Just a quick peek into some of the explorations and creations that have been taking place in Rm 003.
May 4th - May 15th
Happy Victoria Weekend. I hope that you have had a good one so far and making the most of the long weekend. We've had a busy couple of weeks in Room 003 and have certainly been enjoying the opportunity for outdoor learning that the weather has been giving us recently. Long may it continue I say! Some of the explorations included looking at the part of a tree where bark had become detached, drawing up a Four Square court using chalk by counting 10 steps along each side of a square to create an even sided square court and then counting in five steps along each side to find the middle thus creating the "Four Square" playing area. Some students also learned the football (soccer) game "Five-Alive".
Our final "Pupils of the Week" were chosen last week and congratulations go to Aidan and Jadon. Both made interesting presentations from the "Anticipation Box". A picture next to Captain America aboard a Disney cruise brought a big discussion as to whether this was the real Captain America or just an actor... It was decided that it must have been an actor - because the real Captain America would not be on a Disney Cruise! Home drawn pictures were also a hit and were described with exuberance and in detail.
Happy Victoria Weekend. I hope that you have had a good one so far and making the most of the long weekend. We've had a busy couple of weeks in Room 003 and have certainly been enjoying the opportunity for outdoor learning that the weather has been giving us recently. Long may it continue I say! Some of the explorations included looking at the part of a tree where bark had become detached, drawing up a Four Square court using chalk by counting 10 steps along each side of a square to create an even sided square court and then counting in five steps along each side to find the middle thus creating the "Four Square" playing area. Some students also learned the football (soccer) game "Five-Alive".
Our final "Pupils of the Week" were chosen last week and congratulations go to Aidan and Jadon. Both made interesting presentations from the "Anticipation Box". A picture next to Captain America aboard a Disney cruise brought a big discussion as to whether this was the real Captain America or just an actor... It was decided that it must have been an actor - because the real Captain America would not be on a Disney Cruise! Home drawn pictures were also a hit and were described with exuberance and in detail.
With the ending of "Pupil of the Week" we will be opening up the "Anticipation Box" a little more readily to all students who wish to present on something. Unlike the "Show and Tell" earlier in the year this will be a voluntary sign up and we'll be encouraging students to really focus on the Who, What Where, Why and How? aspects of their verbal presentations with the option of taking two questions. Students will then be able to produce a written response about the item they presented either using words, pictures or a combination of both. |
The phonemes over the past two weeks that we have been looking at have been "x" and "q". It was noted how "q" is always followed by "u" and actually sounds like "k" and "w" to produce "kw". With "x" a similar discussion was had in that it sounds like "ks". Some of words that were suggested by students included: quick, quiet, quack, and question. Some of the offerings for "x" were: axe, excellent, exhibit (which I thought was pretty darn good for a 5 year old) and exercise. What phonemes will we discover next week? Stay tuned...
Our Jump Rope for Heart assembly included the Kindergarten classes this year and we enjoyed watching the presentation by the Heart and Stroke Foundation to introduce the purpose for the fundraiser, the fun that can be had skipping and the awesome thank you gifts that could be earned for participating students. The whole school target this year has been raised to a whopping $20,000 which means, in a school of 784, each student only needs to raise about $25. That's less than half the cost of a medium "Double Double" each day for a month! Here is hoping we reach our goal. The Jump Rope event will be held on June 8th.
Students have been busy this week learning and writing about insects. We have also started to make some crafty caterpillars out of all the egg boxes that you have so kindly been sending in to us. They are coming along very well and have been great way to engage the students and raise excitement for when we get our live caterpillars into the classroom of our animal study / investigation. A big thank you goes out to everyone who has already sent in their $1.50 contribution and to Ms Kussner in Rm 115 who has organized the caterpillars' safe delivery (due some time this week, after the Victoria Day Weekend). Students will have the opportunity to feed, care for and observe the caterpillars and watch their dramatic change into butterflies. The process should take around two weeks and we will do a butterfly release from the roof top garden when they are big enough to be let go.
We welcomed the parents of potential kindergarten students this past Thursday who walked around the classroom to see what we were getting up to. Many had nice things to say, were impressed with the independence that the students were demonstrating and liked the activities that the students were engaging. The class certainly made a good impression and did everyone proud!
After reading the story "Where the Wild Things Are", kindly brought in by B.T. we were inspired to create monsters of our own. Each student drew a creature with the head, body and legs of a different animal. We then stapled these together, cut them horizontally where the different body parts met and voila, we are on on the way to making our very own Monster Flip Book. Just a few edits, additions and final touches to be made and we should be able to publish this week.
One student also went onto write their own little story during Journal time. With a few prompts, but not many, this is what the author E.T. produced. Great effort and dedication to completing a truly exciting piece of writing E.T.
One student also went onto write their own little story during Journal time. With a few prompts, but not many, this is what the author E.T. produced. Great effort and dedication to completing a truly exciting piece of writing E.T.
Until next week, I hope that you've enjoyed the updates about what we've been up to and do feel free to leave a comment.