Farewell!!

Hi families,

We made it! What a crazy year it's been. I don't think any of us could have predicted it would turn out like this. Your little one deserves a big congratulations on making it through such a difficult year. I know how difficult it must be to have your child miss so much of their JK or SK year. I hope that come September, things can go back to "normal" and we can move forward. Parents, you also deserve a huge applause. I could only imagine how difficult it was to balance all of this. Kudos to you... these kids are so lucky to have such amazing, supportive parents.

I truly feel blessed to have had the group of kids that I had. They are unreal. I'm devastated I couldn't spend more time with my SKs, but can't wait to give you the biggest hugs when I see you in Grade One. What an amazing group of kids they are! To my amazing JKs, I can't wait for us to be back together in September. We will look back at this experience and remember how crazy it was, and be grateful we can be together once again.

This was my first year ever teaching the FDK program without a teaching partner. I have to admit, I was super nervous and overwhelmed at the beginning! However, your well-mannered, respectful, and patient children helped me through it. Teaching staff would always come in and say "Wow, this is your class!? You are so lucky", and I really was. Never did a day go by where I didn't feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position I was.

I am so very proud of all of you. I wish things could have ended differently. Expect major tears when I see all of your children's smiling faces again <3 I love you all beyond words. Thank you for making me a better teacher. I miss you and can't wait to see you again. Have an amazing, well-deserved summer vacation.

Here are some pictures to sign off with!

These pictures make me so emotional! Great job working so diligently week to week on the challenge Navraj! I'm so beyond proud of you <3

Weston is busy at work! Practising those sight words and getting hands on in the sand box. Did you know Weston has his own YouTube channel now? He has a new dirt bike that he's been riding! Check out his channel here!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzdhFUHtiUQTFeNF3V2zbUw

Caleb! Your smile lights up the room! Working hard on patterning from this week's challenge. Have an awesome summer buddy! Make sure you water the grass for daddy!

Until we meet again!!

Lots of love,
Miss Pliura, xox <3

Weekly Challenge

Here is the weekly challenge for the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! What a crazy year! I made the challenge this week, so there won't be daily learning activities (there's a lot of fun ones on this one to celebrate our last week). Also, I'll be in the school for most of the day tomorrow and Tuesday, but I'll still be checking my e-mail regularly :)

(click to enlarge)

Link for Friday's Read Aloud:

Friday's Learning

Literacy: Let's practise spelling our sight words! Here's a cute game on abcya where you have to put the letters in the right order to spell the sight word :)

Submarine Spelling Practise

Listen to Mrs. Barber read another Robert Munsch book! (note the days don't match up, hehe) What was your favourite part of the story?

Wait and See

Mathematics: Here's something we've never directly learned before.... students definitely DON'T need to know the greater or less than sign by any means, lol, but they should be able to identify which number has a bigger value! Sometimes I will say something along the lines of, "Which one is more? 15 smarties, or 18 smarties?". We've practiced one more and one less than, but this is a bit different! I like to attach food to it, but you can use anything! Remember, don't solely focus on greater than.... less than is just as important!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! One more week! <3

Weekly Picture Post!

Caleb has been practising his printing and helping his mom and dad water the lawn! It looks great!!

Weston got a new dirt bike! What a lucky guy! You look so cool on it, I hope you enjoy it so much over the summer! I'm so glad you love it :)

Ziibii has been busy visiting the beach, typing the names of her family members, and playing school at home! Her dog, Chewy, has to go to school, too! It's been so beautiful outside, I hope you've been having so much fun! I hope we can play school together when we get back!

Saira has been busy making rhyming words with chalk, reading stories like "The Wonky Donkey", and drawing a portrait of her best friend Ziibii! I love it! I'm sure Ziibii will be thrilled to see it! I bet you two can't wait to see each other :D

Navraj made an AMAZING obstacle course at home from the weekly exploration challenge! I love how you explained what to do, great job buddy! We will definitely have to make some obstacle courses in the gym or outside when we get back! <3

Thursday's Learning

Literacy: Have your child pick one of their favourite stories you have at home. Read it to them! Once they're done, have them retell you the story in their own words. You are looking for them to be able to remember major parts of the story... beginning, middle, end.... nothing too specific! Do they know the character's names? Where the story took place?

Practise your printing in your printing practice book!

Mathematics: I found these super cute subitizing summer videos! The music is so cute, and I love the summer theme! Try to go as fast as you can! The one with the kids in the pool is a bit challenging because they aren't in any type of pattern (ten frame, dice pattern, etc.)

This one is a bit easier!

