldn't rot away because it was TAKEN!!! What a mystery!!! We're looking at a few different clues about where it went, including one student seeing "a man in a dark shirt and a grey beard" taking it away, and a letter that was left behind by "Officer Peter Pumpkineater", who we don't think is actually an officer! I wonder if we can follow the clues to find out who took our pumpkin and why???Our daily survey is in full swing, with questions this week asking us to match numbers to patterns, figure out which pattern was growing, an who was better dressed for winter.
A Latin band came into our school for our first assembly! We listened to music from all over Latin America and one of our classmates was picked by the band to get up on stage and play the maracas! We all got to dance along to the music at the end!
"B" and the "AI" combination became a part of our Jolly Jingles!
We read the fantastic "Press Here" with our Reading Buddies who, next week, will be helping us make our own "Press Here" books!
Monday 18 November 2013
Week 12: Things YOU can only do IN THE fall!
Books We Read
Leaf Man
Fall, Leaves, Fall
Stick Man
Song of the Week - What Do The Leaves Say?
Weekly Centres
Printing H and K
We're working on two letters a week now, with one letter (H) being done during our regular centres, while the other letter (K) is done as a full class activity before free centre time.
Leaf People
After reading Leaf Man, we created our own leaf people using leaves that we picked up on a very blustery Monday!
Sight Word Magnets
Our three new sight words became the focus of our magnet board, as you, in and the were all spelled using magnetic letters.
Only In The Fall
As fall comes to an end, we drew pictures of things we could only do in the fall. For instance, we can only go Trick or Treating in the fall, because that's when Halloween is, but we can dress up in costumes any time!
Other Things We Did
We got to know our new colour groups this week! The new groups will be staying the same all the way until the end of December!
We also started using magnetic name tags to answer questions in class. This will be a daily thing now, where we come into the room, sign our name, and then use our name tag to answer a question on our magnet board.
We talked about the word only and decided that it meant things that happen one time, something that is all by itself, or something where there is only one.
Letter "L" was added to our Jolly Jingle song list!
Leaf Man
Fall, Leaves, Fall
Stick Man
Song of the Week - What Do The Leaves Say?
Weekly Centres
Printing H and K
We're working on two letters a week now, with one letter (H) being done during our regular centres, while the other letter (K) is done as a full class activity before free centre time.
Leaf People
After reading Leaf Man, we created our own leaf people using leaves that we picked up on a very blustery Monday!
Sight Word Magnets
Our three new sight words became the focus of our magnet board, as you, in and the were all spelled using magnetic letters.
Only In The Fall
As fall comes to an end, we drew pictures of things we could only do in the fall. For instance, we can only go Trick or Treating in the fall, because that's when Halloween is, but we can dress up in costumes any time!
Other Things We Did
We got to know our new colour groups this week! The new groups will be staying the same all the way until the end of December!
We also started using magnetic name tags to answer questions in class. This will be a daily thing now, where we come into the room, sign our name, and then use our name tag to answer a question on our magnet board.
We talked about the word only and decided that it meant things that happen one time, something that is all by itself, or something where there is only one.
Letter "L" was added to our Jolly Jingle song list!
Week 11: Pigeons, Patterns and Pajamas
Books We Read
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
The Pigeon Wants a Dog!
Imagine a Night
Weekly Centres
Printing M
We added "M" to our printing skills this week, which was really helpful for students in our room whose name starts with M!
Pattern Painting
Using three different colours, we created multi-coloured pattern strips, where we could create patterns with stripes, shapes, or any other things we could think of.
The Pigeon Can...
After reading so many books about what the Pigeon can't do, we decided to come up with an idea of what the Pigeon CAN do. We had pigeons eating ice cream, pigeons getting married, pigeons driving cars and pigeons inviting people to their house!
Flower Shop
Every group had a chance to use our Drama Centre in their colour group, playing "Flower Shop" with all of the neat items inside.
Other Things We Did
"O" and "U" were added to our list of Jolly Jingles, and we noticed that some letter sounds can sound an awful lot alike!
Two new sight words made it in to the sight word board! We also talked about how, while Sight Words are important, they aren't the most important thing in a story, so we need to calm down a bit when we find them. =0)
Mr. McCullough showed us a paper man and explained how hurting somebody else's feelings is like making tiny rips. We fixed the paper man with tape but, after a while, we noticed that we could still see the rips, kind of like how we remember when somebody has made us feel bad. At the end of the talk, we decided it was better to not hurt feelings at all, and that sorry isn't going to fix everything.
We talked about the difference between using our imagination and describing things that actually happen.
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
The Pigeon Wants a Dog!
Imagine a Night
Weekly Centres
Printing M
We added "M" to our printing skills this week, which was really helpful for students in our room whose name starts with M!
Pattern Painting
Using three different colours, we created multi-coloured pattern strips, where we could create patterns with stripes, shapes, or any other things we could think of.
The Pigeon Can...
After reading so many books about what the Pigeon can't do, we decided to come up with an idea of what the Pigeon CAN do. We had pigeons eating ice cream, pigeons getting married, pigeons driving cars and pigeons inviting people to their house!
Flower Shop
Every group had a chance to use our Drama Centre in their colour group, playing "Flower Shop" with all of the neat items inside.
Other Things We Did
"O" and "U" were added to our list of Jolly Jingles, and we noticed that some letter sounds can sound an awful lot alike!
Two new sight words made it in to the sight word board! We also talked about how, while Sight Words are important, they aren't the most important thing in a story, so we need to calm down a bit when we find them. =0)
Mr. McCullough showed us a paper man and explained how hurting somebody else's feelings is like making tiny rips. We fixed the paper man with tape but, after a while, we noticed that we could still see the rips, kind of like how we remember when somebody has made us feel bad. At the end of the talk, we decided it was better to not hurt feelings at all, and that sorry isn't going to fix everything.
We talked about the difference between using our imagination and describing things that actually happen.
Tuesday 12 November 2013
Friday 8 November 2013
Week 10: Peace
Books We Read
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
A Poppy is to Remember
The Peace Book
Playing War
Can You Say Peace
Song of the Week
See The Poppies (Sung to the tune & cadence of "Frere Jacques")
See the poppies
Oh so red!
Growing on the hillside
For the dead.
We remember
On this day
Soldiers on the hillside
Far away.
Centres This Week
Due to our seed count on Monday and a big art project on Friday, we adjusted centres slightly. Here's what we did.
How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin!
After Mr. McCullough opened up the pumpkin for us, we started counting all the seeds, placing them on a hundreds grid to see if any of us predicted the right amount. We didn't even come close, because our pumpkin had 503 seeds!
The Letter N
We kept adding to our printing skills this week, learning a new letter with the letter "N"
Pattern Lines
Once we had learned that patterns are something that repeats over and over and over and over and over and over and over, we tried creating our own patterns. At one station, we used things we could lay flat on a table, side by side, like bears, buttons and various shapes.
