June 23rd

Is is hard to believe that we are down to our final days of kindergarten! I would like to thank you all for the opportunity of having your children in my class this year. They are an incredible bunch of little people and as I look back on our year together I can't help but be amazed at all that they have accomplished. We had a wonderful year of friendship, laughter and learning.

The Prehistoric Fossil Presentation was really interesting. The children were highly engaged and got to handle and learn about fossils that were discovered here. They also learned the five characteristics that make an animal a dinosaur.

In class our Fun Days continue!

Monday is silly hat/hair and sunglasses day.

Tuesday is Pajama Day.

Wednesday is Toy Day

Thursday is Class Celebration

We will also be popping our final 4 balloons for some more classroom fun! ( dance party, shaving cream / foam block play. chalk play, and sit wherever day)

Take care and have a fun and safe summer!

Lisa MacFadyen

June 16th

Happy Father's Day. I hope you all got the special treatment that you deserve!

The children had a fantastic time on our field trip. The weather cooperated and everyone got to run, climb and play to their heart's content. There were a lot of tired and happy faces on the bus ride home.

It is hard to believe that this is the final full week of school. We have a fun filled week ahead of us. So far we had new name day for our balloon pop countdown. On Wednesday the school will be having our annual field day (weather permitting).  There will be activity stations set up outside and each class will be having a chance to go out and participate.  This Thursday is the Prehistoric Island Tour at school for our class. We will also be having a few kindergarten classes theme days. ( PJ Day, Toy Day etc...) for our final week of school. I will send the paper home on Monday so that you can have a hard copy as well. This week we will be doing some writing about our favorite things in kindergarten and will also be continuing our capacity and mass exploration.

Kindergarten Special Days

Monday, June 23rd-Silly Hat/Hair/Sunglasses Day

Tuesday, June 24th- P.J. Day

Wednesday, June 25th-Toy Day

Thursday, June 26th- Class Party

June 9th

We will be starting to talk about insects this week. I expect there will be some interesting conversations around this subject ( especially when we read about dung beetles)! We will be reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and using it as a launching point for some reading, writing and numeracy activities.

In numeracy we are continuing to look at measurement and we will be exploring capacity and mass. We will be using balance scales to do some comparisons.

On Friday we will be starting the ten day countdown until the last day of school. We will be popping numbered balloons starting from 10 each day and seeing what fun activity for the day is inside. Here is a list of the days in no particular order. 

sit where ever day, dance party day, new name day, no shoes day, bubbles day, balloon play day, work under the table day, lollipop day, chalk day, and shaving cream and foam block play day

Let the fun begin!!

Hopefully everyone got the permission slips that I sent home for our field trip on Thursday ( June12th). If you haven't already done so, please sign and return the forms and the $5 payment so that we will be all ready to go.

On June 19th, the children will be able to see a presentation by Prehistoric Island Tours. They will be coming to the school to teach the kindergarten children (and myself) about our Island's prehistoric past, fossils and dinosaurs. 

June 2nd

This week we will be talking about seeds and plant life cycles. We will be planting some bean seeds and watching how they grow. Our big book this week is The Seed  by Joy Cowley, and we will be writing about our predictions of what the seed in the story will grow into. We are continuing to do guided reading in class but, I will not be sending home any books for the month of June. 

In numeracy we are continuing our exploration of measurement. This week we will be focusing on length. We will be making some paper worms and using them to compare items in the classroom using the terms, longer, shorter,  and almost the same. We will also be measuring our feet and seeing how many cubes long they are.

I will be sending home the permission slips for our King's Castle field trip (June 12th) this week . The cost of the field trip will be $5.00. This will cover the cost of bussing and an ice cream cone (or freezie) from the canteen.

May 26th

This week we will be finishing up our exploration of 3D shapes. We are now going to be looking at measurement and talking about height. We will be comparing objects and discovering what is taller, shorter and almost the same.

In Social Studies we will be starting to talk about mapping and some of the features that can be found on maps such as the compass rose and legends/keys. We will be looking at different types of maps and creating some of our own.

We have finished up Unit 4 in Fundations and will be starting our final unit for the year! The focus will be on reading sentences in phrases and writing sentences using capitalization and punctuation. We will also continue to practice reading and writing CVC words. Our word this week is "get".

Just a reminder that there is no school Friday for kindergarten.

May 20th 

I hope you all enjoyed your Victoria Day weekend.

In Fundations we will continue to practice blending, segmenting and spelling three letter words. We will also continue to  learn about digraphs ( two letters together to make one sound- wh, ch, sh,th, ck). 

We are continuing our exploration of 3-D shapes. The children have become very quick to spot and mention when they see objects inside or out on the playground. 

Just a reminder that there in no school for kindergarten students on Friday, May 30th due to the orientation day for the  incoming kindergarten students. It is hard to believe that it is that time of year already and that your children will be heading off to Grade One in the fall!

Here is the link to the children's book we did in class. Sorry about the quality of my recording. My usual app was not cooperating.

All About Space 

May 12th 

Happy Mother's Day                                                                                                                                                                                          I hope you all got some well deserved special treatment!

We have finished up our exploration of the Solar System and are now starting to take a closer look at where we are on Earth. The children will finish up our space facts book this week.  I will  try to record it and share the link on next week's blog so that you can see the final product . The children get a great kick out of seeing their work shown by video. 

In numeracy we are starting to talk about geometry and measurement. We will be learning about 3-D shapes (sphere, cylinder, cube, pyramid).Our class will be going on some 3-D shape hunts and finding objects in the school and outside on the playground. We will also be describing and writing about the attributes of the different shapes.

The trick word this week is "by".

Just a reminder that there is no school for students next Monday in observance of  Victoria Day.

Kindergarten End of the Year Field Trip

The Kindergarten classes will be going to King's Castle ( Murray River) for the day on Thursday, June 12th ( rain date  June 17th). I will be sending home permission slips and more information as the date gets closer. Parent volunteers are welcome to come but will have to have a vulnerable sector criminal record check. If you would like to come, please email me  with your date of birth and your name as it appears on your license and we can give you the paper needed to take to the Stratford RCMP detachment to apply.

lmacfadyen@edu.pe.ca

May 5th

We have "launched" our introduction to the solar system. The children are really enthusiastic about the topic and we have been reading and learning about the planets, moon and sun. They have been asking a lot of great questions and I am very thankful that we have the internet and Google, so that I can actually answer a few of them! (haha) The class has been coming up with facts that they remember and we will be turning  them into our own "learn about the world" or non-fiction book towards the end of our exploration of space. We will  be using dot plates (planets) with dots in different amounts and arrangements (1-10) to practice recognizing numbers at a glance. In Fundations we are continuing our work on Unit 4. This unit focuses on digraphs in words (ch, sh, ck, wh, and th). Our trick word this week is"so".

On Friday we are going to celebrate our space exploration with a fun day in class. We are going to have a "Bring your buddy to space" day. The children can choose a stuffed animal, doll etc... to bring to class with them for the day. 

In case you haven't already heard , our class has become the proud parents of tadpoles and salamander eggs (or so we hope)!  The children have been watching them closely to see if they are starting to hatch. We will be watching to see how they develop and doing some research/reading on tadpoles and salamanders  and their lifecycle.

April 28th

Earth Day brought some great discussion about the Earth and what we can do to protect it. It also brought some conversation about the rest of the planets. We are now going to turn our attention beyond our own planet and for the next couple of weeks we will be talking, reading, and writing about space. We are continuing our number sense concepts with the focus on ten. We will be doing some activities that involve counting forwards, backwards, and on from a given number.  Our trick word this week is "up".

Here is the link to one of the songs/videos that I like to use with the children for counting forwards and backwards.

Rocket Theme- Counting to 10 Forwards and Backwards 

Just a reminder that there is no school on Friday ( May 2nd) due to an Area Association PD Day for instructional staff.

April 22nd

Tuesday, April 22nd is Earth Day and in recognition of this we will be spending the week discussing ways that we can take care of our Earth. One of our read alouds will be The Lorax by Dr Seuss. We will be discovering combinations of ten by throwing pieces of "trash" in a garbage can and counting how many went in and how many landed outside of the can.  We will also be sorting pieces of paper trash with trick words or nonsense words written on them and deciding if they are "trash" or "treasure". Even trash can be fun in kindergarten! Our trick word this week is "said".

April 14th

This week we will be having some Easter fun. We will be making Easter baskets and hunting for eggs. We will also be doing some writing about surprises that could be found inside an egg. One of the numeracy activities the children will be doing is a story problem using jelly beans and the best part is that at the end they can eat their work! Our trick word this week is"are".

