Tuesday Mr. Massey joined our class, and helped us create a class agreement. We focused on how we want our class to Look like, Sound like, and Feel like. Students provided their responses, and Mr. Massey and myself added a few as well! The final product will look similar to this, though each student has identified one word that means the most to them, and have included a "pinkie stamp" as a way of 'signing' their pinkie promise to the class. Final product will be posted in our class soon. Some new centers were added to our rotation: bead creation, and domino's! The students are enjoying matching the numbers and learning the rules of the game. So many skills are practiced while playing game like this; taking turns, playing fairly, and sportsmanship to name a few. Aliyah's show and tell were two alphabet books, both beginning with the letter Aa! Wednesday Mrs. Shea was away at workshop. Students had big equipment in the gym, and created a new class book about what they want to be when they grow up. It's so cute, come on in and take a look! Thursday We read a story about Pete the Cat and the 5 Little Pumpkins. It's a classic Halloween story which helps us practice our rhyming recognition. Whenever we read a rhyming book, I like to pause and let the students complete the sentences. This helps me scan the room and see where we are with rhyming. After reading the story, we completed this "5 Little Pumpkins" sitting on a gate number cutting activity. We used oil and chalk pastels for the gates. Beckham and Ben brought their show and tell, both special items to them which begin with the letter Bb! Friday
Professional Development Day - No school for students! I attended a Math Workshop in Vancouver. The workshop provided many fun games, activities, and songs to help teach math concepts to students. I had so much fun learning these games/activities, and got to wear both the teach and student hat. I will be incorporating many of the ideas I learned in this workshop throughout the year!
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Thursday We began our study of apples. We discussed the life cycle of an apple, with the help from a great book. We cut open an apple, and observed the 'star' shape on the inside which contains the seeds. To go along with our poem, students used the apple as a stamp (some more successful at capturing the star)! Students practiced what 'buddy reading' looks like; shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. Sam was the special helper, and brought a toy to school that was quite popular among the students! I read "Have you Filled a Bucket Today?" to students, a true staple to any teacher's library. We spoke about what bucket filling looks, sounds, and feels like. We also discussed bucket dipping. Ask your child what bucket filling/dipping is all about. We practiced these two concepts, and their effects.. on an apple. In a circle, students were given the rare opportunity to say something mean (bucket dipping) to the apple. They were also given a second apple, where they had to say something nice (bucket filling). We discussed how these apples would feel (on the inside) if they were people. I gathered the students at a table, and cut open the apples to see how they truly felt on the inside. To their utter disbelief, the bucket filled apple was juicy and bright, while the bucket dipped apple was bruised (wink, wink) and squishy. Please note the photo was taken hours later.. and therefore doesn't show the full effect! But I bet you can guess which one was told hurtful things, and which was given many kisses by the students! Fun Friday Friday was jam packed, beginning with admiring each other's Western wear! We started the day with an apple tasting. Students tasted 5 varieties of apples, and were encouraged to explain what they tasted/how they felt about the apples in comparison to each other. Students remarked on the texture differences between apples, and the sweetness/sourness. In the end, students had to choose their favourite apple! The winner is seen in the video link! The apple festivities weren't over yet! Next order of business was some apple cooking! That's right, we made apple sauce! We invited Mrs. Yate's class to join us for afternoon play. Xander brought in Bey Blades for show and tell, a true crowd pleaser! Ohhh, the things you see during snack time! Monday Unfortunately, the only pictures I captured throughout the day.. Students did some paint mixing, to discover that red and yellow create ORANGE! We read a cute story about a "fierce and ferocious" pumpkin that changes colour right before Halloween, and is picked from a field and carved for Halloween night. These googly eyed pumpkins will help decorate our room for the next couple of weeks! Today we also: - visited studio (twice!) as our Wednesday studio time has been switched - welcomed Ms. Ormerod to our room, who taught us about two very important body parts that we can't see (our heart and brain) and how we use these body parts to think, and make decisions. We will see Ms. Ormerod again next Monday, where we will continue this learning. - got very wet during long recess, and had to use our spare clothes. Please replenish! Library day tomorrow, please bring library book if you haven't done so already!