Pattern Structures
For our other pattern station, we got a little fancy, using items we could build with to make "3D" patterns. Some of us did quite well, creating different building and items that followed pattern rules.
What Peace Means to Us
After talking about Remembrance Day, peace, and what peace means to us, we created our own red and black tissue paper poppies with the help of some parents who came into the classroom! After we crumpled up the tissue paper and stuck it on the poppy, we gave them to Mr. McCullough, who wrote down what peace means to each and every one of us! Our poppy poster will be on display during the school Remembrance Day assembly!
Other Things We Did
We kept things light on Monday by reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" The discussion got so interesting that we might end up doing something with it during our centres next week!
We talked a lot about peace, why it is important to remember people on Remembrance day, why war is never a good idea, and what we can do to be better people and not get into fights that cause wars.
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
A Poppy is to Remember
The Peace Book
Playing War
Can You Say Peace
Song of the Week
See The Poppies (Sung to the tune & cadence of "Frere Jacques")
See the poppies
Oh so red!
Growing on the hillside
For the dead.
We remember
On this day
Soldiers on the hillside
Far away.
Centres This Week
Due to our seed count on Monday and a big art project on Friday, we adjusted centres slightly. Here's what we did.How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin!
After Mr. McCullough opened up the pumpkin for us, we started counting all the seeds, placing them on a hundreds grid to see if any of us predicted the right amount. We didn't even come close, because our pumpkin had 503 seeds!
The Letter N
We kept adding to our printing skills this week, learning a new letter with the letter "N"
Pattern Lines
Once we had learned that patterns are something that repeats over and over and over and over and over and over and over, we tried creating our own patterns. At one station, we used things we could lay flat on a table, side by side, like bears, buttons and various shapes.Pattern Structures
For our other pattern station, we got a little fancy, using items we could build with to make "3D" patterns. Some of us did quite well, creating different building and items that followed pattern rules.
What Peace Means to Us
After talking about Remembrance Day, peace, and what peace means to us, we created our own red and black tissue paper poppies with the help of some parents who came into the classroom! After we crumpled up the tissue paper and stuck it on the poppy, we gave them to Mr. McCullough, who wrote down what peace means to each and every one of us! Our poppy poster will be on display during the school Remembrance Day assembly!Other Things We Did
We kept things light on Monday by reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" The discussion got so interesting that we might end up doing something with it during our centres next week!
We talked a lot about peace, why it is important to remember people on Remembrance day, why war is never a good idea, and what we can do to be better people and not get into fights that cause wars.
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Week 9: Halloweek!
Books We Read
How Many Seeds Are In A Pumpkin?
Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!
It Didn't Frighten Me!
Weekly Centres
October Portfolio
After two months of practicing our "Frog Jump" letters and working on our drawing skills, we got to add another page to our Kindergarten Portfolio. It was amazing to see the difference in detail in our pictures and how much neater our names looked!
Fall Trees
We went outside and took "mental pictures" of trees in our schoolyard. Then, we got to paint what those trees looked like, using some lines that Mr. McCullough set up as branches, as well as brown, green, grey, red, yellow and orange paint!
Witching Water Table
With the help of the Jackman Daycare, our water table has been turned into a spooky sight, with various tools, plastic lab equipment, and even eyeballs! It was fun making things like witches soup, or experimenting with small water pumps.
Boneyard Dig
Our sand table was full of bones and old animals, so we got to dig it up and see what we could find!
Other Things We Did
We completed some of our pumpkin experiments! Here's what we learned;
How Many Seeds Are In A Pumpkin?
Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!
It Didn't Frighten Me!
Weekly Centres
October Portfolio
After two months of practicing our "Frog Jump" letters and working on our drawing skills, we got to add another page to our Kindergarten Portfolio. It was amazing to see the difference in detail in our pictures and how much neater our names looked!
Fall Trees
We went outside and took "mental pictures" of trees in our schoolyard. Then, we got to paint what those trees looked like, using some lines that Mr. McCullough set up as branches, as well as brown, green, grey, red, yellow and orange paint!
Witching Water Table
With the help of the Jackman Daycare, our water table has been turned into a spooky sight, with various tools, plastic lab equipment, and even eyeballs! It was fun making things like witches soup, or experimenting with small water pumps.
Boneyard Dig
Our sand table was full of bones and old animals, so we got to dig it up and see what we could find!
Other Things We Did
We completed some of our pumpkin experiments! Here's what we learned;
- You can tell how old a pumpkin is by how many lines it has on the outside. We had three pumpkins in the class - large, medium and small - and figured out that they were all the same age because they all had the same number of lines! We also guess that, since they all came to the class together, they all came from the same store, so they probably also all came from the same pumpkin patch.
- Our prediction about pumpkins floating was RIGHT! All three of our pumpkins floated!
The letter "D" was added to our Jolly Jingle list, and we used it to figure out clues about where to stand in the room ("Line up at the place that starts with the "D" sound!")
Mr. Plytas created a Pumpkin Patch obstacle course in the GPR, and we all got to move around it using Scooter Boards! It was lots of fun, with most people's favourite part being wheeling under the mats!
We had our Halloween Parade on Thursday afternoon, walking through the schoolyard to Chester Avenue, then onto the Danforth, then back up Jackman Avenue before stopping for photos in the schoolyard! It was a lot of fun and, boy, did we look amazing!
Our Halloween craft was making "Baby Boo" Pumkins! We used paints, glue, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, leaves, rhinestones, pom-poms - whatever we could find to make the most amazing little pumpkin we could! Once they dry, they'll be coming home for everybody to see!
Herman the Worm came back, this time causing all sorts of Halloween mischief!
We had our first surprise fire drill, and everybody was super brave and quiet! Good work!
Mr. Plytas created a Pumpkin Patch obstacle course in the GPR, and we all got to move around it using Scooter Boards! It was lots of fun, with most people's favourite part being wheeling under the mats!
We had our Halloween Parade on Thursday afternoon, walking through the schoolyard to Chester Avenue, then onto the Danforth, then back up Jackman Avenue before stopping for photos in the schoolyard! It was a lot of fun and, boy, did we look amazing!
Our Halloween craft was making "Baby Boo" Pumkins! We used paints, glue, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, leaves, rhinestones, pom-poms - whatever we could find to make the most amazing little pumpkin we could! Once they dry, they'll be coming home for everybody to see!
Herman the Worm came back, this time causing all sorts of Halloween mischief!
We had our first surprise fire drill, and everybody was super brave and quiet! Good work!
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Week 8: Pumpkin Time!
Books We Read
Pumpkin Cat
Who Said Boo?: A Book of Halloween Poems
The Bumpy Little Pumpkin
Song of the Week
The Three Ghosts
Oooooooooooooooo! 1, 2, 3!
