What's Cooking in Room 110?

'Run, run, as fast as you can. 

You can't catch me.

I'm the gingerbread man!'

For the last couple of weeks, we have been reading different versions of the gingerbread man fairy tale.  We have read 9 different books, and we have been comparing the various stories.  We have also worked on retelling and writing our own version of the story.

All this reading about gingerbread cookies made us hungry, so we decided to make our own gingerbread cookies.  (Most children in our class took their cookies home last Friday.)  Here is the class' group writing about our baking:

Making Gingerbread Cookies

 

Yesterday, we made gingerbread dough to make gingerbread cookies!  The dough smelled good, and it tasted scrumptious. 

 

Today we rolled out the dough and cut out gingerbread boys and girls using cookie cutters.  Ms.G. and Mrs. M. baked the cookies in the oven.  Ms. G. and Mrs. M. also made a big gingerbread man for the class to eat.

 

In the afternoon, we decorated our gingerbread cookies.  But when Mrs. M. went to get the big gingerbread man cookie, he was gone!  Instead we found some crumbs and notes.  The gingerbread man wanted to explore the school, but he got lost.

 

We finally found him in our 'Gingerbread Bakery and Cafe'.  Ms. G. decorated him, and snip-snap, we ate him up!  What a yummy way to end the week!

 

Here is the recipe in case you would like to make some cookies at home, too, but be careful, gingerbread boys and girls like to run away!: 

 

Dairy, Egg & Nut-Free Gingerbread Cookies

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of dairy-free margarine (like Becel Vegan)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

 

Combine the margarine, sugar, molasses and applesauce.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix.  Work the dough until it forms a ball.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  (The dough will also keep well in the fridge for a few days.)

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough to approximately 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Let cool.

 

You can decorate the cookies once they have cooled.  We used icing, gum drops, chopped apricots, raisins and sprinkles.

 

 

 

 

 

 





'Warm Thoughts on a Wintery Day' - Our Kindergarten Concert

Just a friendly reminder...

This coming Wednesday morning, the Kindergarten classes at Nellie McClung will be performing in a concert.  

Refreshments will be available for our guests.  (All the baked goods will be made by the Kindergarten classes.  Our class is making dairy-free and egg-free gingerbread cookies.)

 

Please have your child enter school as usual on Wednesday morning.  We will take attendance and make our way to the gym.  Our class will be the first performer, and the concert should be starting by 9:30 a.m.  Parents and other guests are welcome to find a seat in the gym starting around 9:00 a.m. 

 

We hope to see you Wednesday morning!

 

(Sorry that I have not written any blog entries that last couple of weeks.  I was having internet connection problems.  Thank you for your patience!)

Family Words

As part of our shared reading of the big book, The Napping House, we have been learning about 'ing' words.  We noticed and located words in the book that have 'ing'. 
Then we brainstormed our own list of 'ing' words.  (We call them family words because they look and sound alike.  Sometimes rhyming words don't look the same e.g., bread & red.)  Here is the list of 'ing' words we came up with:
        king        ring         sing       wing       thing   
        zing        swing       bring     string     morning      

Learning about family words, is one way for us to learn about how words work.  We can make new words, by adding a different letter, or 2 or 3, at the beginning of letter chunks like 'ing'.  When we read, it helps us know what to say when we see 'ing' in a word.  When we write, and we hear 'ing' in a word, we know what to write.

As the year progresses, we'll be working on more family words.  Stay tuned...
 

Making Shape Pictures

We used pattern blocks to make shape pictures, and we wanted to share them with you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made shapes using geoboards.  Here are a few examples of the shapes we made:

 





 

 

 

 

Happy Chanukah

To all our families celebrating Chanukah...

Wishing you all a Happy Chanukah!

 

 

 

 

Shapes are Everywhere!

We have been learning about 2-D shapes in math.  Two dimensional shapes are flat shapes like triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, diamonds, etc.  This past week, we have been focusing on describing the features of the shapes.  For example, rectangles have 4 straight sides.  Two of the sides are shorter than the other two sides.  Squares also have 4 straight sides, but the sides are all the same length.

