Outdoor Play!

We used up all of our bubble solution, so Shanaya decided to make her own. She added water and dish soap and it worked pretty well! Good thinking, Shanaya!

Making a Volcano!

On Friday, we begun to make the initial stages of our volcano. We made dough out of flour, salt and water and covered a pop bottle. Hopefully, the dough will harden over the weekend and then we can add our mixture to the inside of our volcano and make predictions as to what will happen! How will our volcano explode? Do all volcanoes explode? These are some questions that will get our minds going!

SEM Spring Fair

The SEM Parent Council is organizing a Spring Fun Fair on Thursday June 11th from 3:30 - 7:30pm. Each family should have received a Synervoice explaining the event but here is the event explained.

It is a fun event intended to build community and fundraise at SEM.

Every classroom is given a Treasure Basket to fill based on a theme. The Parent Council will raffle off each basket. All funds will go towards making SEM an even better place to learn & grow!

Both kindergarten classes will be creating an Art & Craft treasure chest. Things like pastels, markers, stickers, beads, and ribbons are some examples.

Also, if you would like to donate a nut-free baked good for the Cakewalk event, which is also part of the Fun Fair. Those can be dropped off at the school the morning of the event.










If you would like to be apart of the event, contact Karen Hogan at hogwalkers@sympatico.ca or Cheryl DeLugt at cheryl.delugt@trilliumhealthpartners.ca


                                                Thank you for all your support, Parents!

Thank You Dads!

Thank you to all our Dads and Special Adults for making today's trip to Roseland Bowling a success! The JK & SKs had a great time! Between the bowling, time with Dads, glow-in-the-dark and music, they had a really fun morning - and even admitted to being tired by the end of the day (a rare occasion!).

Thanks for helping make our special morning possible!

Reminder: Tomorrow's Bowling Trip!

A reminder about tomorrow's bowling trip. Everyone handed in their money & permission forms, so thank you!

We will be leaving the school at 10am.

We will meet Dads/adults (no worries if you cannot attend - there will be plenty of adults to help out) at Roseland Bowling (422 Guelph Line). If you are joining your child on the bus, that works too (but unless you have already done so please check with me in the morning to ensure there are enough seats. ...so far we have plenty of extra, so it should be fine). Also, for the Dads/adults, the cost is $4.50.

Our Teddy Bear Safety Clinic

Special thanks to Nurse Cheryl who spoke to use about the importance of washing our hands, wearing helmets and eating nutritious food. Both classes listened and participated with lots of attention & enthusiasm. Thank you to all the volunteers in our classes to nurse our stuffed animals, choose nutritious lunches and commit to wearing helmets. We are a safe bunch!

Looking for Hawaii...

Free Play

Today, lots of kids made kites during free play. I think we can build on this and fly them outside on a nice, breezy day. ...Perhaps, tomorrow!

Teddy Bear Safety Presentation

    We will be having a "teddy bear picnic" on Wednesday morning. It will be hosted by one of the Mom's in the other class (Cheryl) who is a Nurse. We will be talking about health & safety topics and the kids are invited to bring in a teddy bear (or favourite stuffy) for the presentation. 

     We have extra stuffed animals in the classroom, so no worries to any child that forgets or isn't able to bring one in.

     Thanks!

Blake's Show and Tell

Thank you Blake for sharing your cards and figurine with us. The class had some great questions to ask you.

Continuing our Learning about Shapes

Today, we watched Myah's "Special Helper Story" which featured here in "Shape Land". This fueled our imaginations into making our own Shape Land either by cutting and pasting 2 dimensional shapes, building 3 dimensional landscapes or combining both.

Please Meet My Beautiful Baby Boy!!!

Hello Everyone!
I have been following the blog and it looks like everyone is having an amazing learning experience with Ms. T! Wow!
The last 6 weeks have flown by and having the time off has been needed and appreciated! Dealing with "all day sickness", dizzy spells,  and long sleepless nights is much more tolerable when you are at home. 
On Friday, May 22nd, I gave birth by scheduled C-Section at 8:40am to a beautiful baby boy.
This is Masen Sebastian Milazzo, weighing 8 pounds and 10 ounces.
He is sleeping allot, but is a bit of a night owl! My daughter Mia is over the moon about becoming a big sister, she loves her baby brother!
We are all doing great! Thinking of all of you... only 5 weeks of school left! Enjoy the warm weather!

My Daughter Mia (5) holding her baby brother

Reading and Playing with Your Child

Hi Parents!

Your children appreciate all that you do for them! Even on the days when it may not feel like it, believe me the kids in Room 8 are always making lots of positive remarks about all the play they do with Mom or Dad - especially over the weekend!

Here are some pointers on effective ways to read with your child: 

Try this                              OR                               these 10 suggestions

Also, when interacting with your child, consider modelling "inquiry encouraging" questions. They are explained in an article below.

When playing with your child try this

I know this is lots of information but just some resources in case you are interested!

Of course, kids are all curious little people and it is inspiring to learn alongside them!

Wednesday Free Play Fun!

Choosing a new inquiry topic...

      Today, we brainstormed a NEW inquiry topic. There were a few questions we have left about underwater life but our conversation morphed into the realm of... volcanoes, Hawaii, and dinosaurs. Hmmm, we will have to figure out some sort of unifying thread...
       I am excited to see where this will take us! Many kids already had some great contributions to this topic. Addison told us lots about fossils; Milo informed us about volcanoes, while Peyton is very intrigued by Hawaii!

Investigating 3D Shapes

      Yesterday, we continued our investigation into how 2D and 3D shapes are related. The SKs built towers using 3D shapes and orally labelled and described them to a partner. The JKs used geo boards to construct their own 2D shapes using elastic bands and other objects. We then joined our learning as a class and compared and contrasted our 2D and 3D shapes. Having a strong grasp of shapes through activities such as these - or constructing different shapes from other existing shapes - is a great way to develop spatial reasoning, or the ability to manipulative an object in one's head. ...Or in my case, maybe it'll make me a better navigator while travelling!

Reminder about the Bowling Trip!

    On Friday, I put the Bowling Trip Form in your child's zippy. Hopefully, it is still there by the time they got home :) Thanks to Marianne (the lunchroom helper in Mrs. Porto's class), the price for the bowling & bus for each child is $9.00

    If Fathers, Grandpas, or Uncles (or Moms) would like to join us, we ask that they meet us at Roseland Bowling in Burlington (422 Guelph Line) at 10am (or more likely 10:15am) by the time our bus arrives. If you would like to travel with us by bus, please let me know and I will make arrangements (there are a few extra seats). The Fathers or whoever would like to come will pay $4.50 at the alley.

    To reduce the cost of the trip, the owners of the bowling alley agreed to let the kids wear their indoor shoes. We will have the entire first floor to ourselves and it will be glow-in-the-dark! Exciting!

   I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing & restorative long weekend!

                                   

 

Show and Share

Hello Parents!

    Many children have been bringing toys and trinkets to school and  I ask that they remain at home. I know this may be hard to monitor, but if you could reinforce this rule if you see it happening at that would be great. It's caused some issues in regards to parts being lost, broken or some unnecessary drama among the kids.

     I spoke with the class about this rule and they asked that we do a show & share, so that each child has the opportunity to bring in something special (it doesn't need to be a toy. ...I am encouraging them to bring a unique object where the class has to guess it's function/origin/etc). Starting this Tuesday (May 19) it will be Madison's turn. I am trying to reinforce kids bringing a toy only on their assigned day (I will remind them the day before).

      Thank you!

Friday May 15

Thank you to our two special visitors this morning: Susan Hardy (Addison's Mom) and Kristy Robyn (Madison's Mom). It was great having you two in the class (and an extra set of hands!)

Here are some photos of our shared reading with our Grade 5 Reading Buddies.

Thursday May 14

        Today we had a fun day of language centres, free play and some painting. The painting was meant to be fireworks using straws and forks. Blowing paint through straws quickly morphed into finger painting, and lots of kids got quite messy. I apologize!
       We do have smocks but not all the kids were wearing them, and they did still manage to get paint underneath their smocks. It is washable paint.