Oooooooooooooooo! Ghosts are we!
Oooooooooooooooo! When you sleep...
Oooooooooooooooo! Then we creep!
Oooooooooooooooo! You won't hear...
Oooooooooooooooo! When we're near!
Oooooooooooooooo! What we do....
Oooooooooooooooo! We scare you!
BOO!!!
Weekly Centres
The Letter R
We added the letter "R" to our printing base, with it being the last of the "Frog Jump Letters". Just in time to try writing some letters all by ourselves in next week's portfolio!
My Halloween Costume
Everybody got a piece of paper with a blank person, and we had to draw a picture of what we thought we would be for Halloween this year.
Ghosts
We covered egg cartons with white paint and then added chopped up white tissue all around. Then we added googly eyes and Mr. McCullough finished the ghosts off with a pipe cleaner. Now, they're hanging scarily at the front of the class!
Sight Word Magnets
After adding "it" and "of" to our sight words, we repeated our sight word challenge, trying to make those words while still working on "on" and "and".
Other Things We Did
We started learning about pumpkins. The first thing we did was talk to a friend and tell them what we knew about pumpkins. Then, we listened to what our friends knew about pumpkins. Finally, we shared what we knew about pumpkins with the class.
Mr. McCullough took us to see the leftover pumpkins from the Harvest Festival. We gave our ideas about which pumpkins were older (we thought it would be the biggest ones), which ones had the most seeds (again, we thought it would be the biggest ones) and which ones were heavier and how we could find out for sure (we could pick them up).
We all made a prediction about whether a pumpkin would float or sink. Surprisingly, EVERYBODY in the class thought that, in spite of its size, the pumpkin would float, saying things like "vegetables usually float" and "it has nothing inside, so it will float". We'll find out next week!
We added M and R to our Jolly Jingle songs!
After learning The Three Ghosts, we surprised our Reading Buddies by hiding in the room, singing them the song while we were hidden and then jumping out to surprise them!
We talked about the difference between stories and poems, learning that poems were like short little stories. They have less words, can sometimes rhyme, and can be quick, interesting and funny.
Pumpkin Cat
Who Said Boo?: A Book of Halloween Poems
The Bumpy Little Pumpkin
Song of the Week
The Three Ghosts
Oooooooooooooooo! 1, 2, 3!
Oooooooooooooooo! Ghosts are we!
Oooooooooooooooo! When you sleep...
Oooooooooooooooo! Then we creep!
Oooooooooooooooo! You won't hear...
Oooooooooooooooo! When we're near!
Oooooooooooooooo! What we do....
Oooooooooooooooo! We scare you!
BOO!!!
Weekly Centres
The Letter R
We added the letter "R" to our printing base, with it being the last of the "Frog Jump Letters". Just in time to try writing some letters all by ourselves in next week's portfolio!My Halloween Costume
Everybody got a piece of paper with a blank person, and we had to draw a picture of what we thought we would be for Halloween this year.
Ghosts
We covered egg cartons with white paint and then added chopped up white tissue all around. Then we added googly eyes and Mr. McCullough finished the ghosts off with a pipe cleaner. Now, they're hanging scarily at the front of the class!Sight Word Magnets
After adding "it" and "of" to our sight words, we repeated our sight word challenge, trying to make those words while still working on "on" and "and".
Other Things We Did
We started learning about pumpkins. The first thing we did was talk to a friend and tell them what we knew about pumpkins. Then, we listened to what our friends knew about pumpkins. Finally, we shared what we knew about pumpkins with the class.
Mr. McCullough took us to see the leftover pumpkins from the Harvest Festival. We gave our ideas about which pumpkins were older (we thought it would be the biggest ones), which ones had the most seeds (again, we thought it would be the biggest ones) and which ones were heavier and how we could find out for sure (we could pick them up).
We all made a prediction about whether a pumpkin would float or sink. Surprisingly, EVERYBODY in the class thought that, in spite of its size, the pumpkin would float, saying things like "vegetables usually float" and "it has nothing inside, so it will float". We'll find out next week!
We added M and R to our Jolly Jingle songs!
After learning The Three Ghosts, we surprised our Reading Buddies by hiding in the room, singing them the song while we were hidden and then jumping out to surprise them!
We talked about the difference between stories and poems, learning that poems were like short little stories. They have less words, can sometimes rhyme, and can be quick, interesting and funny.
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Week 7: G-Leaf-ully back!
Books We Read
The Grumpy Bird
All By Myself
Song of the Week
Scarecrow Dan
I am funny old scarecrow Dan!
I flip and I flop like a scarecrow can.
I move my arms.
I move my wrists.
I move my legs.
And a shake my fists!
I bend way down.
And I bend way back.
I jump up and down like a jumping jack!
I stand real still and I don't make a sound.
Then I sit back down upon the ground.
Weekly Centres
GLeaves!
We put some of our leaf collection to good use this week, creating happy little leaves after Mr. McCullough taught us that the word "glee" is another word for happy! We painted our leaves using autumn colours, then bent a red pipe cleaner into a smile, added some googly eyes and then "mounted" them on a paper plate. The result was pretty funny!
Sight Word Magnet Mania
Using last week's sight words of and and to, as well as our brand new sight words, on and is, we used magnet letters to make each sight word as many different times as possible.
My Own Five Line
After a quick reminder on number order, we made our own number lines from 1 to 5, using poster board, paper numbers and glue sticks! We'll be using these number lines next week once we learn a bit more about five frames!
The Letter B
We're working on the letter "B" this week. Like all of our letters, we're starting at the TOP, moving down, frog jumping back to the TOP and then making two "bumps" to get down to the bottom, all words that we figured out started with B!
Other Things We Did
Mr. McCullough introduced us to the five frame! Some of us thought it was a hopscotch course at first, but after we figured out it wasn't, we learned the first way we could use a five frame, which was ordering numbers. We'll be learning different ways over the next few weeks! We also matched items to numbers in the five frame when it was all mixed up!
On Tuesday, everybody got to plant a daffodil bulb in our kinder garden! Once spring happens, we'll get to see the beautiful yellow daffodils in bloom!
We put our Jolly Jingle letters (S A T I P and N) into a six-letter word that we were using this week - PAINTS!!! More words to come!
We figured out the word sounds that start "egg" and "hop" and added them to our song repertoire!
The Grumpy Bird
All By Myself
Song of the Week
Scarecrow Dan
I am funny old scarecrow Dan!
I flip and I flop like a scarecrow can.
I move my arms.
I move my wrists.
I move my legs.
And a shake my fists!
I bend way down.
And I bend way back.
I jump up and down like a jumping jack!
I stand real still and I don't make a sound.
Then I sit back down upon the ground.
Weekly Centres
GLeaves!
