Graduation week


I can hardly believe that we are down to our last full week together. It seems like just yesterday that the children lined up for the first time in their new 'big kids' spot. We turned and waved good-bye to you as we entered the SK doors for the first time. Although the time has flown by we have learned and grown so much this year. I am so proud of what the Kinders have achieved this year. They have worked hard; had many adventures and lots of fun! This week we will be reading Junie B. Jones is a Graduation Girl as we prepare for our own graduation ceremony. We will be reflecting back on our year together and all that we've done. On Friday, we will have displays and other special surprises to share with you.

Mahalo! (Thank you!)




The friendship fruit salad was spectacular! Thank you parents for sharing this special day with us. Your contributions were wonderful and the children feasted on the fruit all day. We worked together and made something very special, that was enjoyed by the entire class. Thank you for making it possible.

Friendship

At the end of High Tide in Hawaii, Jack and Annie realize that they have made friends for life in Boka and Kama. They discover the 'ship' they had been searching for in Hawaii:
To find a special magic,
build a special kind of ship
that rides the waves,
both high and low,
on every kind of trip.
Friendship!
The Senior Kinders have been building their own kind of magic all year long - may they keep these friendships all through school.

Friendship Fruit Salad

Mixing and mixing is what we will do. Working together will see us through! On Friday, June 18th we're planning to make a friendship fruit salad. Please help your child to wash, cut and measure one cup of their favourite fruit. Have your child bring the fruit to school on June 18th as we will be mixing the fruit together to make a friendship fruit salad! Yummy, yummy!

Luau Day


Monday, June 25th is our Luau day. Most of the activities will go ahead regardless of weather. We will be wearing our Hawaiian clothes; dancing to Hawaiian music; playing Hawaiian games and eating our friendship fruit salad. We will make a decision on Monday morning regarding the Water Play Day portion of our day. Weather permitting: please send your child to school with sunscreen, a bathing suit and a towel in a plastic bag

Aloha week!


This week we will continue reading High Tide in Hawaii. On Wednesday we are going to learn a little bit about leis: how they are made and what they signify. Each Kinder will make their own Lei for our Luau day. We will learn about Volcanoes and then we will create our own!

We are growing into Grade One Kids!


During the months of May and June our big idea has been based on the changes that are coming. We have been discussing how a Kinder changes during a school year. We've looked at our tooth book to see how many children have lost teeth; we discussed the birthdays that have past and we've talked about new things that we can do now that we couldn't do in September. We have also been reading a variety of stories dealing with these changes and singing songs about growing.

Our culminating activity based on this big idea begins this week. We are going to start by reading a precious story entitled, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. This Mem Fox story tells the tale of a little boy who helps a senior friend get her memory back. Wilfrid shares his memory box with his friend Nancy and as she touches his favourite gems (seashells, a medal) she begins to recall her childhood.
First, we will read the story together and we will talk about what a memory is.
Next, we will look at a collection of photographs from Senior Kindergarten.
Next, we will order the photos from September to June.
Last, I will ask the children to choose their favourite memories from the year.
At home the children will be creating a memory box to share with the class. Further information to follow!

Assessment week

This week your child will be participating in a variety of individual Literacy and Math assessments with Mrs. Thomas. On June 7th and 10th each child will work individually with Mrs. Thomas on a variety of tasks. All information collected will be shared with parents on Term Three report cards. These assessments will chart your child's growth this year. Recommendations for the summer months will come home shortly.

Aloha!

We are beginning our Aloha mini-unit with the story: High Tide in Hawaii by Mary Pope Osborne. We will follow Jack and Annie on their travels and learn about Hawaiian culture and weather. Does your child enjoy listening to Jack and Annie adventures? There are many more books in the Magic Tree House series for your child to discover. These are great books for a lazy summer day!

What creature travels on one foot?


This week we will be observing snails in a small vivarium set up in the classroom. We will be learning about their body parts and how to care for a snail. We will be reading Sophie's Snail by Dick King-Smith and we will be labelling a snail diagram. Do you have snails in your backyard? Encourage your child to look for snails, especially after a rainfall. Your child is welcome to bring a snail or a snail shell to school.

Number Stories

For the past several months the boys and girls have been investigating different number stories through games, songs and math toys. We have been writing and reading number stories together. We are still working on the story of 9 and will be starting the story of 10 soon. Your child can practise these stories on a web game entitled, Save the whale! This is a fun game in which your child needs to complete number bonds to set a whale free. Check it out with your child at: http://www.ictgames.com/save_the_whale_v4.html

Let's go Fishing!




We ended our Pond week with a tasty snack. We used ranch dressing (dyed blue) for water; goldfish crackers for fish and pretzels for a fishing pole. Each child made and ate their own pond. Yum!

Journals

This is the moment that we've been working towards all year long. It is Tuesday morning, after a long weekend and we all have news to share. The Kinders come into the classroom and sit down at their desks. Everyone opens their journals and begins to write. Only a quiet whisper of 'sounding out' can be heard as little pencils write down ideas. The Kinders use the word wall for spelling sight words and they sound out other words. What an exciting moment to witness!
A few samples from today:
*I had fun at my prte!
*I plad with los ov frens and I soo firwrck and so colrfl.
*I like firwrs.
*I like doin the dishis.
*Jack and me see a bear.

A Frog's Life Cycle


This week we are going to begin our study of frogs with a lovely book about ponds. On Tuesday we will read In the Small, Small Pond together and then we will jump right in to our frog investigation. We will learn about the life cycle of a frog; what they eat and the other creatures that share their habitat. We will be making a diagram; a frog puppet; a pond booklet and a pond snack! Stay tuned for the results of our investigation.

The Night Sky











This week we have been reading The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. We enjoyed reading it each day and looking for new things that we hadn't noticed in the previous reading. On Thursday we looked closely at the firework page. We noticed all the colours and different stroke marks that Eric Carle used when creating the page. We decided to try it ourselves! We used black construction paper and vibrant chalks. We created a night sky every bit as beautiful!
This is what the firefly saw.....
The firefly saw many lights and flew toward them.
But they were not other fireflies.
They were fireworks sparkling and glittering and shimmering in the night.
-Eric Carle

Journals

On Wednesday we began our day by writing in our journals. We use the word wall and sounding out to write a sentence. All attempts at spelling are accepted in Kindergarten, there are no wrong answers!
Here is a small selection of our work:
*On my brthday I mit go too Florda or I m go too the bech.
*I an lookee forwr to go to my dad to paai popTropica.
*I so a Bee.
*Play socr with Noah and be on the sam tem.
*Im go to sogr.

I'm a little firefly

to the tune of I'm a little teapot
I'm a little firefly
Look at me!
I'm as happy as I can be.
See my light flicker and shine so bright
Now watch me fly into the night!

Fireflies!


This week we are busy learning all about fireflies. We started the week by reading The very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. The Kinders were thrilled by the surprise of the twinkling fireflies on the last page of the book. Today we sang a firefly song together; labelled a firefly diagram and learned about how a firefly lights up. Is a boy or girl firefly brighter? Ask your child, he knows! We are creating fireflies this week with glow-in-the-dark paint for a bedtime surprise.

Dig, dig, dig!



The Kinders have been busy today planting. Each Kinder could choose to plant a pumpkin seed or a pole bean seed. We discussed what would grow from the seed and the benefits of having one of these plants in our garden. How long will they take to sprout? Keep checking back and we'll update you!

Spring Lambs!






On Wednesday, May 5th we went to St. Johns Outdoor centre. We saw many interesting things: forget-me-nots; periwinkles; a babbling brook; Ewes; lambs; a Ram and a pioneer schoolhouse and school bell. What a wonderful morning!