Here's a game you might enjoy playing with your child, I Spy a Shape.  The 'spy' looks around and finds something that has a visible 2-D shape, and says, "I spy with my little eye something that has a name of the shape".  Everyone else takes turns guessing what the object could be.  Let your child know if they have made a good guess or not:  "Good try.  The clock is shaped like a circle, but it's not the circle I was thinking about."  "That book looks like a square.  Remember, we're looking for ovals."  (We especially like playing this game when there is some waiting to do.  E.g., waiting in lines.)
  
Here's an another idea to try.  It comes from the booklet we sent home in October, Doing Mathematics with Your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6: A Parent Guide:  When talking with your child, idenitify things by their shapes and size:  "Please pass me the rectangular placemat, the largest box out of the cupboard, the square-shaped cracker and the circular plate." 

 If you have any questions, please contact us or leave a comment. 

Morning Messages - Why do we do them in our class?

If your child has been the Helper in our class, he/she has probably brought home a morning message.  Each day, we write a message for our class to read together. 
With each morning message mini-lesson, there are usually several teaching points based upon the needs of the students in our class.  
Examples of teaching points include:
1.  learning about how we read text in English (e.g., we start at the top, left corner, and we read from left to right and from top to bottom; we say each word that we see/point to);
2.  learning about different punctuation (e.g., . ! ? " ");  and
3.  learning how to write a complete sentence in response to a question in the message.

We also use the morning message to teach high frequency words in context.  These words are eventually placed on our class 'Word Wall'.  Students are then expected to spell the words correctly or use the Word Wall as a resource when writing.  To date, these are the words we have worked on:  a, and, are, am, can, is, I, like, no, see, the, we, & yes.

As always, if you have any questions/concerns, please feel free to contact us or leave a comment on the blog.





 

What Have We Been Doing in Math?

For the past few weeks, we have been focusing on Patterning in math.  We have been learning to identify, extend, reproduce and create patterns.  In addition, we have been learning to describe patterns in different ways.
For example,  * * + * * + * * +, we could describe this pattern as 'red, red, blue' or as 'star, star, plus' or as 'A,A,B'. 

We have also begun to notice patterns when we count the days of school and record the numbers.  For example, all the 40-something numbers start with a '4'...4 and 0 for 40, 4 and 1 for 41, 4 and 2 for 42, etc.

Lastly, but certainly not least, we are noticing patterns in our environment and within nature like the seasons.

Here are some photos of patterns that the children in our class made today:

 





 

 

 

 

Classroom News

As you may already know, we had to evacuate our school yesterday afternoon due to a suspicious smokey smell in one of our school bathrooms.  Firefighters arrived and checked out the situation, and luckily, everything was fine.  When we went back inside, we wrote the following message to post on our blog:

Big   News 

 

On   Friday   afternoon,   there   was   a   smokey   smell   in   a   bathroom.   To   be   safe,   Mrs. Thompson,   our   principal,   called   the   fire   department.   We   had   to   go   outside   to   be  safe.    3   fire   trucks   came   to   our   school.   The   firefighters   checked   the    school,   and    they   said   everything   was   okay.   Then   we   went   back   inside.   We   missed   our   activity   time   today,   but   it's   okay.    Thank   you   Mrs. Thompson   for   calling   the   firefighters   and   keeping   us   safe.

 

By   the   Kindergarten    Students    in    Room    110

 

 

 



 



Hallowe'en Fun

Hallowe'en is almost here,

and the excitement is growing amongst the students!

 

At Nellie McClung P.S., students are allowed to wear their costumes for the morning of Hallowe'en, if they wish.  If your child is going to wear his/her costume, please make sure he/she has a change of clothes or is wearing his/her clothes under his/her costume.

Also, toy weapons (e.g., guns, swords, etc.) that are part of your child's costume are not allowed at school.  Please leave them at home.

Lastly, it would be very helpful for us if you would please label your child's costume with his/her name.

Have a safe & Happy Hallowe'en!

 

Student Led Conferences for Senior Kindergarten Students

On Thursday, November 14th and Friday, November 15th, the Senior Kindergarten students will be leading student-parent conferences. The teaching team will be in the room to support the students and answer any questions from the parents.

You can sign up for your conference time by going to www.schoolbookings.net.  The code for our school is VH9FH.
Please remember these conferences are for Senior Kindergarten students and their parents/guardians only.  Junior Kindergarten parents/guardians will be attending in-class observation visits in November to see how their children are adjusting to being in school.

