February Newsletter

Well, it's certainly been an interesting day.

But here's your newsletter! Chock full of helpful suggestions and important dates.  Margaret and Ivy are our line leaders on Monday, along with our new theme for February, which asks students to bring in a picture of someone they care about that they would like to talk about.

I am especially looking forward to Hundredth Day, coming up on February 10th. More information should be coming home on that Monday, along with a handy dandy vest for you to complete at home.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Goegan

Short week

Dear Parents, 

When we have a short week, it always seems exceptionally packed, but this week we also had a performance on Monday and I was absent yesterday. So, apologies regarding the weekly reading program are due. We weren't in the class on Monday to do the poem or to read the short books together and the week sort of got away from me. So I won't put a new poem in next week and we'll continue to practice the two poems (I'm a Little Snowman and the one about the melting snowball that wet the bed) from last week for this Monday.

My sense is that many students enjoyed the Teddy Bear picnic and the performance on Monday, but I also heard a lot of complaints that they didn't have enough time to play and eat their snacks. Kindergartens have their priorities. 

A scene from the Red Sky theater production last week

 I'm busily working on our February Newsletter and should post it here later tonight.

Regards, 

Lisa Goegan

Volcanic links

I have two invitations for you for Monday, January 27th, 2014.

In the morning, the Parenting Centre will be hosting a Teddy Bear picnic, which we are invited to attend. A letter went home today for all morning students, but afternoon students are welcome to attend as well. It's a short celebration for literacy week and will take place at 10:45 am.  Pyjamas are optional, but bring your favourite stuffed animal along.

In the afternoon, the school will host a performance. All afternoon kindergartens will automatically attend, but morning parents are welcome to come and watch with their students as well. The performance by Red Sky theatre troupe is called Great Mountain and is a retelling of a traditional North Plains aboriginal story. It begins shortly after 1pm.

It's still all about volcanoes this week.

We've watched this video from National Geographic kids, which you may wish to watch with your child again at home:

Video Link


James' dad sent in some awesome photos from his trip to Mt. Vesuvius and we've been reading lots of fiction and non-fiction about volcanoes as well. James' favourite is When the Giant Stirred because he's fascinated by the before and after images of the volcanic island.

Before

After

I've also found this fascinating set of photos showing blue lava that I'm hoping to show students in the next couple of days. The lava is blue because of the high sulfuric content.

More on Blue Lava

Business notes

I am asked to please remind the parents of my JK students that the open house for SK immersion is this Wednesday Jan.22^nd at George Syme @ 7:00 p.m. (George Syme is located at 69 Pritchard Avenue)

Applications for SK Early Immersion are due online January 30^th.(Forms were distributed earlier this month)

I also have a Scholastic order that's come in from a backorder of Marvel SuperHeroes, Look and Find. If this belongs to you, please let me know.

Volcanoes! and other classroom news

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to a new year! 

The Gingerbread Men were decorated authentically by the students in December, but they were not necessarily photogenic.

Hopefully, they were delicious. I know students were thrilled by the gingerbread hunt on the last day and their excitement really launched me into the holiday season. I hope you all had a lovely Winter Break!

Last week was a transitional one, rehearsing many of the routines that may have been forgotten over the holidays. This week, we are back to business. Library will again be on Friday and Scholastic orders have just gone home.

Volcanoes are very popular in my classroom, so I thought they'd be a good topic to start us off for the new calendar year.

In December, students in the afternoon class began making volcanoes in the sand table just about every day. At first, they were just piles of sand, but they slowly got more detailed, including holes and a more conical shape. I brought in some books. I got requests for water to fill them, and dinosaurs to destroy with lava.

So, then, over the holidays, I bought a volcano kit.

We had to mix the papier mache paste

Then, pat it carefully into place and paint it.

We mixed baking soda with red food colouring and carefully added vinegar

The results were impressive

Many students journaled about volcanoes and read the books that I had placed in our science centre, over and over. 

Everyone got a turn to be part of the experiment

Some students created new experiments. 

 After mixing the baking soda and vinegar in the volcano, I gave students the cups with the baking soda to devise further experiments. Some mixed the remaining baking soda to get more bubbles, some blew on the foam to see how they could alter the lava flow.

And this morning, the AM class noticed the volcano...

James and Blake looked at a volcano book to make sure they got the crater right for their sand table volcano.

Jahlisa's play doh volcano has sparkly beads to show lava flow. 

So, I took out the baking soda and vinegar again.

The lava didn't seem to want to fall, at first.

But then they really liked the mess. 

Afterwards, our Reading Buddies came.

Reading Buddies helped explain how volcanoes work

...though the morning students are also very interested in dinosaurs. 

 I hope this investigation continues. I am beginning to use this interest to foster experiments with baking soda and vinegar, which I hope will lead us into pH. At the same time, students seem very interested in Dinosaurs and exploring more about how fossils came about, so there's a lot to build towards.


I hope your January is flowing smoothly.