Ms. Smith & Mrs. Grant's Kindergarten Class

The students have been learning about the coins in our Candian currency. We have looked at the symbols, names and values of each coin. We have also talked about how these coins are different colours due to the different materials used to make them. They are also working on learning how we can change five pennies for a nickel or ten pennies for a dime. Have your child help you sort the coins in your pocket or in a coin jar. See if they can help you identify the names, symbols or values of the coins you have. Add up how much money you have all together.

This week the students have been working their writing skills. They have been their letter blends and have now moved onto learning about long and short vowels.  The students will be bringing home some information related to their writing expectations for both JK and SK students, along with a sample of your child's writing. The senior's have been working really hard on adding details to both their writing and pictures. They are working towards having three or more sentences when writing a story and making sure that these sentences have finger spaces between their words, periods at the end, a capitol at the beginning and lower case letters thoughout their writing. They are also working on make sure to use both our classroom word wall, the words that they know and using their sounds to stretch their words.  The junior's have been working very hard on making sure their pictures have lots of colour and details as well as they are writing a sentence with some words and using the letters and sounds they know to help them write words they are not familiar with. They are also beginning to use finger spaces between their words and periods to end their sentences. Keep up the great job Kindergartens!!!

The students all thoroughly enjoyed our trip and got an opportunity to participate in two wonderful programs. In the morning we took part in the Discovery Science experience where students moved through a series of activity centers with their small groups to explore things such as: waterwheels, windmills, floating boats, leavers and pulleys, and lots of other wonderful activities. In the afternoon they learned about maps and why we use them, how to read them and then used a map to find objects in a room. Following this we went on a nature walk using our maps to find pictures of wild animals that live in the forrest and learned some interesting facts about them along the way. The students had a wonderful time and learned a great deal thoughout the day!

The students have really been focusing hard on learning about time. They are able to tell time to the hour and show it on a model clock in class. They are also beginning to learn about telling time to the half hour. Students are very happy to learn our poem this week "Hickory Dickory Dock" and use our classroom model clock to change the time and have a pretend mouse run up and down our clock. The students have also been working on the story "The Grouchy Ladybug" and using our clock to follow the times that are shown in the story. Keep up the great job Kindergartens!!!

This week the students have been talking about their mom's as Mother's day is quickly approaching. They have been writing wonderful stories which will be up on our wall shortly about all the great things their mom's do for and with them. The students are very excited to share something special they have been working on with their mom's this Mother's day. Happy Mother's Day Mom's!!!!

The students did a fantastic job singing with the rest of the kindergartens and grade ones on stage at Music Mania this Tuesday! They had a wonderful time listening to the other preformances and participating in many of the sing along songs. What a great morning!!!

We are working on patterning in math right now. We are creating patterns, finding patterns, naming our patterns and extending them. The students are working towards being able to identify AB, ABB, AAB, AAABBB, and many more patterns. See what patterns you might be able to find at home or on a walk in your neighbourhood. Have fun creating, finding and naming patterns!!

Happy Earth Day!  This week the students have been working on how to help our Earth and take care of it. We have been talking about recycling and making sure we put the right objects in each of our bins. We have also been talking about other ways we can help our Earth and envrionment. The students have created fantastic artwork to go along with their ideas on how to help the Earth. These are up in our hallway if you happen to be in the school be sure to take a look.

This week the students have been working on all things Easter. We have made some wonderful Easter bunnies which will be coming home shortly and have been talking about how we can share and be kind to those around us.  The students have been working hard in small groups on their reading and we have noticed great improvements in many of them. Keep up the great work Kindergartens!!

We have been working on measurement in Math class recently. Right now we are learning to compare the masses of objects, using words such as heavier, lighter and the same mass. The students have been estimating which objects they think will be heavier or lighter and then testing if they are correct by using a scale. They are also using the scales to find out just how heavy or light an object may be. For example: today we measured our classroom pet rock and discouvered that it is exactly 14 blocks in weight. That is heavier than a crayon and lighter than a large toy car.