Learning Calendar - 

What Our Students of the Day Enjoyed Most

Monday, January 23 - Bringing my dolly in for PAT Time - Aaniyah

Tuesday, January 24 - Shaving Cream Writing! - Nathen

Wednesday, January 25 - Making a little white house - Zoe
Thursday, January 26 - Library! - Alex

Friday, January 27 - Playing with my friend Alex - Michael

Bus Safety Presentation  

On Friday, January 27, our little ones watched - and participated in -  an awesome bus safety presentation.

Work booklets were sent home in zippies. 

Please complete these with your child to start an important conversation about safety.

Literacy

Thank you for your supporting your child's PAT Time presentations.  Please know that if they forget to bring in their item, we have bins of items organized by letter that they may use.

Snuggle-up and Read will start this coming Tuesday for all JK students. Each Tuesday and Thursday your child will bring home a new book to read to you.

Math

The building continues!  Our structures and building inquiry has generated a lot of enthusiastic questions and hands-on inquiry.

Here are some questions asked:

What is a bridge? - Ammiel
I wonder how they make a castle. - Juliana
Why are towers so tall? - Alex
I want to learn about the CN Tower. - Fady
Why is the CN Tower so big? - Olivia
Did they build the CN Tower with a ginormous ladder? - Dana
How do elevators work? - Kai
How do they get elevators in the towers? - Simon

We will be researching these questions in the coming days, using non-fiction books and on-line videos.

Photographs of iconic structures have been placed within the classroom space to provoke students' responses.  In response, the children have been working to build the Eiffel Tower, the CN Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge. Others have chosen to draw pictures of architectural wonders.

Chime-In

The White Snowmen

Ten white snowmen standing in line

One toppled over, then there were nine.

Nine white snowmen standing up straight,

One lost his balance, then there were eight,

Eight white snowmen in a snowy heaven,

The wind blew one over, then there were seven.

Seven white snowmen with pipes made of sticks,

One slumped to the ground, then there were six.

Six white snowmen standing by the drive,

One got knocked down, then there were five.

Five white snowmen outside the front door,

An icicle fell on one, then there were four.

Four white snowmen standing by the tree,

One slipped and fell apart, then there were three.

Three white snowmen underneath the yew,

One crumbled overnight, then there were two.

Two white snowmen standing in the sun,

One melted right down, then there was one.

One white snowman standing all alone,

Vanished without a trace, then there were none.

Learning Calendar - 

What Our Students of the Day Enjoyed Most

Monday, January 15 - Building a Ship! - Ben
Tuesday, January 16 -Working on the iPad - Leticia
Wednesday, January 17 - Taking the attendance to the office with Maya - Paget
Thursday, January 18 - Mrs. Samson was here! - Taeyin
Friday, January 19 - Playing the Statue Game - Chloe

Rosary Apostolate Visit

This month, students learned about the First Luminous Mystery, Christ's Baptism. We prayed the Hail Mary using gestures to help make this beautiful prayer even more meaningful. At home, you may wish to talk about your own child's Baptism and how it has special meaning for your family.

Literacy

During read alouds, students are encouraged to respond to stories in a variety of ways. They are are invited to share whether they liked a book and why. Do they like the plot, the characters, the rhyming words or, perhaps the illustrations?  The ability to connect to a story is also important as it helps to engage listeners and readers. Does this story remind them of their own experience? Does it remind them of another story, television show or movie?

On Friday, Daniel S. suggested that we read books with flashlights, "just like his older sister". What a great idea!  As a response, we have just introduced "Flashlight Fridays". A story will be read-aloud by flashlight.

Our young writers are making great progress in their journals. Many are creating increasingly detailed stories using text and pictures. Some are using a variety of  strategies to write words, including sounding out words with "rocking fists" and referring to common sight words on the word wall.

Math

 We are busy builders! Creating structures out of wooden blocks, lego, tall stackers and crystals provides little ones with an opportunity to explore many early math concepts, some of which are counting, measurement and symmetry. 

To extend this learning, we are launching a structures inquiry. We will introduce new building materials in our classroom, such as paperboard rolls, popsicle sticks and plasticene.  If you would like to donate paper towel/gift wrap rolls, boxes or other building materials, please feel free to send them along with your child.

Volunteer Opportunities

If you have some spare time and an up-to-date police check on file at school, we'd love to have you help out in the classroom!  We welcome your assistance with guided math and literacy activities as well as crafts. If you are interested, please send a note in your child's communication book.

THANK YOU!

A big THANK YOU for encouraging your child to put on their winter gear independently.  Well done! We have shaved 20 minutes off our cubby time each day. This allows for more fun and learning time!

Upcoming January Dates

Wednesday, January 18 - Rosary Apostolate Visit
Wednesday, January 18 - Scholastic Book Orders Due
Friday, January 20 - Term 2 Milk Orders Due
Friday, January 27 - Pizza Treat Lunch
Friday, February 3 - PA Day - No School for Students

Chime-In

Three Little Penguins

Three little penguins, dressed in white and black.

Waddle, waddle forward and waddle right back!

Three little penguins, in a funny pose,

They are wearing their evening clothes.

Their suits are black and their vests are white.

They waddle to the left and they waddle to the right.

They stand on the ice and and they look very neat,

As they waddle along on their little flat feet.

Happy New Year!

We are off to a great start!

Learning Calendar - 

What Our Students of the Day Enjoyed Most

Monday, January 9 - "Some things were new, like the zippy bags." - Kamryn
Tuesday, January 10 - "I loved the tall stackers!" - Kai
Wednesday, January 11 - "I liked making 3D shapes with the straws." - Gabriel
Thursday, January 12 - "I made a book with Zoe and Paget." - Maya
Friday, January 13 - "Making a box with my friend Dana" - Selena

Penguin Inquiry

Our little ones love penguins! We are learning about the different types of these adorable, flightless birds. We will explore their habitats, food and behaviour, and answer questions like, "How do they stay warm?"

Literacy

We have been feeding our "penguin" fish that are labelled with common sight words, such as numbers and colours. Daily PAT Time has been helping our children with phonemic awareness, the ability to segment and identify sounds in words. Many children are bringing this awareness to their journal writing. PAT Time presentations also help develop oral communication skills.

PAT Time Schedule

January 16 - m
January 23 - d
January 30 - g

Reading Tip of the Month

Let your child see you reading! Many parents read to their children, but forget to let their child see them enjoying a book. Children learn a love of reading from their parents. Children who watch parents read as a part of their daily lives are more inclined to continue the habit as they get older.

Math

We continue to explore such math concepts as one-to-one correspondence, patterning, subitizing, and symmetry.  Subitizing is the ability to "see" a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting.