Hello!

Today, we started off by discussing and going over the different languages that people say hello in. I asked the class to be inquirers and to tell me what their favourite way of saying hello was. Some said aloha, some said jambo, and some said Ciao. So, I showed them the different countries that these ways of hello were said in. I showed them pictures of Kenya, Italy (my favourite country!), and Hawaii. Everyone was so fascinated and intrigued by the pictures and aesthetic differences between each place. 


After, I read another book for our unit of inquiry called the Little Red Hen. After reading this book, using a hen puppet, we discussed the meaning of this book: to help others when they are in need. After, we coloured and decorated our own hen puppets. 


We went into language arts and practiced tracing the letter Bb. While doing this, I put on music by a famous composer Tchaikovsky, who composed songs for my favourite kind of dance, Ballet, and play, the Nutcracker. It was relaxing and definitely got everyone's minds stimulated and working well!!


We also read two books by Robert Munsch (He's the best!) called Thomas' Snowsuit and Moose!  Everyone enjoyed hearing these stories, as do they always when it comes to books written by Robert Munsch. 


We also had French and Music. 


A few reminders:

-Casual Day is tomorrow

-Picture Retake money and forms are due tomorrow

-Parent-Teacher conferences are on December 7 between 4 and 6 pm

****PLEASE return all report cards and parent comments. They will be photocopied and the original will be returned to you on that day

Have a super night!

Miss H. 

Hello Everyone!

Today, we started off the day with circle time and shared all of our stories about what is going on in everyone's lives and what has already happened. We also decided to sing the good morning boogie song a little differently.  Instead of singing "hello" in the song, we sung "jambo," which means "hello" in Swahili. For those of you who are not sure where Swahili is spoken, it is spoken in Kenya, a country I was born in.

We also played with some Franklin finger puppets and read a Franklin story book.  This one was called "Franklin's Neighbourhood." After we read this story, each student was given a piece of paper and asked to draw their favourite aspects of their own neighbourhoods. I wrote down the responses of each student. I received a lot of interesting ideas and we had lots of fun sharing our favourite moments together.

We also did some hands on activities to do with the alphabet and shapes. We also recognized and identified different letters, which were colourful plastic magnets and placed them on the whiteboard.  We also worked with identifying colours.

We had music and french.


Have a great night,

Miss H.

Hello!

After being sick last week, it was so nice to be back today to see all the boys and girls!

We started off the day with some time to build objects out of blocks.  Because it was a Monday, many students did not arrive until later on in the morning so we had some fun before everyone arrived.

After, we read a new book for our unit of inquiry, the Jungle Book. Everyone enjoyed this classic story that I am sure many of you parents, guardians, and grandparents may know!  We went over the book together and discussed each character.  We spelled their names on the white board and sounded out the letters as well as recognizing them on the board. 

After lunch, we had gym. After gym, we had French and then drama.  Now that the Christmas concert is approaching, we will be sacrificing some class time for more drama time in order to practice. With this said,  after second lunch, we had drama for half and hour and ended the day with hands-on alphabet activities and alphabet finger puppets. 

Have a great night!!!

Miss H.

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!

We started off the day with circle time when I posed a question for everyone to "inquire" on, one of the Learner Profile attributes for the IB Program.  My question was "what is your favourite thing to do at the park?"  Many students said they enjoyed going on the swings and the slides, but the most favourite thing for everyone to do at the park, a unanimous vote, is to play in the sand. I agreed since I greet them hello after recess, smiling at their sandy outfits. By looking at them, I know all of the students had a fun time in the sand box!

After circle time, we talked about this week's fable, "Little Red Riding Hood."  Yesterday, we made a wolf mask in remembrance of the wolf in the book. Today, we did a counting worksheet that dealt with counting the number of raisins on each of Little Red Riding Hood's cookies. After counting, students had to circle the correct number of raisins on the worksheet.  We also coloured a picture of Little Red Riding Hood and glued little pieces of red construction paper onto her cape.

