November 2013

John Black P.S. Kindergarten News

Where did November go? Our learning themes this month seemed to evolve around Peace, Friendship and Spreading Kindness. We read some wonderful stories, including; Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace, Ordinary Marys Extraordinary Deeds, One Smile, What does Peace feel like?, Peace Is , Scaredy Squirrel makes a Friend and Fox Makes a Friend. We have made our perfect friends and written about peace and simple kindnesses we could pass on. Many of the children have been eagerly writing words of kindness to friends and family at the writing centre and we have been trying to tune in to everyday, simple acts of kindness. Please help out at home by pointing these out as you go about your daily activities; noticing when someone holds the door open, when someone uses good manners, shares or performs a simple act of kindness and pass it on together! A highlight of this month has been the recycled creations shared at Show and Tell! Everyone certainly used their Think-a-ma-jinks! We had caterpillars, robots, mouse and owl houses, spaceships and rocket ships, trains, blackboards and more! We even fed the birds, with bird feeders for the yard! A huge thank you to families for your time and enthusiasm! The children were very excited and have been inspired to carry on creating at our Imagination Station! In Math this month, our classroom has exploded with patterns! The students have had plenty of pattern fun with pattern stories and videos, creating noodle necklaces, bead bracelets, pattern crowns, Zippy Zebras (currently adorning our classroom), fruit loop and licorice necklaces, animal cracker patterns, Beep, Beep, Vroom, Vroom- patterns and more! You can reinforce patterning at home by recognizing patterns in the environment together and challenging your child to create or extend a pattern of yours e.g., when colouring or clapping and snapping patterns We have had another WONDER-full month filled with exciting inquiry topics! This month we have explored how glass is made, how the stars get up in the sky at night, why the moon glows, where snowflakes come from and what boats are made of and how they work. As the students share their wonders we take some time to ponder the question and then we look for videos and books to help us. We try to have the students help us find ways to explore or show our learning. Often the hands-on experiences are optional. This month some of us, made stained glass with melting crayons, stamping night scenes, sponge painted moons, created our own snowflakes (on paper, on the computer and with a magic snowflake experiment) and created (and sailed) our own boats. It is very exciting to be following the lead of the children and their wonders! Hopefully, your child has brought home a Countdown to Christmas Mouse. They worked very hard to make those tails- pattern and all! Please take time to help them rip off a loop each evening as a way to countdown to Christmas. This can be a great counting (and one-to-one matching) activity. Also, you can make it to oral language by asking them a question with each loop e.g., A highlight of their day, an appreciation of someone for the day, something they are grateful forhave fun counting down to the holidays together! We wish you all a magical Christmas and a safe and happy 2014!

5 Frogs taught by Lewis! By Charlie Hope

Well there were 5 frogs, 5 frogs, 5 frogs sitting on a log, log, log and they were eating toast with jam all day Wait, wait, wait Frogs don't eat toast with jam! Ohhh, they were eating flies With their sticky tongue all day Until a lily pad appeared And they all began to cheer And one frog, one frog, one frog Went away Continue as above, substituting steamed carrots, edamame & apple sauce. Thanks to Lewis mom for the cd and pictures to go along with the song!

Reminders & Upcoming Events: Dec. 2- Picture Retake Day Dec.2-13- Food Drive for our Giving Tree- our goal is 1500 items this year! Dec. 11- Spirit Day Dec. 18- Christmas Event we will be performing! 6:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 19- Dental Screening Dec. 20- No school- Ministry Day Dec. 23-Jan. 3- Christmas BreakHappy Holidays! See you on January 6th!