We put some of our leaf collection to good use this week, creating happy little leaves after Mr. McCullough taught us that the word "glee" is another word for happy! We painted our leaves using autumn colours, then bent a red pipe cleaner into a smile, added some googly eyes and then "mounted" them on a paper plate. The result was pretty funny!Sight Word Magnet Mania
Using last week's sight words of and and to, as well as our brand new sight words, on and is, we used magnet letters to make each sight word as many different times as possible.My Own Five Line
After a quick reminder on number order, we made our own number lines from 1 to 5, using poster board, paper numbers and glue sticks! We'll be using these number lines next week once we learn a bit more about five frames!The Letter B
We're working on the letter "B" this week. Like all of our letters, we're starting at the TOP, moving down, frog jumping back to the TOP and then making two "bumps" to get down to the bottom, all words that we figured out started with B!
Other Things We Did
Mr. McCullough introduced us to the five frame! Some of us thought it was a hopscotch course at first, but after we figured out it wasn't, we learned the first way we could use a five frame, which was ordering numbers. We'll be learning different ways over the next few weeks! We also matched items to numbers in the five frame when it was all mixed up!
On Tuesday, everybody got to plant a daffodil bulb in our kinder garden! Once spring happens, we'll get to see the beautiful yellow daffodils in bloom!We put our Jolly Jingle letters (S A T I P and N) into a six-letter word that we were using this week - PAINTS!!! More words to come!
We figured out the word sounds that start "egg" and "hop" and added them to our song repertoire!
Thursday 10 October 2013
Week 6: What Does "Thankful" Mean?
Due to Mr. McCullough's illness at the start of the week and photo day on Wednesday, plans had to be slightly adjusted to accommodate for supply teachers, hence the shortened blog entry this week.
Books We Read
All of Me: A Book of Thanks
Song of the Week
The Turkey Dance
(Sung to "Turkey in the Straw)
Well you turkey to the left, then you turkey to the right.
And you take your turkey foot and you scratch with all your might.
Next you take your turkey head and you move it wobble wobble
And you spin around in place and you say "Gobble Gobble".
Other Thing We Did
We learned that the letter C sometimes sounds just like the letter K, like at the start of cat, cake and cartoon.
We added the letter P to our printing list, and it was the first letter that we've both used in printing and in our Jolly Jingles!
Sight words were introduced this week, as Mr. McCullough started playing "Sight Word Snap-Up" on our message! While Mr. McCullough read the message a second time, we had to play close attention and say "ZIP!" whenever he said a sight word. Somebody then got a turn to circle that sight word!
Picture Day on Wednesday! We all looked pretty fabulous!
The class talked about what we were thankful for, and how being thankful is different than just liking something. We also acted out the story of "The Old Lady and the Vinegar Bottle", about an old lady who never said thank you and took all the gifts given to her by a magical fish for granted!
Books We Read
All of Me: A Book of Thanks
Song of the Week
The Turkey Dance
(Sung to "Turkey in the Straw)
Well you turkey to the left, then you turkey to the right.
And you take your turkey foot and you scratch with all your might.
Next you take your turkey head and you move it wobble wobble
And you spin around in place and you say "Gobble Gobble".
Other Thing We Did
We learned that the letter C sometimes sounds just like the letter K, like at the start of cat, cake and cartoon.
We added the letter P to our printing list, and it was the first letter that we've both used in printing and in our Jolly Jingles!
Sight words were introduced this week, as Mr. McCullough started playing "Sight Word Snap-Up" on our message! While Mr. McCullough read the message a second time, we had to play close attention and say "ZIP!" whenever he said a sight word. Somebody then got a turn to circle that sight word!
Picture Day on Wednesday! We all looked pretty fabulous!
The class talked about what we were thankful for, and how being thankful is different than just liking something. We also acted out the story of "The Old Lady and the Vinegar Bottle", about an old lady who never said thank you and took all the gifts given to her by a magical fish for granted!
Friday 4 October 2013
October Calendar & Colour Groups
Below are the class colour groups for the next six or so weeks. After that time, the groups will switch. The groups are used at the start of some activity periods, the beginning of centre times, and for activities such as show and share.
|
Eliot
Ezra
Aidan
Ella
Christina
|
Matija
Samson
Roslyn
Natalie
|
|
Unaswi
Matthew
Ana
Sofia
Talia
|
Vasili
Nolan
Isaac
Shaugnessy
Ayana
|
Tuesday 1 October 2013
Week 5: Mixing and Fixing
Books We Read
If You Give A Moose A Muffin
I Love My New Toy
Children Make Terrible Pets
Weekly Centres
Fix The Mix
In our new groups, we had to figure out how Mr. McCullough had sorted some mixed up buckets, and then work together to put the right item in the right bucket.
What Fall Will Look Like
We took old, crumbling leaves we gathered and created fall scenes, using fall crayon and marker colours, glue sticks, and crumbled leaves.
Drama Centre - The School House
Everybody was given a chance to explore our new drama centre, which has been set up like a classroom for older students.
Sand Centre
This was a free centre this week, where we got to explore and experiment with the different sand toys.
Other Things We Did
We went on a Leaf Hunt on Tuesday, sorting the leaves we found by good leaves (which we will use for an art activity next week) and "crumby leaves". Those leaves will be used for an activity this week.
The rain on Monday rearranged our plans a bit, so we did our printing as a full class, with everybody working on the letter "D!"
We used our Feel Good Friends to explain what a line looks like, how we're supposed to go to the back and, if somebody accidentally goes in front of us, we politely tell them "the back is over there!"
In If You Give A Moose A Muffin, we looked for clues that told us it was fall (cold air, falling leaves, sweaters) and then acted out the story, trying our best to remember what happens after something else happens first.
To get ready for it in our Centres, we played "Fix the Mix!" Mr. McCullough accidentally dropped a bunch of our sorting items on the floor and we had to figure out which ones go in which bucket by using the clues we found in each bucket.
Our drama centre is being turned from school to house! With help from the Jackman Daycare, our centre will change every once in a while so we can have all sorts of different dramatic experiences.
If You Give A Moose A Muffin
I Love My New Toy
Children Make Terrible Pets
Weekly Centres
Fix The Mix
In our new groups, we had to figure out how Mr. McCullough had sorted some mixed up buckets, and then work together to put the right item in the right bucket.
What Fall Will Look Like
We took old, crumbling leaves we gathered and created fall scenes, using fall crayon and marker colours, glue sticks, and crumbled leaves.
Drama Centre - The School House
Everybody was given a chance to explore our new drama centre, which has been set up like a classroom for older students.
Sand Centre
This was a free centre this week, where we got to explore and experiment with the different sand toys.
Other Things We Did
We went on a Leaf Hunt on Tuesday, sorting the leaves we found by good leaves (which we will use for an art activity next week) and "crumby leaves". Those leaves will be used for an activity this week.
The rain on Monday rearranged our plans a bit, so we did our printing as a full class, with everybody working on the letter "D!"