We look forward to meeting with you all soon!

Raz-Kids e-Books

Ms. G. has finally set up the class roster so our class now has access to hundreds of eBooks using our school subscription to Raz-Kids.  Your child will receive a note tomorrow with his/her personal login information.   To access the Raz-Kids eBooks, log in at www.raz-kids.com/login/lguerrierob and use your child's personal login information.  We hope you and your child enjoy our new reading resource.  We would love to get your feedback about the site so please feel free to leave a comment or contact us.

A Few Friendly Reminders...

Hello everyone! 
Just a few reminders for the coming week:
1.  Tuesday, October 15th is School Photo Day.  Please remember to return the photo form so you can choose the background colour for your child's photo;
2.  Wednesday, October 16th:  if you have not already done so, please return your child's consent form along with the payment for our upcoming trip to Green Acres Outdoor Education Centre.  We still have lots of room for adult volunteers to join us on the trip, and we would appreciate the help with supervising students; and
3.  Running shoes/Indoor shoes:   please make sure your child has a pair of running shoes to keep at school.  These shoes can be his/her indoor shoes and gym shoes.  Please label the running shoes with your child's name.

We hope that you and your family has a lovely Thanksgiving weekend together!



 

Please Mark Your Calendars...

Curriculum Night ...Just a reminder that tomorrow evening is Curriculum Night at Nellie McClung.  The Kindergarten Team will be making two presentations, at 6:30 p.m. and at 7:00 p.m., in the library.  We hope that you will be able to join us.  Please remember that this is a 'parents only' event.  Please make childcare arrangements for your child.

Hope to see you tomorrow evening!


Friday, October 11, 2013 is a P.A. Day.  There is no school for students.  Staff will be at the school if you need to contact anyone.


Monday, October 14th is Thanksgiving, and the school will be closed.  We hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend together.  Enjoy the extra long weekend!

Trip to Green Acres ... if you have not already done so, please return your child's consent form and payment for the trip by Wednesday, Oct. 16th.  
Thank you! 




 

School Bus Safety

On Friday, October 4th, the Kindergarten classes learned about School Bus Safety at Nellie McClung P.S.  We learned some very important lessons to keep us all safe whether we ride the bus every day or only on school trips. 

DON'T:  A guide to remembering some do's and don'ts around school buses

D is for don't be late, and don't run after the bus.

O is for stay on the sidewalk.  Stay 5 big steps away from the road.

N is for never go into the danger zones.  Don't go behind, beside or
    in front of the bus.  If you can't see the bus driver, he/she can't see
    you.

T is for tell the driver if you drop something.  Never try to get  
   something you dropped on your own.

We also had a chance to get on a school bus and learn how to stay safe on the bus.  We sit with our backs touching the seat, and we keep our feet out of the aisle.  In case of emergency, we can exit from any of the emergency exits.  On Friday, we practised exiting from the back door emergency exit.  Some grade 8 students helped us exit the bus and wait in a safe location.

This was good information for us because on October 23rd we're going to ride a school bus when we go on our field trip to Green Acres!


 

Bookflix - this was originally posted last Spring

We have free access to a wonderful site called BookFlix Literacy Resources.

You can access this site from your home for free at:
http://www.scholastic.ca/education/bookflix_ontario/
BookFlix pairs classic fictional video storybooks from Weston Woods with nonfiction eBooks from Scholastic to reinforce reading skills and develop essential real-world knowledge and understanding.
For Grades PreK to 3.

Here is the login information you will need:
Sign On: dsbyork
Password: dsby7692

Spectacular Sorting Shots

We hope you enjoy the photos that follow.  They were taken on Wednesday during our math activities.  We have been working on sorting various collections, and describing the attributes (e.g., size, shape, colour, etc.) we used to sort the groups. 

Can you guess our sorting rules, and can you guess who sorted the objects? 

I sorted by colour ... purple beads and blue beads.

I sorted the shells by big,        
small and medium.        



We sorted by the type of sea creature.

First we sorted the sea creatures.
 Then we sorted the turtles by size.

We sorted the people by colour.

