What a Gloomy Day!

Important news about the geckos.  They have food today!  Mrs. Pole quickly went to Rick's Hobbies in town and bought crickets and mealworms.  If there is anyone who would be willing to help with the purchasing of food for the geckos please let us know.  Rick's Hobbies has all we need in town, so if it is possible to share in this job...that would be great.  We could make a list of volunteers and assign weeks.  Thanks so much and we appreciate all your support.  If you wish to help just write us a quick letter in the agenda. :)

Today we started out investigation about questions.  We will be looking at how to ask and answer questions.  It is really tricky!  Tonight ask your child something they wonder about and see if they can come up with a question.  Start with ....I wonder...this helps children lead naturally to a question. 

We did some more tidying up today.  But we were REALLY loud.  Indoor recess didn't help our loudness either.  We also did our first fire drill.  We did great, but some of us did find the alarm rather loud and some of us thought that the noise went a code red drill.  But that is why we have practices.  We are so proud of how well they did.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Here is a catching tune the kids enjoyed today...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6XOpRgU

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well here we are at the end of another week!  Wow time is flying by.  Today we did some house cleaning in the room.  We are having trouble keeping things clean and put away properly.  So today we moved around some centers and we put some toys away.  We will bring some things back out when we show we can be responsible.

Patrick, a JK student in the room, and his mommy and daddy provided us a link on you tube that showed us video of certain jobs being done on their farm  It was too cool.

Here is the link to Lindmilk Farms.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BarendvL

The children are so excited to watch and we are learning so many different words and we were asking questions. Wonderful!

Terry Fox run....AWESOME, and we watched a video about Terry Fox.  Miss Shelly and I realize this is a very hard concept for the child to get, but we just gave them a brief introduction.  So please talk to your child about Terry Fox as they might be confused and have questions when they get home!

Have a great weekend.

Taking on a new role...

Today I became the student for awhile while one of my students taught!  This was so much fun and so rewarding for the class.  Patrick, a JK student in the room, taught us about harvesting and packing corn.  So here is the truth, I know nothing about farming!  Yup truth be told! So Patrick started explaining to us why he was away yesterday and he told us about packing corn.  But since I don't even know how the corn gets off the field we had to start at the beginning of the harvest.  (not even sure that is really correct so bear with me!)

So we found a great video on you tube that should how farmers harvet corn...so take a look...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tu_bFde6Ww

Then when we watched a video about packing so I could understand a little more...here is what Patrick says packing is...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSo0gDARjU&safe=active


This is not exactly how they do it on their farm but he said it was close enough! lol

So I think I am getting a better idea of harvesting, and packing corn...what I still have a few questions.  So we are going to try to answer my questions.

This is something that is going to be a focus at school:  How to ask a question that we want answered.  Amazingly, making a question up is something that is very difficult and a concept that is very difficult for children.  We always think that kids ask a lot of questions, but if you just ask them to ask a question say about geckos, you will be surprised to know they will likely give you a statement. So that is one of our goals, work on asking questions around science and technology.

Inquiry Buddies

Today has been a busy day.  We worked with our inquiry buddies and answered our shark questions that we prepared last week.  We displayed our answers to the questions in many ways.  We used the following ways to answer the questions:

*pages on the ipad
*slideshows
*pic collage on the ipad
*notes on the ipad
*Word
*and some of us made posters.

It was great fun.  Some of us even made videos.  Here are two links of  kinders that used videos to answer their questions.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_8W7E77ek4&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI5v2OhLKas&safe=active


What great fun we had.  :)

Today we also had to feed the geckos and clean the cage.  We also invited the Grade SK/1 class to our room to take a look at our new friends.

Busy day!

French Songs

Thanks Miss Shelly for taping this....

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o17gvAlqQDo

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SJQnD_TtgRs

Thanks Madame Howard for singing with our friends.

Tuesday

Just to note we do have another case of chicken pox in our room.  So just watch your child for spots or fevers.  Ms. McGregor is sending home a note with all relevant information. 

Today we had our second CODE RED and the children did great.  We have a few things we need to work on, we forgot to shut the ipads off and they were making a lot of noise and Mrs. Pole forgot to shut the computer screen off. But we did great.  Our SK's were great at helping the JK friends remember where to sit.  :)

Today we had the ipads going, we did chalk and sock and we learned the letter n, and we make letters with craft suplies.  So all in all a really busy day! :0)

In gym we learned colours while running around the gym to the Imagination Movers.  Watch twitter to see pictures and a French Video.  I will also provide the link later to the you tube video of the kids singing in French class.  :)

Hope everyone has a great night and it is wonderful that the kinders are doing so well.

Don't foget to ask your children about Sharky and Snowflake, our geckos.  They are sooooo cool!  

Our Geckos have arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well what a great Monday!  Today thanks to Gabriel and his mommy and daddy we have two classroom pets.  We have two Leopard Geckos.  And I must admit that they are really cute!

Here are a few links that shows the great fun we had this am! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RBHbD4bCMI&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfjuOlDqHG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDQI1GhVi4&safe=active

Sorry the quality isn't that great today...but it is still cute to watch. 

So our girl Gecko is pregnant and will lay her eggs in February and we should have babies by around April. :)

Stay tuned for the names of our new classroom pets.  I can just imagine what great interest these new pets will create! :)

Friday and Pancakes...delicious

What a great way to end the week...PANCAKES! We brainstormed all the ingredients and I drew pictures of the the things we needed and then the kinders helped me spell the words.  We worked on first and last sounds in the words. I was amazed at how well the kinders did at listening for those sounds.  Try a word game at home with your child and see how they do.  So ask them the first sound they hear in CAT and then say the word and then ask for the last sound in CAT...you may have to really dramatize the sound but every little effort helps. 

In math we are still looking at numbers.  Dice are a great tool as are dominoes.  Play as many games as you can with these items and you will see a drastic difference in your child's knowledge of numbers and patterns. 

Have a great weekend and remember our shark inquiry is starting and today we braistormed questions we wanted answered.  You gotta love Kindergarten. :)

Pig and Pancakes

Today we explored dice in class and the patterns that are on dice.  We counted dots one by one and we even tried to match up numbers and apples to match what we rolled.  We used the smartboard to practice this skill.  Not all math groups got to go today, so tomorrow we will be doing the other math groups so everyone gets a turn at their level.

We also played a Koosh ball game on the smartboard.  Who knew you could throw things at the smartboard?

We also read If You Give a Pig A Pancake.  So guess what we are making next time we cook???  Yup pancakes.  So I hope the little ones enjoy pancakes! :)

Wednesday Kinder Tidbits

What a great day in September!  Wow this weather is beautiful and the kiddies are lovig it!

We hope you all enjoyed the pies, we sure had a blast making them. :)

Today some of us worked on success criteria for getting reading in the morning and some of us worked on ipads focusing on specific goals and then others were on the smartboard listening to the song, Who let the letters out?

Here is the link for that song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1H-LTV4pkU&safe=active

We added the sounds as we sang.  If you sing this with your child, see how many they remember.


We also sang the Storybots The Wheels on the Bus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeLC-WwW5zU&safe=active

They loved it.  We also looked at the app on the ipad that lets you be a character in the Storybots book. 

Starring You Books

Also in writing today we were drawing and writing about our favourite thing about the Laura Numeroff Books.  We will put the drawings and writing up on one of our bulletin boards in our room.

Bake your pies!

Hi everyone....please freeze or bake your pies...they are real and you can eat them.  Don't let them go to waste.  The kiddies spent a lot of time making them :)  Enjoy them...they are delicious.

Cook at 350F til the apples are tender. :)

Kinder Tidbits Tuesday

Well two days down this week, and 3 more to go.  Today we looked at numbers in math.  We made little flags with beads.  So if the flag said five the kinders had to thread 5 beads on the pipe cleaner flag.  It was great fun.  If anyone has any small beads at home(craft beads) and they would like to find a new home for them, we would gladly take them.  We do lots of fine motor activities with the beads and are always in need of a fresh supply. 

