Just a quick note about Valentine's Day! In order to make handing out valentines easier please just have your child sign 26 cards rather than address the cards individually! Thank you - this makes the process so much easier - Mrs. K. and I appreciate the support!
Friday, February 9th:
Just a quick note about Valentine's Day! In order to make handing out valentines easier please just have your child sign 26 cards rather than address the cards individually! Thank you - this makes the process so much easier - Mrs. K. and I appreciate the support!
2 Comments
Monday, January 22nd: * Note * I just wanted to let all of you know that due to personal circumstances this will be my last blog post for awhile. I hope to get back to regular posts mid-February. I will continue to post any announcements as they arise. For the next few weeks my evenings will not be my own and my time and attention are needed elsewhere. Thank you for your understanding and patience and as always you can reach me via your child's agenda or calling the school! Mrs. H This is going to be a long post as we had so many fun learning centres this morning. Mrs. K and I have decided to change things up a bit. To start our days, our friends are now going to rotate through different learning centres designed to develop and enhance various learning skills. The learning centres will last 10 minutes and by the end of a week or two each group will have had the opportunity to visit each centre. Mrs. K and I have developed various learning centres to strengthen and develop fine motor skills, problem solving skills, leadership skills and of course, math and language skills. The children will independently rotate through the centres during the course of a week (sometimes longer) so that they get a chance to try each learning activity independently and of course some activities will be guided by their teachers. Our first learning centre was geared to language. My friends spent some time with magnetic letters and cookie trays exploring various sight words (in English and French) for those that were ready, and those that were not did an "alphabet clip card" activity - matching lower and upper case letters. Here are some great photos of my friends at this centre! Our next learning centre was geared to developing number sense. My friends had to count out objects and place them on the correct number mat and then they used the salt trays to print numbers. They loved it! Our next learning centre concentrated on developing spatial awareness and knowledge of shapes! My friends were using the tangrams to create various pictures and then had to name the shapes they used and how many of each shape was necessary to create their picture. Other friends were busy using chalkboards, water and paintbrushes to work their fine motor skills, letter recognition skills, and printing skills to name a few! Not to mention, it is always fun when we get to play with water! Our last learning activity was building numbers. The children had to follow the directions to construct each numeral and then had fun making other numbers! Look Mrs. H this is 1000! Wow! We had a lot of excitement in our classroom today! After our learning centres were complete we sang "Bonne fête", "Happy Birthday" to not one but two friends! One friend celebrated his birthday on Sunday and the other friend celebrated his today! Here are some photos of the birthday boys creating their crowns and then modelling them! After learning centres were complete my friends spent some time exploring favorite activities. Here are some great candid photos! I am sorry to say I have no photos of our afternoon - it was so busy! The children had gym and then we went to the library! Days pass quickly around here - we have so much to do! Have a wonderful evening! :)
Friday, January 19th: We had a fun morning today! On Fridays I am only with the children for the morning! We started our day reading a French science book "Qui a laiser ses traces dans la neige?" My friends loved it - they had to figure out what kind of animal left the footprints! That led us to a discussion about how animals survive the winter! We talked about hibernation, migration and adaptation! My friends are very scientific! I smell an inquiry ... After the story my friends had fun exploring various activities. Some were using the Alphabet clip--cards, others were building and some were colouring "Olivia" pictures. They have been into the Olivia books lately! Here are a few cute photos! Other friends were having fun in the reading area. One friend said she was tired so she relaxed on the couch while another friend was playing with the animals on the table! I was on recess duty today so I got some great shots of our friends enjoying the snow and the warmer weather! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Wednesday, January 17th: * Family Literacy Day * Please check your child's agenda for an important note regarding a fun event to celebrate Family Literacy Day! We had a busy day today! Looking outside this morning, it felt like we were in the middle of a snow globe so we read the book "Qui se cache dans la neige?" I think I smell the beginning of an arctic animal inquiry ... My friends had fun doing a favorite fine motor activity. They have to transfer the water from left to right with the turkey baster - this helps develop their fine motor skills but also gets them ready to read - using the left to right motion. Other friends were working on their subitizing skills! Subitizing is the ability to recognize a quantity without counting! My friends are working on numbers to ten - using dot patterns, ten frames, fingers, tally marks ... As usual, my friends enjoy activities on the Smartboard! Today, they were working on alphabetical order using the letters of the alphabet - they had to place the letters in their spot on the grid! Other friends were having fun playing with our tool bench! They have been hammering and building all day! I love how some of my friends decided to play with the cars on the table in the reading area - it has roads! Fun! Have a wonderful evening! :)
Monday, January 15th: There are a couple of important notices regarding school safety and immunizations that I have posted before our regular blog post. * Important * Mrs. Campbell sent out an important e-mail regarding school safety. I have posted it here for your convenience. Good morning parents and guardians, Here is a reminder of a few specifics to help with traffic flow in the morning and afternoon at our school. Kindly pass this along to anyone else who may be dropping off or picking up. Bus Lane Please note that the bus lane is off limits at the beginning and at the end of the day to allow our seven buses and special transportation vehicles (for our students with special needs), access. Mornings For the drop off, please pull up as far as you can in the designated area, and have your child exit quickly and safely to the teacher. Please have them open the door if they are able. If they need help getting out, please get out yourself and help them. Again, efficiency is key here to help things run smoothly. A good practice is to have your goodbye routine before you enter the parking lot. There is absolutely no parking in the drop off lane as it causes traffic chaos. Afternoons We are attempting to leave the parking lot open at the end of the day. So far it is working. Please note that when buses are ready to leave, we will stop traffic to get them out. There is a teacher on duty monitoring the crosswalk. Safety As always, safety is our number one priority. Please always be extra careful when driving in our parking lot