        Also, could you pack your child's Home Reading Book earlier than Friday? By Thursday or even Wednesday would be great. This gives me more time to read with your child and have them choose another book. Things do get busy and reading with all 15 kids individually on Friday doesn't always happen, so more time would be ideal. Some families store the book in their child's zippy which works well too, so it is always available when there is a good moment for me to read with your child and them choose another book.


                                                     
                                                                           Thank you!

Special Mentions!

A pat on the back to Myah for ordering all the alphabet letters after she finished her sentence this morning! Also, today's Special Helper was Sia. Thank you for all your help, Sia - today and always! Finally, we had a visitor this afternoon...I bet you recognize this pilot!

Making Blue Slime!

Making 2 and 3D Shapes

Estimating Beans

     Our estimation jar changed from holding pom poms (43 as counted by Shanaya) to holding beans. We all agreed that we predict there to be more beans than pom poms, as the beans are smaller and therefore more can fit. This is an example of our numeracy skills - even if children are still beginning to count they can evaluate quantity. Even though the number was very high, everyone knew it would be higher than the pom poms. Great predicting and estimating, JK & SKs!
       Jordan counted all the beans for us and found there to be 190! Erica had the closest guess, with 200. Nice work!

Learning about 3D Shapes

Tuesday May 12, 2015:

    Yesterday, we reviewed our knowledge about 2D shapes and began learning about 3D shapes: cube, cone, pyramid, and a sphere. We went on an indoor scavenger hunt to identify all the 3D shapes around us! We also built ramps to determine which 3D shapes roll while investigating which others stack.

Save the Date!

    Save the Date: On Thursday May 28, from 10 am - noon both kindergarten classes will be going on a class bowling trip. We would like combine with a Father's Day Celebration, so Fathers are especially welcome to attend with their children, if possible.

   I do not yet have the price finalized, but I will let you know as soon as I do. One of the parent volunteers has a connection with this bowling alley, so they have given us a great discount.

Thank you Moms & Families!

  Thank you to all the Mothers & families who were able to make today's celebration a success! Thank you for all your contributions as well; we could not have done this without all of you.

   I am sorry about the volume of the video. ...we used our class iPad to film it and I am still new to Macs & iMovie. I will try to get it on this blog, but it involves putting it on YouTube (with privacy setting, so only those people with the URLs can view it). I can't post to the blog directly (unless someone knows how to do that!) but I will get it up in the next few days.
    Anyway, even though many kids could not be very well heard, the bottom line is that the kids are all thankful for all that you do! (even on those days that you may not see the appreciation!)

    Also, I apologize I was not able to capture the day on camera. The iPad storage was full and I didn't want to waste too much time deleting photos, so I apologize I have none to post. Definitely great memories, though!

   

Tomorrow's Mother's Day Celebration

      A reminder that tomorrow we will have a Mother's Day Celebration with Mrs. Porto's kindergarten class from 11:10 - 12:50. It will mostly be held outdoors but we will have at least one classroom open and supervised, with available crafts and toys for any siblings looking to play or to take a break from the sun.

     If you can bring a planter and spade (if you have) for you & your child to plant their seed, that would be most appreciated. Any treats would be great too! I didn't create a sign-up sheet, but no pressure! I know we have cupcakes, cookies, some fruit - anything is great and making enough for just our class will definitely suffice.

     Also, I want to let all parents know that every child will have someone to plant their seed with. Although this event is exciting for the kids in the class; of course, not all mothers are able to attend. Although the kids are encouraged to invite Grandma, Aunt, etc., I know that this type of thing also requires arrangements. Every child will have someone to plant their seed with and no one will be left out! Today, as a class, we discussed different family structures and responsibilities and talked about the ways in which our class is one big family too. I just wanted to communicate this :)

                                            

Does this belong to you?

         Yay! The warm weather is in full swing! Thank you to the parents who have packed some sunscreen and/or hat/sunglasses in their child's backpack. Thank you also to always ensuring your child has an extra pair of clothes. I am trying to discourage those children who like to have a mid-day outfit change... I can only imagine the laundry at home! That being said, though, we do play in sand, water, paint and the outdoors, so sometimes kids ask to change. I am thankful that kids always seem to have an extra outfit in their backpack or cubby. Thank you parents!

                                                     

          In the vein of extra clothing, there is some unclaimed clothing. The kids don't seem to recognize it... perhaps, you do?

Thursday Fun!

Thursday May 7, 2015:
             Today we read a "mathemagical story" where we used our numeracy to help us make sense of the story. We also had a read aloud from Mrs. Lambier and enjoyed painting. There were lots of creative games during freeplay - such as the marble game invented by Brandon!

Lots of Creativity and Imagination!

Milo helped cut the "grass" through his own mobilo-made lawnmower, Blake built a very impressive propeller, Jad & Liam enjoyed creating an underwater scene in the sensory table while Drew, Jordan & Liam were a "good guys" force!

Sensory Activities

Tuesday May 5, 2015:
                    Today, we made our own sensory bins and added all sorts of found objects, like  feathers, pinecones and pebbles. Sensory activities encourage children to investigate, explore and question the world around them.
Here are 5 reasons why sensory play is beneficial:

• Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which lead to the child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks.
• Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.
• This type of play aids in developing and enhancing memory
• Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child
• This helps children learn sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry)

          

Learning to Orient Ourselves and about Estimation

Monday May 4, 2015:

   We continued our learning about positional words by labeling our drawings. The one in the collage is by Addison. There were many beautiful drawings with dragons (Milo, Drew & Blake), kittens (Danica) and stars (Peyton). I did not manage to capture all the artistic visions on film!

     We also learned about estimation. Children estimated how many pompoms are in the jar. We shall determine whose guess was the closest tomorrow!

Our seascapes have turned into potions!

Indeed, life is more with glitter! Room 8 has discovered this, as many children chose to infuse their underwater seascapes with glitter, electric eels and collected nature findings, like pinecones and leaves. Made for some very neat exploration and display!

Friday Afternoons with our Reading Buddies

    In the morning, we continued our learning about vowels and circulated among literacy centres. At the end of the day, we listened or read to our Grade 5 Reading Buddies.

Making Underwater Seascapes

Friday May 1, 2015:
       We spent lots of time outside making our own bubbles and investigating what happens to particular objects when they are submerged in water. We also made our own water seascapes in jars.

Parent Observation

Hello Parents and Guardians!

        Some of you may have had the opportunity to observe and participate in your child's learning a few months ago. Given the many gains your  child is making, it would be great to host this again. I would like to begin these Parent Observation/Participation days, beginning the week of May 11th.
Here is the sign up sheet: http://bit.ly/1QV6ydH

        You will notice some of the time slots are longer than others. This is due to our schedule - free free to stay for as long or short as you wish! Our day varies in the morning or afternoon. The morning tends to be more structured while the afternoon has more free play and choice activities.
       
         If these times do not work for you, let me know and we will arrange another time. Also, if you would like to volunteer in your child's classroom, we can always use helping hands, so just let me know :)

Do you have baby food jars that you no longer need? (empty)

Hello Parents/Guardians!

    Do you have any baby food jars or something of that size that you are not in need of? I'm trying to acquire some for a classroom project (preferably all jars would be of the same size). Thanks!

Junior Kindergarten Orientation

CORRECTION:
     The JK orientation (for children and their parents who are entering JK in Sept., 2015) that was scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday May 5th (or Wednesday May 5th) has been postponed due to a miscommunication. The open house will happen early June. We will keep you posted.

Mother's Day Celebration!

       In celebration of Mother's Day, both kindergarten classes will have a celebration this upcoming Friday, May 8. It will be an opportunity for the JK and SKs to honour their Mothers or any Mom-figure they would like to invite (Grandmas, Aunts, are welcome!). Myself and the teachers in the other kindergarten class will organize a seed planting, craft & social from 11:15-12:50.

        What Should You Bring? 
 - Anything that goes along with simple gardening! A sunhat, spade, and gloves are a great idea!
- If you are able to donate, planters and treats/snacks for the occasion, that would be very much appreciated!

         Who Can Come? 
- Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, and siblings.

          What If It Is Raining?
- If it is raining, we will re-schedule this celebration.