Dear Parents,

This year, because Hundreds Day falls in February, we'll be focusing on math concepts during our show and share. Students are invited to bring in something that shows how they use math in daily life: they could bring in a receipt, a picture of house numbers, a map,  or anything else that's sparking their imagination. If you need help with this one, please let me know, I'm happy to provide more ideas.

I'm running a little late with putting the final touches on your newsletter. Normally, I like to have it out the week before the end of the month to give you time to plan your student's special day. Last weekend, I was putting the final touches on the upcoming JK reports instead. I'll plan to start the month with Julia on Monday and Jackson on Tuesday, and should have the newsletter up and ready to go for you on the weekend.

What else is going on in the classroom? We've been focusing on maps a great deal. I have a bunch oversize gridded maps that students have been keen to draw on: telling stories  and creating their own imaginary landscapes. I've also been reviewing features of a map with students: things like compasses showing North, colour coding for types of terrain and lines to mark borders are seeping into their own work. Finally, we've been making maps of stories we've been reading as a way to focus in on a retell through thinking about the settings and events. I'll post some pictures of all those things later as well.

Moving forward, our construction workshop is evolving once again. We're shifting it to a space station. Yesterday, students spent some time drawing steering wheels and dials for the console. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's all put together.

 If you have ideas for things that would add to our inquiries around space or mapping, please don't hesitate to send them in. We always appreciate when there's synergy between home and school

Regards,

Ms. Goegan

Talking about your learning

Explaining what you've learned and how you know it is an important life skill and the top reason parents say they enjoy reading this blog: they want to know what's going on in the classroom and find it hard to get their child to communicate in any detail.

This is a skill we work on in the classroom too. Sharing with the class not only builds oral communication skills, it allows students to scaffold each other's learning and provides positive reinforcement for their accomplishments. Recently, I asked students to bring an object that showed their learning to our end of the day circle.

Here are the activities students highlighted:

First, a large number really enjoyed our art activity. These mittens are created by using oil pastels to create a base pattern and painting over that with a watercolour wash. We asked students to create a repeating pattern.

 

 

Next, we have the products of our workshop.

This is a garbage compactor, and the gears on the outside turn in tandem with each other.

The next chunk talked about having worked on their journal that day. Here you can see some examples of students pictures and writing. 

Finally, here were two I found interesting because they didn't quite fit into the broader categories. 

This student chose to talk about the book he'd brought in for show and share. 

This student was fascinated by the water clock we have at the science table.

There are some limitations to an activity like this. For example, students had also made an interesting tunnel system in the sand table that day, which was more challenging to bring to the carpet, so they chose something else. And, too, you get the sense of the made objects, but they're less interesting outside the context of imaginative play.

Next week, I'll post a little more about the maps students have been working on. I feel like it's the first inquiry that's really caught the popular imagination since our Doctor's Office.

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

P.S. Library is on Monday. The circulation computer is back in full functioning mode, so make sure you return your book!

Magnets: How do they work?

Friday, we had a scientist come in to work with us on Magnets. It was a great morning with lots of student excitement and parent involvement.

Here students test the ability of different magnets to work through different materials, like fabric, paper, foam, and wood.

Here you see students decorating their fish. At the end of the day, each student got a magnetic fishing rod made with popsicle sticks and string so they could catch their fish. 

Here students test the ability of magnets to attract and repel. The magnets on the poles bounce like yo-yos when placed +/+ instead of +/-. Students also used magnets to push or pull toy cars. 

Students are testing their magnets through board. In the background you can see the magnetic fishing pond.

At this station, students tested the magnetic attraction of different materials. 

Thanks again to those parents who came in to work with students. Making memories like this helps foster positive school experiences and engagement in learning. 

Two side notes regarding programming: 

1. The circulation computer has been fixed. I will remind you when Day 1 rolls around again in order to return books. 

2. The first Kindergarten Pizza day is coming up very soon. We need 2 parent volunteers per kinder class to make it work. If you're available on a Friday, please consider volunteering and let me know you're available as soon as possible.

Regards, 

Lisa Goegan

Welcome back to the classroom.

Dear Parents,

It was a busy first week back!  Some notes:

1. I could still use two more parent volunteers for next Friday morning. We'll be working with Scientists in Schools that day, so it should be both fun and educational.

2. The circulation computer is still down. This is why you haven't seen library books coming home. Unfortunately, I don't have a timeline on its recovery, but in the meantime, we've introduced students to the library computers.

Starfall is an excellent program you can use at home, especially while learning ABC's. If you're interested in RAZ kids, which works better once you've got the letter-sound combos down pat, please talk to me about getting access through one of the school's subscriptions.

In our classroom, focus has returned to reading and writing. Here are some of the ways that looked last week:

Free form writing on the white board

Writing words from our poem

Practicing the alphabet

Writing out the new month.

Journals in the foreground

 Just like every other week, there was lots of other learning going on around these moments. Here are two other things making life exciting in our class:

We made a volcano experiment using food colouring, baking soda and vinegar

The new sand in the sandtable holds shapes really well. This is a tunnel through the sand.

Our students seem to love experimenting with different materials and seeing the ways they interact. Look for more experiments using ice and snow in the next couple of weeks. 

Scientists in Schools next Friday.

We've confirmed the date: We'll be having a Magnets workshop on the morning of Friday, January 16th. The presenter has asked for several parent volunteers. If you're available on this day, we'd love to have you come in.

Welcome back!

Dear Parents,

Sorry for the lateness of this update; the vacation was a much needed break, but I'm looking forward to the first day back tomorrow. December was such a busy month that it was hard to catalogue all the events properly, but if you look carefully at the newsletter, you'll see some reminders of the fun I missed showing you in the blog.

Here's your January Newsletter:

January 2015 Newsletter

In the second week, we have Scientists in Schools coming to visit for more about Magnets. This was a fascination of ours in December, so the visit couldn't be more timely. All four kinder classes will have this event in their class on either Tuesday or Thursday, for either the morning or afternoon. At this point, I suspect Tuesday morning, but will update you once we've confirmed.

Here's a student showing you that batteries are magnetic

Hope you also had a lovely winter break!

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan