Exploring in Kindergarten

School Nurse Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 00:56:00 +0000

The School Nurse visited our classroom on Friday to discuss personal hygiene and healthy practices:

*The importance of washing our hands
*Covering our cough with our elbows
*Turning away from others when we cough or sneeze
*Using a tissue
*Not touching our mouth, nose, or eyes with our hands (unless we recently washed our hands)
*Not putting toys, pencils, crayons, etc. in our mouth
*Brushing our teeth
*Eating healthy snacks and meals
*Exercising
*Getting plenty of rest

We discussed that hand washing is the most effective way to prevent the spread of germs.Children and adults should wash their hands:
*After using the washroom
*Before eating
*After blowing their nose
*After playing with pets
*It is also a good idea to wash your hands as soon as you get home from work, school, or shopping so that you will not spread germs at home that you may have picked up when you were away from home.

We practiced the proper way to wash our hands:
*Wet hands and wrists
*Use soap and scrub hands well - scrub palms, backs of hands, in between fingers and around thumbs, finger tips/nails, and wrists
*Rinse thoroughly under running water
*Dry hands well

Lost & Found

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:32:00 +0000

The school lost & found items are currently in our school front foyer. Do you recognize any of the items in the slideshow?

Dairy Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:29:00 +0000

Today the Kindergarten students learned about the effects of healthy and active living and the benefits of nutritious foods. A trained Dairy Educator visited our class to engage the children in a variety of activities and discussions that focused on learning about the four food groups with an emphasis on the milk and alternatives food group.

Reminders For This Week

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 17:47:00 +0000

Here are some reminders for this week:

Monday: Milk & Pita Orders are due
Tuesday: We have Library - please send Library books & book bags to school
Thursday: We have Phys. Ed. - we will not have Outdoor Learning on that day. The students will be doing gymnastics. Girls should not wear skirts or dresses on Thursday.
Thursday: Scholastic Orders are due
Friday: is a P.D. Day - There is no school on Friday.

Kindergarten Open House

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 18:44:00 +0000

It is almost time to register for Kindergarten at the DSBN.

Do you know a child who will be turning 4 or 5 before December 31, 2016?

Visit a DSBN Kindergarten Open House from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 28th, 2016 to register and to help your child get ready for his/her first day of Kindergarten at the DSBN.

On Thursday, January 28th you and your child will be able to see the classrooms, meet the staff and get a gift bag full of fun learning resources and information to help your child develop their school readiness skills.

For more information, click HERE.

Register For School Cash Online

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:09:00 +0000

School Cash Online is an easy to use and safe way to pay for your children’s school fees. Now, with a few clicks, you can pay for your child’s class trips and so much more from your own home. All you have to do is register an account, attach your children and in no time you will be able to make payments online. They accept many different payment forms.

Why Use School Cash Online?

Convenient Make secure payments 24/7 from the comfort of your home

Easy To Use Online shopping with various payment methods

Safe Your child won't be carrying cash or checks to and from school

Saves Time Manage your school expenses and view payment history in one place

How To Register:

Visit www.dsbn.org/schoolcash and select "Register Now"
Complete the three registration steps
NOTE: you must register using your name and not your children's

How To Confirm Account:

You will receive a confirmation email from School Cash Online
Clink on the link provided
Sign in to your account using your email and password

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:15:00 +0000

We hope that everyone has had a wonderful two weeks with family and friends.

Mrs. B and myself thank you for all of the thoughtful cards and gifts. We truly appreciate them.

We look forward to seeing everyone again when we return to school on Monday, January 4th!

Dressing For Winter Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:00:00 +0000

It is important for students to spend some time outside each day even when it is cold outside. The students in my class will continue to go outside three times a day: for outdoor learning at the beginning of our day and for recess at 11:00 a.m. and 1:20 p.m. The only times that the children will not go outside are when bitterly cold temperatures and other inclement weather conditions require that we keep the children inside.

