June 26th, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
I can't believe I am saying this but this is our LAST blog update of the year! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read our blog every week to see all of our adventures and learning! I have had so much fun in kindergarten this year and have loved watching all the students grow! I hope that everyone has an amazing summer and I can't wait to see students again in September as they enter Grade 1!
This week was filled with fun! We celebrated National Indigenous Day, made fossils, went on a virtual field trip to the Royal Tyrell Museum and had Sports Day! Take a look at all the fun we had!
National Indigenous Day!
In September all kindergarten students brought in a special rock that they found outside. We painted them and used them in our classroom as part of our Indigenous and land based learning. This week as we celebrated National Indigenous Day, we read "Trudy's Rock Story" which tells the story of how rocks can be used to help make us feel better. We learned that after we have used a rock to help us feel happier and less upset, it is important that we always put the rock back outside so that someone else who might need it can find it. We discussed how we felt at the beginning of kindergarten vs now and that we no longer need our rocks. Kindergarten students placed their rocks outside of our school in our garden so that someone else can find them!
Later we also went to the Learning Commons to look at all of the outside learning that has taken place at our school this year. As part of our land based learning, each grade was encouraged to learn outside multiple times each season. By looking at the photos and reflecting on the year, we realized that the land teaches us a lot about the seasons! Just by looking at the photos students could tell which season it was.
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| The snow tells us it's winter! |
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| The changing leaves tell us its fall! Making Fossils and Virtual Field Trip! To end our dinosaur unit, we made our own fossils! Students learned about palaeontology and then made their own salt dough to create their own dinosaur fossils. Later in the week we had a virtual field trip with the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller! We saw so many awesome dinosaur fossils and learned a lot!        Sports Day! It may have rained on Friday but we still had an amazing time inside the gym! Take a look at some of the fun activities we did!      |
- Ms. Blue
June 19th, 2022
Happy Father's Day!
This week we took some time to talk about the fathers and male role models in our lives! Students were so excited to create cards and coasters for their dads. We hope that everyone enjoyed their gift!
This week we also continued to learn about dinosaurs! Students have enjoyed completing pages in their non-fiction dinosaur book! This week we learned about stegosaurus, velociraptor and pterodactyl. Did you know that a pterodactyl isn't actually a dinosaur? Read dinosaurs could not fly! This week we also read a fiction book about a having a pet dinosaur! After reading the book, students came up with what their dinosaur might look like if they had a pet dinosaur. I loved seeing their creativity as they came up with ideas!
Monday/Wednesday students this week learned about coding! They were introduced to our robot mice and tried to help code them to get through a maze! They had a lot of fun with them and are excited to use them again next week! Tuesday/Thursday students will get the opportunity to use them next week as well.
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| Trying to get the mouse through the maze to the cheese! |
Please read the main page of the blog for important updates as we finish off our year. I have already begun handing back notebooks and work that we no longer need. Please take the time to empty your child's backpack each day when they come home so that there is space to bring home more work. I will be sending home their black shoes on Monday and Tuesday this week as our last day for uniforms is on Monday. Students will wear their indoor gym shoes for the remainder of the year. As mentioned on the main page, if you child will be absent the the last day of school (June 27th or June 28th) please let me know as soon as possible so that I can make sure that your child receives all of their belongings.
I am looking forward to having a lot of fun with the kids as we celebrate the end of kindergarten! Don't forget to wear BLUE on Friday for Sports Day!
-Ms. Blue
June 12th, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
Last week was. an exciting one! As part of our Phys Ed program, students got the opportunity to go bowling! I was so impressed with their bowling skills! Many students were able to knock all of the pins down and some even got a spare or a strike! It was also a great opportunity to cheer on our friends and practice our comparing number skills.
Students in Room 23 have also becoming authors! We are currently working on 2 books! One is an All About Me book for Social Studies and the other is Dinosaur book for Science! Students are learning that it takes a lot of work to be an author. They are very excited to take their books home one we are finished.
In science this week we learned about the triceratops and the t-rex! Did you know that a triceratops has no teeth? They ate rocks to help them break up their food! Did you also know that a t-rex had some of the biggest teeth? They were the size of a banana! Ask your child what else we have learned about these awesome animals!
In math we have been reviewing lots of different skills! We practiced weight, played a fun new game to practice ordering numbers and did new math centres! Take a look below!
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| Spinning the wheel! |
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| What number comes next? |
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| Comparing weight |
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| Representing numbers in lots of ways! |
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| Practicing measurement |
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| Count the room! How many dots on the ten frame? |
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| Learning to count on with addition puzzles |
Please also take a look in our art gallery as our Todd Parr portraits are now up!
There are only 2 and a half weeks of school left! Please continue to make sure that homework is completed and handed in. I'm excited to continue to learn about dinosaurs and have some fun before we say goodbye for the summer!
-Ms. Blue
June 5th, 2022
Hello Room 23!
The countdown is on! We only have 17 more days of school until summer break! I can't believe how fast this year has gone!
Last week in science we finished our insect unit! To end out insect unit, students created their own insects using patterns blocks. They used their knowledge of insects to make sure that they included a head, thorax and abdomen, as well as 6 legs and 2 antennae. Some students also chose to add things such as a stinger, wings, a fun pattern and even a background! They did a great job!
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| Building our insects first |
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| Then we traced the pattern blocks and added our details! |
Later on in the week we started our final unit in science...DINOSAURS! We started by writing down things we already knew about dinosaurs, and then students asked questions about things they wanted to learn! Students had some great ideas!
Here are some things we already know about dinosaurs:
- They have big teeth
- They lived a long time ago
- They are extinct
- They have big footprints
- There are many different types of dinosaurs
- Some dinosaurs eat meat, but some eat plants
Here are some questions students had about dinosaurs:
- How long ago did they live?
- Why are there no more dinosaurs?
- How old did dinosaurs live to be?
- Where did dinosaurs live?
- What did they like to eat?
- How tall were dinosaurs?
- Did different types of dinosaurs get along with each other?
- Were dinosaurs unique like us?
At the end of the month we have a special virtual presentation with the Royal Tyrell Museum to hopefully find some answers to these questions! In the meantime we are going to spend time learning about different types of dinosaurs and what made them so special!
To begin our dinosaur unit, we started talking about fiction vs. non-fiction books. Students learned that fiction books are made up stories, but non-fiction books have real facts that help us learn! We looked at different dinosaur books from the library and tried to decide if they were fiction or non-fiction. We will continue to talk about fiction and non-fiction as we learn about dinosaurs.
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| Dinosaur books! And books by our author of the month Mo Willems |
At the end of the week Tuesday/Thursday students started their dinosaur book! Students are becoming non-fiction authors by putting all of their dinosaur research together into one book. Each day that we learn about a new dinosaur, we will fill out a page in our book. Once we have completed our book students will get to take them home to share their research with you!
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| Filling out our Brachiosaurus page in our dinosaur book. |
This week we are headed bowling in Phys Ed! Students have been practicing how to roll the ball in a straight line so that they are ready for the bowling alley! I can't wait to have a great time with them this week.
(Todd Parr Self Portraits will be up in the art gallery soon! I just need to take pictures of them first!)
-Ms. Blue
May 29th, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
I can't believe it is the end of May! Only a few more weeks until summer vacation!
Last week field trip forms went home for bowling. Please make sure that these forms are completed and returned as soon as possible. We will be going bowling the week of June 6th-10th.
As we have completed all of the letters of the alphabet, homework will look a bit different for the next few weeks! We will be doing a variety of memory pages and review pages. Please print off the pages and put them in your child's plastic folder each day they come to school. I will collect them as they are completed. BLUE HOMEWORK DUOTANGS can now stay at home as I will not be collecting them. Please make sure that your child has completed ALL of the letter pages and hand in any incomplete work as soon as possible. Homework is a TLC expectation and it is a requirement that all assigned homework as been completed.
This week in math we reviewed measurement! We discussed heigh and length and learned how to properly measure items using cubes. Over the next few weeks we will continue with measurement by practicing height and length and learning about weight and capacity!
This week we also wrapped up our author study on Todd Parr! We finished by mimicking Todd Parr's creative style and creating. our own Too Parr inspired self portraits! Students used simple shapes and lines and bright colours to imagine what they would look like if Todd Parr drew them. Stay tuned next week to see our updated art gallery.
-Ms. Blue
May 19th 2022
Hello Room 23 Families!
I am updating the blog a little bit early this week as we head into a long weekend. I hope that everyone is able to spend some time with their families this weekend!
This week we learned about even more insects! We reviewed patterns by making pattern caterpillars, we made bugs out of pattern blocks, we learned about butterfly symmetry and. we learned about ladybugs!
Did you know?
- Not all ladybugs are ladies! Some are boys!
- Ladybugs can. be red, orange or even yellow!
- There are over 6,000 different types of ladybugs!
- Ladybugs like to eat aphids. Farmers love ladybugs because aphids attack their crops.
- Ladybugs don't all have the same number of spots. They are unique like us!
After learning about ladybugs, we combined math, art and science to create our own ladybug craft. Students rolled a dice to determine how many spots would be on each ladybug wing. When they finished, they added up their two numbers to figure out how many spots their ladybug had altogether. Head over to the art gallery to see our full display of ladybugs!
Today we also went to Granary Road! Students love when all 6 classes come together as it gives them the opportunity to meet some of the kids that they will be in Grade 1with. Thank you to all the parents who ensured their children were dressed for the weather. I was incredibly proud of how well the students handled the wind, cold and rain! It was not the best weather but students made the most of it. Unfortunately we did have to end our field trip a little bit early, but before that students got to learn all about ants, farm animals and frogs! Take a look at a few pictures from our trip.
We only have 5 weeks left of kindergarten! I have loved watching. the kids grow this year and I can't wait to finish the year with them!
-Ms. Blue
May 14th, 2022
Happy Saturday Room 23!
Can you believe it is the middle of May already?!? We have less than 7 weeks left in Kindergarten!
This week we continued to learn about insects! Students are doing a great job at recognizing insects now. So good that we went outside to search for insects using magnifying glasses. While. we could only find ants, students still loved seeing them up close! They also enjoyed seeing all of the ant holes in the ground. After exploring outside, we came inside to create an art project inspired by our science lesson. Students started by picking their favourite insect to draw in their magnifying glass. Then we used oil pastels to create a garden full of beautiful flowers for our insects to live in.
This week in science we also started learning about bees! Most students said that they were afraid of bees, but after learning more about them they have changed their minds! We read books and watched videos about bees and learned that bees are actually very helpful! After learning, we wrote down some of the facts we learned such as:
- bees dance to communicate
- drone bees don't have stingers
- bees only sting if they think they are in danger
- there are over 25,000 different types of bees!
- bees have 2 stomachs, 4 wings, 5 eyes and 6 legs
- and so many more!
Students were also challenged to make a bee by cutting construction paper into different 2D shapes. They were given very little instructions and I think they did a great job!
We put up our flower gardens, 2D shape bees, and bee facts in the hallway for the whole school to enjoy.
You may have also noticed that students came home with new bracelets this week. These were a part. of our social studies lessons as we talked about what makes us the same and different. We started by making "All About Me" bracelets. The colours represent different things such as if you have brothers or sisters, if you have any pets, your age, and your hair and eye colour. After we completed our bracelets students went around the classroom to see what they had in common with their friends and what was different. It was a great opportunity to notice that even though we are unique, we can always find something in common too!
Reminder that next week ALL kindergarten students are headed to Granary Road on May 19th! Please make sure that field trip forms are completed as soon as possible. I will be sending out an email next week with reminders regarding our trip.
Have a great week!
-Ms. Blue
May 8th, 2022
Happy Mother's Day Room 23!
Thank you to all of the moms of the kids in Room 23. You are doing an amazing job raising some wonderful kids and I hope you get some time. to relax this weekend!
Last week we went to the Calgary Zoo! We attended a class on butterflies, saw lots of animals and walked A LOT! Students did an amazing job listening and not giving up even when they were tired. During our trip to the zoo, each group was given an iPad to complete a photo scavenger hunt. Students took pictures of the animals they found. Take a look. at some of the photos the kindergarten students took on our trip!
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| Penguin Plunge |
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| Butterflies |
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| Gibbons |
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| Prehistoric Park |
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| Bears |
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| Our Butterfly Class |
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| Giraffes |
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| Tiger |
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| More Giraffes |
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| Snow Leopard |
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| Acting like butterflies |
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| Looking at a butterfly under a microscope |
The week before students worked on a top secret art project! We used wool from sheep to create a flower garden for Mother's Day! Students worked very hard on this project and learned that sheep like to lose their wool, it's like getting a hair cut for them. They also learned that art takes time as these projects took hours to create! The technique we used is called Wet Felting and it involves using wool, water, soap and lots of rolling! We hope that all of the moms enjoyed receiving their gifts this weekend!
*If your child was absent the day we did our Wet Felting project, they will have the opportunity to create theirs over the next month. Please be aware that this project takes time so it will not be completed right away.
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| All our materials laid out |
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| Making the flowers |
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| More creating |
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| Ready to roll our art! |
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| The finished project! |
On Monday and Tuesday field trip forms will be going home for our field trip to Granary Road on May 19th. Please be aware that ALL kindergarten students will attend on THURSDAY May 19th for the trip. These filed trip forms need to be returned AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. At this time we have enough volunteers. Thank you to everyone who reached out.
Please also check out our art gallery for our Earth Day projects!
Have a great week,
Ms. Blue
April 30th, 2022
Hello Room 23!
I can't believe tomorrow is May 1st! It feels like we just started Kindergarten and now we are in our final 2 months.
This week we have been preparing for our trip to the zoo by learning about insects! Students have been working on identifying animals that are insects and animals that are not insects. Here's what we have learned:
- insects are bugs
- insects have 6 legs
- insects have an EXOSKELETON. That means we can see their bones on the outside of the body and that they do not have skin or fur!
We also specifically starting talking about butterflies! When we go to the Calgary Zoo next week students will be learning about butterflies and have the opportunity to interact with live butterflies! We watched some videos and read books about the butterfly life cycle. There are 4 stages of the butterfly life cycle. Can you name them all?
We have also been continuing to work on our literacy centres. Students are working on all different kinds of skills to help them with their reading and writing when they enter grade 1.
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| Matching uppercase and lowercase letters |
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| Which word doesn't rhyme? |
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| Counting Syllables |
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| Sorting pictures based on their beginning sounds |
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| Using scrabble tiles to find the ending sound |
Next week will be busy as students are going on their first field trip! An email was sent home to Monday/Wednesday parents on Friday with important details regarding our trip. It has also been posted to the main page of the blog. Please make sure to read over it carefully and let me know if you have any questions. If your child still has not returned their permission slip, please make sure they bring it next week, otherwise they will not be allowed to board the bus.
I am so excited for the Zoo next week!
-Ms. Blue
April 23rd, 2022
Happy Saturday Room 23! It looks like it is going to be a great weekend to spend some time outdoors!
It was so great seeing so many of you at the Willy Wonka Performance on Thursday! The kids were so excited that their grown ups were able to watch their concert! And I loved being able to connect with you all face to face instead of through a computer screen!
Friendly reminder to bring back completed permission slips for our upcoming Calgary Zoo Field trips. If you know that your child will NOT be able to attend our field trips (May 2nd, May 5th or even our Granary Road trip on May 19th) please let me know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The number of chaperones required is based on the number of students attending, so if your child is not attending we need to know this.
This week we had an exciting event happen! We met our Grade 2 Buddies! Buddies is something we have not been able to do the past 2 years due to covid but we were finally able to meet them this week! Buddies is a great opportunity for younger students to make connections with older students, and it is a great leadership opportunity for our Grade 2s! Monday/Wednesday students were paired with Ms. MacDonald's Grade 2s and Tuesday/Thursday students were paired with Mrs. Jensen's Grade 2s. We spent an hour with them playing math games, colouring and listening to stories. Students had such a great time and are already asking when we can meet up with our buddies again!
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| Reading books with our buddies |
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| Playing a math game with our buddies |
This week we also talked about Earth Day. We learned that Earth is the only planet that people can live on, so it is important to take care of it! We watched The Lorax and read the book "Rocket Cleans Up" and learned what happens when we cut down the trees or throw our garbage into the ocean. Students were sad to see that animals can get injured or have no place to live if we don't take care of our planet. Students learned how to sort their own garbage, and came up with easy ways that we can help the Earth.
Here are some of their ideas:
- use a reusable water bottle
- turn off the lights when we leave a room
- use less water
- use a lunch kit instead of a plastic bag
- unplug things when we aren't using them
- turn down the heat in our homes and use blankets instead
- recycle
- plant trees and flowers
- give our clothes to people if we don't wear them anymore instead of throwing them away
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Sorting our garbage into recycling, compost and garbage   |
We started an art project based on The Lorax but we aren't quite finished yet! Stay tuned next week to see the final product!
-Ms. Blue
April 17th, 2022
Happy Easter to those who celebrate! I hope that everyone was able to spend some time with their family over this long weekend.
Reminder to please check the main page of the blog for important reminders. ALL Kindergarten students have school on Thursday April 21st to get ready for our school production of Willy Wonka.
