It has been a busy past couple weeks! The students have been looking deeper into the habitat and adaptations of their animal (turtle, beaver or rabbit) based on their group. In between, we have been visiting the mystery tank that has been sitting in the learning commons. This past week when we went to visit it, we noticed that there were some changes! We discovered that there are fish eggs floating at the top and enclosed in a cage. We are anticipating when they will hatch and will be visiting the Learning Commons regularly to document our findings. Connecting our animal habitats to the fishes, we started digging deeper into wetlands. We looked at fiction and non-fiction books to help us with our environment sketches and students had the chance to explore with watercolour pencil crayons! The students did such a great job carefully colouring and painting over their art work. Ask your child what plants and animals they might see in a wetland environment. This past week, we also had Leah Donald come into the classroom and show us how to do some felting! After looking at the animal habitats, we created wetland backgrounds. A tremendous thank you to the parent volunteers who helped make this event such a great success. The students worked diligently placing on the pieces of wool to create their picture. Ask your child about the process and what is required for wet felting. Hint: Her website has step by step photos of the process! Click for Art Felt Studio website We have been waiting patiently and anticipating some changes to our amaryllis! This past week, we noticed that the turtle’s amaryllis has bloomed! We continue to make careful observations and wonderings as the amaryllis grows. Library Book update: The students have been practicing going down as a class to sign out books once every 6 days. Students will now have the opportunity to go down with our Grade 4 buddies on Tuesdays and Thursdays to choose and sign out a new book once they return their book.
Swimming update: Thank you to all the parents who have returned and completed the swimming forms in a timely manner. In preparation for swimming lessons, please have your child practice independently undressing/dressing themselves before/after showers. In addition, we are still seeking parent volunteers to help make the swimming process run smoothly. If you did not check off the volunteer box on the form but are interested in volunteering, please e-mail your child’s teacher. Please note the following dates/times for swimming: Morning Kindergarten: Feb 28, March 2, 7, 9, 14 9:30-10:00: Mrs. Ang + Mrs. Howes (1/2) 10:00-10:30: Ms. Choi + Mrs. Howes (1/2) Afternoon Kindergarten: Mar 1, 3, 6, 8, 10 1:45-2:15: Mrs. Howes + Mrs. Ang (1/2) 2:15-2:45: Ms. Choi + Mrs. Ang (1/2) Cheers to a New Year! Much to our surprise, we came back from winter break to a sprouted amaryllis. This week we looked closely at our amaryllises planted in December and did work around estimating, comparing and measuring. Students were given the chance to measuring using nonstandard units such as with unifex cubes. Using measurement vocabulary such as “taller than” and “shorter than”, students compared the plant to objects in the class. Students were given the opportunity to estimate the height of the plant prior to measuring and estimate the plant growth seen later on the week. From the Alberta Program of Studies for Kindergarten, students addressed the following learning outcomes through this activity. Mathematics Measurement General Outcome: Use direct and indirect measurement to solve problems Specific Outcome: use direct comparison to compare two objects based on a single attribute, such as length(height). We have a new addition to our learning commons space. Students observed and thought about what it was and what it could be used for. Some student ideas that came out from our discussion was: -“An aquarium” -“For any wonderful fishes" -“For hermit crabs” -“Maybe it’s a vaccumm that zips and turns it into a present (green hose)” -“It looks like a fish tank. Because there are pipes and pipes are in fish tanks and big and glass.” -“I think a fish tank and all those tiny holes in the tank that are silver are for the fish to get their food from. After our discussion, students drew, wrote and talked about what they thought the tank would be used for. Next week, we will be having an in class field trip. We will have the pleasure of ArtFelt Studio visit our classroom and show us how to create our own piece of wet felting art. We will need help from parent volunteers to roll out the felt with our students. This will take place on January 16, 17 and 18. If you are interested please sign up at one of the following links: AM: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0B4DADA62FA1F94-amparent1 PM:www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0B4DADA62FA1F94-pmparent2 To build strength in our students hands for better fine motor and to encourage creativity and imagination through play, we are also looking for parent volunteers to help our class prepare play doh. If you are interested in making play doh for the class, click on the following link to sign up, where you will also find the ingredients and instructions. www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0B4DADA62FA1F94-playdough3 |
Upcoming Events:
May 31: PM Full Day Zoo Fieldtrip (8:55am-3:25pm) **NO SCHOOL FOR AM STUDENTS! June 5: Library books due June 6: Bike to School Day June 7: Celebration of Learning AM: 10:30-11:35am PM: 2:30-3:25pm AuthorMrs. Jacqueline Ang Archives
May 2017
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