Mrs. Shea Parker brought some cool wooden blocks for show and tell. He demonstrated many different ways to play with the blocks, and allowed us to use them during Exploration time! This week is Fire Safety Awareness, and so we discussed fire fighting symbols, and did a fun new activity called "write the room". I like to use activities like these to introduce students to new vocabulary, practice their writing skills, and eventually sounding out! They loved this activity, and are eager for more like this in the future! On Wednesday, Rees brought in a stuffed cat for show and tell. Wednesday is big equipment day. Here's a quick video of us enjoying the equipment. Fire fighter Alana shared some great fire safety tips with us, and showed us the equipment/clothing she wears to protect herself from dangerous fires! Friday Today we explored the concept of sorting. Sorting is when we group groups things together in groups, following a rule. We began by sorting our shoes. The kids found it fun to only wear one shoe, while I provided them rules to follow to sort them; by colour, by laces/no laces, velcro/no velcro, etc. We then moved to our desks, where I had set up many different items for them to sort: leaves, beads, kid buttons, Mrs. Shea's Grandma's old buttons, animals, and shapes. See pictures and videos below. Navy was our special helper, and he brought these cool wiggly worms! Our buddies visited, and read to us. In the afternoon, we invited Mrs. Wagner/Ms. Branzsen's K/1 class for a play date. Making new friends, and seeing old ones is always fun! Have a happy Thanksgiving! See you Tuesday!
Tuesday Liam was the special helper. He brought a nice collection of gold items from Australia to share with the class. We later opened a "Liam Center" where students could take a closer look at his gold items with a magnifying glass! We spoke about 'thankfulness', and what it means. We discovered things we were thankful for, and wrote them on the feathers of our turkey. These are now hung just inside our class! Come take a look! We also visited the library. New books would have come home, if your child brought home their previous book! For those with library books still at home from last week, please return ASAP. Wednesday Wednesday gym means big equipment! We're so lucky, and thankful, that Mrs. O'Neill's class sets this up for the school on Wednesday's! Thursday Meah's show and tell was a special panda bear that her Mom bought for her. Coming home tomorrow, just in time for the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece, are these cute turkey's! But, be careful, they're pokey! Having fun! Fall painting peace. I am thankful for art. And focused artists. Just check out these masterpieces! I often have a "Mrs. Shea Center" where students can help with little odd jobs. Today's assembly line was filling folders with our first Scholastic flyers. The kids are excited! I never sent out the September flyer, as it came out at the same time as our Book Fair. I figured the offers would have been expired by now, but they are not. So they will be sent out tomorrow. Special thanks to Aliyah, Ben, and Eva who offered to clean up after painting. After dismissal, I found this neat pile of supplies! What a great bunch of tidiers I have! Our Fall art is now hung in the hallway. Come take a look and admire your child's work. They are so proud.