Please make sure you check your child's homework folder this week. On Tuesday April 19th and Wednesday April 20th tickets for Willy Wonka will be going home AND permission slips for our field trip to the Calgary Zoo will be going home. Field trip forms must be completed and returned as soon as possible. If you are available to volunteer for our field trips next month (May 2nd, 5th and May 19th) AND you have already submitted a police clearance with the CBE please email me.
Last week we did some fun activities for spring and easter!
Tuesday/Thursday Students made some surprise eggs! Instead of putting a chick inside their egg, they picked their own animal! Students loved trying to trick each other with what was inside of their egg.
Monday/Wednesday students decorated eggs with our magic crayons! Students used white crayons to design their egg, then used water colour paints to watch their design appear!
Later in the week, both classes went on a literacy egg hunt! Students worked in teams to find their teams colour, then worked together to draw pictures of what they found in their egg! Finally students had to use their kid spelling skills to sound out their words. After teams completed their paper, they got to trade it in for a prize!
Next week we will be talking about Earth Day and preparing for our concert! I can't wait for parents to see the performance on Thursday!
-Ms. Blue
April 10th, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
We have 2 exciting field trips coming up next month! Please make sure to check out the main page of the blog and e-mail me if you are available to volunteer! If you would like to volunteer, please make sure you have submitted your paperwork and police clearance to the office. I am so excited to go to both the Calgary Zoo and Granary Road in May!
In literacy we have been continuing our daily literacy centres! Students enjoy this time to independently work on different literacy tasks after they have completed their printing practice.
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| Small group rhyming practice with Ms. Blue |
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| Beginning sound practice with scrabble tiles |
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| Rolling letter dice and drawing something that starts with that letter |
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| Matching the beginning sound with the picture |
In math we are continuing our 3D shape unit. Last week students searched our classroom to see what 3D shapes they could find! Did your child find any 3D shapes in their house? You can email me a picture so that they can show them to the class! This week we will be finishing up our 3D shape unit and soon be revisiting measurement!
In science we are still talking about spring! We created April Showers art using umbrellas and bubble wrap. Stay tuned later this week to see our finished products! As we prepare for our field trips to Calgary Zoo and Granary Road, we will be starting to talk about the insects and bugs we see in the spring!
These next two weeks we will be practicing for our Willy Wonka Production! Students have been working so hard and I can't wait to see everyone on April 21st at the concert! Reminder that ALL kindergarten students who are attending the April 21st concert are expected to be at school for the full day on April 21st so that we can practice before that night. If you have purchased concert tickets they will be handed out on Tuesday April 19th and Wednesday April 20th.
Please make sure you are keeping a close eye on your emails for any important information regarding the concert!
-Ms. Blue
April 2nd, 2022
Happy Saturday Room 23!
It was so wonderful to see everyone last week! I loved hearing all about their Spring Break!
Just a reminder that ALL students MUST return their yellow Willy Wonka ticket forms. Each family can purchase up to 4 tickets. Tickets are first come first served and ticket orders MUST be in by Friday April 8th. You will not be able to attend without a ticket. Students have been working so hard on their performances and props and are so excited to perform in their first concert! If you have sent in the yellow ticket form with an older sibling, please let me know so that I can keep track of which students have returned their form.
Even if your child will be unable to attend the performance on April 21st, you still MUST return the yellow form indicating that you will not be attending.
In literacy this week we started talking about syllables! Syllables are what happens when we break a word apart. They are considered the rhythm of words! Syllables help students learn to read and write. Students learned lots of different ways to find the syllables such as clapping, stomping, chomping and talking like a robot!
We went on a syllable hunt around the classroom to figure out how many syllables were in our classroom objects! You can do this at home too! All you need are sticky notes or some paper and tape.
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| Buck-et has 2 syllables! |
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| Door has 1 syllable! |
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| Cal-en-dar has 3 syllables! |
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| San-i-tiz-er has 4 syllables! |
In math we have continued our unit on 3D shapes. Students are now able to identify cylinders, cones, cubes and spheres. See if your child can find any 3D shapes around their house! This week we did a math experiment to see which 3D shapes roll, stack and roll. We found out things like cubes and cylinders can roll, but cones and spheres can't roll!
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| Cylinders can stack! |
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| We made our own slides out of books! |
In science we started to learn about spring! We started this week by comparing winter to spring and seeing the differences between the two seasons! In the spring, the snow melts, it rains a lot, the flowers start to grow and baby animals are born!
We also made props for our Willy Wonka concert! students were so excited to create their props and we can't wait for you to see the final product on April 21st! Students will be using their props as they sing their songs.
Finally I wanted to give one more reminder about homework. Please take a look below at the example. This homework was done by a kindergarten student and shows a picture with lots of details and colours, and 2 simple sentences with kid writing! Please do not spell words for your child! They are doing their own writing in class and should be doing this at home as well! Help prepare them for Grade 1 but encouraging kid writing. If your child is still having difficulty with letter sounds, keep practicing these at home as well.
I look forward to another fun week ahead! Don't forget those Willy Wonka forms!
-Ms. Blue
March 19th, 2022
Hello Room 23!
Last week we celebrated St. Patrick's Day! Students worked together in their table groups to build traps to try and catch a leprechaun! They did an amazing job building their traps, and were quite surprised later in the week to see that a leprechaun had visited our classroom! We didn't catch him, but he sure did leave a HUGE mess! Take a look at all the fun we had last week!
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| Working together to build traps! |
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| Students had so many supplies to work with! |
Tuesday/Thursday Traps
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| Trap #1 |
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| Trap #1 |
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| Trap #2 |
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| Trap #3 |
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| Trap #4 |
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| Trap #4 |
Monday/Wednesday Traps
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| Trap #1 |
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| Trap #2 |
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| Trap #3 |
 Trap #4 What a mess!We didn't catch him but he sure did make a mess! |
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| He even mixed up our shoes! |
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| He left us a note! "Good Try! Better Luck Next Year!" |
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| He left so many footprints! |
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| Students were so helpful when it came time to clean up! |
Although we didn't catch him, the leprechaun did leave us clues to find his treasure! He left gold coins for everyone!
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| We played a shamrock math game! |
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| We practiced writing St. Patrick's Day words! We also continued our making colour unit with an art project! Using only the primary colours students used their colour knowledge to paint the rainbow! Head over to the art gallery to see how students did!  I hope that everyone has a relaxing Spring Break with their families! I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on March 28th and 29th! |
March 13th, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
I hope that everyone has been able to enjoy the nice weather this weekend!
A huge thank you to all of the parents who took the time to meet with me last week for Parent Teacher Conferences. It was so nice to chat about your child's progress and to help answer any questions you had. As a reminder, report cards were posted on your child's PowerSchool at the beginning of February. If you have not already taken a look at their report card, please do so as soon as possible.
Last week in Science we continued our colour unit! We did an experiment and learned about primary and secondary colours. Later in the week, students got to explore colours on their own using paint! Next week we are going to do an art project so that students can show off what they have learned about creating colour!
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| We started with the 3 primary colours, 3 empty cups and some paper towel. |
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| After lunch, we noticed all the cups had water in them! |
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| By using only red, yellow and blue, we were able to make orange, green and purple! |
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| Students got to use red, yellow, and blue paint to try to make their own secondary colours |
In math we started a new unit on 3D shapes! Students have been learning the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. 2D shapes are flat but 3D shapes are tall and stand up on their own! See if your child can tell you the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. Students got to explore with our Geomakers to see if they could create their own 2D and 3D shapes.
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| A 2D shape! |
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| Exploring with geomakers |
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| A 3D shape! |
In literacy we have been practicing our sight words! We learned a new game to practice reading and recognizing our words. Make sure you are practicing sight words at home too!
This week is our last week before March Break! We will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day, Holi, building leprechaun traps and continuing our units in Math and Science! We also have 2 casual days this week! ALL library books must also be returned this week! Please make sure your child takes a look for any library books they may have at home.
Thursday March 17th: Green Casual Day for St. Patrick's Day! Be sure to wear green!
Friday March 18th: Bright colour Casual Day for Holi! Wear bright colours to celebrate the welcoming of spring and Holi.
-Ms. Blue
March 5th, 2022
Happy Saturday!
Last week was so much fun! I can't believe we have been in school over 100 days now!
A huge thank you to all the parents who helped their children with their 100th Day of School shirts! I loved seeing all of the creativity and I know they couldn't have done it without your help.
Take a look below at some of the things we did to celebrate our 100th Day of School!
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| We exercised while we counted to 100 |
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| We made necklaces with 100 beads. |
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| We had a dance party with 100 balloons! |
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| We painted 100 dots! |
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| Can you build the tallest tower using 100 cups? |
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| We played would you rather, 100th Day Edition! Would you rather 100 brothers or 100 sisters? |
Students also got the chance to spend time with the other kindergarten teachers and did 100 day games and crafts with them as well!
