October Newsletter and other classroom news.

Dear Parents,

Tomorrow is Library!

The October Newsletter went home in Mr. Zippy today along with our weekly poem. Thank you for remembering the folder!

I felt like the photocopier was unclear, so I thought I'd post the newsletter here for you and clarify our Show and Share beginning in October.

October Newsletter

Each month has a special theme and each student is the special student for a day, although I've had to double up to make sure everyone got a turn this round. (Depending on how busy this makes us, I may change things around for November.)

October's theme is "objects that begin with the same sound as my first name".  Since my name begins with an "L", I could, for example, bring in a lime, or a stuffed lizard, or a piece of Lego. Bonus points for objects that spur on our learning or creative energies in other ways. Since we'll be honing in on Alphabet books in October, this is right in key.

We started a little early with Alphabet books. This Ocean ABC was a hit today in class.

We would love to read favourite ABC books that you have at home. Please feel free to send books in with a note in Mr. Zippy. We'll do our best to take good care and return them when students are done. 

What else is up in 202?

Our science table is up and running. We have many pine cones and leaves and some decorative gourds to contemplate.We also have meal worms. Many thanks to Emma's mom for the donation. We'll have an opportunity to observe their whole life cycle in coming weeks. 

Mealworms are fascinating to observe.

 We also have a new light table. I used the Scholastic dividends to buy this for the classroom and look forward to all sorts of learning possibilities. I think the leaves we've gathered will look amazing against the light.

Students contemplate their geometric rocketship.

Science, in Kindergarten, is all about generating questions or "Inquiry". Collecting objects and providing opportunities to observe, explore and play are the first steps, but generating questions is key. If students come home with interesting questions, feel free to help them bring these ideas back into the classroom.

Today, we had an unusual object come in that students were quite excited about. I'm not sure whether it is a crocodile or alligator, but it did spark a lot of questions. Interestingly, last year a similar object provoked more existential questions (Why did it die? was particularly tough to answer). This year's students are busy counting its teeth. (37 on the bottom, in case you're interested.)

This inquiry could go off in a number of different directions. We could continue counting and comparing different animals' teeth. We could try to look at the type of teeth it has and what that could tell us about its diet. We could simply build up our vocabulary for describing and comparing different animals and ask, How is an alligator different from a squirrel?  a salamander? a crocodile?

In any case, when students start asking the questions, learning is particularly rich.

Sincerely,

Lisa Goegan

Dear Parents,

I wanted to give you a heads up regarding the Terry Fox Walk on Friday. It's important to me that when students participate in events like this, we do our best to give them context and meaning. I read a picture book biography of Terry Fox in class today. Many students had never heard of Terry Fox and weren't quite sure what our special event on Friday was all about.

At the same time, Terry's story has a lot of sadness in it, which can be difficult for young students to deal with. I try to focus on the message of hope and his sense of determination, but you may be having conversations at home tonight that echo our conversation today at school.

We also tried to wrap our heads around the fact that Terry Fox ran every day for months and that he ran over 5, 000 km. Many students had visited Ottawa or Montreal, so we used those as reference points and spent some time looking at a map like this one.

Kindergarten students will be walking around the track 5 times on Friday, which equals 1 kilometre. We're attempting to place that distance in context by looking at the metre stick and measuring ourselves. Most students are just over one metre tall and a kilometre is one thousand times that long. These are big numbers for kindergarten students.

To end, a picture: what I like about this is that it shows a long view. In the foreground, a student reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar in our library. In the midground, 3 students are making dinner in the kitchen. In the distance, you can see a bunch of boys comparing heights and measuring themselves against our wall chart. All are busy and engaged in learning.

Have a great week,

Lisa Goegan

Busy requests

Dear Parents,

There's a lot of information streaming back and forth right now. Here are some things you may have missed:

1. Parent Night is Tuesday. This changed recently and no longer matches the information on the calendars sent home. It runs from 4-6:30. There's a barbecue run by Parent Council and then a chance to look at the classroom.

2. The Terry Fox Walk is Friday. If you wish to donate, please return the forms as soon as possible. Students will be walking in the neighbourhood with their classes.

3. New poems (and levelled books for the SKs) will come home on Monday. Please ensure folders are in the Mr. Zippy for Monday.