Laura Numeroff books are a hit with the kinders. They are understanding that she has a pattern to her books.  Today one little friend told me she went home and asked for a donut and then of course when you ask for a donut you need apple juice to go with it!  These little Kinder friends are so smart.  If you have never read a Laura Numeroff book, check them out.  :)

We will be doing a baking program in our room this year.  We will likely bake every Friday or so so if you have anything you could donate we would appreciate it.  :) If you want to know what sort of things we need you can tweet us at @admastonkinder or write us a note in the agenda.  :)

Also we have started to use scissors in kinder.  Well, this was fun! :) If you have a chance please help your child at home with scissors.  It is a hard skill and the more they practise the better. 

Have a great night everyone and see our little friends tomorrow! :) 

Links to YouTube

Videos to watch of our pie making...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgBkn-CfC0&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsQmq9QAZcY&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZqettEr6Y&safe=active


Enjoy! :)

Monday...

Wow...what a great day!  We made the pies and everyone did great!!!!!!!!!!!  We rolled, sliced and chatted, and of course played. 

The pies are in the freezer freezing and we will send them home tomorrow in your child's lunchkit.  Please remember to take them out and bake them.  They need to bake at 350F and bake until the apples are tender.

If you would like to see picutres check out twitter. Also I will put some links up for the video on this blog. Hope you enjoy.

Today we are doing sequencing acitivities with the pie making.  So look for a sheet coming home with some pictures and writing. 

Have a great Monday!

It's Friday!

Well today we BAKED! Wow, the muffins were great! We are great bakers. :) They children were wonderful, they washed their hands and washed them some more.  We talked about keeping clean so germs don't get in our food and they listened so well.  The best part was eating them!

Thanks for checking the birthday addresses and I will get the list out soon. :)

Here is another site on YouTube to check out.  We love The Learning Station!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdj4KdpSIg

Thursday...we are working so hard!

Today we finally got You Tube working.  So that means we got to see some great things that we have been missing for the last week or so.  Storybots are great.  We reviewed the letters m, c, s, a, and b.  The robots sang the songs and the Kinders loved them. View them at home with your child if you have time.

http://m.youtube.com/user/storybots

Also while I was reviewing letters and sounds with some friends in class Miss Shelly was working with some Kinders on writing.  They did a shared writing activity where they wrote about how to successfully enter the room in the morning.  This writing will be our success criteria for the class.  We will take pictures that go with our writing so that those who are not reading can see photos of how to be successful at entering the room.  They had great fun.  We also had some friends working on iPads at the same time...lots happening in our room. :)

In math we are looking at numbers 1-10.  We made class sets of numbers with tissue paper.  I will take a picture of them and tweet them. :)

I hope to have the birthday list ready for next week.  We are still waiting on some little friends to return to school so I know we have permission to add them to the list.  

Have a great Thursday and remember to follow us on twitter.  We have pictures going up all the time and fun things the kids say and do. :). @admastonkinder

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Great Open House

Thank you all for visiting last night for the open house! Sure enjoyed meeting everyone again and meeting new people as well.

Today our little friends showed Miss Shelly and I how well they are doing with routines. We were so impressed!  If you would like to help your child with rotuines, have then load their own homebag and backpack as this helps at school.  Also a HUGE help would be to have your child practice priniting their name and recognizing their name in a group of other names.  This is hard for Kinders, but the sooner they can write their name and recognize it, the easier it is for them in class. 

We also started using scissors today.  This is a very tricky skill.  To help your child have them cut paper at home; cut along lines, cut out shapes, anything that helps then use scissors and work on fine motor skills.

Also we are working hard on pencil grip.  We are practicing here at school, but it is a hard skill.  If you would like to see how to properly hold a pencil YouTube has some very great videos, as does Pinterest.


Today we read the story If you Take A Mouse to School.  They really liked this one too!

The letter Cc was our letter of the day today!  Ask your child if they remember the 2 sounds Cc makes and if they remember the action. 

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Kinder Tidbits...Open House Night

Well another day of Kindergarten is done! Wow...time is flying.  :) Today we had a busy day.  We learned about the letter Mm and we learned a new song by Barbara Milne.  Look her up on You Tube.

We also practiced a fire drill and a Code Red drill. These are very important things to practice. Ask your child about what they need to do and how they don't need to be scared during these drills.

We also read  If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, by Laura Numeroff. Our little friends really liked this book. :)

See you all tonight at the Open House.  You do not need to book an appointment just show up between 5:30 and 7:00.  See you then. :)

Kinder Tidbits: It's Monday!

Welcome back after a great fair weekend. Today was a hard day for some of our little friends, it is hard to adjust back to school after a great weekend.  But all was well by 9:30. 

Today we worked on math, writing and reading.  We learned about the letter Bb, while others wrote with Miss Shelly, and some of us were working on ipads.  We are really learning how to mulitask here in Kindergarten. In math we are looking at numbers that are important to us.  We even found out some of our favourite numbers.

We are also looking at the author Laura Numeroff.  She wrote the story...If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and  lots of others.  We will be reading many of her books.  So if you could talk to your child about what an author is and an illustrator, you would be reinforcing what we are doing at school. 

Have a great night, and see you tomorrow night with your child at the Open House here at the school. It is from 5:30-7:00. :)

Friday!

Hi all.  It is Friday!  Happy weekend to everyone.

Today in class we got a new student.  Ask your child if they remember his name or any other children's names.  It is hard for little ones to remember so many names.  It would be amazing to see how many they actually remember.

We are slowly working on our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees. We have some already in the hall on display and boy are they cute!

The letter A made an appearance today and we learned that the letter makes 2 sounds.  Ask your child if they can remember the sounds.  While some of us were learning letters, we had others working on writing and working on spaces and captial letters.

Have a great weekend and see everyone on Monday.  :) Remember to check us out on twitter! @admastonkinder  

Please remember to send back all sheets and permission forms. :)

Kinder Tidbits...Wow how our little friends surprise us!

What a great day! We are learning our new routines, and we are learning so much about how school works. :)

Today, we used the smart board and we learned about the letter s and we we watched some other great songs.  The smart board is a great tool.  Our older friends were very good at showing how to write that tricky letter s.

Our SK friends are being great helpers for us and are showing us how mature they are! Wow! So proud!

We also listened to Chick Chick 1 2 3.  It is by the same author as yesterday's book. :) They loved it!

Hope everyone is ready for Friday! Wow, this week is going fast! Have a great night...I am sure lots of you will be at the fair. Enjoy.

Day 2: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Day two was a success.  What great players we have in our class.  We are great at tidying up and working together. :)

We haven't started our classroom jobs yet, but we will soon.  We have lots of great jobs to do.  Make sure you ask your child next week what job they have. :)

We read Chick Chicka Boom Boom today and we started to make our own coconut tree that we will decorate with our names. We have lots of foam letter stickers thanks to Lexie's mom who gave us lots of craft supplies. :)

Please remember to send back all forms to the school as soon as possible.  :)

Have a great night and we are looking forward to Day 3!

By the way ask your child about Baby Shark and Tiny Tim the Turtle....two great songs they have learned. :)

Kinder Tidbits: What a Great Day!

Hi all!  What a great day!  Thank you all for the school supplies. These two supplies are ones that we use often and the kids love them both.  Also if you didn't already do so, please send in an extra pair of clothes with your child(labelled in a ziplock bag).

Today we learned about bathroom routines, how to put away toys that we played with, and we even got to play in the gym.  We will do more exploring tomorrow when everything isn't as new. 

We also are learning to line up and listen to directions carefully.

Have a great sleep tonight, everyone will likely be tired. See you tomorrow for a new day!

Mrs. Pole

Welcome Back!!!

Happy First Day of School!

Wow, summer is over and school has begun!  Keep posted to hear about what happened at school today! :)

 

Happy First Day Everyone

Mrs. Pole and Miss Shelly

**Also follow us on Twitter @admastonkinder