The Rainforest


We have spent two weeks reading The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry and The Umbrella by Jan Brett. The Kinders talked about why the Amazon Rainforest is important to humans. They learned that the rainforest trees provide us with medicine and oxygen. We viewed a Reading Rainbow program that took us on a journey inside the Amazon. Together we created a beautiful Rainforest in our classroom. We each chose one animal to draw; we painted a Kapok tree together; we painted huge leaves; we cut paper vines and we made beautiful tissue flowers. We worked as a team and together we created something to be really proud of!

Earth Day

The Kinders celebrated Earth day by painting their own picture of planet Earth. Each child used watercolours to paint the Earth. We also discussed the things that the Earth provides us with. We wrote together on the subject, I love the Earth because...
it gives oxygen. Noah W.
it gives food. Sawyer
it gives energy. Nielo
lots of my friends live here. Hailey
my cat lives here. Zack
These are just a few of their ideas. Come and see their artwork on display in our hallway!

Retelling

Retell/Summarize
Good readers retell text effectively by: identifying key facts with
important details, using vocabulary from the text, making connections,
and restating the information in an order that makes sense.

Good readers use a number of thinking skills to summarize text.
They combine meanings, delete unimportant details, condense
key messages and incorporate their schema (prior knowledge) to
create a succinct summary of text.

Encourage your child to think:
• What happened first, next, finally?
• What key information did the author provide?
• What did I learn from the text?

Wild about Earth Day



This April the Senior Kinders will be reading The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry and The Umbrella by Jan Brett. We will be learning about the variety of animals and plants that live in the Amazon Rainforest. We will be discovering why the Rainforest is important to our survival. During the next two weeks the Kinders will be working together to create a mural display of the rainforest. Each child will choose an animal to paint and label. The Kinders will work together to create a huge tree; vines and rainforest flowers. Talk to your child about the Rainforest; do an internet search together; learn about an unusual animal. Ask your child to retell an important fact to you; write it down for your child and have your child draw a picture to match the fact.

The Story of Six

This week we are working on the story of six. We will begin with a fun rhyme about six little teddy bears sleeping in the bed. Read this rhyme on-line with your child. Find the link on our blog and read the rhyme together. Each child will be making up a story for six by choosing how many teddy bears will sleep in the bed and how many will sleep on the floor. We write our stories in words and represent them with pictures. For example: 2 teddy bears in the bed and 4 teddy bears on the floor make 6 teddy bears. Have fun making up stories at home with your child. You can use anything! Look in your kitchen cupboard or toy closet for 6 matching items and see how many ways your child can make six.

Carousel Players

On Tuesday, April 13th we are walking to Fort Erie Elementary school to watch a performance by the Carousel Players. Please return your child's permission slip along with the admission fee of $3. Thank you! Parent volunteers are most welcome to attend the performance with us.

Welcome Spring!

We have been enjoying beautiful Spring weather! The warm spell has meant that we have brought out the chalk; bubbles and spray bottles.

New cubbies!


We recently had beautiful new cubbies built inside our classroom. Every Kinder now has their own place to sit down to change and store their shoes. Thank you, Mr. Rossi for having this done for us!

Happy Easter!

On Thursday the Kinders enjoyed an egg hunt in the classroom. They found over 100 chocolate eggs and jelly beans!

Volunteers needed!

I am looking for a few volunteers who could spare a couple of hours at school or at home. I am looking for help in cutting out word lists. If you are available to help please send me a note. The cutting could be completed at the school or at your own home. Thank you!

The -an Family

This week we have begun to learn word families. Our first family is the -an family. We will be reading a poem in conjunction with each word family. This week's poem is:
The Muffin Man
Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?
Do you know the muffin man
Who lives on Candy Road.

After reading the poem several times we circled any words with -an in them and then we made a ladder of -an words. We finished by making a folded accordian fan.

Leprechaun Kisses!

When the Kinders returned to school after the March break they discovered that a special visitor had been in our room. They found tiny, green footprints in the classroom. The prints led to a pot of gold, chocolate coins. Our special visitor left this poem to read:
Just a bit of Ireland
That I'm sending you today
To bring you luck and happiness
On this fine St. Patrick's Day
It's a wee and tiny present
Full of good luck and good wishes
Seems the little folk of Ireland
Have sent you some
Leprechaun Kisses.