We used our Feel Good Friends to explain what a line looks like, how we're supposed to go to the back and, if somebody accidentally goes in front of us, we politely tell them "the back is over there!"
In If You Give A Moose A Muffin, we looked for clues that told us it was fall (cold air, falling leaves, sweaters) and then acted out the story, trying our best to remember what happens after something else happens first.
To get ready for it in our Centres, we played "Fix the Mix!" Mr. McCullough accidentally dropped a bunch of our sorting items on the floor and we had to figure out which ones go in which bucket by using the clues we found in each bucket.Our drama centre is being turned from school to house! With help from the Jackman Daycare, our centre will change every once in a while so we can have all sorts of different dramatic experiences.
Monday 23 September 2013
Week 4: Autumn Has Fallen!
Books We Read
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Great Fuzz Frenzy
Song of the Week
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down (to the tune of "London Bridge")
Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down!
Autumn leaves are falling down. Welcome to autumn!
Grab a rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up!
Grab a rake and rake them up. Welcome to autumn!
Make a pile and jump right in, jump right in, jump right in!
Make a pile and jump right in. Welcome to autumn!
Weekly Centres
Letter E
We learned that, by adding an extra line to the letter "F", we can easily make a letter "E"!
Autumn Branches
Using brown pipe cleaner and leaves with holes in them, we worked on our fine motor skills, winding pipe cleaner in and out of the hole to make branches with autumn leaves!
Sorting by...????
We used some non-traditional sorting items, like dinosaurs, cars, ponies and Jenga blocks, and figured out how we could sort them into different groups.
Other Things We Did
Madame DeGroot showed us a few videos on Terry Fox to get us ready for our Terry Fox run on Thursday! A few of us also got to exchange our old books for new ones.
We learned that the other word for fall is "autumn" and talked about clues that let us know autumn is coming.
The letters "T" and "I" were added to our Jolly Jingles repertoire! We also started blending some letters together with our Word Wizard program, figuring out that with the letters S, A, T, F, E and I, we could make words like "eat", "safe", "at" and "sat".
We met our Reading Buddies! The grade four and five students from Ms. Stillman's class will be coming to our room every Day 1 with a fun selection of books to read!
Wednesday was Crazy Head Day! We had some amazing hats, hairstyles and headwear, which we then tried to draw onto a head that Mr. McCullough gave us. Everybody got lots of compliments from the other teachers and students in the school!
Our Terry Fox Run happened on Thursday afternoon! It was more of a Terry Fox Run, Jog, Hop, Skip, Slow-Motion and Walk, but we had lots of fun running for Terry!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Great Fuzz Frenzy
Song of the Week
Autumn Leaves are Falling Down (to the tune of "London Bridge")
Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down!
Autumn leaves are falling down. Welcome to autumn!
Grab a rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up!
Grab a rake and rake them up. Welcome to autumn!
Make a pile and jump right in, jump right in, jump right in!
Make a pile and jump right in. Welcome to autumn!
Weekly Centres
Letter E
We learned that, by adding an extra line to the letter "F", we can easily make a letter "E"!
Autumn Branches
Using brown pipe cleaner and leaves with holes in them, we worked on our fine motor skills, winding pipe cleaner in and out of the hole to make branches with autumn leaves!
Sorting by...????
We used some non-traditional sorting items, like dinosaurs, cars, ponies and Jenga blocks, and figured out how we could sort them into different groups.
Other Things We Did
Madame DeGroot showed us a few videos on Terry Fox to get us ready for our Terry Fox run on Thursday! A few of us also got to exchange our old books for new ones.
We learned that the other word for fall is "autumn" and talked about clues that let us know autumn is coming.
The letters "T" and "I" were added to our Jolly Jingles repertoire! We also started blending some letters together with our Word Wizard program, figuring out that with the letters S, A, T, F, E and I, we could make words like "eat", "safe", "at" and "sat".
We met our Reading Buddies! The grade four and five students from Ms. Stillman's class will be coming to our room every Day 1 with a fun selection of books to read!
Wednesday was Crazy Head Day! We had some amazing hats, hairstyles and headwear, which we then tried to draw onto a head that Mr. McCullough gave us. Everybody got lots of compliments from the other teachers and students in the school!
Our Terry Fox Run happened on Thursday afternoon! It was more of a Terry Fox Run, Jog, Hop, Skip, Slow-Motion and Walk, but we had lots of fun running for Terry!
Monday 16 September 2013
Week 3: Sorting Out Heroes!
Books We Read
We Share Everything
A Sick Day For Amos McGee
Enemy Pie
Good Little Wolf
Song of the Week
Where Do We Start Our Letters? (to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It!")
Weekly Centres
The Letter F
We started our first printing practice of the week, using the "Frog Jump" motion of our hand to make the letter "F"! We also learned that, as the song says, if you want to start a letter, then you better remember to start it at the top!
Sorting
Our sorting centre involved moving magnets, making groups with coloured bears and buttons and figuring out what else in the class we could sort.
Prediction: Sink or Float
We used our Water Table for the first time this year, but before we did, we had to predict if what we were putting in the table was going to sink or float.
Who's My Hero
Everybody coloured in a picture showing who their "hero" was, real or imagined, and we made a list of their "Special Abilities".
Other Activities
Everybody got a giant envelope for their work! The envelope will hold a bunch of our writing, math and art projects through the year and, at the end of the year, we get to take it home! We decorated the envelope with whatever we wanted, and we'll get to add to it as the year goes along!
Somebody left Mr. McCullough a challenge that said "Sort Me". So, we figured out that sorting meant putting things that were the same (like the same colour) into groups! We also tried sorting by a bunch of different attributes. During the week we sorted things by colour, size, shape, type, and we sorted ourselves by boys and girls!
We talked about what a "hero" is and decided it was somebody who helps people, keeps them safe and healthy and tries to do good things. Along with the usual superheroes, we figured out that policemen, ambulance drivers, firemen and even PARENTS could be heroes!!!
We also talked about "villains" and "enemies". We talked about how you can't judge a villain by how they look (Good Little Wolf) and how having "enemies" can sometimes be solved by being nice to them and trying to make friends (Enemy Pie).
Getting ready for the Terry Fox Run next week, we told the story of Terry Fox and talked about what makes him a hero.
Mme. Degroot took us "on the roof" while we were in the library, as we watched an amazing video about the Jackman Green Roof!
We learned a couple of mini-songs from our Jolly Phonics book, focusing on the letter S and the letter A. We then tried to put the letters S, A and F together to see if we could make words. We couldn't, so we might need to learn more letters.
On Tuesday, the Jackman Gardening Committee came to the Kindergarten Garden! We helped them clean up the garden, sweeping wood chips off the concrete, putting pruned leaves and branches in a recyclable bag and shoveling some mulch into the garden!