4. Library will again be on Tuesday. Please return your books in order to get new ones.

5. Many parents have yet to send in a set of indoor shoes. These will be essential to keep our classroom livable in the coming months.

6. Also helpful is a single reusable lunch bag to hold both snacks and lunches. A backpack large enough to hold papers and the lunch bag is important as well. We want to streamline the movement of materials for students, so they can be as independent as possible.

7. Feel free to drop a note in Mr. Zippy to communicate about things of immediate concern: lost items, changes to pick up, or heads up for issues happening at home. However, if you have questions or concerns that require a longer answer, please leave a message with a number I can reach you at, or email me at lisa. goegan @tdsb.on.ca. It's important to me that I be responsive to parents, but my time in the classroom is best served by interacting with students.

There's also a QSP magazine drive and a sight/sound testing clinic form currently in circulation, so we've sprinted into the race at full speed this year already.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Playdough and Poetry

Dear Parents,

Tomorrow is library! Please return your book from last week in order to get a new book for this week.

We're also beginning our Poem of the Week and Reading Log this week. A folder will come home in Mr. Zippy with everything you need and then you'll return the folder every Monday to get a new poem (and a levelled book for SKs). I'm just putting the final touches on the folders now so expect to see them Wednesday at the latest.

Some parents have also been enquiring about volunteering in the classroom or in the school more generally. The way to get that started is to fill out a volunteer application in the office. During the Meet the Teacher Barbeque, I'll be handing out forms where you can indicate how you'd like to help and scheduling information.

One thing I'd really appreciate is someone who can make play dough for the class. I found this site with some really great ideas about some different types of play dough that I'd love to try in class this year. Click on the picture to see more:

 But, I promised you more bears. Here are the bears lined up to get into a castle, used for dramatic play.

 Here, the student in the foreground records her prediction for how many bears will fit in the boat, while the students in the background are at the water table trying to find out.

 Next students, made their own boats for the bears. The goal was to make ships that would fit 10 bears. I particularly liked Henry's sailboat. Getting it to stand up was a feat of engineering.

2 program notes:

1. Today I sent home an assessment that I did with SK students, testing their knowledge of the alphabet letters and sounds for your information. This will help us target next steps for letters to practice in reading and writing.

We have begun journals. Here is my favourite journal from a JK student today.

Later on, the student changed her mind and said it wasn't me...but I'm pretty sure her mom doesn't have green glasses.

2. Library will be on Day 1 (Tuesdays for now). Ms. Oseghale is taking care of library for our class. Students' first Library books went home yesterday. I saw some early Halloween and Christmas themed books, but know that these are entirely student choice. Please read and enjoy your book together at home.

If you send the book back early in Mr. Zippy, we are happy to store them in the classroom until our next library period. However, if you miss returning your book, a new one will not be given until the following week's library period.  Mark Day 1 on your September calendar and I'll be sure to add it to October's newsletter.

First Week in Room 202

Dear Parents,

We've survived the first week, heat wave and all. Thank you for being patient as we continue to work through the kinks of our new schedule. If you have any concerns, please do contact me so we can work to resolve issues together.

With 30 little bodies in our room, getting outside is very important. We use our yard in a variety of ways to facilitate our play based learning and we'll be outside in most weather. This week already, we've brought a water table for sensory play, bean bags and balls for building gross motor skills, and earth movers outside for imaginative play. Making sure your little one is dressed for playing outside is helpful to their learning.

(On that front, please do send back your forms, a spare set of clothes, and a pair of indoor shoes as soon as possible. Indoor shoes are good for rainy weather and for gym. They also help keep the classroom clean. )

I'm hoping to show you what play based learning looks like in our classroom as the year progresses. Kindergarten is all about following the mood and seizing the learning where it happens. For instance, this week, I started with magnetic letters and numbers as one of our centres, but it wasn't very popular. Some sorting was happening though.

L is sorting the letters by colour.

So we expanded on that and have really been using our counting bears. First, we sorted them by colour.

Next, we compared the sizes and counted how many of each colour we had. 

Then, individual students decided to see how many would fit on a couch or along a ledge, suggesting that we might use them to measure. 

Teddy bears have also shown up in our songs, in our stories, in building, and at the sensory centres (They float, but play dough tends to stick to them). As kids use their imaginations, I'm interested to see where else they might head. 

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan