May 11-14

 Hello Families,

Our room was hopping this week with lots of chicken and geese snuggles.  The Kindergarten students were so eager to come and see how their feathered friends had been changing each day.  We see that our chickens are getting their feathers- their wings are getting so big and they can flap them and glide off of our laps.  Their talons are growing, and one of them is getting quite a big comb on his head.  They are getting harder to hold on our laps- but they sure like to explore the classroom.  We built them a playground at the block centre and they had lots of fun playing on it.

Our little goose with the tired neck- we kept calling him "Pancake" because we needed to flip him over often- he is a wiggly guy- was so happy to get lots of pets and snuggles this week.  He went back to my farmer friend for extra care while his neck gets stronger.  Johnny Marshmallow has been keeping us so busy in the classroom.  He joined us for a class photo, went for a walk around the school with us and even came along to the Library with the AM class.  He was so helpful to Ms. McLean- checking out all of the books and sitting to look at books with us at the carpet.  Next week we'll see if our other eggs will hatch.  We need to have so much patience- but we are learning how to wait together:)

This week we learned about the Letter X.  We practiced making the letter X which can be tricky to make- and we can identify the sound "X" makes in the middle and ends of words. We know that there are not many words that begin with the letter X- so we decided to make it a Pirate week- "X marks the spot!"  We read silly Pirate stories this week and created our own alphabet letter maps- just like "Captain Seasalt" the Alphabet Pirate Guy from our alphabet videos.  We even crumpled and stained our maps to make them look real.  Next week we are going on a "Alphabet Treasure Hunt" in the school.

We continued to learn about 3D shapes and went on a shape hunt in the school.   We played in our Flower Shop, had a class picture, made paintings, built cool things with lego, made our own cool X-ray fish and practiced writing words on our whiteboards. 

Next week the AM class will go on their field trip to the Farmyard.  If you have not returned their paperwork- please do so as soon as possible.  I will be sending additional information home for field trip volunteers.  We're hoping for a sunny, beautiful day  - and I am sure we'll have a fantastic time.

May 4-8

 
Hello Families,

This has been a VERY egg-citing week! We began the week welcoming 2 baby chicks.  They had hatched over the weekend and were very fluffy and adorable- waiting for the students on Monday,

We learned about chicks, and made lots of observations about our new friends.  We have named them Oreo and Shadow.  As the week went on we noticed new things- like they are growing feathers- their talons are getting bigger and they are starting to have patterns on their wings.  We learned new facts about chickens and we even had time to hold them and cuddle them.

Later in the week 2 baby goslings hatched. Mrs. Rupert showed us the giant eggs they came out of.  We noticed that their feet are different from the chickens feet- they are webbed to help them swim.  One Goose is named "Johnny Marshmallow" and we were able to give him pets.  The other goose was born with a very weak neck and Mrs. Rupert is giving him lots of extra vitamins to help it get stronger- so we haven't been able to play with him yet.  She calls him "Sweet Pea".  We'll get to spend more time with them this week.  We are still waiting for a few more eggs to hatch.

This week we learned all about the letter Q.  We know that Q and U are best friends, and they are almost always in words together.  We went on a Q letter hunt and recorded words that began with Q.  We also made our own Quilts using fabric and fancy papers.  We practiced writing the letter Q and identifying Q's in words.  Some of us also spent sometime with Ms. Kathleen.  She is our Kindergarten occupational therapist assistant- she has come in a couple of times to work on some fine motor skills with the class,  This week we worked on drawing people using different shapes.
 

This week we began our math exploration on 3D shapes.  We reviewed 2D shapes and then went on a 3D shape hunt in the school- looking for cubes, cylinders, spheres, cones and pyramids.  We found so many cylinders- they are everywhere!  We will continue to learn about these shapes and solids next week.  Make sure to ask your child what 3D shapes they can see in your home.

We also worked really hard this week creating a special surprise for our Mothers.  We read "The Important Book" together and thought of all the ways our Mom's are important.  We created our own letter to give to our mom and even painted beautiful flowers to go along with it. 

In centres this week we continued to play 'Flower Shop", we crafted chickens, painted paintings, built obstacles, completed more 200 piece puzzles and built huge structures using different materials.  We also had lots of fun creating our own "playground" for our baby chicks to explore.  The PM class had a great time on our Buddy Picnic on Friday at the Pirate Park.  The AM class will do a Buddy Picnic in a couple of weeks- weather permitting.

Lastly- field trip forms will be going home this week- so more information is coming!

Here are some pictures from our week:

April 27-May 1

What a beautiful spring week! We have LOVED the sunshine, the early sunrises, and warm days! This was our last week of April and we had lots of Egg-citement in our classroom as there was an arrival of eggs and an incubator that have arrived to be in our classrooms.  