Please bring your child to school ready to be outside:

I strongly suggest that students wear snow pants to school every day even when there isn't snow on the ground. Snow pants help your children to stay warm, clean and dry.
Students should wear two or three layers, such as sweatshirts, sweaters and pullovers. Layering their clothing will allow them to add or remove items depending on the temperature both outside and inside.
Students should have a warm winter coat that repels the snow, sleet and rain, while blocking the wind.
Warm socks and boots are a must to keep their feet warm and dry
Hats are one of the most important parts of dressing warmly in winter. A thick winter hat that covers their ears will keep students from losing too much of that essential body heat.
Mittens that are water-resistant keep children's hands toasty warm and protect their skin from the cold temperatures.
Neck warmers are easy for students to put on independently and keep the students' necks warm and protected.

Please remember to keep two extra pairs of socks and two extra pairs of mittens in your child's backpack. Please show your child where you have placed the extra pairs of socks and mittens so that he/she can independently find them when he/she needs them. I will try to make sure that the wet pairs of mittens and socks go home in your child's backpack.

Please also remember to label your children's winter clothing (including hats, mittens, neck warmers, boots and sweaters). Many students often have similar or identical items and some students do not always recognize their own items.

Information about Cold Weather Alerts at DSBN

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Although we feel it is important for students to spend some time outside each day exercising and socializing with their peers, there are times when bitterly cold temperatures and other inclement weather conditions require that we keep children inside.

Because Niagara is such a large geographical area, and weather conditions may vary from one municipality to the next, the decision whether or not to hold recess outdoors is made by the individual school principal. When making this decision, principals will often consult with neighbouring schools, talk with parents as they arrive in the morning, and if the decision to send children outside is made, will equip yard duty staff with walkie-talkies so that they can communicate with the office to sound the bells to bring students in earlier.

The health and well-being of our students is a top priority at the District School Board of Niagara, and if it is determined that the weather conditions pose a risk to their safety, students will be kept indoors. Extreme cold weather alerts issued by the Niagara Region (www.niagararegion.ca) are often good indicators that students will stay inside.

Inclement Weather Information

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 19:00:00 +0000

There may be times during the school year where inclement weather or other situations could cause transportation cancellations or school closures.

Information about transportation changes and school closures will be available on the websites, radio and television stations listed below as soon as it is available. Please do not phone the school for transportation or school closure information.

Remind App:
I will send out information that I receive about transportation changes and school closures through our classroom Remind App.
I will be sending home information again about how you can sign up to our classroom Remind App.

Websites:
DSBN Facebook Page
GRAPEVIEW Twitter Page
DSBN Twitter Page
Niagara Student Transportation Services Website

Television:
Cogeco Cable 10
CHCH Television
City TV

Radio:
CKTB 610 am
CHML 900 am
EZ Rock 105.7 fm
Htz 97.7 fm
KLite 102.9 fm
The River 105.1 fm
Wave 94.7 fm
Y-108 – 107.9 fm
Z 101.1 fm

Click here for printable information

PJ Day This Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 21:41:00 +0000

Grapeview School is having a PJ day on Tuesday, December 15th. Students may also bring in slippers and one stuffie.

Colour Mixing

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When the students are painting, they are often exploring what happens when they mix colours. I decided to extend their interest in colour mixing by providing more colour mixing experiences.

The first activity I provided was an experiment. I filled jars with red water, yellow water and blue water. I placed empty jars in between the jars of coloured water. I put pieces of paper towel from the jars of red and blue coloured water into an empty jar, from the jars of red and yellow coloured water into an empty jar and from the jars of yellow and blue coloured water into an empty jar. We were all amazed how the coloured water travelled through the paper towels into the empty jars and created new secondary coloured water. When the experiment was over, all of the jars had equal amounts of coloured water.

I read different stories about primary colours and secondary colours including Mouse Paint and Mix It Up.

At the Sensory Bin, the students were provided with cups of coloured water, eye droppers and small empty clear cups. They had the opportunity to mix the coloured water to make secondary colours. The students also created different coloured water beads by putting ice cubes of two different primary colours in a container with clear water beads.

At the Production Centre:

The students created their own Mouse Paint books.
The students had the opportunity to mix the primary paint colours (red, blue, yellow) to make secondary colours (orange, purple, green) and then paint with their newly created colours. Some students also explored colour mixing with white paint and created different shades of colours.
The students created tops with two primary colours and explored what happened when they spinned the top.