as kids are unpredictable. It has been wonderful to see so many parents walking rather than driving. If your child is fortunate enough to have a seat on the bus, we ask that you let them take the bus rather than dropping them off or picking them up. We're aware that life happens and there may be times you need to drive. Also note that the yard is not supervised until 9am so we ask that you not drop your child off until that time. If you arrive after 9:15, please bring your child to the office. It is great to see so many students cycling to school. They are reminded to walk their bikes and scooters when on school property. Thank-you for your cooperation in respecting our educators on duty and keeping our students safe, Chantel Couture-Campbell Principal St. Anne Catholic School * Immunization Information * Some parents/guardians will have received a notice from Ottawa Public Health (OPH) advising them that their child’s immunization records are incomplete. If you have received such a notice, please be advised that your child will be suspended from school beginning on February 7th, and will be unable to return until OPH advises the school that he/she may be readmitted. If you have any questions, please contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744. We started our day with the book "Yesterday I had the Blues". It is the story of a little boy and his family and judging their moods based on colour! The children loved it - we learned that saying you have "the blues" is another way of saying you are sad. It lead to a discussion about how certain colours make you feel - they all knew that "red" was angry! They thought it was funny that in the book - "look out! Mama's got the reds"! My friends were having fun exploring numbers using our new math link cubes! They were building digits one through nine! Other friends were having fun using the iPads to practice their math and language skills and work on coding! They love the app "Kodable" and it is great to help them develop spatial awareness and directional language! Other friends love playing on the Smartboard! They love the "fridge magnets" on ABCya. They are making words, exploring shapes and they love making their names! Other friends were having fun exploring words, letters and sounds using the magnetic letters and the cookie trays! Building and exploring are always fun - they love using a variety of materials. Today they were using the castle blocks making homes for "my Little Pony", the tangrams and magnetic blocks! My friends were very artistic today - they were into drawing, colouring, playing with play dough and exploring on the light table! Have a wonderful evening! :)
Friday, January 12th: We have had a busy day today! This morning we read one of our favorite fun stories - "The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog". My friends never get tired of hearing these stories. After our story my friends had a great time doing various activities! Some of my friends were enjoying math, language and coding games on the iPad. One friend was tracing her letters! The iPads were not the only technology today - friends were having fun using the website "ABCya" on the Smartboard. They love the alphabet and math games! They love using the "fridge magnets" to explore shapes, make their names and write words! From new school (iPads and Smartboard) to old school (the train). The train never loses its charm - they love it! I think it's the tunnel :) Other friends were having fun building with the magnetic blocks. They are fascinated with magnets! On special occasions we pull out the melting beads - the children love them! They are a great way to work their fine motor skills and they create such intricate patterns! :) The art table is always popular - we had free art and then some of my friends asked if I could print them some colouring pages! They love the super heros - Captain America! Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Reminder:
Just a quick note to remind you that if you are interested in ordering pizza lunches for the second term, the Pizza Order form will be open on Monday, January 15th! Wednesday, January 10th: We had a very busy day today! My friends were in a math mood! This morning we read the book "Monster Knows Numbers". They had a great time doing our monster activities! Check out the photos! We practiced our numbers in English and in French! My friends had a great time with our monster math counting activity! They were working on numbers from 1-20 and had to give their monter "eyes"! We talked about strategies to help us count - those teen numbers can be tricky! Monster math wasn't our only monster acitiviy! I have a couple of friends who are crazy about puzzles - you guessed it! A monster puzzle to challenge their problem solving skills! Other friends were having fun exploring shapes! They were using the geometric shape to build various shapes! Some of them were following the pattern cards to build spheres while others were getting creative and making their own creations! Other friends were having fun playing the Monster alphabet match on the Smartboard! At first, they played the easy way (showing the letters) and then they made it more challenging by making it a memory game! Sorry I thought I had pictures of this activity - if you look in the background of the above picture you can see one friend playing the game! Then they had fun playing with the "fridge magnets" making words and exploring shapes! Other friends were having fun exploring shapes (and making me delicious treats) using Play-Dough and other friends were having fun reading, playing with the train, and building! I had two friends who got super creative at the art table! They made their very own laptop! Then they decided to watch "Story Bots" on it! :) This afternoon my friends were very excited! It is Wednesday, so you guessed it! Reading buddies - our favorite activity!! They read us books in French and in English! :) Have a wonderful evening!:)
Monday, January 8th: Mrs. K and I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year! My friends were so happy to be back and school and catch up with their friends. They had so many exciting stories for Mrs. K and I! It sounds like Santa was very good to all of them! We started our day talking about the New Year! We chatted about resolutions (a goal we set for ourselves) and gave examples. To get us started, we read the book "My Brave Year of Firsts". Instead of making resolutions my friends talked about different things they would like to try for the first time! They came up with some great examples: learning to ride a bike with no training wheels, skating by myself, learning to tie my shoes to name a few! Their ideas lead to a great conversation about what it takes to learn and do something new - sometimes we get mad and want to give up but if we keep going and believe that we can do it we will get there! Awesome growth mindset! My friends spent the day getting back into the routine and exploring favorite activities! As you know, Mme. Anna is now away on maternity leave so we have a new gym teacher. His name is M. Fawcett. We had gym with him for the first time today! Very fun! Other friends were having a great time building and playing "Tic-Tac-Toe"(very good for developing problem solving and strategy skills!) As always, art is a popular choice. It seems some of my friends are still in the Christmas mode as they were making "Santa" beards! Other friends were having fun exploring free art! Have a wonderful evening! :)
|
AuthorI'm Mme. Helgason your child's homeroom French kindergarten teacher. Archives
September 2017
Categories |