November 28th - December 9th

Bonjour les parents,

It's so hard to believe December is already here! Snow has fallen, it's colder than it's been in months and we're in a busy time of life with celebrations, parties, traditions and only one week of school left until the break. 

Kindergarten has been very busy wrapping up the dinosaur unit while starting to incorporate some winter themes before then end of 2016. 

In math, students were asked to estimate the number of shoes they believed would fit into a T-Rex footprint. The estimations were very interesting to hear as they ranged anywhere from 5 to 100.

How many shoes will fit?

Wow! We can fit 32 shoes in a T-Rex footprint. That's a lot more than 5! 

Patterns are an integral part of the kindergarten math curriculum and we have the chance to review this everyday when reviewing the calendar. Students had an opportunity to apply their knowledge in creating their own pattern in the shape of a T-Rex. Using multi coloured noodles, students made a pattern of their choice. Of course, this is also a wonderful way to hone in on fine-motor skills. 

I'm making an "abab" pattern around my dinosaur.

The children in Mme Corine's class have completed the representation of their dinosaur with platicin.  This week, the children will describe their dinosaur  orally while I take a video of them.  You will have a chance to see your child’s video during our student-led conferences in March.

  

                                


                                                            
                                                     

We have finally introduced yoga in the last few weeks.   The children loved it!  I often use a program called “Cosmo KIds” on Youtube.  Please have a look.  It has different themes like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Animals etc.  It guides the children into different poses and  stretches and make it fun with story telling. After the new year, we will have yoga every Friday morning. Make sure to have your child wear comfortable clothing on that day.

                                              






We have not introduced any knew letters in the last few weeks.  We have beens reviewing all of the letters that we have learned since October.

Kindergarten is a very supported program. Research shows that early intervention is the best way to help kids who need a little extra assistance in areas such as fine motor and speech for example. Mme Corine and Mme Brittany are very happy to have Melissa, an occupational therapist, join our classrooms on her scheduled visits to support teachers and students alike. This week, Mme Melissa came to Mme Brittany classroom to read a story about listening skills and how it involves the whole body.

I should listen with my whole body! That helps my friends know I care. 

We wish you all Happy Holidays!

November 14th - November 25th

Bonjour chers parents,

Dinosaurs have continued to be a major focus over the last few weeks while literacy and numeracy continue to be practiced. The dinosaur theme has also been a great tool for helping the children to learn French vocabulary. The following are phrases the children have practiced saying out loud.

Le dinosaure est bleu/rouge/jaune/vert.
Le dinosaure est petit.
Le dinosaure a un long cou. 
Le dinosaure est gros.
Le dinosaure est un carnivores.
Le dinosaure est un herbivores.
Le dinosaure a 4 pattes.

I'm making a dinosaur book!

In literacy this week, we learned the form and the sounds of C, K and E. Remember our chant? It goes like this: 

Le nom de la lettre est C, C, C

Le son de la lettre est c, c, c 

The letter E is an important letter for the children to learn. The formation of this letter seems difficult for a 5 year old to learn.  Here are a few things you can do at home to pratice with your child: 

-Write the letter in the snow.
-Make the letter with playdough.
-Draw the letter in sand.
-Write the letter with a highliter and have your child trace it.
-Put shaving cream on a plate and write the letter.

During centres, the children have been very inspired by dinosaurs and are incorporating them into their play. It was very exciting to see students wanting to make their own dino books like the ones found in our class library.

Kindergarten and Grade Two/Three  Connection (Buddy system)

Having buddies  coming to our class is a very special time for Kindergarters.  Who among us doesn’t remember a feeling of pride when, as young children, we were befriended by an older child? They helped us to build the confidence and sense of safety we needed to navigate the world of school, and ultimately, the world around us.  Buddy systems promote more than just those warm feelings; these programs enhance positive behaviors in both the older and the younger buddies.

Older children love the sense of responsibility they feel for their younger buddies and are therefore motivated to be the best buddy they can be. Further, they are able to practice their own skills of cooperation and collaboration with a younger child who can learn those same skills by interacting with the older students. They have opportunities to practice taking turns, sharing knowledge, listening to each other, helping and praising one another, and completing tasks with the help of someone more experienced than they are.

Here are a few examples of things that their buddies will be doing with your child:

Reading stories

Making crafts

Singing together

Creating projets

We're making dinosaurs together. 

With our buddy class, we got to explore shapes such as circles, triangles, rectangles and squares as we made unique looking dinosaurs together (thank you to the volunteers for cutting up the shapes!).

Our students have also had the opportunity to recreate fossils as we have discussed where dinosaurs come from and how we can know they really existed. 

To the oven we go!

Now it's time to paint!

 

I wonder about dinosaurs.

                                                             I am learning to draw a dinosaur.







                                I am an artist.
     

                          I am a paleantologist                                                                


Thank you for reading!

October 31st - November 11th

Bonjour chers parents,

Here is what room Kindergarten children have been doing in the last two weeks.

First off, merci beaucoup to the lovely mothers who have been able to help out our classroom over the past couple of weeks. C’est très gentil de votre part!

In literacy, the students were introduced to the letters “Ii” and “Ll”. Letter "I" was introduced first and this week we worked on the letter "L". We always say a little chant to go along with our letter of the week. It goes like this:

“Le nom de la lettre est “L L L”

“Le son de la lettre est “l l l”

This is helping us to remember the name and the sound of the letter and that they are two different things. Also, if you are familiar with the French alphabet, you will know that the French name for “I” is pronounced like the English letter “E”.  Some students were a little bit confused with the pronunciation but this is something we will revisit throughout the year and continue to practice.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                          

The egg is starting to hatch...what animal is coming out? 

After Halloween, we began to learn the phrase “J’ai peur” (I’m scared). Student drew a picture of what they are scared of and I scribed their fear below their picture. We will make a cover for this book and then it will be published for the children to read when they arrive in the morning. They are still fawning over the “Je m’appelle” book we made in September!

It's a dinosaur! A Triceratops to be exact.

We are moving into a unit on dinosaurs! Before we begin to look at the different types of dinosaurs and develop vocabulary, we talked about eggs and what kind of animals come from eggs. Students have a lot of background knowledge regarding which animals lay eggs and which don’t. Eggs are a good place to begin to allow the students to use their inquiring minds and pique their curiosity. 

In the next few weeks,  we will be learning many facts about dinosaurs and building the body part vocabulary.  We are also learning to describe dinosaurs by using adjectives such as: grand (tall), gros (big),  feroce (ferocious), petit (small), giguantesque, (gigantic), carnivore, herbivore etc.  The children will be creating their own dinosaurs with plasticine and describing them with their new vocabulary.  

We will learn the song "Les dinosaures"  from Caillou.  You can find it on Youtube.

In mathematics we are starting to find many ways to make the numbers 1 to 5.  We are continuing learning numbers out-of-order, subitizing, and counting backwards.

Kindergarten children are very active and energetic bunch. They really thrive during centres time and the two most popular areas are crafts and blocks. They make amazing structures and pieces of art. I continue to be inspired by how this group of kindergartners think outside the box!

Girls and boys  love their blocks.

"I'm making a tear art poppy with my buddy"

  

"I draw what I klnow about animals that lay eggs. "                                                      "I play with water."

                               

"I stamp letters on playdough. "                                                      "I lace letters to make my fingers stronger."

Have a great week!