We Share Everything
A Sick Day For Amos McGee
Enemy Pie
Good Little Wolf
Song of the Week
Where Do We Start Our Letters? (to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It!")
Where do you start your letters?
At the top!
Where do you start your letters?
At the top!
If you want to start a letter then you better, better, better,
Remember to start it at the top!
Is this the top, top, top? No,
it’s the bottom!
Is this the top, top, top? No,
it’s the middle!
Is this the top, top, top? Yes,
it’s the top, top, top!
Remember, to start them at the top!Weekly Centres
The Letter F
We started our first printing practice of the week, using the "Frog Jump" motion of our hand to make the letter "F"! We also learned that, as the song says, if you want to start a letter, then you better remember to start it at the top!Sorting
Our sorting centre involved moving magnets, making groups with coloured bears and buttons and figuring out what else in the class we could sort.
Prediction: Sink or Float
We used our Water Table for the first time this year, but before we did, we had to predict if what we were putting in the table was going to sink or float.
Who's My Hero
Everybody coloured in a picture showing who their "hero" was, real or imagined, and we made a list of their "Special Abilities".
Other Activities
Everybody got a giant envelope for their work! The envelope will hold a bunch of our writing, math and art projects through the year and, at the end of the year, we get to take it home! We decorated the envelope with whatever we wanted, and we'll get to add to it as the year goes along!Somebody left Mr. McCullough a challenge that said "Sort Me". So, we figured out that sorting meant putting things that were the same (like the same colour) into groups! We also tried sorting by a bunch of different attributes. During the week we sorted things by colour, size, shape, type, and we sorted ourselves by boys and girls!
We talked about what a "hero" is and decided it was somebody who helps people, keeps them safe and healthy and tries to do good things. Along with the usual superheroes, we figured out that policemen, ambulance drivers, firemen and even PARENTS could be heroes!!!
We also talked about "villains" and "enemies". We talked about how you can't judge a villain by how they look (Good Little Wolf) and how having "enemies" can sometimes be solved by being nice to them and trying to make friends (Enemy Pie).
Getting ready for the Terry Fox Run next week, we told the story of Terry Fox and talked about what makes him a hero.
Mme. Degroot took us "on the roof" while we were in the library, as we watched an amazing video about the Jackman Green Roof!
We learned a couple of mini-songs from our Jolly Phonics book, focusing on the letter S and the letter A. We then tried to put the letters S, A and F together to see if we could make words. We couldn't, so we might need to learn more letters.
On Tuesday, the Jackman Gardening Committee came to the Kindergarten Garden! We helped them clean up the garden, sweeping wood chips off the concrete, putting pruned leaves and branches in a recyclable bag and shoveling some mulch into the garden!
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Week 2: How Do You Fill Your Bucket?
Books We Read
Those Shoes
Chicka Chicka 123
I Am Absolutely Extremely Boiling
The Giving Tree
On My First Day of School
Song of the Week
Fill A Bucket (sung to Frere Jacques)
Fill a bucket (fill a bucket)
Every day (every day)
I can fill a bucket (I can fill a bucket)
You can too! (You can too)
Fill a bucket (fill a bucket)
Every day (every day)
I like filling buckets (I like filling buckets)
You will, too! (You will, too!)
Weekly Centres
We give children a chance to explore a variety of centres during the week, making their own discoveries as they go. Every week, we have a variety of "guided" centres that focus on specific skills. These will be the centres listed.
September Portfolio
Our first page of our writing portfolio was finished this week! We were asked to write our name and draw a picture of anything we like! Then, Mr. McCullough wrote down what we drew!
Bucket Pictures
Keeping with the "What fills your bucket?" idea, everybody drew a picture of the things that fill their bucket. Some people drew kisses, others drew toys, some drew families and some drew hugs!
Sensory Centres
Mr. McCullough brought out a bucket with things that squish, smoosh, shake, make sounds, light-up and move! It was our job to figure out how everything w
orks.
Blocks & Buckets
We figured out the different items in our building buckets, which include train tracks, magnet blocks and building straws, among other things.
Other Things We Did
We talked some more about what fills our buckets and, after singing the "Fill A Bucket" song, we shared what filled our bucket. For some people, it changed every day!
Stories like "Those Shoes" and "I Am Absolutely Extremely Boiling" taught us about sharing, and we had a few talks about how to ask for things politely.
We kept counting the days of school and everybody made a guess about how many days were in school. We had guesses from 2 to 1000200....
...and then we had a talk about how some of us might be wrong, and it's okay to be wrong because being wrong sometimes helps us learn!
We also "tucked away" the ending of Chicka Chicka 123, because Mr. McCullough said we'd need to remember it on a very special day of school (although we're not sure what day that is yet).
Mme. Degroot had us practice taking books off of shelves in the library, and soon we'll be able to take some home!
We learned the two different meanings of "boiling", and talked about how sometimes we use a word to describe something that isn't actually happening (none of us were REALLY boiling on Wednesday, even though it was REALLY hot!)
After reading "The Giving Tree", we talked about what it means to be a good friend, and how being a good friend means sharing, but also being honest with other friends if you're not feeling okay about what they're doing.
Our sensory centre had a Slinky, but NOBODY had ever seen a Slinky work in the real world! So, we tried it out on the steps of the school and it DIDN'T WORK! So, we came up with ideas of why not (steps were too wide, black stripes were making the slinky stick) before building our own steps in the classroom from our block centre! Everybody loved watching the Slinky go!
Those Shoes
Chicka Chicka 123
I Am Absolutely Extremely Boiling
The Giving Tree
On My First Day of School
Fill A Bucket (sung to Frere Jacques)
Fill a bucket (fill a bucket)
Every day (every day)
I can fill a bucket (I can fill a bucket)
You can too! (You can too)
Fill a bucket (fill a bucket)
Every day (every day)
I like filling buckets (I like filling buckets)
You will, too! (You will, too!)
Weekly Centres
We give children a chance to explore a variety of centres during the week, making their own discoveries as they go. Every week, we have a variety of "guided" centres that focus on specific skills. These will be the centres listed.
September Portfolio
Bucket Pictures
Keeping with the "What fills your bucket?" idea, everybody drew a picture of the things that fill their bucket. Some people drew kisses, others drew toys, some drew families and some drew hugs!
Sensory Centres
Mr. McCullough brought out a bucket with things that squish, smoosh, shake, make sounds, light-up and move! It was our job to figure out how everything w
orks.
Blocks & Buckets
We figured out the different items in our building buckets, which include train tracks, magnet blocks and building straws, among other things.
Other Things We Did
We talked some more about what fills our buckets and, after singing the "Fill A Bucket" song, we shared what filled our bucket. For some people, it changed every day!
Stories like "Those Shoes" and "I Am Absolutely Extremely Boiling" taught us about sharing, and we had a few talks about how to ask for things politely.We kept counting the days of school and everybody made a guess about how many days were in school. We had guesses from 2 to 1000200....
