Wild Wednesday means a morning in the gym for big equipment, a visit from Mrs. Schulz for Roots of Empathy, and an afternoon visit to the Studio! It’s a jam packed day, but filled with fun! Mrs Shea shared some special news with the class during Roots of Empathy. Most have already shared the exciting news with their parents, but if they haven’t.. I am expecting a baby in July! I think it will be interesting for the kids to watch my belly grow as the months go on. They were very intrigued to hear that last week it was the size of a lemon. As you may remember in a previous post, Ben has quite the hoola-hooping skills. And it seems as though he had been teaching his friends as well! Ben held the hoola hoop up for more than 100 seconds!! And could have kept going! We have been working our way through the letters of the alphabet, and numbers to 10. Last week we focused on the letter Oo and Gg. Practice these letters and their sounds with your child to help solidify their learning of the letters. This week, we will be focussing on the letters Uu and Ll. We will also be finishing up our printing books and will be number printing experts! I’ll be keeping my eye out for backwards letters though!! This week, we are switching up the way we sign up for a Center. Usually, we just used tally marks until the Center was full, but these days we will be writing numerals instead! Today was the first day, and they did great (just some backwards numerals)! We have rhymes to help us remember how to write out numbers the kindergarten way. Here’s some examples, though I’ve made a few tweaks to better suit our class.. Please continue to practice number printing. We will be moving onto shapes (2D and 3D) for the remainder of January. If you haven’t done so already, check out our wall which explains where we’re headed in each subject area.
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Welcome back! We have had a great start to the new year. On Monday Alex was the special helper and he brought his favourite Christmas gift which was what looked to me as a Furbie, but it hatched out of an egg! The kids were quick to correct me that this toy is called a Hatchimal! It was very popular with the kids, and it sounds like many have the same toy at home. We had a circle to share a story from the break. Sounds like everyone had a great Holiday. Everyone was eager to share what they got for gifts, so we wrote in our journals. It was neat to compare this journal entry to the last one we did before the break. Our last entry was what we wanted for Christmas. Our Monday entry was what we got for Christmas. Many entries were the same - Santa listened! We visited Mrs. Layte in the studio. And did the number 6 printing in our numbers booklet. On Tuesday we began our day with talking about GOALS. New Years Resolutions are common practice and I wanted to introduce this concept to the kids. Setting goals for ourselves are so important. And equally important is working to achieve our goals and celebrating them when we do! I was super impressed with the goals that were set today. Check out the pictures to see what your child wants to personally work towards! Students told Mrs. Shea their goal, which I then wrote on a post-it. Students then copied my writing onto their craft from the AM. A new bulliten board in our room. Our ‘what’s up’ board is a way to help keep us all up to speed on what we’re up to in our class. Check out this board as you enter our room to see what we’re doing in each subject area. LA and SS will be put up tomorrow. Meah’s beautiful picture and experimental writing. I’m super proud of these kids willingness to experiment with these new letters that they are learning. It’s all part of becoming a writer!!
Each student decorated a tree. Together, we made one really big tree. It’s on display on our hallway bulliten board. Come take a look! Baby Everly came for her last visit of 2017. Students noticed how her neck is becoming stronger, and she opens and closes her hands more. We sang out concert song for her, and she LOVED watching us. Students made their swag, which they were very proud of. Thanks to the volunteers who helped us create, as well as everyone who provided bows! Navy and Liam were very proud to write the whole alphabet. Some center time creations. Race to the North Pole. Students were given random partners to play a Christmas dice game. Shopping!! Students were so excited to peruse the “Gift Shop” for items for their family. Eagle Viewing field trip! Thanks to our parent volunteers! And to the Eagle Interprets for leading this event!