Earlier in the week we started a new unit in science on rainbows and colour! We did a fun science experiment with skittles and warm water! Take a look at the rainbow we created! Students can show you how to do the skittles experiment at home. All you need is a plate, skittles and warm water. Next week we are going to continue our colour unit by mixing colours and doing more experiments!
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| Right after we added the warm water. |
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| Getting closer! |
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| A whole rainbow! |
Reminder that Parent Teacher Conferences are happening next week. If you would like to chat about your child's progress, please book a time online. I also sent out an email regarding St. Patrick's Day. Please check your email and send in any supplies that you have for students to build Leprechaun Traps by the end of the week.
February 26th, 2022
Happy Saturday Room 23!
We had a great week last week! I can't believe it is already the end of February!
This week we spent a lot of time talking about two important days! Family Day and Pink Shirt Day!
Thank you to everyone who sent in photos of your family for students to share with the class! Students loved being able to show off their families and talk about what they love to do with their families!
We read books about families and talked about how every family is different! We learned that there are lots of different types of families but no matter what, our families love each other! Within our own class we learned that some people spend time in two different houses, some people live with their grandparents, some live with their aunts, some have baby sisters or brothers, and some have older sisters and brothers! We also learned that some families might have two moms or two dads, some might live with foster parents and some might be adopted! Our families are part of what makes us unique!
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| A Family is a Family is a Family Book |
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| The Family Book |
After looking at pictures and reading books, students got to draw their own family portraits! Head over to our art gallery to see the finished products!
This week we also learned about Pink Shirt Day! Pink shirt day started when a boy was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. Some other boys heard he was being picked on and went out and bought pink shirts for other kids to wear as well! They stood up to the bullies and showed that anyone can wear pink. We spent time discussing that there is no such thing as boy colours or girl colours, colours are for everyone! We also talked about what it means to be kind, and we all made a promise to be kind everyday. Students got the chance to watch the Monday/Wednesday Kindergarten assembly on pink shirt day! The Monday/Wednesday students were so proud of their hard work and the Tuesday/Thursday students thought it was really cool to see my "Red Team".
Head on over to the art gallery to see our Pink Shirt Day promises!
Homework Expectations:
As students begin to get ready for Grade 1, homework expectations have changed. Students should be drawing DETAILED pictures in their homework each week. A detailed picture is more than just one picture, it is a whole scene. For example for the letter "M" you would no longer just draw a monkey. Instead, you could draw a monkey eating a banana in a tree. You could include grass, the sky and the sun along with the monkey, banana and the tree. Students draw detailed pictures in class and know what is expected of them. Every drawing should include at least 5 colours.
Sounding out words:
The second part to the homework is that students should now be sounding out their own words. We call this "kid spelling". Kid spelling means that students are only writing down the sounds that they hear in the word. We do not expect words to be spelled perfectly. For example: Monkey might be spelled "mke" because the child only hears those sounds. Please encourage your child to use kid spelling and DO NOT spell the words for them.
Take a look at some awesome homework examples from last week!
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| Detailed picture with sight words and kid spelling! |
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| Detailed picture with sight words and kid spelling! |
Next week is so exciting as we celebrate our 100th Day of School! Reminder that we are celebrating our 100th Day of School on Wednesday March 2nd and Thursday March 3rd. Students will wear their 100th Day of School Shirt Project with their navy uniform bottoms on this day. I can't wait to see everyone's cool shirt!
February 17th, 2022
Happy Family Day Weekend!
A huge THANK YOU to all of the families who brought in Valentine's Day cards and treats. Your generosity was incredible and the kids had an amazing time! I was so impressed with how many kids wrote and made their own cards. They also showed some amazing reading skills when handing out cards to the right students!
As it was a very short week filled with Valentine's Day fun, there will not be an in class update this week. Instead, please take the time this weekend to spend some time as a family! Next week we will be talking about different types of families in honour of Family Day and we will be talking about things that we like to do with our families! As part of family day, I am asking for all families to please send in a photo of your family! Students will have the opportunity to share their photo with the class. This photo should include all of the people who live in your household. Please email me your family photo no later than Friday February 25th.
The long weekend is also a great opportunity to get a head start on your child's 100th Day Shirt Project! Take a look at the main page of the blog for more information. This is an At Home project intended to be done as a family. Plain t-shirts (in many different colours) can be purchased at Michael's or Wal-Mart for $5. Both of these stores also have a variety of materials that can be used when creating your shirt! Students will wear their completed shirts to school on March 2nd or March 3rd as we celebrate our 100th Day of School!
Please email me if you have any questions.
-Ms. Blue
February 12th, 2022
Hello Room 23 Families!
A friendly reminder that next week we will be celebrating Valentine's Day!
Monday/Wednesday students will be celebrating on Monday February 14th! Monday is a casual day for the entire school so students are encouraged to wear red, pink and/or purple! Please make sure your child brings in their valentine cards to hand out to their classmates on Monday. If you have misplaced their class list, please email me as soon as possible and I will send you the list of names.
Tuesday/Thursday students will be celebrating on Tuesday February 15th! Tuesday students will be required to wear their formal uniform as this is NOT a casual day. Please make sure your child brings in their valentine cards to hand out to their classmates on Tuesday. If you have misplaced their class list, please email me as soon as possible and I will send you the list of names.
Next week is a short one as there is no school on Thursday or Friday! Teachers will be attending the Calgary Teachers Convention.
This week students were introduced to Literacy Centres! Literacy centres are a great way to practice our letters and sight words. Students enjoyed trying different activities when they finished their printing work this week.
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| Matching uppercase and lowercase letters |
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| More matching letters, this time with a puzzle! |
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| Practicing sight words by writing, finding and making them with play-doh |
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| More puzzles! |
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| Making sight words with letter beads |
In math we continued to work on subitizing! Students are getting really good at subitizing dice! This week they got to use math shakers to compare numbers with a partner! We had a lot of fun (and made a lot of noise)!
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| Which number is greater? |
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| Practicing our subitizing on our own! |
In Science we did an experiment! Do you know what happens to marshmallows when we put them in hot chocolate? Does the same thing happen if we change the temperature of the water? Students worked on making predictions, coming up with questions and finding the solution! They learned about safety rules in science such as never touch anything hot, and never taste test during an experiment!
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| Blue-Cold, Green-Warm, Red-Hot |
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| Looking at our results on the Smartboard! |
Here's what we discovered:
- When you put a marshmallow in cold chocolate, nothing happens.
- When you put a marshmallow in warm chocolate, only half of it melts.
- When you put a marshmallow in hot chocolate, it bubbles, gets smaller and almost completely melts!
Later in the week we worked on adding details to our pictures! First we did a directed drawing of Pete the Cat. Pete starts with P and James Dean (the creator of Pete the Cat) is our author of the month for February! After we drew our pictures, students finished the sentence "Pete the cat is _____". When writing we are working on using lowercase letters, finger spaces and using kid writing by sounding out unknown words. After we wrote our sentence, students added details to their picture to match! Check out our art gallery for the finished product. This lesson was a great reminder to students to be adding details to their homework pictures as well. They can even start using kid writing to sound out their own words in their homework!
At the end of the week we combined Social Studies, Art and Valentine's Day to create our Valentine bags! We made self portraits to add to our bags so that students will know who to hand out their valentine cards to on Monday/Tuesday. We talked about how we are unique and that everyone's bag will look different. Students had to choose their correct skin colour, correct hair colour (and texture) and create someone who looked like them. Take a look below for a sneak peak of the Tuesday/Thursday class! They turned out great!
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| Choosing hair colours. Is your hair straight or curly? |
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| Sneak peak at the Tuesday/Thursday class! We are all unique! |
Monday/Wednesday students have been working so hard on their Pink Shirt Day assembly! They have become great actors and are doing such a great job showing kindness. I can't wait for everyone to see the final product. We will be filming the pink shirt day song next week so please keep practicing at home! You can find the link to the song on the main page of the blog and I emailed it out to parents last week. Please let me know if you cannot access it.
I can't wait to celebrate Valentine's Day next week!
-Ms. Blue
February 5th, 2022
Happy Saturday Room 23!
We made it to February! This week was a short one but we learned about 2 different celebrations! Groundhog Day and Lunar New Year!
Students enjoyed learning about Lunar New Year. We learned that there are 12 different Chinese Zodiac animals, and that each year gets a different animal! Students learned that 2022 is the year of the Tiger and that when they were born in 2016 it was the year of the Monkey! We learned that in China red is considered a lucky colour, and then we made paper lanterns will all of the zodiac animals. Students in the class who celebrate Lunar New Year also got the opportunity to share some of their special traditions with the class.