Mrs. Rupert's neighbour lives on a big farm and has graciously shared a bundle of eggs with our classroom so we can observe the hatching process, have our own class pets and learn all about our mystery eggs.  We learned about creatures, birds and animals come from eggs.   We noticed that our eggs were different sizes, shapes and colours.  We made predictions about what could possibly be inside.  We know that waiting for an egg to hatch requires lots and lots of patience!  Hopefully they will hatch soon.  We can't wait to meet them.

This week we learned all about the letter Z.  We created Zebra puppets, practiced making letter Z's and can identify words that begin with the letter Z.  The morning class was able to do the Zipline Challenge on Friday (the PM class will get to do it this week).  They needed to use their scientific creativity to create a "rider" that would travel along a giant Zipline.  It required lots of planning, re-imagining, problem-solving and perseverance.

We continued our science exploration of the 5 Senses this week with a taste test.  We learned about our tongue, taste buds and how they can identify different tastes- like sweet, sour, bitter and salty.  We tried some different foods with strong flavours- like lemon, pretzels, a piece of candy and baking chocolate. We used our vocabulary to describe each food, and recorded whether or not we liked it.  There were lots of candy fans- and less lemon fans!

Our "Friendly Flower Shop" has continued to be very busy- we have added some pretend money now and a place to write cards and letters to go with our flower delivery.  We have also continued to develop our puzzle skills - our puzzle masters are now completing up to 200 piece puzzles throughout the week!  We have been crafting, reading stories, painting, building, playing board games, drawing with sidewalk chalk and running around with our friends at the playground, making up new games and developing our gross motor skills.

I am still looking for a few parent-volunteers for our PM class field trip to the Calgary Farmyard on May 29.  Please let me know if you can join us.

Also- please help your child to return their Library book weekly.  AM class goes to Library on Thursdays and PM class has Library on Tuesdays.  Thank you!

Here are some pictures from our week:

April 20-23

 
This week  in Kindergarten we tried not to blow away with the wild gusts of wind that blew through late in the week.  We were very excited as we had the opportunity to watch a "Spring Concert" dress rehearsal for the Grade 2's and 3's in the gym.  We are hoping that all of the Spring singing will encourage Spring to finally come and stay for a while.

This week we learned all about the letter Y.  We know that Y can make a bunch of sounds and we went on a "Y" hunt in our classroom.  We are such good writers that now when we go on letter and word hunts - we can copy the word and draw our own pictures to go along with it.  We also learned about a mountain dwelling animal- a Yak! What a funny word to say.  We learned a few things about Yaks and even practiced drawing one together.

Along with the letter Y, we made our own Yarn Art.  We engaged in "process art"- which is art for the sole purpose of creating art and bringing enjoyment.  We created our own designs using all different types of yarn and lots and lots of glue and paint.  We have our own Yarn Gallery in the hallway that has been growing.  It looks incredible.  Kindergarteners are fantastically creative artists.

We continued to explore the 5 senses this week by engaging in a "Yummy" and "Yucky" smell experience.  We learned all about how our nose works, how we smell things and why our sense of smell is important. Then we smelled lots and lots of smelly stickers and determined whether our sense of smell liked it or did not.  We noticed that everybody has different preferences when it comes to smell- everyone's brain thinks a little different- and that is cool.

Lastly, we celebrated "Earth Day" this week and learned all about how we can help work together to do small things to help keep the Earth clean and cared for.  We made our own plasticine Earth's to help us to remember to try our best to show love to the Earth.

In centre time "The Friendly Flower Shop" dramatic play centre opened and the Kindergarteners have been having lots of fun ordering, selling and arranging flowers.  We also have been building big block structures, creating art with plasticine and pastels, making butterflies and playing lots of board games. We also worked together to complete our biggest classroom puzzle yet- 200 pieces! Wow!

Upcoming Field Trips:

Kindergarten students will be taking a field trip to the Calgary Farmyard in May. If you are interested in volunteering, you will need to have completed a police clearance prior to the date. Please send Mrs. Rupert an email if you are interested in volunteering at kerupert@cbe.ab.ca. The dates are as below.

TUESDAYS (PM) & THURSDAYS  (AM) are our Library Day.  Continue to check around your house for any missing library books.

FRIDAY, MAY 1                         AM Kindergarten ONLY!

FRIDAY, MAY 8                         PM Kindergarten ONLY!

TUESDAY, MAY 12                   Class Photo Day

FRIDAY, MAY 15                       PD Day - NO SCHOOL

MONDAY, MAY 18                    Victoria Day - NO SCHOOL

FRIDAY, MAY 22                       AM Kinder to Calgary Farmyard 

FRIDAY, MAY 29                       PM Kinder to Calgary Farmyard