At the Light Centre,

The students experimented with placing transparent plastic objects of the three primary colours on top of each other.

Mitten Tree & Food Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:30:00 +0000

During the week of December 14 to 18, Grapeview school is having a Food Drive and a Mitten Tree. We are collecting non-perishable food items and new mittens for children. Participation if fully voluntary.

Suggested non-perishable food items for the Food Drive are:

Peanut butter

Canned Stew or Chili (hearty meals)

Canned Tuna, Salmon

Canned Fruits or Canned Vegetables

Juice boxes and Large Juice (real juice)

Canned Meat (chicken, ham, etc.)

Canned Pasta (Sidekicks, Beefaroni, Alphagetti, etc.)

Nut free granola bars

Gluten Free Products

Baby Formula & Cereal

Powdered Milk

Co-Created Class Alphabet & Word Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:04:00 +0000

In the past, teachers would put up commercially made alphabets and word walls in their classroom. Research has indicated that when students themselves create the classroom alphabet and word wall, not only do they build upon their phonemic awareness and extend their language development from the process of creating it, but it is also more meaningful to the students. As a result, the students are more likely to refer to the class alphabet and word wall when they are printing and writing.

For the word wall, each student painted one or two pages with watercolour paints. The students then attached a letter and corresponding Jolly Phonics picture cue to each page. Each student then placed his/her name and picture on the word wall based on the beginning letter. Students have a strong connection to their own names and the names of their friends and teachers. By referring to the word wall to find the name of a teacher or friend, the students are building upon their phonemic awareness.

For the class alphabet, each student created the lowercase and capital letter for one or two letters by choosing materials from nature and carefully forming the letter with the materials.

Literacy

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:49:00 +0000

Phonemic awareness is the recognition that words are made up of individual sounds and the ability to manipulate sounds. Phonemic awareness develops through a series of stages during which children understand that language is made up of words, which are made up of syllables, that are made up of phonemes (or individual sounds). Phonemic awareness is an oral ability, enabling children to identify rhyming words, identify words that begin the same, and identify the individual sounds in words. Meaningful, interactive games and activities give children the best practice in phonemic awareness.

In class, I have been engaging the students in rhyming and listening activities. Rhyming and listening activities help children develop stronger auditory discrimination and awareness. These activities give children exposure to and experience with hearing, identifying and creating words that rhyme.

In October, when a student was the Special Helper, he/she was asked to choose from a collection of objects - two objects that rhyme. The students placed the objects in the Special Helper bag. During our class meeting, the student took one item out of the bag and the class was asked to try to guess what the other object in the bag was.

Nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss books and many picture books are great sources for rhyme. At home, when you read books written in rhyme, ask your child to help you finish each phrase with the rhyming word. When you play rhyming games, allow your child to make up nonsense words if he/she can't think of 'real' words that rhyme.

In our Jolly Phonics program, each week, we are focusing on two letters and their sounds and focusing on identifying the beginning sound of various objects. In class, we review the letters and sounds by playing Jolly Jump Up. I recently sent home Jolly Phonics cards and instructions on how you can review the letter sounds and actions and play Jolly Jump Up at home.

I use the Handwriting Without Tears Program to teach the students how to print letters and numbers. Handwriting Without Tears is an award winning and research based program that teaches children the skills required for printing. The goal of the program is to make legible and fluent printing an automatic skill for all students. The play-based multi-sensory activities: are developmentally appropriate for Kindergarten students, help young children learn correct letter formation, address children's diverse learning styles (visual, tactile, auditory, kinesthetic) and consistently use the same motor patterns and verbal cues. The students have been practicing printing their names and two letters each week.

The students have been learning the Kindergarten sight words during the past few months. Each week we review the sight words by:

Using flash cards
Going on word hunts to find sight words in our morning message and then reading the morning message
Reading a mini book that focuses on our sight words

Many students have been inspired to write during the past few months for various purposes. The students are using various classroom resources (name cards, word wall, sight word cards, class alphabet, Jolly Phonics page) and their knowledge of letters, sounds, and sight words to write:

Their friends names
Letters to the Fairies and Gnome
Their own books
Labels and signs for our co-created Drama Centres (McDonald's & Tim Hortons)
Random Acts of Kindness cards
Anti-bullying shirts
Letters to our classroom Elf (Twinkler) and to Santa

Mathematics

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:29:00 +0000

In September, we read books about sorting. The books inspired the students to sort a variety of materials that were placed in the classroom and that we found outside. Through sorting activities, children learn to think analytically and to express their thoughts clearly. The students developed their vocabulary as they explained how they sorted the objects and as they described the colour, shape, size, texture or other attributes of the objects. I often asked the students to consider how they could resort the same materials in a different way by focusing on a different attribute. When the students demonstrated that they could resort with ease, the students were challenged to try to sort materials by two attributes (e.g., same colour and shape).

In October, after reading stories about patterns, many students explored a variety of items to make their own patterns in the classroom and outside. The students learned to identify, describe, reproduce, extend and create simple patterns. The children explored: object patterns (stone, button, stone, button), colour patterns (green, green, blue, blue, green, green, blue, blue) and size patterns (big, medium, small, big, medium, small). The students also started to identify the core of the pattern. The core is the shortest part of the pattern that repeats. Each student created a pattern necklace by recording his/her core and then referring to it as he/she made his/her pattern necklace. At home, you can use common object such as pebbles, twigs, buttons, dry pasta, coins, etc. to make patterns with your child. Make a pattern for your child and ask him/her to describe the pattern and extend it. Ask your child to make a pattern with objects and tell you the pattern. I have posted on the right side of the blog a few on-line pattern games that your child can also try at home.

In November and December, I have been reading various books and we sang various songs (e.g. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed) that inspire the students to explore the number sense concepts of: counting, estimating, quantity, more/less/the same, representing quantities in different ways and ordinal numbers. During Activity Time, the students have been exploring these number sense concepts at many areas of the classroom. They are exploring and using Five Frames, Ten Frames, Hundreds Charts and Number Lines. The students are investigating one-to-one correspondence when counting items in the classroom. They are learning that they are more successful with counting objects when they place them in a line and touch each object as they count them or when they move each item into a new pile or container as they count the items. The students have been exploring subitizing (recognizing some quantities without having to count) when using dice and dominoes. They are also using the Hundreds Chart to help them to skip count (count by 10s, 5s and 2s) and count forwards and backwards.

Each day, we add a counting rod to the ones pocket and make changes to our chart to represent how many days we have been at school. When we have ten counting rods in the ones pocket, we do the Bundle Dance as I wrap an elastic band around the ten counting rods. We then put the bundle of ten in the tens pocket. We daily count the bundles of ten by 10s. We also add a number to our Hundreds Chart.

In November, we also did the Special Helper Estimation Jar activity. Each Special Helper placed 10 of his/her chosen item in a jar labeled 10. This jar was used as a reference by the students to help them to estimate the amount in the second jar. Each student recorded his/her estimate by printing his/her name and the numeral(s) to represent his/her estimate. After all of the students had the chance to estimate, the class counted the items in the jar. We then find the number on the hundreds chart and represent the number on ten frames.

I introduced the students to various games and activities that explore number sense. The students are learning to use the Five Frame and their fingers on one hand to explore the concept of 5 and discover different ways to make 5 (e.g., 1 + 4, 2 + 3). The students are playing a game: What is missing? by hiding some coins from the Five Frame and asking what is missing. To investigate ordinal numbers, they are playing a game with 5 cups and an object to hide under one of the cups. Students guess which cup the object is under by using the ordinal numbers to identify their guess (Is it under the third cup?).

In December, I will continue to provide materials and activities to extend and deepen the students' number sense understanding. There are some number sense on-line activities listed on the right side of the blog that your child can explore at home. Please continue to have your child use DreamBox Learning at home. It is an EXCELLENT way for students to strengthen their number sense skills!

Niagara Falls Art Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

On Monday, December 7th, we had our first Niagara Falls Art Gallery workshop in our classroom. The students very carefully followed the step-by-step directions and drew their own pictures of a whale. They then painted their pictures. The students did an amazing job! Their artwork is ready to be framed!

