May 16-20

Hello everyone and welcome to another week. I cannot believe it is mid-May already...

SPRING CONCERT

What a show! The Kinders kicked-off the evening with a fantastic rendition of 'Mr. Sun', followed by a carefully choreographed, crowd-pleasing 'Rockin' Robin'! Too cute! The kids did a wonderful job and thanks to all of you for helping them practise at home and for bringing them to the show (I know how busy the evenings can be!). Thank you!

FIRE DRILL

The school had a fire drill last week and the Kinders did a FANTASTIC job! Everyone remembered to stay calm, to stop talking, to drop any toys, to line up quickly at the back door and to walk quietly, in our line, to our designated spot. Well done, SK!

THIS WEEK...

The children enjoyed learning about frogs and their habitats so much the last 2 weeks, that we've decided to continue our study of 'things slimy'! We are now investigating worms and learning all about what hard workers they are.

In Math, the children are using worm manipulatives to measure and compare various classroom objects. They are encouraged to draw and label their results in their notebooks. We are also investigating Canadian coins and have set up a patterning station with coin patterning cards.

Our Dramatic play area has been transformed into the "Carleton Heights Fine Flowers and Garden Centre" where the children have been busy 'planting' and selling flowers. Markus, Adrienne, Abbey, Liam and Abasiofon worked together today to make a list of the different flowers they sell as well as their prices (you might want to shop elsewhere...our tulips cost $45 a stem!?). Lots of learning and lots of fun!

Our Language focus this week is on book writing. The children have made a variety of collaborative books this year and now they are beginning to write their own individual stories. After modelling how to write a book called "My Weekend" the children were invited to think about their own weekends and write their own stories. They took this very seriously and several children continued writing even after Choice Time began! Please remember that writing at this stage involves thinking about the ideas, drawing pictures to represent the ideas, orally telling about the pictures, labelling with random letters, labelling with beginning sounds, labelling with words, writing phonetically, and perhaps writing with accuracy. There is a broad range at this stage, and I meet the children where they are and encourage them to take steps forward on the continuum as they feel ready. The main goal is to show them that writing has many purposes and, most importantly, to help them see themselves as writers!

We are also learning a variety of new worm songs, finger plays and poems (watch for the worm/cup puppets). To encourage and strengthen your child's phonemic awareness (letter-sound recognition) try playing rhyming games at home (simply substituting the first letter of family members' names will get quite a laugh!). Please continue to encourage your child to identify letters and simple words as you go about your day.

SHOW AND SHARE

May's Show and Share schedule has been sent home. Thank you in advance for participating. We have a Math focus this month (more/fewer and coins). The schedule does not always end up being exact due to illness and occasional forgetfulness, but rest assured your child will come home with the case at some point!

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS

May's book orders are due Friday, May 20th.

SUNNY WEATHER...

if we ever get any, please ensure your child has a hat and sunscreen (put on at home) as our play area gets full sun in the afternoons.

That's it for now. Thank you for checking in and enjoy the upcoming long weekend!

Warmly,
Ms. cox