Transitioning to Spring

 During the winter months we discussed the changes in temperature, nature, bugs, and animals. As we transition into warmer weather, we have been discussing what we can expect as Spring is coming! Through discussions, nature walks, and observations students shared what they expect to see, hear, smell and touch. 

We read the book One Springy Singy Day by Renee Kurilla. One child even shared "I can hear the birds chirping just like the birds in the book." 

We began by using our knowledge of popcorn words to identify what we can see in our classroom. 

"I can see a donut"

"I can see a black backpack"

"I can see a paint"

"I can see a glue" 

"I can see a white board" 

Please ask your child "What popcorn words do you see?"

On Friday, the AM Kindergarten class used their knowledge of spring and popcorn words to identify what they can see on a spring day! 

When the weather is warmer, the PM Kindergarten class will head outside to observe the changes in Spring :)

Reminders 

Thank you for returning your home reading on Monday's :) 

We are Writers!

Children need many opportunities to experience language in playful ways, and in kindergarten we write often! We use alphabet charts, writing paper, pencil, markers and crayons. We always start with drawing a picture, and talk about our ideas with other students and the teacher. Then, we write!

Using word bubblegum, students “stretch out” the word they want to write and write down the letters sounds they hear. Students are encouraged to work independently, and are praised often. We believe it is important that children know they are not expected to write exactly as adults do (we call this “adult” or “book” spelling). Success occurs as children’s writing begins to include more accurate letter sounds. Each student is celebrated every step of the way!

You can support your child’s written language in much the same way that you supported their oral language development as they were learning to talk. Praise your child’s attempt at writing and provide them with writing tools such as markers, pencils, pencil crayons, and paper at home.

For the next few months, we will be learning all the popcorn words. Please ask your child "What popcorn words do you see in this picture?"

Reminders

Thank you for returning your home reading books on Monday's :)

Learning through Play!

On Thursday morning we had a practice lockdown. The purpose of a lockdown drill is to give students and staff members of KTS an opportunity to practice what to do in case of a real lockdown. We discussed how a lockdown drill is similar to a fire drill and all schools practice this. We remembered to be safe, silent and serious. The students did a GREAT job! We sat quietly until Mr. Belcher and the police officer opened the door and the police officer thanked our kindergarten students for sitting so quietly! 

Purposeful play is an important mode of learning for children. It honours the learning styles  of 5 year olds and enhances social/emotional, physical, and intellectual development. 

Through organized activities and purposeful play, children are able to explore and experiment with their environment. They clarify and integrate information and concepts encountered in their previous experiences (Alberta Education Kindergarten Program Statement).

Here are a few pictures of the centres we explored this week! 

"We are making cookies for our coffee shop" 

We turned our dramatic play centre into a Tim Hortons! The students co-created the menu and are taking turns exploring the different roles at our coffee shop :) 

"We are digging for gold!" 

Please ask your child: "What centres have you been to?" "Who do you play with?" "What have you created?" 

REMINDERS 

Thank you for returning home reading books on Monday's! Students are enjoying reading books with their peers and sharing the popcorn words they can identify :) 

Thursday March 25 - Conferences (No School) 

Friday March 26 - Conferences (No School) 

Monday March 29 - April 5 - Spring Break 

Enjoy the sunshine :) 

Subitizing

 

In Math we are focusing on number recognition and subitizing. 

What is Subitizing? Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize “how many” in a small set without having to count.  

We love this subitizing song, please watch with your child! 

Ask your child, "What number's can you recognize?" 

To help us practice subitizing and get numbers "stuck in our brain" we have been playing a few number games! 

First we played "Tug O War" 

Today, we learned Level 1 of "Number Battle". Each player rolls their dice, says the number and represents the number with their fingers. Students then identify which is the bigger number. 

This is a game you can play at home, all you need is a partner and two die please ask your child how to play Number Battle :)

Reminders

Home Reading - Thank you for returning the Home Reading bags on Monday's. Happy Reading! 

Friday, March 19 AM Attends 8am-12pm

March 25 and 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences No Classes 

March 27 - April 5 Spring Break (No Classes) 

Home Reading

 

Thank you for your support and patience during the first week of home reading. As mentioned in School Messenger home reading books will be sent home with your child on Thursday’s. We ask that home reading books be returned on Monday’s to allow for the three day quarantine period.

In Kindergarten we are all readers!  Our goal is for your child to develop a LOVE of books and reading. With your child, practice and celebrate any one of the reading skills below: 

1. Look and talk about the pictures

 

Why? To develop our oral language and imaginative skills 

 

 

2. Point to each word as the adult or student reads 

Why? To develop an understanding that text is read from left to right, top to bottom 

 

 

3. Use Memorization to help us read

Why?  To develop our confidence and comprehension 

 

 

4. Use Pictures to help us read unfamiliar words 

Why? To develop beginning decoding skills 

After you have read a book with your child you may wish to: 

Ask your child to identify popcorn words 

Ask your child to identify the number of words on a given page

Ask your child what happened in the story? 

Find words in the story, and have your child create rhyming words 

Happy Reading :) 

Kindness at Kenneth D. Taylor School

 It all started with the question ”How does kindness lead to HEART?”, 100 day celebration and meeting of Mrs. Steckly & Ms. Fieldstone’s kindergarten classes, Ms. Mann’s Grade 1's and the Grade 2s from Mrs. Fraser’s class sharing the story The Kindness Book by Todd Parr over Google Meet on Tuesday. Each class then explored what kindness was and found a way to connect the 100 day celebration.