This week students were also introduced to Groundhog Day! We learned that on February 2nd, the groundhog wakes up from hibernation to check for its shadow. If he sees his shadow, he gets scared and goes back to hibernating. This means 6 more weeks of winter! If he does not see his shadow, he comes out of his burrow to play. This means spring will arrive early! We read stories about Groundhog Day, watched videos about groundhogs and made predictions about if we thought the groundhog would see his shadow!
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| Making Predictions |
Tuesday/Thursday students also got to make groundhog puppets! They enjoyed walking around the classroom to try and find shadows. Students brought their puppets home on Friday to search for shadows over the weekend! Monday/Wednesday students will create their groundhog puppets next week.
This week we also started our kindness challenge! Students learned about bucket filling. We learned that everyone has an invisible bucket that they carry around with them. When someone is kind, they fill our bucket but when someone is mean they dip into our bucket. Bucket filling makes us happy but bucket dipping makes us sad. Students got to create their own buckets. We are working on a kindness challenge in class to fill each others buckets. Every time a student does one of the acts of kindness, they get to put that "badge" into their bucket! Students love seeing how many they can complete. Ask your child about some of the kindness challenges they have already completed!
A friendly reminder to any Monday/Wednesday students who have not brought in a pink shirt yet, we are going to be starting to film for our assembly as early as next week! Please make sure your child brings a pink shirt that can be kept at school while we work on our assembly. It will be returned as soon as we are done filming. Thank you to everyone who has already brought one in!
Please keep an eye out in homework folders early next week for information about Valentine's Day! We will be exchanging valentines on February 14th and 15th. I will be sending home a class list with first names so that students can begin writing their cards next week.
-Ms. Blue
January 28th, 2022
Hello Room 23!
Wow I can't believe we just finished our last week of January! I can't wait for February! There are so many fun things to learn about and celebrate!
Monday/Wednesday Parents Only- Pink Shirts
You should have all received an email from Mrs. Taylor on Monday regarding pink shirts. The Monday/Wednesday kindergarten classes will be hosting the Virtual Assembly in February! This assembly will be focused on Pink Shirt Day. Pink Shirt Day was created as a symbol for anti-bullying and kindness. It was created after a boy was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. For our assembly, we are asking for ALL Monday/Wednesday students to bring in a pink shirt (any pink shirt will work, even if it has a design on the front!). The pink shirt will need to be large enough that they can wear it over their uniform as we will be filming our assembly over the next few weeks. Please send in a pink shirt with your child as soon as possible so that we can begin filming. Please make sure the shirt is labeled with your child's name so that it can be returned when we are finished filming. The assembly will be sent out to all parents by the end of February.
Tuesday/Thursday Kindergarten students will be hosting the March assembly! No extra clothes will be needed as we will be filming on Tuesdays when students are wearing their formal uniforms.
This week we talked about 4 star work! Students helped to determine what a 4 star picture looks like. We know that a 4 star picture has lots of details and uses at least 5 real world colours. Students practiced their 4 star pictures in class and they understand that I am now expecting 4 star pictures in their homework as well. Please take a look below and at the main page for more information about homework expectations and 4 star work.
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| Can you spot the difference between 1 star and 4 star work? |
A friendly reminder that students should be completing ALL of their homework by themselves. Please do not draw pictures for your child. Drawing helps children develop their fine motor skills and use their creativity to express their ideas. By drawing their pictures for them, students get frustrated in class when they have to complete the work independently.
Students have been working hard on their sight words! This week we played a sight word memory game on the Smartboard. Students loved showing off their new reading knowledge. Reminder that all sight words that we have done in class can be found on the blog so that you can practice them at home too.
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| Sight word memory! |
In math we started subitizing! Subitizing is a fancy word to say that we are learning to count using only our eyes and our brain! Students can practice subitizing at home too by playing games with dice, or watching the subitizing video we watch in class. Click HERE to watch the video at home!
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| A new math game to practice subitizing |
In Social Studies we are learning about kindness! We read the book "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes. In the book, students are mean to Chrysanthemum because her name is long. Every time the kids in the book were mean to Chrysanthemum, we crumpled up a heart to show that she was sad. At the end, her heart had lots of wrinkles in it, even when the kids started to be nice to her! We learned that being mean leaves a lasting impact on someone, and the only way to not wrinkle someone's heart is to always be kind. Students coloured their own band-aid to put on Chrysanthemum's heart as a promise to always be kind and to never wrinkle someone else's heart. We will be continuing to talk about kindness as we move into February.
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| Monday/Wednesday Heart |
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| Tuesday/Thursday Heart |
In health we started talking about healthy eating! We sorted food into healthy and unhealthy, and later in the week learned about the 5 food groups. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at our own snacks and lunches and trying to figure out what food groups they belong to. As we learn about healthy eating, it is important that students are bringing healthy foods to school. We are learning that healthy foods give our brains energy to learn throughout the day. Please also make sure that you are only sending water in water bottles. Juice should not be a replacement to drink all day instead of water.
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| Sorting into food groups |
Next week is a busy one! We will be talking about Groundhog Day and Lunar New Year! Reminder that there is no school on Monday as it is a Professional Development Day for teachers.
Have a great week,
Ms. Blue
January 23rd, 2022
Happy Sunday Room 23!
Please make sure you take a look at the main page of the blog. There is important information regarding sight words and new homework expectations. Please make sure you review this to ensure that children are drawing DETAILED pictures in their homework. As we begin to get ready for Grade 1, we no longer want just a single picture in their homework for the letter of the week. There are some excellent examples on the main page of homework that was completed last week.
This week in health we talked about goal setting! We read the book "Squirrel's New Years Resolution" by Pat Miller and learned that at the beginning of a new year, people often like to start fresh and create a resolution or a goal. We learned that a resolution is a promise to yourself to learn something new, get better at something, or do something to help someone else.
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| The book we read |
We also talked a bit about the writing process. We started by brainstorming different goals that we could have. We learned that brainstorming helps our brains think of lots of ideas so that we know what to write about! After we brainstormed some goals, students picked one to write about. They did an excellent job drawing their pictures and choosing a goal that worked for them! Be sure to ask your child what their goal for 2022 is!
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| Choosing 2 goals we want to do in 2022 |
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| Picking 1 goal to write and illustrate |
In science we finished up our hibernation study! We ended by thinking about if we would want to hibernate or not. Students did a great job coming up with answers!
Here are some of them:
I would like to hibernate because:
- I do not like the cold
- I could sleep until spring
- I would not have to get up early for school
- I could have food in my bedroom
- I like to sleep
I would not like to hibernate because:
- I would miss my family
- I would miss going to school
- I like to play outside
- I wouldn't be able to play with my sister
We also did a directed drawing of a hibernating bear! Did you know that directed drawings have lots of steps? They are great for fine motor practice and following directions! They also provide students opportunities to use many different techniques for the same art piece! Here are the steps we followed to complete our hibernating bear art!
Step 1: With a pencil, follow the directed drawing from Art Hub Kids.
Step 2: With a sharpie, trace our drawing.
Step 3: With pencil crayons, use real world colours to carefully colour our drawing.
Step 4: With our white crayons, add some magic snowflakes!
Step 5: With watercolour paint, add our background and watch the snowflakes appear!
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| Colouring with pencil crayons! |
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| Painting with watercolours and watching our snowflakes appear! |
Be sure to check out our art gallery for our completed hibernation projects.
Next week we are going to start to learn about migration, subitizing, and healthy eating! So many new vocabulary words so stay tuned to see what we get up to!
-Ms. Blue
January 16th, 2022
Happy New Year Room 23!
It was so wonderful to see everyone again last week! I loved being back in class and getting back into a routine.
We started our week reviewing our routines and expectations. I am so proud of how well they did! Even with a month off, the students showed me that they still know how to follow expected behaviours. Great job room 23!
In literacy we got right back to it learning the letter I. A reminder to make sure you are always watching the letter sound videos as part of nightly homework. As we move into second term, students will be expected to start sounding out words on their own in their writing. This means that they need a strong knowledge of all the sounds that the letters make!
In math we finished off our measurement for now. We compared objects and looked at taller and shorter. We will come back to measurement in the spring to talk about capacity, weight and to practice measuring things!
In science we are continuing to talk about how animals survive in winter. This week we talked about different places that animals can hibernate. We learned that bears and bats hibernate in caves, but some animals hibernate in trees, burrows or even under water!
This week we also started our first author study! In January we will be learning all about Robert Munsch. We have started to read some of his books and have discovered that he is quite a funny author! We also learned that he lives in Canada just like us! I am excited to continue to read his books and for students to learn more about him.
I can't wait to see what else we get up to for the rest of January!