Magic Building

The Kinders used magnets to build magic structures!

Will it stick?


The Kinders went on a noodle. That's what we call going for a little walk around the room to have a short think and to see what we can find. Everyone brought one object back to the circle. We used a big magnet to find out will it stick?

How to Catch a Paperclip!

The Kinders faced a challenge: how can you rescue a paperclip out of a glass of water without putting your fingers in the glass? We used a magnet! We had lots of fun 'rescuing' the paperclip!

Kipper!

We've enjoyed reading about Kipper and his adventures this week. Each day we've read a different story and today we voted on which story we would watch on DVD.

The votes are in:

Kipper's Monster: 7
Kipper and Roly: 3
Honk!: 2
Kipper's Beach Ball: 0

Critical Thinking...

Today we read Kipper's Beach Ball by Mick Inkpen. In the story, Kipper finds a beach ball in his cereal box. His friend, Tiger finds other toys in his cereal box. The Kinders made connections to happy meal toys and cereal box toys. I asked the question "Why do you think companies put in free toys?"

Some of our ideas:

Noah W.: "They want to make sure kids have toys."
Hailey M.: "They want to make kids happy."
Sawyer: "If kids didn't have toys they would be bored."
Kudzai: "So the kids will be happy and enjoy their food."

Mick Inkpen!


This week the Kinders will be exploring the books of Mick Inkpen through teacher read alouds. Mick Inkpen is one of the top-selling picture book artists and writers in the world. His books are some of my favourite read alouds and Kindergarten children delight in his adventures! During the week we will be enjoying a different Inkpen book each day and we will be using these to explore the strategy, Making Connections. I will ask the children to make connections to their own lives and experiences and also, to make connections between the different Inkpen books. We will end the week with a viewing of their favourite Inkpen story on DVD. What will the Kinders vote on as their favourite Mick Inkpen book? Don't forget to check back here on Friday!
Visit Kipper's website to meet his friends and play a few games:
http://www.hitentertainment.com/kipper/index2.html

Mat Man

Meet Mat Man, our newest friend! Mat Man is a delightful way for Kinders to learn about body parts. When young children are learning to draw themselves; family members and friends they will often miss some of the details. As a whole group we sing a song about Mat Man and everyone puts Mat Man together.

Budding Scientists...

What did we find out? We placed several carnations into different glasses of water and we added 3 different colours of food colouring into the water. We observed the carnations for a week. We discovered that when the flowers drink the water the petals will change colour. We used magnifying glasses to look at the petals up close.

Tap, Tap, Tap

The Kinders are learning a new song, "Tap, Tap, Tap". We use our Big Lines to tap in rhythm to the music while learning new positional language. Soon we will be making letters with our Big Lines.

Handwriting without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears is a simple, developmentally based curriculum for writing readiness and printing. The multi-sensory lessons teach to all learning styles - visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic. The unique materials help to address letter formation, reversals, legibility and sentence spacing. The goal of the program is to make handwriting available for all children as an automatic and natural skill.

Website of interest:

www.hwtears.com

Jolly Sounds: Group 6

We are beginning Group 6 this week in our Jolly Phonics program. The actions and sounds are:
y Pretend to be eating a yogurt and say y, y, y.
x Pretend to take an x-ray of someone with an x-ray gun and say ks, ks, ks.
ch Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch, ch.
sh Place index finger over lips and say shshsh.
th th Pretend to be naughty clowns and stick out tongue a little for the th,
and further for the th sound (this and thumb).

Fine motor fun!

The Kinders have had lots of fun practising printing in chocolate pudding! They printed letters; made patterns and created shapes. Try this at home with pudding, whipped cream or even shaving foam!

3-D Shape Exploration

The Kinders have been exploring 3-D shapes. We have named the following: sphere; cube; cylinder and cone. Please look in your home for these shapes. Go on a shape hunt with your child! The Kinders worked together today to build a 3-D castle. They added a door and towers. Torrey would like to add a draw-bridge tomorrow!