We began the week by sharing our affirmations and exploring what a friend can do, what a friend will do and what friends like to do together. After, we brainstormed what Kindness meant to us in room 108. See below :)

On Friday we discovered that K.A.N (Kindness Awareness Ninja) was found throughout the school and a message from K.A.N. was sent to the classes. K.A.N challenged us to complete acts of kindness. This goes with Pink Shirt day(Feb. 24) and kindness week starting on Monday, February 22, 2021. The best part was there was no end date as to when our kindness acts have to stop. We are looking forward to future activities with our buddies, looking for K.A.N next week and acts of kindness.

Please ask your child "Who is K.A.N.?"

and.

"How can you show kindness?"

REMINDERS

• Please ensure your child has a reusable water bottle :) 
• Please keep all personal toys, and stuffies at home :) 

Friday February 26th AM Attends

Sneaky Messages

Students were very excited to write and hide their sneaky messages. 

We have been working on print and word awareness in Kindergarten. We can: 

• Point to each word when we read 
• Read from left to right 
•  Count each word in a sentence 

With your child, read the Sneaky Message (use your finger to point to each word) 

Ask your child, "How many words are there?"  (count together!) 

Here are a few sneaky messages our families have found! We will continue to discuss our sneaky messages and how they made us feel next week :)

"Found something in my coffee mug, frogs are pretty special to K and he specifically wanted this coffee mug and told me I have to use it tomorrow morning.

"I hid it under my Mommy's placemat at dinner. She said thank you she was happy"

"Found my sneaky message in the fridge" 

" I hid it in the pantry cuz my mom could find it very easy and her heart exploded with love"

"I found I's sneaky message in his lunchbox!"

" I told her to go make coffee in a little bit. We played hot and cold so she could find the message. She was happy because I wrote it" 

"I hid it in my daddy's piggy bank because when he wakes up he looks there to get his phone" 

"I found my sneaky message and Lilly was excited too" 

"I hide it in the pillows because my Mommy and Daddy could find it . They were happy!" 

REMINDERS

Friday February 19th PM Attends 

Friday February 26th AM Attends

 

Collaborative Art

This week we began a collaborative art project with all five Kindergarten classes. Each class is responsible for a jigsaw piece of the final art puzzle. Collaborative art projects provide students with an opportunity to create lasting artwork that each individual participates in. Creating a collaborative art piece takes patience, teamwork, respect and strengthens our classroom community. 

Each class received a blank paper to use as their canvas. We began by brainstorming ideas, and deciding what our piece of the puzzle could represent. Working as a team, the AM class decided they want their artwork to show their love for the ocean. The PM class wanted to represent their love of the calm colour monster through art. Here are a few pictures of our progress: 

Stay tuned to see the final piece of art our Kindergarten community creates :) 

REMINDERS

Wednesday, February 10th  - Valentine's Day Celebration (see previous blog post or your email for more details ♥️)

Thursday, February 11th and Friday, February 12th - Teacher's Convention, No Classes 

Monday, February 15th - Family Day, No Classes 

Friday February 19th PM Attends 

Friday February 26th AM Attends

The Colour Monster

 Hi Kindergarten Families, 

Thank you to our guest teachers Mrs. Wilcox and Mrs. Roberto for teaching us this week. I am looking forward to seeing all of your smiling faces (under your masks :) ) on Monday! 

To develop our literacy skills we have been using The Colour Monster Wall story. We use Wall Stories to build our oral language, fluency and print awareness, develop confidence in reading and see ourselves as authors and illustrators! Together we are learning how to identify our emotions (e.g. "I feel happy", "I feel calm"), and regulation strategies we can use when we feel sad, scared or mad. 

We began with simple patterned sentences inspired by "The Colour Monster"  to explore feelings and emotions. We are focusing on the sight words "he" and "is". 

 Using our knowledge of lines and shapes, we learned how to draw the colour monster, and how to identify what emotion he is feeling using colours (e.g. yellow = happy, blue = sad). 

The Colour Monster is one of our favourite books in Kindergarten! Here is a version of The Colour Monster we have read in class :) 

Ask your child "What colour do you feel right now?" 

Reminders 

We love getting outdoors and try to go out as much as our schedule (and weather) allows. Please make sure students have mittens and hats everyday! (Snow pants are a bonus :) ) 

Friday, February 5 AM Attends 8-12pm (NO Class for PM)

Wednesday, February 10th  - Valentine's Day Celebration (see previous blog post or your email for more details ♥️)

Thursday, February 11th and Friday, February 12th - Teacher's Convention (NO SCHOOL)

Monday, February 15th - Family Day (NO SCHOOL)

Valentine's Day in Kindergarten at KTS

 Dear Families,

We are getting very excited about Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day provides opportunities to talk about friendship qualities and spreading love (for example, sharing, using other people's ideas, taking turns, giving compliments and showing acts of kindness). 

With this in mind, we will be having a small celebration on Wednesday, February 10th. 

Here are a few guidelines fo the day:

Cards

• Students may bring Valentine Cards for all their classmates. This is optional.
• Because of quarantine restrictions, please send in your child's Valentine Cards by Thursday, February 4th. You are welcome to send them earlier than this date.
• Please fill in the Valentine cards in the following manner:
• To:  (leave blank, this helps with handing out our cards)
• From: Your child's name
• There are 19 students in the AM Class
• There are 17 students in the PM Class

Food

• In accordance with Alberta Health Guidelines, please do NOT send in any chocolates, candies, or food with your child's Valentine Cards
• If you would like to send in a "treat", feel free to send in a pencil, eraser or small toy for each child. This is optional

Students can wear red, pink, hearts etc. if they want to!

Please let your teacher know if you have any further questions.

Thanks!

The Ken Taylor Kindergarten Team