Weekly News March 29th
It was so wonderful to see everyone on Monday! I am sure that everyone grew over the holiday - certainly it appeared so to me!
We started the week by going for a walk to the park. Miss Melanie's class came with us for the walk and Ms. Mousseau's class met us there. We walked the long way and went through an alley we've never used before. There were lots of signs of spring on our way. We took our snack with us and had a nice long play with lots of cooperation - particularly between the basketball players! Just before we left the park we all looked for garbage to pick up so we could leave the park cleaner than we found it. When we got back to school we had just enough time to work on some math before it was time to head outside for lunch recess. While we waited for the other class to be ready for centres some students pulled out the cups from our 100's day challenge and worked on building with them.
Tuesday morning in Fine Arts Ms. Wood showed us the music video we made of The Three Little Pigs. It made everyone laugh and we watched it twice! Right after fine arts we went to the alley for a quick walk. We saw several promising signs of spring and I was most impressed with the extensive engineering of a ramp and supports that occupied many of the students! There was lots of great language and strategizing ("It's not stable!" "We need to put the big pieces on the bottom.") and lots of gross motor skills and core muscle development when students were balancing on the ramp. We are routinely picking up garbage on our walks now and it's sad to see how much we get every time! We went to the library after lunch where Miss Julie read to us and we chose new books.
Wednesday morning we did a quick run through of the calendar routine and then we headed for the beach! It was so fun! We threw rocks and explored under the boardwalk. We even found a geocache and wrote our name in the little book inside it. It was sunshiny and beautiful at the beach but fairly breezy. On the way back to school we stopped for a quick play at the Queen Street park and noticed that the equipment bin had been removed. It's been an awesome thing to have when we go play there so we really hope it will get put back!
I wanted to revisit the ramp building experience so during calendar on Thursday morning we looked at photos and discussed our experience on Tuesday before we went to the alley again with an eye to possibly working on the ramp. We invited Ms. Mousseau's class to join us and we enjoyed showing them all of our building efforts. After revisiting what was built last time the new efforts were put into making the board into a slide instead of a ramp. Some students found some old, hard foam pieces that they used for supporting the build and eventually most students got into breaking the foam apart. It was lots of fun at the time but we all regretted it later when we had to pick up the pieces to take them to the garbage. Before snack we did two or three rounds of washing to try and get rid of the itching that we assumed was from the foam. After snack we went to the monthly assembly where Mrs. Calverley reminded us of the things we've talked about during the year like the Code of Conduct, using our WITS, and having a growth mindset. She also challenged us to think of ways to be kind - to ourselves and to each other. Before we finished the assembly she told us that as a school we will be working on picking up garbage around our community next month and she invited everyone to bring a pair of gloves that can be used for that purpose.
The students were itching to get to the woods so on Friday morning right after fine arts we took our snack and headed out. We started by sitting and having snack followed by a good, long play. There was lots of creativity and role-playing happening today, "let's pretend" and creative problem solving were high on the list of things we worked on in the woods. The difference in the depth of play in the woods is astounding. The first time we went, students were not sure what to do with themselves and now the dive into the in-depth play wholeheartedly! In all this play we are learning about boundaries, negotiation, problem solving, creativity, story telling, and so so much more! When we got back to the school we had a few minutes to talk about the characteristics of different shapes. We discussed squares, rectangles, triangles, circles and ovals. In the afternoon I had a meeting at the School Board Office so Mr. Richardson was the guest teacher. He enjoyed the afternoon and getting to see how much everyone grew over the break!
It seems that the warm weather is upon us. We will be trying to get out for walks every day and sometimes those walks will take us to places that sandals and flip flops shouldn't go. We discourage sandals for lunch recess anyway because they can be restrictive and/or dangerous for the playground. If your child is desperate to wear there sandals to school please send a second pair of closed shoes that day in case we go for a walk to the woods. Hats and sunscreen will be needed as well and some students took water bottles home over the break that have not come back yet. Please ask your child if they have a water bottle at school and send one if they don't.
This week we read "My Underpants Rule" for the first time. It is a good jumping off point for the Sexual Health component of the Kindergarten curriculum. All year we have been talking about our bodies using the appropriate language but this book teaches children that they have power over their bodies. Please feel free to drop in and read the book anytime. We will be reading it at least a few more times this year.
Homework for this weekend is for students to learn a joke that they can tell to the class on Monday morning for April fools day. Please help them practice their joke. If the weather cooperates we will tell the jokes while we're out for a walk.
Saturday there is a community clean up event in Crofton from
NEXT WEEK - April 1st - 5th
Monday - Walk day
- Joke Day - students are invited to tell their best joke for April Fool's Day
Tuesday - Library Day
- Parent-Child Mother Goose will start again within the next few weeks.
Wednesday - Walk day
Thursday - Walk day
Friday - One hour early dismissal - pick up is at 1:13pm