Polar Express Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

On Thursday, December 3rd we had a magical time during our Polar Express Trip! The students wore their PJs under their warm winter clothes. They enjoyed the bus ride to and from Puddicombe Farms. We met Santa as we boarded the Polar Express and rode the train through the orchards. The train dropped us off at an old train car. In the train car, we sat in the seats as we drew pictures. We then walked to the Puddicombe Farms store and went upstairs. We met Mrs. Claus in a room where we made our special bell craft. We then went downstairs where we ate a gingerbread train cookie and drank hot chocolate. We listened to the story, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. Each student held bells, whistle or tinsel and had a special part to do every time he/she heard his/her special word in the story. Before we boarded the bus, our class had a class photo with Santa.

Our Elf & Holiday Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 23:30:00 +0000

On November 30th, we received a very cold package from Santa at the North Pole! It was a letter and a book. Santa asked us to read the book to prepare for the arrival of our classroom elf! We also needed to name our elf. We read the book and brainstormed different names for our elf. We voted on Twinkler. Twinkler arrived on December 1st! Each night he moves to a different spot in our classroom and leaves us a letter. He is encouraging us to be kind and caring. He left us pages to colour during his first week with us. We are looking forward to what he will leave us next week.

On December 1st, we transformed our Drama Centre into a Christmas Centre! The students have been decorating and redecorating our trees. They are also giving each other gifts, dressing up as elves, reindeer or Santa and engaging in dramatic play with the gingerbread men, house, sleigh, reindeer, and elves.

This month we are keeping track of how many sleeps there are until Christmas, doing various games on the computer, putting reindeer number cards in order and matching gingerbread boys or girls.

During the next two weeks, we will be reading various versions of the Gingerbread Man (e.g., Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Cowboy, etc.).

Tim Hortons Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 23:00:00 +0000

The students voted to co-create a Tim Hortons Centre in November. The Tim Hortons centre was a big success. The students had Tim Hortons shirts, hats, cups, boxes, bags, trays, coffee maker, tea pot, play food (including Timbits) and other props. We set-up our ‘lemonade stand’ as a drive-through window. The students worked hard at organizing and making their Tim Hortons centre very authentic. The students organized where everything should go (e.g., small cups, medium cups, boxes, bags, trays, etc.) and the students made labels to help them to remember. They created a sign for the drive-through window, an open/closed sign and also created a menu with pictures and prices for each item. It is interesting to see what prices the students think each item cost. FYI, this Tim Hortons restaurant had very high prices for some items! The students used their knowledge of letters and letter sounds to spell and print all of the words.

The students role played being a worker at Tim Hortons by taking and filling orders or being a customer by ordering and paying for their orders. It was wonderful to hear the students say, "Welcome to Tim Hortons, may I take your order?" "Thank you, have a great day!" The students were good employees by keeping the Tim Horton's neat, tidy and organized.

I extended the students' learning by asking them how they would spend $10.00 at Tim Hortons by looking at the price of the items (in dollars) and adding up the amounts to ten.

I noticed that the students weren't using the calculator on the cash register in the Tim Hortons centre. I introduced calculators to the students. Some students explored adding with a calculator.

In the sensory bin, I also placed coffee beans, coffee grounds and tea bags for the students to explore with their senses.

Some students expressed interest to the staff for having real Timbits and real hot chocolate instead of pretend. I created a graph and asked each student to indicate his/her favourite Timbit. On the last Friday in November, I brought in Timbits for the students to enjoy. The night before, the Fairies visited our classroom and brought Tim Hortons hot chocolate mix and cups from Tim Hortons. The students enjoyed their special Tim Hortons treat after lunch.

Every Child Is An Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 22:30:00 +0000

At the beginning of this school year, we celebrated International Dot Day as a start of my year-long focus of inspiring and supporting students to be creative thinkers, to build thier confidence in their abilities and to express themselves.

In September we focused on professional artists that painted with dots: Georges Seurat's pointillism technique, Louise Mead's dot trees and Wassily Kandinsky's concentric circles. The students had the opportunity to create pieces of art inspired by these artisits. In the slideshow below are photos of the students' concentric circles.