Tuesday Mrs. Shea was away. Wednesday We started our day with Concert Practice in the gym. We had a pre Roots of Empathy visit where we predicted what kinds of things were in Baby Everly's diaper bag. Next week, we will see Baby Everly, and see if our predictions were correct (December 13). We ended our day with Studio. Thursday We were lucky to get a library time, as we didn't make it there on Tuesday. Students with returned books brought home a new book. If your child has not brought a book home in a while, have a look through the house for an unreturned library book. In the afternoon, we had Cards of Cheer! Students made beautiful snowflake cards and decided to write them to Hilltop Residents. A potential delivery field trip is in the works - I will keep you posted if this becomes a 'GO'! Friday Students worked in their ABC Book, focusing on the letter Dd. Students have also been really enjoying the white boards center, where they can draw pictures, practice letters/numbers. I've been very pleased with the letter practice that I've seen. They love it! Parker brought in a family book to share photos of his immediate and extended family! I wish I had a photo to show how many donations we collected for Community Christmas Care! But instead, we have a number tally (for items like clothes/toys/food) and a money total. Way to go, class! They should be so proud! Monday We have changed up our mornings a bit, and while we still come to the carpet for attendance, we quickly move into our Morning Work jobs. For now, this is a soft start which has us playing, interacting, and exploring with our friends. The kids have responded well to the change, and seem to be enjoying this fun soft start. Mrs. Ormerod visited us and read us a story about whole body listening. This is something we learned all the way back in September, but it's nice to get a refresher on what it looks, sounds, and feels like. We visited Mrs. Layte in the studio and began our practice of OUR Christmas Concert song/moves. What fun! We returned to the classroom and practiced our Rr printing before home time. Any unfinished work was sent home for homework. Tuesday Mrs. Shea was away in the morning, and we had a new substitute help out for the morning. After eating, we went to the library to exchange books. Only about half the class exchanged. Please try to have your child return their library book BEFORE Tuesday's to ensure they get a fresh new book for the week. We returned to class and practiced writing on white boards. Mrs. Shea would say a sound, and students would write the letter. We put sounds together and wrote words! I love doing this with the kids, as they are so proud of themselves for writing words!! Some examples were S-A-T, B-A-T, B-I-N etc. Have your kids try this at home on paper. They love it! As an extra bonus, students wrote a 3 letter word, and tried sounding it out themselves, and shared it with the class. Wednesay This morning we had our first (of 2) Aikido workshops. Here are some pictures and videos. Thursday We practiced our Mm printing, and made Miss. Nancy a birthday card. We practiced our song for the concert, and Mrs. Layte taught us some moves to go along with it! Friday We made a Santa advent craft. So cute! Lots of skills were put to work in the creation of this Santa. Lots of sore fingers! Our buddies came for a visit. Some of us stayed in Mrs. Shea's class, while some went and did exploration in Mrs. Lock's class! Fun with white boards. Have a great (extended) weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday!
Friday Parker and his big brother, Grayson, as twins on twin day! Wednesday, November 22 A visit from Baby Everly! She rolled over for us for the first time! Mom, and the class, were very proud of her! Friday, November 24
Happy 50th Day of school! Our day focused on the number 50, but we also got a taste of what life was like in the 50s! Students dressed up in the best 50s clothes, and we counted, danced, and sang the day away. It was so much fun! Last week, we focused on the letter Pp. Our ticket out the door for recess was to say one word that began with the letter "Pp". Students explaining their pattern. Thursday We practiced our Remembrance Day assembly presentation with our buddies. Big and little buddies created a picture to go along with the song "Over the Rainbow". Big buddy's job was to tap their little buddy on the shoulder when it was their turn to turn around the picture. Friday Remembrance Day assembly. Monday We went to an Eagle Presentation in the library. Students learned so many different things about Eagles, including the size of their eggs, and the biggest nest ever found (circumstance of rope!). Eagle Watching Interpreters invited us to visit the Brackendale dike (near the Watershed Grill) to observe the eagles and look through their telescope to get a close look. Available from 10-3pm Saturday and Sunday until the new year! We practiced printing the number's 1+2 in our number printing books. Tuesday We learned about TWO letters today! Because they often make the same sound (C and K) they are taught together. Students glued kleenex and coffee into their ABC Book, and practiced C/K printing in the afternoon. Kayla and Miss. Nancy (my grandma!) being twins a day early! Friday