We worked on number tracing, specifically recognizing, counting, and discussing the number 5.  We did a Sesame Street number 5 worksheet as well.

We also did letter tracing worksheets.

We read a book that introduces the winter season and the concluding of the fall season.  It is a very cute book called "Alfie's Long Winter," which is about a leaf named Alfie who was too scared to float off his tree at the end of Fall, so he stayed on the tree throughout the winter season.  Everyone enjoyed listening to Alfie's story very much. They also learned a little more about the physical differences between winter and fall!

We had gym, drama, and french.

A reminder: Picture Day forms/Money are due by Friday, November 18.  Please put them in the book bag, separate from the agenda. Thanks :)


Have a great night :)


Miss Husain

Happy Monday!

Good afternoon parents, guardians and friends,

Today was a great day for everyone in our class.  We started off the day with some fun number tracing worksheets.  Our focus for today were the numbers '3' and '4.'  Because there were many pretty pictures to colour, we all coloured them following our tracing!

We also had centres today after doing some number and letter activities. Today, we got a new student, which everyone made her feel very comfortable in the classroom.  Her name is Ony and she is two and a half years old!

We had gym, french, read the story "The House of Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle.  Everyone enjoyed reading this and, at the same time, we also learned a little about crabs.

Between 2:30 and 3:30, I will be away every day this week teaching tennis to the grade 4-8 classes.  During this time, I have put together lessons and activities that will be taught by Miss Chang, the grade 4/5 teacher.  Everyone got the pleasure of meeting and being with Miss Chang today during this time and everyone seemed to do really well :)

A reminder: TOMORROW is Picture Retake Day. Please bring your picture proof forms with you tomorrow if your child will be getting picture retakes.

Also, ALL picture day order forms/money are due by Friday, November 18. 


Have a great night!!

Hello!

Hello everyone,

Today we did some letter tracing sheets and also wrote letters on our own. Many of us did very well on these worksheets!

We also read two Franklin stories: Franklin is Messy and Franklin Fibs.  This taught everyone the importance of cleaning up our classroom and also to always tell the truth.  After, everyone each got a stuffed toy turtle that they each chose a name and favourite food for.  Everyone had fun with their own "pet" turtles that they did not want to say good bye to them!

We also did lots of hands on shapes and colour activities, with puzzles, buttons, and foam shapes/colours.  There were a lot of different activities to do so we were very busy!

We also coloured and made our own "In Flanders Fields" mini booklets to commemorate the soldiers who fought in the war.  I explained the importance of Remembrance Day, teaching that it is a day for us to remember all of the men and women who helped protect us and keep us safe.  It was also a day to thank these men and women, which is why we read the "In Flanders Field" poem.  I also explained the significance of a poppy.  We will read the book tomorrow for remembrance day.

We also had drama, french, and gym.

A reminder: there is no school on Friday.


Have a good night!

Miss H.

Hello!

Today, we started off the day with circle time.  Then we worked on our second unit of inquiry by discussing and doing an activity on the Gingerbread Man.  This activity dealt with the book and with recognizing our colours and shapes.  You will notice this activity in your child's book bag as it was sent home today.

We also read one of my favourite stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, one of the most talented children's authors and illustrators (in my own opinion and those of many others!).  Through this book, we learned the lifecycle of a butterfly.  We learned that it starts off as an egg, becomes a tiny caterpillar who then hides in his cocoon until he comes out as a beautiful butterfly.  I also retold the story as a second time using tiny stuffed animal versions of each cycle of a butterfly and different props to demonstrate different parts of the book.  The students had fun passing around these props and they found the life cycle of a butterfly very interesting.

We also traced and wrote all of the vowels and the letter "Ll."  Everyone is getting so much better at writing these letters and the shaky lines are quickly transforming into straight, fluid, beautiful letters... kind of like the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly (my own analogy!).

We also coloured a picture of a butterfly and watched an episode of Franklin as a treat for doing so well on all of our tracing worksheets.

We also had french and music.  Some students got house points for being such helpful students during these two classes!

Some reminders:
-There is no school this Friday. 
-Care Logs are due this Thursday
-Picture Day forms/money are due BY November 18th, 2011.


Have a great night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Monday!

Today, we had a great start to the week.  We started off the day with circle time, where we talked about the day/month/year, the weather, and we all shared what we did on the weekend.  Some of us has some pretty great weekends!

We also read the third fairytale book (we are focusing on one per week), which was the Gingerbread Man.  All of the boys and girls loved this story... old, famous fables are something that they have all been deeply interested in so far.  After reading it, we went over it and then made gingerbread man puppets, cut them out, and decorated them with sparkles.  We will be making puppets for almost every book so that the boys and girls can retell the story to you when they go home!

We also read a story about the Three Little Pigs. We already read this story, but this time, it was from the wolf's perspective.  Everyone enjoyed this book as well, especially since they already knew the story.

We did some worksheets on numbers and sizes (big and small). We also had gym, drama, and french.

A Note: I sent home homework duo tangs/folders for each child.  I will be sending homework, once a week, in this folder from now on.


Have a great night!!!


Miss H.

Happy Friday!

Hello everyone,

Today we worked on tracing and writing the letter Ll.   We are get much,  much better at writing it now!

We also did a mini booklet on the Ugly Duckling.  I am sure you will see these books at some point this weekend.  Later, we did centres, which included colouring, building blocks, and playing with play doh.  I play Christmas music while everyone did this.

We also had Drama today because Mrs. Deras was away this past Monday and Wednesday.  Everyone is getting much better at standing on the stage, getting on and off of it. Good job, boys and girls!

Mr. Browning came in to read to everyone today as a special treat. He even brought a stuffed goose toy for everyone to pet!

A kind note:  I sent home the pictures from picture day with each student today.  Please view the pictures and send money and the order forms by November 18. 


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!






Miss. H.

It's Thursday!

Hello everyone,

Today we did more exercises that dealt with tracing our names.  We all continued to do very well on it.  With all this practice, we will soon be able to write it without tracing!

We also made stick puppets that are based on the book, "The Ugly Duckling."  We coloured them, cut them out, and put some glitter on these puppets as a finishing touch.  After, we played with them a bit and did a little reenactment of the story!

We also read a book and compared it to the "Ugly Duckling."  This book was so similar that the name was even similar.  This book was called the "Very Ugly Bug."  It was a very funny book and was about a bug who, thinking it was too ugly, did not like her looks.  However, after some time, she learned to love herself for who she is, just like the ugly duckling.  We talked about both of these stories and the morals behind them and found many similarities between both books.  At the end, we decided that we should love ourselves just the way we are because we are all beautiful and unique in our own ways.

We also traced and wrote the letter of the week, Ll.  We did very well with this activity!!

Because Mr. Moreno was sick, we did not have music today.  We did, however, listen to Christmas music (a little early) and Transiberian Orchestra.  It was great!!

Have a great night!!!!


Ms. H.

Hey everyone!

Yesterday, everyone began to learn to trace their names.  Each of them got a personalized worksheet that had their name on it to trace!   Everyone did very well on this worksheet and I am glad that they are all getting off to a great start on writing their names.  I encourage all parents to please continue to trace with them on a regular basis or whenever you can.  Yesterday, I sent home a tracing sheet.  This is not due, but rather for you to work with your child and to encourage them to trace their name.

We also read the Ugly Duckling.  They loved this story and so did I!   The lesson they learned from this story:  to accept others for who they are and to never judge a book by its cover.  We will be working on activities that deal with this story all week.  Yesterday, they did a colouring worksheet that was based on the book.

We also did some number tracing activities for numbers 1 and 2.  I am noticing that many students are having trouble with the number three so I encourage you to practice writing it with them and I will be giving more worksheets on this number in class.

We also went to French class and had gym.

Kind regards,

Miss H.