Cold Thursday!

Today we began the day with gym class, snacks and calendar time. JKs are getting excited about the Valentine's Day party and the 100th Day of School!
In language we practiced writing the lower case c and o. JKs also practiced copying short words in their workbook and they completed an activity of cutting and pasting beginning sounds.
Next, we had the daily five - read to someone.
In the afternoon we had story time, used the geoboards to make letters/shapes and practiced our poems.
After recess JKs attended Art class.
Have a great evening everyone!

Happy Wednesday!

Today we began the day with gym class, snacks and morning circle time.
Next we listened to our phonics song and played a spelling game.
Then we practiced identifying beginning sounds. JKs completed 2 worksheets where they had to look at the picture and color in the correct beginning sound.
In the afternoon we had the daily five - listen to reading and read to self.
JKs attended French class and we used the dry erase boards to practice correct letter formation.
After second lunch and recess JK had centers.
Have a great evening everyone!

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a safe drive today!
In the morning we had gym class, art class and morning circle time. Next, we practiced the poems.
In the afternoon we had story time, French class and songs.
Today we also started making 3D shapes using clay and toothpicks. We will do more tomorrow as JKs really enjoyed!

Happy Monday!

We had a great Monday! :)
In the morning we had gym class, snacks and morning circle time.
Next we listened to our phonics song and each student had 1-2 alphabet letter. When the letter played in the song, the student had to hold the letter up.
Next we read a book which Simrin donated to our class as her birthday gift. She also donated two sets of crafts. We will be using those in centers.
In the afternoon we talked about road signs and how important is to follow the rules.
Then JKs made stop signs.
After second lunch and recess, we had centers.
Have a great evening everyone!

Happy Friday!

Today we began the day with gym class, snacks, calendar time Show and Tell presentations and Art class. These activities took basically all morning.
After lunch and recess JKs had story time. Ms. K. kindly read  "We Share Everything" by Robert Munsch. Next we played some freeze dance.
After that JKs had French class.
Then we spent some time working on how to correctly write our names. We used the dry erase boards for that. We are learning that the first letter is upper case and the rest must be lower case.
After second lunch and recess, we had the following centers: play doh, geoboards and blocks.
Have a great evening everyone!

 

 

Here are some benefits about read aloud story time:

1. Enhance language proficiency. Reading is important to help children recognize words and understand context. Reading stories to children introduces them to new words and phrases and is also a great way to model pronunciation.
2. Grow literary insight. Storytime helps children see the ways in which tales develop through structure and sequence. Kids also learn the purpose and power of adjectives as they hear and construct a clear vision of the story.
3. Promote communication skills. Sometimes, children are hesitant to ask a question even though they are curious. Storytime is a great time for modeling how to ask questions. Asking questions often leads to conversations about the story which can help children feel more confident about their ideas
4. Boost listening skills. In a world of distractions, reading with children teaches them to focus. Asking simple questions about the story while reading helps to monitor understanding and keep children on task. When they are older, reading chapter books that you return to each day can also be great for improving their memory by summarizing what was read from the day before.
5. Make academic learning easier. Storytime is a stepping stone for academic learning. By engaging in meaningful conversations about the story, children begin to broaden their content knowledge which lays a foundation for future academic subjects.
6. Broaden horizons. Storytime is a great way to expose children to different cultures and countries. By choosing diverse stories, children are given a broader understanding of the world.
7. Help face difficult situations. Storytime can be a non-threatening way to introduce topics dealing with conflict.  Stories in which characters face problems can help kids understand their feelings better. Reading stories that teach children how to deal with conflict can help them problem solve and talk about good choices if they were in a similar situation.
8. Create real world connection. Children can often make personal connections to a character or situation in a story. Storytime is a great opportunity to talk about the world around us and how the story relates to what is happening in current events.
9. Encourage imagination and creativity. When reading it is important for children to picture the story in their minds. You can foster what a child ‘sees’ while reading by asking questions about the story and being actively interested in their ‘mental movie.’               
10. Repeat for best results. Reading the same book over and over again is common with younger children. Each time you read a familiar story, try and find something new within the story. Go beyond the words of the story by asking deeper questions about a character or the plot. It is also fun to stretch the imagination by coming up with different endings or scenarios for a familiar book!

Happy Thursday!

We had a great day!
In the morning JKs had gym class, snacks and circle time. Again, just a reminder that during our morning circle time a lot of learning goes on, such as numeracy (calendar counting and 100th Day counting), science (we check the weather and dress up Jonhy accordingly), we sing our phonics song and other fun songs. :)
In language today we worked on recognizing the beginning blend and beginning letter.
In Math we worked on numeracy through a bingo game. Next we counted to 100 by exercising!
Take a look:

Next, JKs attended French class, then we had story time.
To finish off the day we played musical chairs where in each chair JKs would find a short word, for each round a couple of students were chosen to "read" the word. :)
Have a great evening everyone!

Happy Wednesday!

Today we began the day with gym class, snacks and circle time.
In language we worked on beginning sounds. JKs had to look at the picture and color the correct beginning sound. In our UOI we worked on matching the type of transportation to the destination (e.g. school bus to the school). This was to teach JKs one of our lines of inquiry for this unit: purpose of the different forms of transportation.
In math we had a "hands on" activity where JK had to build a structure using 3D shapes. This was a great activity for team work and problem solving skills. :)
Today JKs attended Art class with Ms. Bannon, as Ms. Kerr was away.
Also today we had a two special guests in our classroom. Many (Simrin's brother from gr. 3) and Wabble (the robot). Many showed us his robot talking and dancing! Cool!
Have a great evening everyone!