 





There are many ways that we sort things in our homes, too.  Just think of the way your things are organized in your kitchen.  Your cutlery, dishes, and various food products are probably all sorted and stored in specific places so everyone can find what they need easily.

Your child can practise sorting various household items like socks, toys, books, recycling items, etc.  Talk with your child about how he/she sorted the items.  Have him/her explain his/her sorting rules and thinking.  E.g., "I put these books together because they are my favourites."  "These towels are all the same colour and the same size. "  "These apples are all small and red and those ones are big and green." 

At school, we sometimes play a sorting game:  Guess My Sorting Rule!  One person starts sorting some items into 2 or 3 groups. The other players guess what the sorting rule(s) might be. You might enjoy playing it at home, too!

Happy Sorting!

What's Going on in Our Class?

The Travels of Pete the Cat 

 

Starting Wednesday, October 2nd, our classroom friend, Pete the Cat, will be going home with a child from our class.  Pete is always happy to meet new people and try new things, and as he always says, "It's all good!"

Pete will be sent home with one child each Wednesday.  In Pete's bag, you will also find 3 books about Pete, and a scrapbook to record his adventures.  We ask that you return everything the following Monday so another child may enjoy Pete's company.

What Have We Been Doing in Math?

 

We have been getting to know each other the past few weeks by conducting all kinds of surveys and sorting ourselves into groups.  Here are some examples of our surveys:  Do you like pizza?;  Do you like milk?;  How many boys and how many girls are in our class?; and Which of these colours do you like the best:  red, yellow, blue, green, orange or purple? 

 

We have graphed the results of our surveys and sorting, and they are posted in the hallway outside our classroom.  The graphs become good starting points for discussions about what we have learned about each other and lead nicely into writing.

 

 



 

Who are We Walking For? Terry Fox!

Thirty three years ago, Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope.  He was hoping to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.  Terry had run a marathon a day for 143 days, and he had run more than 3000 miles across Canada when he had to stop his Marathon of Hope because his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs.  Unfortunately, Terry passed away, but his impact was great.  Each year, communities and schools across Canada continue Terry's dream to raise money for cancer research and more than $500,000,000 has been raised to date.
 
Yesterday, Nellie McClung P.S. held its annual Terry Fox Walk in order to support the Terry Fox Foundation for Cancer Research.  The Kindergarten classes walked around the school field several times chanting:  Who are we walking for?  Terry Fox! 

So far, our class has raised $175!  Thank you to everyone who was able to send in a donation.  (We are accepting donations until October 4th.  You can also donate online directly to the Terry Fox Foundation.)  Here is a photo from our Terry Fox Walk:

 

Toonies for Terry - A Friendly Challenge

As you know, this coming Thursday, our school will be holding a Terry Fox Walk.  All money raised goes to the Terry Fox Foundation in support of cancer research.  Students and their families have been asked to show their support by sending in a toonie (or more) donation.  I am challenging our class to raise $100.  I will match donations from our class up to $100 bringing our total to a possible $200 for the Terry Fox Foundation.  I know we can do it! 

 

Some Notices & Dates to Remember

Pizza Lunches

 

Pizza lunches started last Wednesday, Sept. 18th and will continue until Wednesday, December 18th, inclusive.

If your child is absent on Pizza Day, please let us know if you will be picking up his/her pizza slice(s) at lunch time the same day.  We are unable to refrigerate pizza slices for students who are absent.

 

 

Mr. Sub Sandwich Lunches

 

Mr. Sub Sandwich lunches will start on Tuesday, Sept. 24th and will continue until Tuesday, December 17th, inclusive. 

If your child is absent on Mr. Sub Sandwich Lunch Day, please let us know if you will be picking up his/her lunch the same day. 

 

Library Book Bags

 

Our class started signing out school library books last Wednesday.  Unfortunately, some of the library book bags were mislabelled.  Some labels state:  return the library book on Fridays.  The labels should state:  return the library book on Wednesdays.  We're sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

 

Please have your child return his/her library book on Wednesdays.  Please make sure the book is in the plastic library bag. 

 

 

Monday, September 23, 2013

 

Monday, Sept. 23rd is our first P.A. Day.  There is no school for students.  The staff will be in the school if you need to contact anyone.

