Playful Kinders: October 11, 2018

Hi Families,

We have had another wonderful week in kindergarten!

Important Dates:

PM Classes Attend: Friday, October 12

Scholastic Book Orders Due: Friday, October 12

Picture Day: Monday, October 15

Community Walk: Tuesday, October 16

Community Walking Field Trip

On October 16th we will be participating in a community walk. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather (e.g.: hat, mittens, boots, snow pants, coat) and pack additional snacks, as we will be doing a lot of walking. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help us. All morning kindergarten classes have enough volunteers for the walk. Mrs. McKay's afternoon kinder class is still looking for volunteers.

Literacy

Each day during classroom activities and routines students work on WH questions.

Answering and asking WH questions is an important part of learning. We ask questions to learn more information about something; we answer questions to provide more information about something. Types of questions we ask and answer include who, what, where, when, why and how.

“Who” means we are talking about a person (ex: Mom, Grandpa)

“What” means we are talking about a thing (ex: bike, apple)

“Where” means we are talking about a place or location (ex: park, house, basement)

“When” means we are talking about a time (ex: daytime/nighttime, lunch, winter, yesterday, June)

“Why” means a reason (ex: I fell off my bike because I was going too fast)

It is important for your child to ask/answer WH questions to build relationships and social skills. The skills required to ask/answer WH questions will further support your child in their writing when they get older (ex: story writing). Support your child to ask and answer questions at home during daily activities, family events and book time etc.

Math

This week we continued to explore sorting. Some of the ways we sorted included:

-By teacher/class

-How does it move? (Swim or Walk)

Ask your child to sort something at home, ask them about their sorting rule (eg: sorting by size, shape, colour etc.).

Fine Motor

Students work on fine motor activities daily (e.g.: journals, directed drawing, centers, scissor skills etc.). This week students have been working on printing their names neatly with the appropriate case letters and labeling pictures in their journals (e.g.: picture of Mom, some students will label the picture with an 'M' other students are working on printing the word "Mom". Support your child to label their pictures at home (e.g.: grocery list, picture to a family member). We have also been using a Trace and Write app on our iPads. They love doing this! Depending on your device at home, there are many great Trace and Write apps available.

Gym

This week was so much fun in gym! Students played with scoops and balls. Students are learning to catch and throw. They are also learning how to play with a partner and ensure their partner is "ready". Students continue to work on personal space and freezing when a teacher calls "freeze/stop".

Social Studies

This week students have explored who they are in relation to others in their world. They have been given opportunities to become aware of who they are as unique individuals and to express themselves by sharing their personal stories. Students are discovering how they are connected to other people and to their communities and have been encouraged to express interest, sensitivity and responsibility in their interactions with peers. Through inquiry into their social, physical, cultural and linguistic environments, students are seeing themselves as part of the larger world. Students are learning to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the characteristics and interests that unite members of communities, our school and our classrooms.

Science

Students enjoyed a science experiment where they had to decide whether an object would float or sink and then students tested their ideas! Ask your child if the following items float or sank: penny, pencil, cotton ball, wooden stick, crayon, and elastic. Students worked on following the group plan to record their findings.

Other

Students are always working on finding a "good fit spot" in the classroom. This means that the student is sitting in a place where they learn best, and sitting in a place that supports their learning. For most of the students in our class this means being mindful about who you are sitting next to; is it someone you might be chatty with? Or are you able to do your best work?

We spent time creating Monsters during centres this week. Thank you to our Grade 5/6 friends who came and assisted us!

We had so many fun new centers this week!