Starting just after the Family Day long weekend, dinosaurs will be making their way into our kindergarten classroom! This is such a fun topic to explore with students. There are so many different areas of learning this unit can take us, from art projects, literacy learning through reading (and writing!) non-fiction, songs, and science exploration with habitat construction using a variety of materials, fossils, and thinking like paleontologists.
Our favourite area of learning to focus on is Dinosaur Math! We hope your children will come home and talk with you about how they are using our dinosaur manipulatives to do different types of math. -We will continue to explore patterning and sorting, such as separating dinosaurs by size, or looking at whether they have 4 legs or 2. -We will begin to use measurement more intensely throughout this unit, comparing dinosaurs by height and using our math words shorter, shortest, taller and tallest. -We will also be comparing dinos by weight and using the math words lighter, lightest, heavier, heaviest. Maybe there are comparisons you can make at home to practice these math words?
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Since Valentine's Day lands on a day that we don not have school, we will be celebrating this day of peace, love, and friendship on Monday, February 11th.
Students are welcome to bring cards for their classmates if they wish (optional) -we have 34 students. Please do not address them to individuals, rather just write who they are from. Also, students are welcome to bring healthy snacks to share with their classmates (also optional). We will be doing crafts and Valentine themed activities throughout the morning. Your child may bring a stuffy to join them for the morning on this day! For the last few weeks, we have been discussing being healthy, specifically looking at good nutritional habits. We are asking the students to think about what foods are healthy and unhealthy. Some foods, like chips and pop, most of us can identify as unhealthy, and vegetables/fruits are a healthy classroom favourite. Some foods however, are harder to identify as healthy and unhealthy, as families make different choices and have different dietary needs and preferences. We encourage you to have conversation together, and maybe give some new (healthy!) foods a try!
Please enjoy our T-charts where students had to manage and evaluate food options... We are planning on starting each Friday morning with a nature walk to areas close to our school. These excursions will be weather dependent, but we are a hearty group so please dress for the weather with good walking shoes/boots! Here are just a few areas of the curriculum we are exploring while we go out and explore!... • expresses interest in new ideas and experiences • asks questions to satisfy personal curiosity • shares new learnings with others • develops an awareness of the importance of sharing the responsibility for caring for the environment • aware of the five senses and how they are used to explore, investigate and describe the world • explores and investigates objects and events in the environment • shows awareness of similarities and differences in living things, objects and materials • demonstrates awareness of the properties of objects and events in the environment • recognizes changes in weather and some ways people and animals adapt to the seasons • describes a variety of homes; e.g., for people, animals, birds • recognizes familiar animals and their characteristics and surroundings • identifies familiar shapes and symbols in the environment and community • identifies familiar sounds in the environment and community; e.g., school, home, weather, animals and machines. We have been watching the weather and the changing seasons, looking at what the plants and animals are doing. Our community walk took us to the community garden and the adjacent forest, as well as the look-out ridge and playground close to that area. We used our senses to explore. Here are some photos of our chilly walk this week! A frosty plant in the garden. This plant is still alive underground! The squirrels have been busy eating the seeds from the pinecones and sprucecones. So many observations were made in the woods. Wrinkly berries to feed the birds, squirrels and other animals. Old leaves to feed the insects and worms (Nature's cleaner-uppers!) It was a trek to get up this hill, but what a view!
Happy New Year kindergarten families! To bring in the New Year, kindergarten will be learning about nutrition. Our curriculum specifically states that students will learn to recognize appropriate nutritional habits, and also recognize that nutritious foods are needed for growth and to feel good/have energy (eg nutritious snacks).
We will be using the "Power to Play" program, where the mascots in the program are two kids, Brock Lee and Coco Lait (lol). We will not focus on the different food groups, necessarily, but rather on healthy vs unhealthy foods, and understanding good nutritional choices. To further this unit of learning, we will be participating in a field trip to Loblaws grocery store in Sage Hill on Friday, January 18th. On this day, a dietitian will lead the students through an excellent program called Nutrition in our Aisles. Field trip forms will be sent home asap with more information. Please sign these forms in full (all sides) and return back to the school in order for your child to participate. We also require volunteers to help us with student:adult ratios, so please consider attending with us. Kindergarten has been starting to examine signs that winter is rapidly approaching (and will now be here by the time you read this!). We have had a quick examination of our school ground trees, learning abut "evergreen" or "coniferous" trees and their amazing needles.
Our "Winter Wonderland" art was a multi-step process. We first painted backgrounds, using white to create different tints of blue. We cut triangles in different sizes (small, medium and large) and overlapped them when gluing on our trees. Students then had the option to add snowflakes using a Q-tip and white paint. We love how creative the students are, and how unique each Winter Wonderland is! Centre time in kindergarten is a fun and very important part of each day. Learning opportunities happen through exploration and play.
Our "Environment and Community Awareness" (Science) curriculum states: The child uses materials in the environment and community and becomes aware of how others use materials. Have a look at some of our December center opportunities... Do you still have Christmas shopping to do?
The Friends of Hawkwood Society Indigo/Chapters Fundraiser is still on. Shop online today using a special URL for our school. Indigo gives back 3% for online product purchases and 15% when you purchase an eGift card. https://indigofundraising.flipgive.com/teams/162456-friends-of-hawkwood-school-society?fundraiser_id=838900 Tip: you can send eGift cards directly to a recipient, or you can purchase an eGift card for yourself and then use it to buy your gifts online from Indigo/Chapters and have your goods delivered to your door! Our four kindergarten classes are performing in our Hawkwood Kindergarten Christmas Concert!
When: Thursday, December 13th Time: 6:15pm- about 6:50pm Location: Hawkwood gym Info: Please drop your child off in the Learning Commons with his/her teacher at 6:15pm. Parents will then seat themselves in the gym and wait for a 6:30 start. The concert will be short and sweet, about 20 minutes or so. Please note that there will only be chairs in half of the gym and standing room only at the back. We apologize for this, however our gym is in use until just minutes before the concert start. Indoor school shoes will not be available as the classroom will be closed. We look forward to seeing students and families that night! |