Our New Art Easel!

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who baked cupcakes for our sale! We earned enough money to purchase a brand new, beautiful easel. Thank you for supporting us!

Let's Experiment!



What will happen? We are watching 4 different carnations this week. One is in clear water and three are in water with food colouring. The students have predicted that the carnations in coloured water will change colour.

Jolly Phonic Actions for Group 5

z Put arms out at sides and pretend to be a bee, saying zzzzzz.
w Blow on to open hand, as if you are the wind, and say wh, wh, wh.
ng Imagine you are a weightlifter, and pretend to lift a heavy weight above your head, saying ng...
v Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv.
oo oo Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock,
saying u, oo; u, oo. (Little and long oo.)

About Rose Seaton

In 1891 a building was under construction on Phipps Street. The building was a two storey structure that contained four classrooms. The first principal of the new school was Samuel Houser and the two teachers were Miss Simpson and Jane Gerrard. The school was part of the Bridgeburg School Board and named Bridgeburg Public School. Rose Seaton began her tenure as principal in 1918.


In 1932 with the amalgamation of Fort Erie and Bridgeburg and a unified school board, the school was renamed the Phipps Street School. During the 1930s and 1940s life at the school was a dependable constant. Mr. Willis burned the waste papers every day; Miss Weaver produced her play based on Tom Sawyer; Miss Hanes taught Grade 2; Miss Price was the nurse; Miss Mildred Young taught music. Rose Seaton remained at Phipps Street school for 31 years and when she retired, the Board of Education renamed it in her honour as a tribute to her devotion and competence.

In 1984 the building was demolished and a new school was built on the Emerick side of the property. Consequently, Rose Seaton Public School is both the oldest and youngest school in Fort Erie!

Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics is a thorough foundation for reading and writing. It teaches the letter sounds in an enjoyable, multisensory way, and enables children to use them to read and write words.

This guide provides background advice for parents and teachers. It explains the principles behind Jolly Phonics so that your understanding of the teaching, and your ability to help a child, is much greater.

All the material is suitable for use in school and much of it is also well suited to use at home.

Jolly Phonics includes learning the irregular or 'tricky words' such as said, was and the. Together with these materials you should also use storybooks.

Parental support is important to all children as they benefit from plenty of praise and encouragement whilst learning. You should be guided by the pace at which your child wants to go. If interest is being lost, leave the teaching for a while rather than using undue pressure. Not all children find it easy to learn and blend sounds. It is important to remember that this is not because they are unintelligent but because they have a poor memory for symbols and words. Extra practice will lead to fluency in reading and help your child manage at school.

The five basic skills for reading and writing are:

1. Learning the letter sounds
2. Learning letter formation
3. Blending
4. Identifying sounds in words
5. Spelling the tricky words


1. Learning the Letter Sounds

In Jolly Phonics the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet. The sounds are in seven groups. Some sounds are written with two letters, such as ee and or. These are called digraphs. Note that oo and th can each make two different sounds, as in book and moon, that and three. To distinguish between the two sounds, these digraphs are represented in two forms. This is shown below.



Each sound has an action which helps children remember the letter(s) that represent it. As a child progresses you can point to the letters and see how quickly they can do the action and say the sound. One letter sound can be taught each day. As a child becomes more confident, the actions are no longer necessary.

Children should learn each letter by its sound, not its name. For instance, the letter a should be called a (as in ant) not ai (as in aim). Similarly, the letter n should be nn (as in net), not en. This will help in blending. The names of each letter can follow later.

The letters have not been introduced in alphabetical order. The first group (s, a, t, i, p, n) has been chosen because they make more simple three-letter words than any other six letters. The letters b and d are introduced in different groups to avoid confusion.

Sounds that have more than one way of being written are initially taught in one form only. For example, the sound ai (rain) is taught first, and then the alternatives a-e (gate) and ay (day) follow later.

Making Connections!