Thursday -Discovering a rainbow of foods! Students explored local flyers in search of healthy foods of all colours. We discussed how our bodies need nutrients to function, and prepare our brain for learning. We looked at some lunches which included some of these healthy foods! Here are some examples of healthy foods we see in our classroom. Also, some new lunch inspiration! Pete the Cat is always looking for a quiet lap to be read on! Students are eager to read with him each day! We had some intermediate students introduce us Kindies to the collection of toys available for the kids to play with at long recess. We studied the letter 'T/t' and the sound it makes. We decorated our T's with some Tiger Tracks (stripes). Friday What a busy Friday! Orange Shirt Day, Hot Lunch, our first assembly, and Fun Friday! Fewf! Kason was our special helper, and he brought in an awesome helicopter, which he shared with some other students during exploration time. Ben became the teacher during songs time, as I had gotten the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" beat all wrong. Ben was a great teacher, and slowed down the lyrics for all of us to follow along easily. We may have a future teacher on our hands! We met our buddy class for the first time! Mrs. Lock's Grade 2/3 class visited our room to give the kids some time to meet their new buddies, and for the big buddies to practice their interviewing skills. Unfortunately, our time together was short, and only one picture was captured! We will see them again soon! Some new additions were added to our class: the calm down bottle. Sometimes, all we need are some pretty sparkles to help us to slow down and take deep breaths. The kids use them when the begin to feel anxious, or when they recognize that they have left the green zone. My little helper, Rees! Always willing to help her teacher out. No task is too big, or too small! Friday Kayla was today's special helper, and she brought in a special stuffed lamb which helps her if she's ever in the blue zone. Some fun playing with new centers, and with new friends! We got to meet many more friends after accepting an invitation to visit Mrs. Lyle's K/1 class across the hall! Next time, we will invite them into our room! Monday Elynn was the special helper, and she brought a stuffed horse for show and tell! It was so great to see the kids all dressed up for their school photos! We made sure to practice our smiles before heading down. I cannot wait to see how they turn out! When we returned, we did our first School Wide Write. We will have 3 of these this year, and it gives us an idea of where a student's writing/connecting to a story/picture skills are at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. It provides a great example of growth throughout the year! This year, the focus was passion! This is a new concept to many kindergartens, and so we focused on the idea of something that we REALLY enjoy doing, and always look forward to. My example was camping. I was so happy to see that everyone had a unique idea, and made a connection to the topic! A special thanks to Lindsay (Parker's Mom) who made the class playdough! The new center is a hit with the class! There are some other class jobs that still need to be filled; there is a sign up on the parent board. If you're able to volunteer for something, please do! Tuesday Today, Ethan was the special helper. He brought a very special monkey stuffy, which his sister won for him at the PNE. He was a little camera shy.. as his monkey is so special to him! Library exchange will now happen every Tuesday! Please make sure your child returns their book on or before Tuesday, to ensure they exchange during our Library block. Meet Pete the Cat. He is always looking for a lap, and enjoys kids reading to him! Today we learned about Terry Fox, and why he is such a special person to Canadians. We looked at pictures of his artificial leg, and discussed why he lost his real leg. Tomorrow we have the Terry Fox run, and we thought about who we will be running for. Check out the shoes on our classroom windows! Please bring in a donation if you can!
Thursday Ben was the special helper, and he shared an awesome Hot Wheels toy, which we later opened during Exploration time! Ms. Lindsay (Parker's Mom) helped out in the morning, and we with extra hands, we were able to complete a super cute bus craft made of popsicle sticks! The kids love what they have created, and they are now on display on the white board in our class. Thursday evening was open house, and it was great to see so many families visit our classroom, and have their child guide them through our room! We started a wishing well, which many families have added a wish to. If you have not yet done so, I will be sending home a coloured flag for you to complete and return to school to be hung. The goal is for you and your child to come up with a wish for the year on one side, and for you (the parent) to add another wish on the back side. We will hang them to our 'Wishing Stick' as a reminder of some goals for the year. Check Take Home Folders! Friday! Cypress was the special helper, and she brought in a wooden toy car, which she made at Home Depot! To celebrate the first FULL day of Fall/Autumn, we made our first mini-book which explored the colours of fall, and some common symbols. We practiced 'reading the picture' to help us with the words. Read this together with your child, OR have them read it to you on their own!! Rest (quiet) time is essential these days. We usually get quite tired after lunch, and this is a time for us to slow down, take some breaths, and re-set for the afternoon. The kids take this time quite seriously. We visited the gym where we played some games of tag, and moved around like different kinds of animals; Eagles, snakes, elephants, gorillas, penguins, and more!
We finished our day with the Fun Friday Dance Party! Each Friday, we will come back from gym a little early, to complete our week with a good ol' dance. So far, the most requested song has been Gummy Bear.. Though, I'd like to broaden their experience with many different musical genres throughout the year - we'll see how that goes! Busy week ahead of us, beginning with Picture Day tomorrow! We are the third class to be called, so fingers crossed that will be before recess, and they'll look (almost) the same as when you drop them off in the morning.. Wednesday is the Terry Fox Run, which will take place soon after the morning bell. The form that went home shows a map of the route, however, the Kindie's route will be on the school field only. Friday is Mamquam's recognition of Orange Shirt Day. Our school community will be coming together to wear orange in a spirit of reconciliation and hope. Activities will be taking place throughout the week to introduce and explore this topic in classrooms. Monday To begin our week, we talked about our families. We discussed how all families are different, though each is unique and special in their own way. We drew pictures of our family, and compared the size. You will see these pictures hung in our class during tomorrow's Open House visit. We went outside a little earlier for recess, and collected 'finger sticks'. Sticks which were no bigger or smaller than our fingers. We dried these to use for an afternoon craft. Mrs. Shea introduced the letter "S", and we practiced the sound, and learned a song about the letter. We then used the sticks we collected earlier, to decorate the first letter in our ABC Book. I use the Jolly Phonics program to introduce the letters, and they have a particular order in which they are taught. Here's the order in which we will be learning to alphabet! We are going to try for 2 letters a week. Tuesday Today we began our first special helper cycle. Please talk with your child about this, as some are having a hard time accepting that their special helper day is not 'tomorrow'. Aliyah was the lucky one at the top of my list! Aliyah shared a Bunny stuffy, which is very special to her. My camera didn't seem to make another appearance on Tuesday, as I have no other pictures from the day! But, here's some highlights: - practiced "S/s" writing - we practiced butterfly breathing during quiet time. Butterfly pose with our feet soles together, and breathing in and out slowly while flapping our wings. - we visited the Library! Ms. Kranz gave each of us a cloth bag, which should always hold our library book too and from school. This is the bag we are expected to keep for our years to come at Mamquam Elementary! Students are allowed to keep a library book for up to two weeks without a return reminder/fee. However. We will have weekly exchange (day/time yet to be scheduled) where I would love if students used to exchange their book for a new one. Ideally, they will come home with a NEW book each week. I will keep you posted on our Library day. Wednesday We began our day with a story about Sophia, who gets her feelings hurt at school. We spoke about how our heart feels when someone says something mean to us, or hurts us. I crumpled up a paper heart, as a visual for the kids. We then made a pledge to always think before we speak, because it is hard to fix a wrinkled heart (as they found out). We used band-aids to mark our name. Then we visited the gym! Wednesday's are big equipment day!! Following snack, we painted popsicle sticks in preparation for a craft we will complete tomorrow! Today, Beckham was the special helper, and he brought a sand dollar in for show and tell. He found it at the beach! The cold is going around! And we must learn how to try our best to keep ourselves healthy, as well as others! We did an experiment to demonstrate how easy it is the spread germs. I 'sneezed' on my hand, and then held hands with some students. They then held hands with other students, which revealed how quickly germs can spread! Yuck!
Wow, what a busy first week of Kindergarten! We worked very hard this week, to learn new routines, rules, and make new friends. I hope your kids came home each day with a smile on their face, and a story in their heart! Parker, enjoying our new reading area furniture! Meet Cuddle Bear. Our classroom stuffy who helps us if we're stuck in the blue zone (sad, lonely, tired.. etc.) Rainbow names! Students diligently practicing with wet glue, and precise paper placing! Kids loved the dress up box this week! On Friday, we began our day by making our first class book. Each student was given a page to complete, which collectively creates a class book! The theme was "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar", as we had learned the song earlier in the week. As I got the students to work, I realized the cookies from my cookie jar had been stolen! The students were aghast, and instantly began searching through our room. We took a tour of the school, and found them in Mr. Massey's office! I fully intended to document the process, but was so excited by the student's positive energy, that I completely forgot! Here's a picture of us walking back to our classroom to enjoy our special treat! Students enjoying their well deserved treat!
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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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