...and then we had a talk about how some of us might be wrong, and it's okay to be wrong because being wrong sometimes helps us learn!
We also "tucked away" the ending of Chicka Chicka 123, because Mr. McCullough said we'd need to remember it on a very special day of school (although we're not sure what day that is yet).
Mme. Degroot had us practice taking books off of shelves in the library, and soon we'll be able to take some home!
We learned the two different meanings of "boiling", and talked about how sometimes we use a word to describe something that isn't actually happening (none of us were REALLY boiling on Wednesday, even though it was REALLY hot!)
After reading "The Giving Tree", we talked about what it means to be a good friend, and how being a good friend means sharing, but also being honest with other friends if you're not feeling okay about what they're doing.
Our sensory centre had a Slinky, but NOBODY had ever seen a Slinky work in the real world! So, we tried it out on the steps of the school and it DIDN'T WORK! So, we came up with ideas of why not (steps were too wide, black stripes were making the slinky stick) before building our own steps in the classroom from our block centre! Everybody loved watching the Slinky go!
Wednesday 4 September 2013
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Week 1: My Friends & I
Books We Read
First Day Jitters
Who Will Go To Kindergarten Today?
The Kissing Hand
Fill-A-Bucket
Song of the Week
Everybody drew a picture of themselves in our "This is me!" activity, and some of us were able to write our names on our pictures as well!
First Day Jitters
Who Will Go To Kindergarten Today?
The Kissing Hand
Fill-A-Bucket
Song of the Week
Kindergarten, Here We Come!
(Sung
to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Kindergarten
here we come.
We
know we'll have lots of fun!
Lots
of things to make and do.
Reading,
writing, counting too.
Kindergarten
here we come.
We
know we'll have lots of fun!
Things We Did
Everybody drew a picture of themselves in our "This is me!" activity, and some of us were able to write our names on our pictures as well!
We practiced signing in to the room, so everybody would know that we're here, and to help us learn how to write our names!
We learned each other's names by playing games with our Feel-Good Freinds (stuffies), who helped show us how to take turns.
We met our gym teacher, Mr. Baker, and our librarian, Mme. Degroot.
We danced to the "Popcorn" song, a fun way to move that allows everybody to be a leader in the dance at different times!
We practiced playing at our different centres, including our drama centre, our blocks centre, and our art centre! More to come soon!
We practiced playing at our different centres, including our drama centre, our blocks centre, and our art centre! More to come soon!
Our first "Drop Everything And Read" session happened, where we all grabbed a book and a place in the room and read! Well, we didn't know the words, but we practiced using the books!
Everybody learned about the "Invisible Bucket" that floats above our head. It fills up when we do nice things for other people, or when other people do nice things for us, and empties when bad things are done. We then all took a happy thought, put it in our bucket, and got ready to use it next week!
Everybody learned about the "Invisible Bucket" that floats above our head. It fills up when we do nice things for other people, or when other people do nice things for us, and empties when bad things are done. We then all took a happy thought, put it in our bucket, and got ready to use it next week!
Welcome to Room 207 - Important Notes
Timetable & Calendar
Please remember that it is important for the children to be on time throughout the school year and to attend regularly. If for any reason, your child will be late or absent from school, please contact the Safe Arrival Line (416) 393-9715.
Jackman follows a five-day schedule. I will send home a calendar with the children each month listing library and gym days, field trips, special events, and any other important information. For the time being, the calendar is as follows.
Monday - Library
Tuesday - Gym
Wednesday - Library
Thursday - Music
Friday - Gym
Entry and Dismissal
Our class will be lining up at the doors just outside the Kindergarten playground. Please say your good-byes outside and allow your child to enter the school with his/her classmates. We will help each student to hang up his/her belongings and get ready for the day. By allowing your child to do this on their own, you are increasing their independence and self-confidence.
When school is over, please wait outside kindergarten gate. For your child’s safety, I will be calling each child in turn, and dismissing them individually. I thank you in advance for your patience. If someone other than the individual(s) stated on the departure list will be picking them up, please send me a note or notify the office ahead of time.
Backpacks
Please send your child to school each day with a name-labeled backpack. This will help your child to become more responsible for his/her belongings, further ensuring that their work and other important messages arrive at home.
Clothing
Please send your child to school in clothes suitable for a day of active learning. Clothing that children can manage on their own is recommended (e.g., Velcro or slip-on running shoes). Please print your child’s name on the inside label of all outdoor clothing. Outdoor play is an important part of the Kindergarten program. We do play outdoors on most days (weather permitting).
It is a good idea to have an extra set of clothes on “stand-by” in case of any bathroom accidents that may occur. You can have an extra pair in the backpack or bring a “spare” that we can keep for the year.
It’s going to be a great year in 207 and I look forward to meeting all of you and getting to know your kids!
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Week 40: Kindergarten, There We Go
Books We Read
Pink
Oh, The Places You'll Go
Things We Did
Year In Review
We did a "Year In Review" activity with our class blog! We looked at our very first Sign-In Sheet, self-portraits that we drew, and our first printing activities! We saw old pictures of the classroom, sang songs from the whole year, and got to see how far we've come in just 40 weeks.
Pink
Oh, The Places You'll Go
Things We Did
Year In Review
We did a "Year In Review" activity with our class blog! We looked at our very first Sign-In Sheet, self-portraits that we drew, and our first printing activities! We saw old pictures of the classroom, sang songs from the whole year, and got to see how far we've come in just 40 weeks.
 |
Learning the difference between
roll and slide, and which moves
things farther.
|
Scientists in the Schools: Marvelous Machines
Scientists in the Schools came into the class to talk about Simple Machines! We used wheels, gears, levers, zippers, buttons... things we never thought were really machines! It was an amazing afternoon and thanks to the parents and students who came to help us out!
This Is Me Now!
To compare how much better our drawing has become, we created "This Is Me Now" pictures, trying to draw as realistic a picture of ourself as possible. We then compared it to our "This Is Me" picture from the start of the year.
 |
| Paper Teeter-Totter |
Jackman's Got Talent
 |
| Scientist Karin explains the afternoon. |
We went to see Jackman's amazing talent show, Jackman's Got Talent! We saw singers, piano players, dancers, and Mr. McCullough and Mme Rankin were called up on stage to do a Bollywood dance!
Tuesday 18 June 2013
Week 39: We're Proud Of Our Year!
Weekly Centres
Commemorative Reading Buddy Plates
Instead of doing something like "Thank You Cards", we decided we'd make something super personalized for our Reading Buddies to remember us by! So, we're creating Commemorative Reading Buddy Plates. We took black & white photographs, coloured them in with crayons and pencil crayons (they did NOT need to be realistic), cut them out, glued them to paper plates and added stickers, shapes and colours! Our Reading Buddies are going to get a nice gift!
June Portfolio
This is our LAST chance to add something to our Writing Portfolio! It will be really neat seeing how different our drawing and writing is since September.
Report Card, Page 2
Everybody will be getting a report card next week! The second page asks us what we're most proud of from this year. We drew pictures and tried to write something that we did, learned, made or tried this year in kindergarten that made us feel proud.
Portfolio Review
We got to look back at all the activities we did through the year, picked favourites, decided which ones we were really proud of and why, and we also redecorated our portfolio holders.
Books We Read
I Can Be Creative
I Can Try New Things
Song of the Week
Tingalayo
Other Things We Did
We talked about what it means to be PROUD of something and came up with this definition; Being proud means you are happy or feel good about something you made, did, learned or tried. We talked about some of the things we were proud of from the year and what we should feel proud of (Learning how to read) and what it means to feel happy about something (You don't feel proud when you eat a chocolate cake.)
Our sunflower received its final measurement this week! It grew 7 CUBES last week for a grand total of 33 CUBES!!! Most of us think it will bloom by next Thursday - we'll have to see!
In preparation for our visit from Scientists in the School next week, we started making some Marvelous Machines of our own! On Wednesday, we created machines with working parts like wheels, hinges and gears. On Thursday, we worked with simple catapults! We made them using two parts, a flat arm and a block of our choosing as a fulcrum. We figured out that, to get the best launch, we need a flat arm that is long enough to get good leverage and a strong fulcrum that isn't too tall, maybe with a bit of a point or a rounded edge. Let's see if what we learned helps us with our Scientists next week!
Our sunflower received its final measurement this week! It grew 7 CUBES last week for a grand total of 33 CUBES!!! Most of us think it will bloom by next Thursday - we'll have to see!
In preparation for our visit from Scientists in the School next week, we started making some Marvelous Machines of our own! On Wednesday, we created machines with working parts like wheels, hinges and gears. On Thursday, we worked with simple catapults! We made them using two parts, a flat arm and a block of our choosing as a fulcrum. We figured out that, to get the best launch, we need a flat arm that is long enough to get good leverage and a strong fulcrum that isn't too tall, maybe with a bit of a point or a rounded edge. Let's see if what we learned helps us with our Scientists next week!Tuesday 11 June 2013
Week 38: Summer Trees & Books In The Park
Weekly Centres
Inuksuk Balancing
Using a collection of found rocks, we tried creating Inuksuks, remembering balance rules we talked about during an experiment in the carpet. It was tough to get them tall but those who stuck with it were able to build Inuksuks with four or five levels!
Finishing off our Seasonal Trees, we started work on our summer trees. We kept the trunks brown, but used three different types of green to create big, leafy tops and lots of grass around our trees.
Sad mother duck went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack, quack,
And all of the five little ducks came back.
On Friday, we went to Withrow Park with our Reading Buddies for our Books In The Park day! We took along some of our favourite books, had our parent volunteers and teachers act out 5 Little Ducks, got to hear our Reading Buddies perform "Bananaphone", and we also got to play in the Withrow playground! It was a beautiful day and thank you to all the adults who came to help us out!
During Show & Share, we saw a Lego Power Ranger, a starfish and shell, a walking, dalking, dancing robot, and some street chalk!
We continued counting up the cubes for our class sunflower and counting down the days to the end of school!
Inuksuk Balancing
Using a collection of found rocks, we tried creating Inuksuks, remembering balance rules we talked about during an experiment in the carpet. It was tough to get them tall but those who stuck with it were able to build Inuksuks with four or five levels!
Summer Trees
Finishing off our Seasonal Trees, we started work on our summer trees. We kept the trunks brown, but used three different types of green to create big, leafy tops and lots of grass around our trees.
Upper-Case & Lower-Case Match
At our Printing Centre, we worked on attempting lower case letters, practicing them alongside the upper-case letters. We then matched upper and lower-case letters, trying to figure out which ones were the same, even if they didn't look it.
Books We Read
A Busy Year
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
Harriet Has Enough!
Harriet Has Enough!
Song of the Week
Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack, quack, But only four little ducks came back.
(Song continues until no little ducks come back)
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack, quack, But only four little ducks came back.
(Song continues until no little ducks come back)
Sad mother duck went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack, quack,
And all of the five little ducks came back.
Other Things We Did
On Friday, we went to Withrow Park with our Reading Buddies for our Books In The Park day! We took along some of our favourite books, had our parent volunteers and teachers act out 5 Little Ducks, got to hear our Reading Buddies perform "Bananaphone", and we also got to play in the Withrow playground! It was a beautiful day and thank you to all the adults who came to help us out!
We talked about balance while making our Inuksuk and tested whether it was easier to balance flat rocks or heavy rocks (flat won!) and whether we should put heavier rocks on top or lighter rocks on the top (lighter worked better) to create a tall, tall structure.
We kept talking about some of the differences we saw in summer compared to spring.
After learning "5 Little Ducks", we asked an important questions - what did those five little ducks do all alone on the other side of the hill? We drew pictur 5 ducks in them, and then tried to write some of their ideas as well!
During Show & Share, we saw a Lego Power Ranger, a starfish and shell, a walking, dalking, dancing robot, and some street chalk!
We continued counting up the cubes for our class sunflower and counting down the days to the end of school!
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Week 37: Self-Portraits and Junk Creations
Due to the short week, we're doing more whole-class activities as opposed to individual centres. The activities we've done this week are;
Todd Parr Portraits
On Monday, we created self-portraits using the Todd Parr rules. They are;
1) Dots for eyes
2) Lines for smiles and eyebrows.
3) No noses
4) Simple hair
5) Silly looking!
Using a picture of ourselves, we created our Parr-style portrait with crayons on beige construction paper. Then, on Tuesday, we painted our portraits using food colouring! The results were quite colourful!
Garden Planting
The Gardening Committee paid a visit to the Kindergarten playground. We talked some more about what plants need to grow and helped them plant Snapdragons and Lamb's Ear in the garden! Everybody planted with a partner on a beautiful, sunny day!
We also got to dig through a giant bucket of dirt with helpful insects like pill bugs and worms!
Junk Creations
After using our recycled material to build, sort, learn about being "green" and to create several class projects, Mr. McCullough gave us a chance to get rid of it all by making ANYTHING we wanted! There were boats, race cars, monsters, towers, presents, necklaces, mittens - we got SUPER creative! Thanks to our parent volunteers and to our Reading Buddies for helping out!
Books We Read
What Animals Really Like
Too Much Stuff
Other Things We Did
We talked about the difference between upper-case letters and lower case letters, practed matching them up, and added them to our printing centre!
Our "leftover" butterfly parts from our foam butterfly activity last week have been a big hit! We've been using them to create things like flowers, fireworks and even The Riddler from Batman!
Show and Share was a hit once again, with the theme seeming to be dolls and lego this week.
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