Wednesday's Learning

Literacy: Let's think of some rhyming words! Children can generally hear if words rhyme, but sometimes it can be a bit more difficult trying to generate them on their own. How many words can you think of that rhyme with hot? Play? Can? What makes these words rhyme? (Hint: only the beginning sound changes! If you made a blending board, try generating and reading them on your own!)

Mathematics: Practise your sorting today! Find something like fruit loops, beads, jelly beans, etc. and sort them by color. Explore different ways you can sort your things (i.e., sort your stuffies based on size, fuzziness, etc.)

Tuesday's Learning

Literacy: Use a large piece of paper and copy this word search onto it, print it out, or better yet, copy it onto your driveway with chalk! Have your child find the hidden words!

Read one book at home or on Raz Kids :) Audio messages sent to Navraj and Jordyn <3 

Mathematics: One more or one less is an important skill we practice all the time during our daily math circles. We've watched this video a number of times, so it should be familiar to them! Practice a couple examples over dinner or during bath time if you need something to do! (note: we don't do number over 10 when it comes to less than, but you can certainly do them if you wish!)

Family Access

A note from our principal:

"Thursday, June 18 is our final Family Access Day to pick up student belongings.  Please book your time by logging onto our Gatestone School Website.  Click on the Family Access Booking Calendar and select your child's homeroom teacher to book your time.  We ask one child attend with one parent/guardian for each appointment.  Items not picked up by June 18 will be disposed of.  If you are having trouble signing up for your time, please e-mail Mrs. Reilly-Scott and she will provide a time for you to come on June 18. 

Mrs. Reilly-Scott's e-mail: kreillys@hwdsb.on.ca.

Parents: If you are unable to get your child's belongings, I will put them in the cupboard and give them to you in September so they won't be thrown away! - Miss Pliura

Weekly Challenge/Monday's Learning

Here is the weekly challenge! (click to enlarge)

Monday's Learning:

Literacy: Mrs. Barber has been posting daily Robert Munsch read alouds for the rest of the year, so we are definitely taking advantage of that! Listen to her read The Paper Bag PrincessThe Paper Bag Princess

Read 1 book you have at home or on Raz kids, and practice your printing!

Mathematics: We don't normally do a lot of worksheets in Kindergarten, but there's nothing wrong with them once in awhile! I've found some Summer Math Worksheets you can print off and give to your little one. If you explain what to do, they can complete them independently!

Friday Learning

Literacy: Play the Fuzz Bugs consonant blend game! A consonant blend is when 2 consonant come together to make one sound (like cl, br, sw, etc.). Blends are easy to learn as long as you know the sounds of each consonant and are super helpful when it comes to sounding out words. There's also a video that teaches them!

https://www.abcya.com/games/consonant_blends

Read one book at home or on Raz Kids!

Mathematics: Before we went on March Break, we were beginning to practise how to interpret a graph! Graphs in Kindergarten look much different than your typical graph (no stem and leaf graphs here, hehe). We use pictures! I found a website that has you interpret graphs and answer some questions! Explore it a bit here!

https://www.ixl.com/math/kindergarten/interpret-picture-graphs

Have a nice weekend everyone! <3

Picture Post!

Here are some pictures of our kiddos working hard this past week!

Ziibii made an awesome tower with some fun looking blocks! 

Matching uppercase and lowercase letters! How cool are those! Nice matching, Ziibii!

Weston made some nature soup and even drew a picture of himself with it! Looks awesome buddy! 

Ava's been doing lots of fun activities at home- that rock painting looks like so much fun! She did a show and tell from the exploration portion of our weekly calendar.... nice shades, chica!

Navraj made his weather chart and thought of 10 words that start with J- amazing job, kiddo!

Thursday's Learning

Literacy: For today's literacy work, your child will have to identify where the sound in the word is.

-If the sound you give them is at the beginning of the word, they will tap their heads
-If the sound you give them is in the middle of the word, they will tap their waist
-If the sound you give them is at the end of the word, they will tap their toes

You will say:

"In the word hat, where is the "aaaa"?" (say the sound, not the letter- they should tap their waist!)
"In the word dog, where is the "g"? (they should tap their toes!)
"In the word sun, where is the "ssss"?"
"In the word web, where is the "w"?"
"In the word cot, where is the "t"?"
"In the word jug, where is the "u?"

You can do this with any word!

If you have time, practise some printing!

Mathematics: Let's practise our shapes today! Students should know the 4 basic shapes before leaving Kindergarten, and what makes them different from each other (How many sides do they have? Are the sides all the same length?) Watch this video and then go on a shape hunt throughout your house!

Wednesday's Learning

Literacy: Check your RazKids for an audio response from me if you've practiced reading a book there lately!

Grab some chalk and head outside. Write some letters down on your driveway or the sidewalk (you don't have to do them all!). Then, ask your child questions like this... (depending on which letters you've picked!)

"What letter does the word ______ start with?"
"What letter makes the sound ____?"
"Can you find the letter that _____'s name starts with?"
"What sound do you hear at the end of _____?"

Pick some easy words like this: pig, sun, cow, mop, log, bed, zip, etc.)

You can also do hopscotch with sight words! They have to say each word once they hop in it :) Sight words to use: I, like, the, in, is, see, a, etc.

Music: Mr. McCormack wanted to share this song with you... they've practised it in class :)

Mathematics: This is a beginning video for understanding place value (the "ones" row and "tens" row). I explain a bit more about place value in the video below it. It's important to understand the teens as 10 and some more!

Report Cards

A note from our principal:

HWDSB will continue to communicate with families through SchoolMessenger.  Our Term 2 Student Report Cards will be sent to families this year through SchoolMessenger due to privacy and school closures this year.  Please make sure you have signed up for SchoolMessenger.

1. Download the SchoolMessenger App, or visit go.schoolmessenger.ca.
2. Create an account (using the email address you have on file with your child’s school).

Please e-mail our Office Administrators if you are having trouble setting up SchoolMessenger.

In order to receive your child's report card you will also need to know your child's OEN number.  You can find you child's OEN number on any previous report card (e.g., Fall Progress Reports, Past Report Cards from earlier Grades).  If you do not know your child's OEN number, please contact our Office Staff and we will provide this information for you. 

Gatestone Office Administrators:

Mrs. K. Asthon kashton@hwdsb.on.ca

Ms. C. Mason: camason@hwdsb.on.ca

Thank you for your understanding during these challenging times.

**Report Cards will be sent out June 25th and 26th. 

Tuesday's Learning

Literacy: Read 1 book at home or on Raz kids. Were there any words you got stuck on? If so, write those words down and try to use them in a sentence.

Ask your child to find something short and something long in your house (i.e., short: piece of lego, long: ruler). Read the following list of words to you child. If the word is a short word (2 syllables or less), have them hold up the short object. If the word is long (3 syllables or more), have them hold up the long object. As an extension, have them count how many syllables are in the word.

alligator (long)
boy (short)
helicopter (long)
tyrannosaurus (long)
soap (short)
slipper (short)
macaroni (long)
popcorn (short)
phone (short)
snowman (short)
beautiful (long)

Mathematics: Let's practice our patterning! Watch this song, and then try to make a pattern on your own using words! Can you add an action to it?

Weekly Challenge/Monday's Learning

Here is this week's challenge! (click to enlarge)

Monday's Learning:

Literacy: Watch Mrs. Barber read "Show and Tell" by Robert Munsch! Some of you weren't able to do show and tell for your V.I.P :( If you could pick something to bring in for show and tell, what would it be and why?

Practise printing in your printing practice book.

Mathematics: Play Molly Adds Up to 10! Remember to count on from the highest number to make it go faster (or start from 1, that's okay too!). 

Friday Learning

I have sent audio messages to all the students who recorded their reading this week on raz kids. I'm so impressed with them all! I really like giving feedback and find that this is a perfect way to connect academically, so feel free to record as many books as you want and I will keep responding with feedback :)

Something different for today! We (my "former" student teacher Miss Spring and I) were planning on doing an underwater themed unit in our class (we even started to decorate and get activities ready :(), and then all of this nonsense happened! So Mrs. Barber made us an underwater themed choice board for you to explore! A big thanks to her for putting this together!

Under the Sea Choice Board

Marine Animals Choice Board

There's literacy and math embedded into these activities, but if you're looking for additional activities, reading a book to your child, having them read one, practice printing letters/numbers, etc. is good! I will be working on report cards today, but if you need anything just e-mail me, I'll be around! :)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Picture Post!

Click Here to watch Aaryan's Quarantine Questionnaire!

Click Here to watch Isla's Quarantine Questionnaire!

Isla's been busy at the driving range- you go girl! I hope you're enjoying this beautiful weather!

Aaryan and Ziibii had a video call together- I love it! 😂

Weston shared some pictures for Mrs. Barber, our librarian, and Mr. McCormack, our music teacher! They both reached out to me and told me how much they loved it! I'm glad you enjoyed the Franklin's choice board, Weston!

Caleb and Weston have been practising their printing, and it shows! Way to go!

Saira has been busy practicing her letter sounds, helping her mom plant flowers, and making puffy paint! Looks so much fun! :)