Literacy: Hoppy Bunny!

Yesterday we learned about "Hoppy Bunny". He taught us that sometimes we have to hop over a certain word to hear what would make sense in the sentence. It's very important that we go back and try to solve the word, using our other reading strategies to help us :)

Special Events: An "Eggciting" Time with Treasa!

She's back! Today with Treasa, we learned about eggs and which sorts of animals come from eggs. Check out the pictures and videos below!

Important Issue

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We've been having an ongoing issue of some students playing violent games outside and inside during recess/learning centres. Some students have been playing "Call of Duty" and "Minecraft", simulating weapon use and killing people. Although I can't control what goes on at home, I do know that this is not something I want happening in my classroom... ever. We've had many discussions with students regarding this type of play and how it's not acceptable at school. Unfortunately, there are many times where my input has little effect on student output. If you think it is necessary, please have a conversation at home with your child to remind them that this type of play is not nice and should not be happening at school. Remind your child that they can choose to play with whomever they wish, and don't have to play these violent games at school.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Our Current Inquiry: Learning about Germany!

Last week we learned a little bit about Germany, and for a very good reason! My sister (also Miss Pliura) used to teach Kindergarten at Gatestone, but now teaches Kindergarten in Germany! We thought it would be a great idea to Skype with my sister and her class to meet some friends from a different country :)

We wanted to learn more about Germany so we were prepared, so Miss Smith made a powerpoint presentation for us to help us learn more about it!

 

Lara helps Giulia find where we live on a map in comparison to Germany!

We came up with some questions that we could ask my sister and her students:

"What do your clothes look like?" - Lily

"What do you like about your country?" - Lara

"Have you ever been to a castle?" - Daryl

"What is the weather like in Germany?" - Andrew

"Do you have the same animals as us in Canada?" - Lilly

We will ask  my sister's class these questions on Wednesday!! We are so excited to use our technology to enrich our learning of the world :)

Here's a video of us translating some words into German :)

April Calendar

Hi everyone,

Here is a copy of April's calendar incase you lost your paper copy :)

Jr. Dance Team: April Calendar

Hello dancers,

Here is your copy of April's schedule. As always, you can pick up your own copy outside of my classroom near the Jr. Dance board. Please be aware that it is a very packed month as we perform for Arts night in May. Attendance is mandatory for all choreography and practice sessions.

Cake Raffle!

Here are some pictures from Friday's cake raffle in support of the Purple Butterfly of Hope Foundation. Izze's parents bought everyone a bracelet- that's why it was in their important bags! We had a lot of donations from our class.. so much so that Miss Whitley came down from her grade 8 class to thank us. Way to go! Thanks for all of your support :)

Picture and Video Post!

Hi everyone :) I hope you're having a great weekend. Here are some pictures we've taken recently. I know how much everyone enjoys seeing pictures! Make sure you click on them to see a bigger version!

  

Milorad's VIP! Miss Smith caught some of it on video. Next year I plan on filming everyones! 

Izze, Victoria, and Courtney playing with dominoes!

Special Events: Respect Winners :)

This months Tribes focus was respect. The following three students always show respect to their teachers, classmates, and their classroom. Congratulations you three... way to go!!

Literacy: OO and AW

Watch the video below to learn about the sounds of /oo/ and /aw/ :) We learned them as a class on Tuesday and Wednesday :)

Character Education: Introducing Self-Regulation

Today we had our first lesson on self-regulation. What is self-regulation? I explained it in a post which you can read here (Yay for me doing what I said I would!) :) It's an important component of the Kindergarten program that we will be exploring for the rest of the year. We received some resources to help us implement a new program, and this is what it's all about!

It explains our level of energy in 3 kid-friendly ways: low, high, and just right. Today we learned about what each level looks like. High is when we are running in the classroom, acting silly, screaming across the room, etc. Low is when we're lethargic, sluggish, and just need a little boost. Just right is well, just that! Attentive and doing what we're supposed to be doing. We will continue to learn about our "engine" levels, how we can identify which one we're at, and how we can change levels to adjust appropriately to the task :)

Special Events: The Return of Treasa!

Yesterday Treasa joined us again for another fun arts activity :) This time she brought her accordian and played it for us- how cool! We have learned about so many neat instruments over the past few weeks!

She brought her scarves with her again and we pretended to use them as different things. This time it was a towel and a blanket!

 

She left a book for us to read called "The Perfect Square". We learned that the scarves were perfect squares because they have four sides that are all the same length! :) We'll be doing an art activity this week as an extension of this book!