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!