Mrs. Shea's camera memory is full.. so no pictures. We learned about the letter Ee, and glued eggshells to our ABC Book. We practiced our Christmas Concert in the gym with the whole school. We practiced Ee printing in the afternoon. We wrote on white boards; writing down the sounds Mrs. Shea said. We wrote the letters we have learned, and even spelled a word! C-A-T! We played tag in the gym. Had a dance party. Have a great weekend! Mrs. Ormerod has been joining us on Monday's to do some Community Building activities. On Monday we discussed "The Group Plan" which is the plan of a group. In this activity, we were practicing our "Group Plan" of passing a rock until the music stopped. We recognized that our class goal was to fill the egg carton, and if we didn't get a chance to put a rock in, we weren't mad. Here's a snippet of us working towards our Class/Group Goal. Some more great looking snacks/lunch ideas! Buddies Our buddies helped us complete our first journal entry! We wrote about what we had for breakfast that morning. Our buddies helped us stretch out words to label our picture, and pointed to the letters we heard together. Halloween! Check out those great costumes! Some math we've been exploring. Math stations allow us to explore many different new concepts and skills. We are working on recognizing numbers, and transferring the number to represent a set of items. We are also exploring patterns. Isla and Aliyah working together on one to one correspondence and number recognition. Number formulation and one to one correspondence. Which brings us to today! This morning, we read a great story about the importance of a Poppy. We then did an art project of a poppy field. This has now been hung in our hallway display. Please come check it out! Liam and Cypress 'playing' with their food. But in a good way! ABC Rap Song. Use this if your child forgets the moves of the song. Please practice the ABC rap often to help reinforce letter and sound recognition! Monday Our day began with a fun Skeleton Dance found on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns91jtuPHZI We then used Q-tips to creates these bones on our skeleton! Students had to listen carefully, and place full or half size q-tips step by step. Here is the finished result, hung near door. Come take a look! Mrs. Shea's phone died at this point.. but we: - Played centers, where Ms. Ormerod had a center which reviews the Zones of Regulation. - Invited Ms. Ormerod back to our class to continue reading a story we started last week about our thoughts/feelings we have. - Visited Mrs. Layte in the studio Tuesday So many missing letters from the morning message! Today's morning job was to help Mrs. Shea figure out a costume for Halloween! Students gave me suggestions, and drew beautiful pictures of me in their costume choice. Some were more elaborate than others, so we will see if I use these to help with my decision! After snack, we all gathered on the carpet to practice our new mini-book. These were sent home in Take Home Folders, and your child can use this to help practice their word recognition and reading skills. We recognized that this book is a pattern book, which helps us read it! Ask your child to read it to you tonight! Special helper Elynn brought in an Eagle and Emu book, as they both begin with the first letter in her name! Elynn told us a special story about her Grandpa who passed away, and how Eagles now remind her of him. Very special story and lesson! In the afternoon we visited Ms. Kranz in the library. When we got back, we learned a fun new math game called "Bump!" Students partnered with a friend in the class, and were given a game board, dice, and a handful of unifix cubes. The object of the game is to roll the dice, become more familiar with dot patterns on a dice, and place your cube on the numberal which you rolled. Throughout the game I was roaming the room to see where we're at with quick recall of dot patters, as well as numeral recognition. The kids seemed to really enjoy it, which is great as this is a game that can be played throughout the year (I just might add more dice or change the numbers to the written word!) Wednesday Woah, what a jam packed day! Here's the morning message, where we reviewed our Class Agreement (all jazzed up since last week). We visited the gym, and on Wednesday it's BIG equipment day! Students loved the spring board! Warning: turn down your volume for the jumping videos! They're slow motion clips, and don't record the best sound!! Ethan's show and tell was an interesting one! A toy that I grew up with, and was surprised to see that not many people in class had ever seen! Ethan did a great job explaining what the Magic Eight Ball does, and how to use it. We meant to bring it out at centers for others to try, but totally forgot! Today was a particularly special day, as we got to meet Baby Everly. Today was Everly's 2 month birthday, and we are so lucky to be able to invite Everly and her Mom into our room. Throughout the year, we will watch Everly grow, and make observations as to how she changes from visit to visit! For quiet time, we slowed it right down.. and gave ourselves a little foot massage (socks on!) It was so cute to hear them relax during this: oooohh'ing and aaaahhhh'ing. They respond well to trying new things and learning new strategies of slowing down our hearts and giving ourselves a little self-care. A new literacy center was introduced during centers today. Students will use a guide to help them write letters in salt. Everyone is eager to try this one!
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About Mrs. SheaThis is my second year teaching at Mamquam Elementary, and I absolutely love the school! I am a born and raised Squamish local. This is my 4th year teaching. My husband and I moved to Fort St. John for our first year of teaching, where I had my first Kindergarten class. I am married, and have a dog named Poppy! Archives
February 2018
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