 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

 

This coming Thursday, Nellie McClung P.S. will be holding our Terry Fox Walk.  (Rain date ... Friday, Sept. 27)

You should have received an information note and a donation form in your child's communication bag yesterday.  If the note and form did not arrive home, please let us know, and we will send it home again. 

 



Happy First Week of Kindergarten!

Well, we did it!  We survived the first week of Kindergarten, and we didn't have too many tears.  Most of the children are settling in well and adjusting to the routines and expectations of being in school all day. 

The last few days we have been busy getting to know each other and exploring the activities and centres in our room.  We have all painted a self-portrait and written a message for our paintings.  In math, we have been sorting ourselves in different ways and graphing the results.  (We will post some of our graphs on the blog soon.)

We have been reading lots of books about treating others in respectful ways, and we have also been discussing the concepts from the books (e.g., our behaviour is a result of the choices we make).  We all decided that we wanted to have a nice class, and our readings and follow-up discussions have helped the students answer this question that we posed:  What would a nice class feel like, look like and sound like?  Our next step will be to write a class promise based upon our ideas.  (Look for all these ideas posted on our blog soon.)

Forms & Paperwork
Thank you to all the families who have already completed and returned all the various forms to school.  We appreciate your cooperation in helping us update and/or provide the school/class the information we need at the beginning of each school year.  If you have not yet completed and returned all the forms that were sent home last week, please do so as soon as possible.



 

Just One More Big Sleep!

Happy Labour Day!

We hope you are all enjoying the last day of the summer holidays.  We are looking forward to starting school again tomorrow morning and seeing you all again. 

For all our friends who will be starting Grade One, have a great day!  We know your new teachers will love having you in their classes as much as we loved having you in our class.

See you soon ... just one more big sleep!

 



Games to Make & Play with Your Child

Here are a couple of game ideas that you may want to make and play with your child at home this summer:

1.  Search for Words and/or Letters

Materials:
     magazine or newspaper pages
     highlighters or light coloured markers (e.g., yellow)
     a timer
     scoring page
     pencils

Directions:
     1.  With your child, pick a high frequency word (e.g., the, I, is, and, like, this, a, at, be, are, etc.) or a letter of the alphabet to look for.
     2.  Set the time for a minute or two. 
     3.  Each player scans his/her magazine/newspaper page looking for the special word/letter.  Each time you find the word/letter, highlight it.
     4.  When time is up, each player counts up how many times he/she found the word/letter and records his/her score.
         

We looked for:	Billy’s Score	Daddy’s Score
the	7	5
and	6	8
m	22	15

2.  Button  Toss

Materials:
     -various buttons  (5 to 20)
     -a paper bag with the top of the bag folded down or small box.  (A book or a few rocks in the bottom of the bag/box will keep it from toppling over.)
     -a ruler or some masking tape or chalk (or whatever is best to make a line on the floor/ground to stand behind)
     -a recording page
     -pencil

 

Directions:

1.  Mark a line on the floor/ground a reasonable distance from the bag/box.  (This might require some experimenting to find the right distance.)

2.  Stand behind the line, and throw one button at a time until all the buttons have been thrown.

3.  Count the number of buttons that you got in the bag/box.  That is your score.

4.  Record your score.

5.  Gather up all the buttons and try again, or the next player plays.

 

Button  Toss	Mary’s Score	Mommy’s Score
1.	11	5
2.	15	14
3.	18	12

 

We hope you enjoy making and playing these games with your child.  Your child will not only be learning letter/word/counting skills, he/she will also be learning a lot about cooperation, turn-taking and how to be a good winner/loser. 

 

We would love to hear back from you re. the above game ideas.  Let us know how they worked or how your family modified the ideas.

 

 

We hope you are all staying cool in this heat wave!

 

 

 

    

Another Blog for You...

I've just come across another blog that might be of interest to you especially if your child likes movies, and you don't always have the time to preview the movie.  Films for Kids  is the name of the blog.

The movie reviews are written by a mom with a 4 year child.  She writes the reviews from the perspective of suitability for viewing and enjoyment potential for both the child and parent. 

Let us know what you think of it.  In addition, if you follow other blogs that you think other parents/families may enjoy, let us know.  We may be able to feature it in the future.