-Ms. Blue
December 19th, 2021
Before we head into Christmas break, be sure to head over to our art gallery! We had a fabulous Grinch Day last week and talked all about how to make the Grinch Grin by being kind!
December 11th, 2021
Happy Saturday Room 23!
I can't believe this will be our last update of 2021!
This week Joy, our classroom elf continued to visit and teach us how to be kind! We practiced giving our friends compliments, made new friends by asking someone new to play with us and worked on keeping our classroom clean! Joy also got into some of our things in the classroom! The students love coming in to see what she is up to every morning.
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| Reading a Book! |
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| Making Patterns! |
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| Doing an alphabet puzzle! |
In math we have started a new unit on measurement! Students used ribbon to measure things around the classroom. They did a great job finding things that were taller than them, and things that were shorter than them! Students also learned how to use blocks to measure different items. We noticed that the taller an item is, the more blocks it needs! Students have also been doing an awesome job writing their numbers.
In science we have been continuing to talk about hibernation! This week we talked about bears, and we learned a new word...characteristic! Characteristics help us identify animals and sort them into groups. We learned that some characteristics of bears are short ears, short tail, fur and their colour! We sorted animals based on their characteristics and then labeled our own bear.
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| Sorting by characteristics |
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| Labeling our bears |
Check out our art gallery as well to see some pattern art we did this week! Students used their knowledge of patterns to independently paint their own pattern on their mitten! Take a look to see how well they did. Every student chose which pattern they wanted to create, which colours they would use and it was their job to make sure they were following their pattern without the help of an adult.
I am so excited for next week! We are going to be having lots of Christmas fun, including themed days! Make sure to take a look at the main page to see all of the different days that Le Roi Daniels is having.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful winter break with their families. Merry Christmas to those that celebrate and I look forward to hearing all of their stories when we return in January!
-Ms. Blue
December 5th, 2021
Hello Room 23!
I can't believe we are headed into the second week of December! I also can't believe we only have 2 weeks left until winter break! Time really is flying by.
Please take a look at the main page on the blog for more information about the food drive that is happening at school! Room 23 students are eager to bring in donations so that they can go drop them off into the big food boxes!
This week Room 23 students were surprised with a special visitor! Joy the classroom elf decided to visit us for the month of December! She is a kindness elf who is watching to make sure the students are being kind to one another. She also brought us some kindness challenges to help us practice! Every day we get to turn over a new kindness light. Last week we practiced using our manners by saying please and thank you. I am so excited to see what else Joy has in store for us this month!
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| Joy brought us a letter! |
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| Our Kindness lights from Joy! We noticed she is really good at patterns too! |
In Science we are continuing to talk about how to stay safe in winter. This week we started to talk about how animals stay safe! We learned that for some animals it is hard to find food in the winter, so instead they hibernate! Hibernate means that they sleep all winter and wake up again in the spring. Right now, animals are preparing for hibernation by eating all of the food they can find! Students did a hibernation sort to learn about some animals that hibernate and some that do not.
These are the animals that we talked about this week. See if your child can remember which ones hibernate and which do not!
- Bears*
-Dogs
-Raccoons*
-Snakes*
-Box Turtles*
- Reindeer
-Lions
-Groundhogs*
-Rabbits
- Bats*
- Elephants
-Monkeys
*These animals hibernate in the winter.
In math we have been finishing up our pattern unit! Students have been getting very good at naming, creating and expanding patterns! See if your child can find materials at home to make and name their pattern. We have been working on AB, AAB, ABB and ABC patterns but some students have gotten creative and made even more! Next week we are going to switch into measurement to talk about height and length for a few weeks before the break!
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| One day we even made patterns outside! |
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| You can make patterns with anything! |
As part of our character education and art we have been talking about our feelings! We read The Color Monster by Anna Lienas. We learned that our feelings have colours attached to them! We drew our own color monsters in our sketch books and then coloured them according to their feeling! See if your child can remember any of the colours that match the feelings.
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| Everyone working hard to follow the directions. |
Have a great week!
-Ms. Blue
November 27th, 2021
Happy Saturday Room 23!
A huge thank you to all of the parents who took the time to meet with me on Thursday or Friday during Parent Teacher conferences. It was lovely to speak with you about your child's transition into Kindergarten. As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me and I will do my best to reply as soon as I can. Just a reminder that I do not reply to emails after 4pm or on the weekends but will get back to you as soon as possible.
Since last week was super short there are just a few reminders as we head into the week!
1) Reminder to send in a picture of your child's favourite day of the year as soon as possible. These are a part of a special bulletin board for December so if you do not send in a photo, your child will unfortunately not be featured on the bulletin board.
2) Reminder to always bring your library books on Mondays and Tuesdays. If for some reason you cannot find your library book please contact the office so that they can help you with the next steps.
3) Keep an eye out for the December calendar that will be emailed later this week! December is a very busy month with lots of casual days and special events so it is important to take a look at it so your child can participate!
Finally some parents had mentioned that their child doesn't like to share what they did at school that day. Here are some questions that might work better than "How was school today?"
1. What was the most exciting thing you did at school today?
2. What is something that frustrated you?
3. What is one new thing that you learned at school today?
4. What did you do in gym class?
5. What story did your teacher read to you? Tell me what it was about.
6. What kinds of centres did you do today? Which one was your favourite?
7. What letter are you learning this week? What is the name? What sound does it make?
8. What sounds did you sing in music class?
9. Name one friend you talked to at school today.
10. Who was the special helper?
11. Who do you sit beside at your desk?
12. Tell me your favourite thing that you did at school today.
13. How many days have you been in school?
14. What made you smile today?
15. What was the hardest thing you did today?
I can't believe that next week is December! It'll be a short but exciting month filled with lots of activities!
Ms. Blue
November 20th, 2021
Hello Room 23!
A reminder that you can now book Parent Teacher Conferences online through Power School. If you are having difficulty booking an appointment please call the office so that they can assist you. There are still appointment times available for Thursday Evening (November 25th) from 4-8pm and a few on Friday morning (November 26th). It is an expectation that all kindergarten parents book an interview time slot so that we can discuss your child's EYE results that went home this week as well as how they are transitioning into kindergarten. I look forward to speaking with everyone next week!
This week in Science we starting talking about winter! We learned that although winter doesn't officially start until December, we can start noticing some changes such as the days getting shorter and the air getting colder. This week we talked about what humans need to do to stay safe and warm during the winter!
Here are some things the kids came up with:
- wear winter clothing
- use blankets inside
- drink hot chocolate
- turn on the heat in your house (or classroom)
- wear sweaters inside
- close the windows and doors
This week we focused on how to stay warm outside and did a clothing sort! We looked at what clothes would keep us safe and warm in the winter, and which clothes would not.
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| Clothes that are good for winter. |
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| Clothes that are not good for winter. |
Later in the week we talked about how to get dressed for the winter. We learned that there is a certain order that needs to be followed, otherwise it is hard to get dressed independently! We now know that mittens must go on last! Take a look at the anchor chart the students helped create, which is now hanging in our classroom as a reminder. Students have also promised to practice zipping up their jackets at home so that they can do it without help!
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| We came up with the proper order for getting dressed for the cold! |
During our morning meetings we have also started something new! Our question of the day! During our morning meeting, students get the chance to answer our question of the day. We have been working on lots of different skills such as looking for letters and sight words (we are getting really good at reading the word "like"), using picture cues to help us find words, counting how many and practicing comparing numbers (more or less), and sharing our opinions! Students are noticing how they are the same and how they are different from their classmates which is all a part of what makes us unique. They have done a great job answering their questions each day and get very excited when they come in in the morning to see what it will be!
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| My Red Team |
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| My Blue Team |
A final reminder that Mrs. Taylor should have sent out an email from the Kindergarten teachers looking for your help in a project we are doing! This information will also be on the main page of our blog on Sunday so please keep an eye out for that. We are looking for pictures of your child celebrating their favourite day of the year! This can be any cultural celebration or any day that your child really looks forward to each year! Please make sure to email these pictures to me as soon as possible so that we can get them printed and your child can share them in class.
-Ms. Blue
November 12th, 2021
Happy Friday Families!
This week was a short one but we filled it with lots of learning!
On Monday, Kindergarten students learned that it was Indigenous Veterans Day. We looked at pictured of the National Aboriginal Veterans Memorial in Ottawa and talked about the animals and people that are featured on the monument. We learned that animals are extremely important in Indigenous culture. We took a closer look at the eagle and learned all about why eagles are so important. We learned that the eagle is a symbol of kindness, courage and honesty. Students also learned that it is extremely lucky if an eagle drops one of its feathers for you! It is a sign that you are displaying the characteristics of an eagle and is a great honour.
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| National Aboriginal Veterans Memorial in Ottawa |
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| Book and My Eagle Feather |
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| Students examining my feather |
Students then learned that I have my very own eagle feather! It was dropped by an Eagle for my dad who picked it up and beaded it with my university logo. I was honoured with the eagle feather when I graduated from my Bachelor of Education. Students got to hold the eagle feather and were very interested in how big it was and the beautiful beading my dad did! I love seeing students so excited about Indigenous culture.
In math this week we started something new...PATTERNS!
Patterns are a certain set of colours or objects that repeat. We learned that patterns can repeat forever! Students have learned how to create and extend AB and ABC patterns. They did an awesome job with this new concept. Take a look at some of the patterns they created! You can even ask your child to make their own AB or ABC pattern at home!
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| Copying and Naming Patterns |
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| Making Pattern Caterpillars! |
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| ABC Pattern with bears! |
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| Penguin Patterns! |
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| Recreating Patterns with Pattern Blocks |
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| So Many ways to make Patterns! |
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| Lots of Patterns! |
I am looking forward to a longer week next week! At the end of next week students will be coming home with their EYE results. These results will be discussed at Parent Teacher Conferences on November 25/26 so please hold on to them and save your questions for this time. Reminder that you can sign up for a Parent Teacher time slot starting Monday November 15th.
Have a great weekend!
-Ms. Blue
November 6th, 2021
Happy November Room 23!
I can't believe we are already finished our first week of November.
This week we were busy doing Acorn Art, learning about Remembrance Day and learning about Diwali!
Students should have come home with a beautiful winter picture on Wednesday or Thursday last week. Please make sure to check your child's homework folder if you have not seen it yet! I am so proud of how hard students worked on this piece of art. They were very excited to learn that you can order this art to put on cards, calendars and more! Reminder that all purchases of their art goes towards Le Roi Daniels and buying more supplies to help your children learn and grow!
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| Working hard to make the trees. |
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| The finished product! |
This week we also learned about Diwali. We learned that it is the Hindu Festival of Lights and that not everybody celebrates it! Learning about different celebrations is a part of our Social Studies curriculum to identify different ways that we are unique. We read the book Binny's Diwali, and watched a few videos showing different traditions that people do during Diwali. Some of our classmates who celebrate also shared what they do!
Afterwards we made our own Diyas. Diyas are oil lamps that are lit during Diwali to bring light!
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| Diya |
We have also been learning about Remembrance Day and Peace. We learned that the poppy is a flower that is the symbol for Remembrance Day in Canada! We read The Peace Book by Todd Parr and talked about what peace is, and what it means to us. We learned that peace is something that makes us happy, makes us feel calm, or something that helps someone else. Take a look at the art gallery to see what peace means to your child!
Next week is a short week due to Remembrance Day and a PD day on Friday. Reminder that ALL days are formal days next week as students always wear their formal uniforms on Monday/Tuesday and they are also required to wear their formal uniform on Wednesday for our Remembrance Day assembly. Please make sure your child is wearing all parts of their formal uniform so that we can earn a sticker for the uniform wall!
-Ms. Blue
October 31st, 2021
Happy Halloween!
Last week we had a great time learning about pumpkins, doing some spooky centres and celebrating halloween!
We started by observing our pumpkin and writing down some of its characteristics. After we observed the outside, students got a chance to observe the inside! Then Ms. Kearns, our Classroom assistant turned it into a jack-o-lantern!
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| Describing our pumpkin. |
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| It was so slimy! |
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| Seeds! |
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| Our Jack-O-Lantern |
In science, we became scientists and learned how to do an experiment using the scientific method!
Then we learned some important steps when doing an experiment, take a look below!
Step 1: Come up with a question you want to know the answer to.
Our question: Do pumpkins sink or float?
Step 2: Decide your hypothesis. We learned a hypothesis is a really good guess on what you think is going to happen.
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| Monday/Wednesday Predictions |
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| Tuesday/Thursday Predictions |
Step 3: Find your materials.
For our experiment, we needed a pumpkin and some water.
Step 4: Test your experiment!
We also learned that scientists test more than one time. So we used 2 pumpkins to make sure they gave us the same results.
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| They Float! |
Step 5: Record your results.
Step 6: Come up with your conclusion!
Our conclusion is that all pumpkins float!
We also did some spooky centres this week to practice our counting and fine motor skills.
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| Counting Puzzles |
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| Tracing Halloween Pictures |
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| Pom Pom Pictures |
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Pumpkin Towers |
In math we read the book The Old Haunted House by Helen Ketteman. Afterwards we made our own haunted houses to practice our sorting and number writing!
Finally at the end of the week we celebrated with our Halloween Party! We had all 6 kindergarten classes in the gym for the day and students had a blast! It was so fun to see everyone dressed up in their costumes.
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| Spooky Scavenger Hunt |
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| Colouring in the "Haunted House" |
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| Cup Stacking! |
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| Building our own Haunted House |
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| Keeping up the Ghosts! |
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| Target Practice to make the candy disappear! |
Next week we will start talking about Remembrance Day and why it is so important.
-Ms. Blue
October 23rd, 2021
Hello Room 23!
CHANGE IN LIBRARY DAYS!
Until further notice, Monday/Wednesday students will be going to the library on Wednesdays to exchange their books. Please make sure your child brings their book on Wednesday to make sure they can pick out a new one.
Tuesday/Thursday students will continue to exchange their books on Tuesdays.
Homework Expectations
Thank you to all the parents for printing off homework every week. As we go forward here are a few reminders:
- The dot on the homework tells children where to start their pencil. Watch the videos on the blog with your child for the proper formations before allowing them to write their letters.
- Homework is for students, not parents. DO NOT draw the pictures for your children. I am not looking for perfect artwork and can tell when a child has not drawn it themselves.
- Please try to have children come up with the word themselves. If they are stuck, there are plenty of videos on YouTube that can give them suggestions. In class we watch "Have Fun Teaching letter ___" each week. These songs are great for word suggestions.
- Your child should be drawing 2 DIFFERENT pictures for their homework. Do not draw an apple on both days.
Halloween!
As you have heard from Ms. Taylor, ALL kindergarten students will be attending school on Friday October 29th for our halloween celebration! Students are welcome to wear their costumes but please leave props at home. I do not want them getting broken or lost and we will have over 130 kindergarten students at school this day. If your child will NOT be attending our halloween celebration, please EMAIL ME as soon as possible.
This week was a busy one! Since the Monday/Wednesday students only attended once this week, I will update with more pictures and activities next week once both classes have had a chance to do them.
In math we are finishing up sorting and working on a special book project! We read the book "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews and are now making our own version of the book! Students are doing a great job drawing pictures and practicing writing their numbers. Stay tuned in a few weeks for the final product.
In Science we have begun exploring pumpkins and even started learning about the pumpkin life cycle! We will continue our pumpkin exploration next week by looking inside and finding out if they sink or float!
In Social Studies we are continuing to learn about the Indigenous people. The Tuesday/Thursday students learned about healing stones and painted their own. Throughout the year we will use our healing stones to help us as we learn about different emotions and how to deal with them.
I am looking forward to an exciting week ahead and ending it with our halloween celebration!
-Ms. Blue
October 17th, 2021
Happy Sunday Room 23!
A reminder about library:
Monday/Wednesday Students go to the library to exchange books on Mondays UNLESS there is no school on Monday. Then we will go on Wednesday. Please make sure that Monday/Wednesday students bring their book on Wednesday this week so that they can exchange their book.
Tuesday/Thursday Students go to the library to exchange books on Tuesdays. Please make sure they have their book with them on Tuesday so that they can bring a new book home.
Please only have children bring their library books to school on their library day. We don't want the books to get ruined by sitting in their backpacks for prolonged periods. We are also learning our days of the week in class so it helps students to remember what day it is if they only have their books on Monday/Tuesday.
In math this week we continued our sorting practice. This week we sorted by size and shape. Students have been doing a great job sorting. Next week we will continue to sort, and students will get the chance to explain their own sorting rule.
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| Sorting by Type |
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| Sorting by Shape |
We have also been doing math centres. During math centre time students have been practicing counting, recognizing numbers and working together to play some new games! Take a look below at some of our centres from last week.
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| Rolling dice and counting eyes! |
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| Recognizing numerals and counting! |
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| Using clothespins to find the right number! |
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| Rolling dice and finding the numeral! |
In literacy we started something new! Our Mystery Box! Each week the mystery box will have a secret item that starts with our letter of the week. Students need to ask questions and use their letter sound knowledge to guess what is inside! Last week our mystery box had an Octopus for the letter O! Students enjoy asking questions and finding out what is inside each week.
Some questions they asked this week:
- Is it an animal?