In creating still-life portraits, children form an intimate relationship with their subject. They spend time looking closely, aligning themselves with the subject of their work. Then they translate their understandings of the subject to paper, first sketching with pencil and/or black pen and then adding colour. Ann Pelo

In October, the students were invited to create still-life portraits of sunflowers like artist Vincent Van Gough. I displayed vases of fresh sunflowers at the Production Centre. I asked each student to closely examine the sunflower that he/she was going to sketch. The students were asked to notice and describe what each part of the sunflower felt like and to notice and describe the textures, colours and intimate lines and details of each part of the sunflower.

The students were then invited to use sketching pencils to sketch their sunflowers by continually referring back and studying their sunflowers in order to include detail of their unique sunflowers. Many students then chose to use a black pen to go over their pencil drawings. The students were then invited to carefully consider the colours they wanted to add to their portraits. The children were provided with a choice of paint brushes and a large palette of water colour paints.

In October, we read the story Only One You by Linda Kranz. This story encourages students to celebrate their own uniqueness. The students created on paper a plan of how they wanted to paint their rocks in their own way to represent themselves. The students then each chose his/her favourite rock and painted it by referring to his/her plan. We then placed our rocks in our outdoor classroom in the garden area for the school year.

In November, we read the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. In the story, Lois Ehlert created different animals and people using different leaves. The students then created their own animal by carefully selecting different leaves that had been pressed for two weeks. The students first created their animal on a piece of wax paper. When they were pleased with their creation, the leaves were transferred to Mac Tac in order to preserve the leaves and to allow the students to put up their creation on their window at home.

Throughout the Fall, the students have also explored with a variety of tools and materials: including tempra block paints, liquid tempra paint, various painting tools, markers, crayons, pencil crayons, paper, scissors, glue, play dough, materials from nature, marbles, stamps and a salad spinner to create different pieces of art.

We are looking forward to participating in our first Niagara Falls Art Gallery workshop on Monday when we can once again be artists!

National Child Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 01:02:00 +0000

National Child Day is celebrated every year on November 20th.

To celebrate, various locations are providing FREE swimming or FREE skating on various dates and times this weekend.

Go to: http://www.cliftonhill.com/falls_blog/free-national-child-day-events-niagara-falls/ for more information.

Co-Creating Our Drama Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 23:48:00 +0000

At the beginning of October, the students and I co-created a McDonald's Restuarant in our Drama Centre. I collected many cups, boxes, bags, trays, Happy Meal toys, play food (including hamburgers, fries and chicken nuggets) and other props. The children set-up our ‘lemonade stand’ to be the drive-through window. I added the McDonald's logo to hats and shirts to be uniforms for the students to wear.

The students worked hard at organizing and making their McDonald’s centre very authentic. They organized where everything should go (e.g., cups, boxes, bags, trays, etc.) and made labels to help them to remember. The children created a sign for the drive-through window and also created a menu with pictures and prices for each item. The students used their knowledge of letters and letter sounds to spell and print the words.

Many children engaged in dramatic play at our McDonald's centre. The students took orders, filled orders and gave the customer their orders. The children counted out the correct number of chicken nuggets for the box and ensured that the customer received what he/she ordered. The cash register was a popular prop. The students were taking money or swiping debit cards as payment of orders and giving change.

Here is a slideshow of photos from our centre:

At the beginning of November, I started the process again of co-creating our Drama Centre with the students. I started by asking the students for ideas of what we could turn our Drama Centre into.

Here are their ideas:

Pet store
Castle
Fairies
WalMart
Tim Horton's
Grocery store
Dancing
Beach

On the next day, the students voted on their favorite idea. The centre that received the most votes was the Tim Horton's Centre.

On the following day, I asked the students to list items that we need for our Tim Horton's Centre.

Here are their ideas:

Coffee, tea
Coffee maker, tea pot
Timbits, donuts, cookies, sandwiches
Hot chocolate, smoothies
Tim Horton's cups, bags and boxes
Tim Horton's shirts and hats
Cash register and money
Tim Horton's sign
Drive-thru window

Last week, the students enjoyed exploring and using the new items in the new Tim Horton's Centre.

This week they are making the signs and labels for the centre.

Outdoor Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 23:05:00 +0000

In September, the students engaged in David Sobel's 'children and nature play motif' of hunting and gathering.

They collected natural items in our different natural spaces that they could use in their outdoor classroom.

The students sorted the natural items (loose parts) into containers that they could store them in and began to use the loose parts as they explored the outdoor classroom.

We chose our class evergreen tree that we will observe throughout the year. The students used their senses to explore the bark and "spikes". They heard and identified the song of a Chickadee that was in the tree.

They compared the "spikes" to the "spikes" of a nearby evergreen tree. They identified that the "spikes" of our tree were greener and the "spikes" of the nearby tree were bluer.

They noticed that the bark was sticky. The students thought the sticky part looked like "oatmeal and syrup."

The students' favourite part of the tree was the "handle"that they could hang from.

They had different theories as to why a part of the bark looked different. After discussing it, they agreed that a branch used to be attached to the tree at that spot. Some thought that the branch fell off, some thought that the wind made the branch break off, and others thought that someone cut the branch off.

We all wondered what type of evergreen tree our class tree is.

The students explored using different natural materials to make nature mandalas.

The students enjoyed helping to put up different shelters and going in and out of the different shelters.

We chose our class deciduous tree. The students compared our class deciduous tree to our class evergreen tree.

They noticed that the bark on the class deciduous tree wasn't sticky and that it had green and yellow leaves instead of "spikes."

We found on the ground some "flat bananas" and wonder if they came from our tree.

The students also noticed "soft and fluffy green stuff" on the tree. The students didn't think it was good for the tree and tried to clean the tree. We all wondered what type of tree it is.

We went on a scavenger hunt to look for various items in nature. I found that the scavenger hunt encouraged the students to look closely and to notice things that they didn't notice before.

The children found a wonderful natural shelter!

The students also found interesting markings on a tree. Some students thought that a snake made these markings.

The Kindergarten staff added a music exploration area, a stage, a kitchen and a collection of long sticks to our outdoor classroom. We discussed how to safely use long sticks. The children used loose parts and their imagination in the kitchen, investigated how to build with the sticks and logs, and explored the shelters.

In October and November, we have been very busy exploring, discovering and using our imaginations!

The students dove deep into creating small worlds, writing letters to fairies and having fairies and a gnome visit our classroom.

The students have been:

Learning more about our two class trees
Slowing down to look closely in nature
Exploring and learning about rocks, gemstones, geodes, agates
Making patterns with loose parts
Cloud watching
Looking for minibeasts (slugs, worms, insects, spiders) under rocks
Exploring seeds from sunflowers and other plants/trees
Climbing the small trees that we have in our outdoor classroom area
Investigating and jumping in puddles and making rivers in the mud
Discovering different ways to use wood boards in our outdoor classroom (e,g, as seeesaws, bridges or ramps).

Bucket Fillers

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Mayer) — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 02:35:00 +0000

During the first week of November, our class listened to the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide To Daily Happiness For Kids by Carol McCloud. This book is a winner of nine awards. This book explains that everyone carries an invisible bucket to hold our good thoughts and feeling about ourselves. When our buckets are full, we feel happy and when our buckets are empty, we feel sad. We need other people to fill our buckets. We fill buckets when we say and do things that are kind, considerate, caring and respectful. We dip into buckets and remove good feelings when we are mean, inconsiderate, uncaring, disrespectful or hurt others with our hands or feet.

We are encouraging the students to be bucket fillers. We are asking the students whose buckets they filled, what they said or did to fill their buckets, how they felt when they filled their buckets and how they think the other people felt when they filled their buckets. We are also encouraging the students to not be bucket dippers.

For more information about this book and bucket filling you can visit www.bucketfillers101.com.

Friday, November 6th was Random Acts of Kindness Day!

Throughout the day, our class made cards and then we toured the school to give a card and a smile cookie to every staff member in the school (teachers, administrators, ECEs, EAs, secretaries, caretakers and YMCA staff) to brighten their day. We hoped that the recipients would discover that kindness is contagious and would pay it forward by performing their own acts of kindness!

Friday, November 13th is World Kindness Day!

Here are some videos to inspire you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j004ewaOH80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTGyNJBvgs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaHFj_68cKs