- Where does it live?
- What colour is it?
- Is it big or small?
- Is it hard or soft?
We finished off our fall unit by creating some fall trees! Students did a great job following instructions to make their trees and they turned out great! Take a look at our art gallery to see everyone's tree!
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| First we coloured our handprints with pastels. |
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| Then we made grass. |
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| Then we added leaves! |
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| Lots of leaves! |
Don't forget to look at the main page for information regarding the Early Years Assessment (EYE). I have already begun assessing students and will be continuing for the next few weeks.
Reminder there is no school tomorrow for a Professional Development day. Homework sheets will be posted tomorrow so please check back.
Thanks and have a great week,
Ms. Blue
October 9th, 2021
Happy Thanksgiving Long Weekend!
This week students spent some time learning about thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful. We learned that thanksgiving is a time to be with families and that we are thankful for things in our lives that make us really happy. Students all made awesome tie dye turkeys that should have come home with them on Wednesday and Thursday! They did a great job following directions and were amazed by what happened to their coffee filters after they were sprayed with magic water! Take a look below at the before and after!
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| Before |
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| After! |
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| Finished Project! |
To talk about being thankful, we read "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr. After we finished reading the book, students drew their own pictures of what they are thankful for. Head on over to the art gallery to see what your child is thankful for!
This week in math students started a new concept, sorting! We are learning that when we sort something, we take a large group of objects and see what is the same and what is different. Students did a great job this week sorting by colour! Next week we will continue to sort by shape and size.
Finally a few reminders! The first is if your child has not yet brought in a rock, please do this as soon as possible. We will be doing a special project related to connecting to the land and want to make sure everyone can participate. Last reminder is that this week we got to borrow books from the library! Please make sure your child returns their books on Tuesday and Wednesday this week so that they can borrow new books. If your child does not return their book, they will not be allowed to borrow another one.
Have a great long weekend! I am very thankful to have all of these amazing students in my class this year.
-Ms. Blue
October 3rd, 2021
Happy Sunday Room 23!
I can't believe it is already October! Our first month of school flew by and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Last week Kindergarten students spent a large amount of time learning about the Indigenous People and why we wear our orange shirts on September 30th. Children learned that Indigenous People used to have to go to residential schools and stay there for 300 sleeps. We learned that residential were not fun places like the schools we go to. Students were not allowed to speak their own language, wear their own clothes, have fun or do things that were special to their culture. We talked about Phylis's orange shirt and how we would feel if someone took away our favourite shirt or toy.
Later we talked about all the fun things that we like to do at school such as go to music class, play on the playground, sing songs, and make friends. I was so amazed with how well the Kindergarten students did with this heavy topic. They knew right away that what happened to the Indigenous children was wrong, and that we should never treat people poorly because of the colour of their skin or because they are different. All of the kindergarten students signed an orange shirt as their promise to always be kind. We drew pictures in our journals about things that we love about school that indigenous people didn't get to experience, and we wrote words on feathers that represented how children should feel when they come to school.
We also read some books about residential schools.
We watched Molly of Denali on YouTube and learned about how children lost their culture when they went to residential schools. After learning about Grandpa's drum, the Monday/Wednesday students got to play a real hand drum handmade by Ms. Blue's dad! Students thought it was really cool to see the same type of drum as in the show. Tuesday/Thursday students will get to use my hand drum next week!
Please make sure that your child brings a small or medium rock to school on Monday/Tuesday. This was part of their homework that was assigned from last week. We will be continuing our learning about Indigenous culture this week and completing a special project with our rocks in the coming weeks.
Also a reminder that parents MUST print off their child's homework starting this week. Please make sure it is hole punched and in your child's homework duotang. Your child's homework duotang AND plastic folder must be brought to school each day that your child attends (not just on Fridays). If you have any questions about homework please email me.
Finally please make sure that your child always has an extra mask (or two) in their backpack. It is very common for masks to break or get dirty throughout the day and the school has a very limited supply of extras. Thank you for understanding.
-Ms. Blue
September 25th, 2021
Hello Room 23!
What a great week we had!
This week we went on a Fall Nature Walk around our community! Students have been learning about the signs of fall and did a great job spotting all of the colourful leaves on our walk. Take a look below at the beautiful fall trees around Le Roi Daniels.
This week we also learned about Terry Fox and how incredible he was. We read a story about Terry Fox, and watched a video. Students were amazed that Terry Fox was able to run so far with only one leg. We learned about perseverance and never giving up, even when things get hard! Later we went outside to help keep Terry's dream of his Marathon of Hope alive. Even though they were tired after a few laps, students kept running and never gave up!
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| On Wednesday all 3 Kindergarten classes ran together! |
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| On Thursday the whole school ran together! |
Just a reminder that it is expected that if a child has shoes with laces, they know how to tie them. With 22 children in each class, it is important that children are independent when putting on their own shoes. Please take the time at home to teach your child how to tie their shoe laces! They will be so proud when they can do it on their own.
Don't forget to take a look at our main page every week for important dates. This week we have picture day and orange shirt day! Take a look for more information on these important days.
Also head on over to our art gallery for our first artwork of the year!
Have a great week!
-Ms. Blue
September 18th, 2021
Happy Saturday Room 23!
It was so great to see everyone last week! Students are starting to get into a routine and are beginning to have a better understanding of what is expected of them in Kindergarten.
On Monday we had our first Fire Drill! Monday students did an excellent job at staying calm, lining up quietly and walking outside to our safe spot in the field. I was so proud of them! We talked about why we have fire drills, and how we can stay safe. Tuesday students will have the opportunity to practice in the coming weeks!
This week we continued to talk about Expected and Unexpected behaviours. We know that expected behaviours are things we SHOULD be doing at school and unexpected behaviours are things we should NOT be doing at school. Take a look below at the sort we did!
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| Expected Behaviours |
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| Unexpected Behaviours |
We have also been practicing how to write our names and how to recognize our names in print. These are both extremely important skills that your child needs to have by the end of September. If your child is having difficulty writing and/or recognizing their own name, please do extra practice with them at home.
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| Tracing our name with whiteboard markers! |
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| Creating our names with whiteboard markers, play dough and scrabble tiles! |
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| Recognizing our names and showing how unique we are by making all about me hats! |
In math we have started begun practicing how to count to 10 and represent numbers. This week we did the numbers 1 and 2. We know we can represent numbers using numerals, words, ten frames, dice, dominoes, tally marks and pictures! You can ask your child if they can remember how to represent numbers in different ways! You can also watch this video to practice at home:
Finally we started some new centres! Centres are a great opportunity for children to practice working in a group, while also working independently from the teacher. They are learning to share, control their volume and guide their own learning. Centres can practice a variety of skills including literacy, math and fine motor. Take a look at some of the centres we did this week!
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| Counting dominoes and matching them to the number! |
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| Using tweezers to put "gum balls" in the right gum ball machine! |
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| Making letters out of mini erasers! |
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| Using tweezers to count the right amount of apples to the tree! |
Thank you so much and I look forward to continuing our adventures in Kindergarten!
-Ms. Blue
September 11th, 2021
Hello Room 23 Families!
Welcome to Room 23's blog page! Here I will update each week with things we have been doing in class, important reminders for the adults and often pictures to show you what the students are learning! In a few weeks you should also be able to check out our art gallery where we will showcase any art we have done in class.
This week was all about routines and procedures. Students have been practicing how to walk in the halls, how to be a whole body listener, and learning about expected and unexpected behaviours in school. We will continue to review all of these routines and procedures throughout the month of September to make sure students know exactly what to do at school.
As mentioned at Meet the Teacher, homework will begin next week. On Monday or Tuesday students will be coming home with their plastic homework folder. We will be waiting until September 20th to begin giving out homework duotangs. In their homework folder will be all of their homework for the week, along with a homework sheet outlining the expectations and what to do. Please read this carefully. Reminder that homework should not be completed in one day and students should be taking 10-15 minutes each night to do homework.
*In order to complete next week's homework, your child will need a pair of scissors. You can purchase child sized scissors at any local store such as Wal-Mart or Dollarama.
We will continue to print homework for the month of September. Starting the week of October 4th, parents will be expected to print their child's homework for them. Homework must be hole-punched and placed in your child's blue duotang. Hole punchers can also be purchased at many local stores such as Wal-Mart or Staples.
Please see the main page of the blog for information about formal uniforms and fun lunch. We want to make sure that everyone is in formal uniform on Monday and Tuesday this week! Also a reminder that socks must ALWAYS be black or navy. They cannot have patterns or any additional colours on them. This includes informal uniform days.
I am looking forward to another fun week in Room 23! As always if you have any questions please email me at aeblue@cbe.ab.ca
-Ms. Blue