Just a reminder that there is no school on Good Friday and Easter Monday (April 18th and 21st).

April 7th

Spring and Easter will be the topic in class for the next couple of weeks.The children will be talking about mud and creating some mud poetry. We will also be making some puddles using pudding. It should be a fun and messy time! We will also be creating a word wall display using Spring related words that the children think of. Our trick word this week is "on".

In numeracy, we are continuing to focus on the number 10. We will be counting and graphing Spring items and also doing some early addition by rolling and adding two dice together.

Just a reminder that there is no school on Friday due to a Professional Development Day for teachers.

March 31st

This week we will be doing some spring related activities.We will talking and writing about signs of spring and creating a spring word wall. Our big book this week is 9-1-1 Quack which is based on a true story of a duckling rescue from a sewer in British Columbia. 

In Fundations we are continuing to work on Unit 3 and tapping out and building/writing CVC words. The trick word this week is "it".

 I will be sending home the children's Trick Word  books this week. The words that are highlighted are the ones that have been introduced so far this year. We put a sticker on the dots beside the word once your child can independently recognize it. These can be kept at home for you to use when your children are doing some reading or writing activities at home or for some review. I also included a sheet with some trick word ideas and games you can play with your children at home. 

 In numeracy we are looking at combinations of 10 and making some part part whole butterflies.

We wrapped up our exploration of the five senses with a taste test on Friday. The children tried salty, sour, bitter and sweet foods. There were some pretty funny faces when they had a small taste of unsweetened chocolate.

Just a couple of reminders - Spring pictures are on Wednesday, April 2nd.

                                  -Friday is Hat Day for our Easter Seals fundraiser

March 24th

This week we will be working on getting back into our routines after the March Break. I hope everyone had an opportunity to have some family fun. We will be picking up where we left off before the break and returning to our exploration of the five senses. We will be reading the big book My Five Senses by Aliki and looking closer at each individual sense. 

In numeracy we will be practicing representing numbers in a variety of ways (dice formation, on a ten frame, writing the numeral etc...).

In Fundations we have been learning to blend and read three-sound words. We are also listening for long ( the letter says it's name) and short vowel sounds. The trick words this week are yes and no. The children will be making up their own questions to ask each other to do a Yes/ No survey. It is always interesting to see what questions they come up with.

The children had lots of fun designing Leprechaun traps before the March break. The designs were very creative! Mr Leprechaun managed to outsmart them but, he left a treasure for them at the end before he left until next year.

March 10th

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the Parent-Teacher Conferences. I enjoyed having the opportunity to share all the great accomplishments of your amazing littles!

This week we will be doing some activities centered around St Patrick's Day. The class will be talking about St. Patrick's Day and the folklore surrounding leprechauns. We might even be inspired to build some traps to try to catch one. We will be graphing Lucky Charm cereal, counting gold and writing about what we would do if we found a leprechaun or a pot of gold. We will also be making up some some rhyming word pairs for a St. Patrick's Day poem.  Our trick word for the week is "me".  

For the last week before March Break , Glen Stewart has planned a winter carnival with some special days.

Monday- Dress like you are on vacation.

Wednesday- Winter Bingo

Thursday- Green day- dress in green in celebration of St. Patrick's day

Friday- Pajama Day ( not school wide) and extra recess time weather permitting

I hope everyone enjoys their break and finds some time to have fun with your family and friends.

March 3rd

This week we will be starting to explore the five senses. Our big book will be My Five Senses-A Lion's Tale. The children will be participating in a variety of activities such as taste tests, smell guessing games, feely bags and blindfolded guessing games.

Our focus will be on the number 9 and it's combinations. We will also be working on some math story problems. Our trick word this week  will be "here".

If you have not already done so, please sign up for this week's Parent Teacher conferences. I look forward to meeting with you all and talking about all the great things your littles have been up to. 

https://gsp.parentteacherconferences.net/

Our class will be visiting the Book Fair on Tuesday.

Just a reminder that there are no classes this Friday due to Parent Teacher conferences.

One of the stories that we read last week for Pink Shirt Day awareness was Have You filled a Bucket Today? by  Carol McCloud

It talks about filling someone's bucket by being kind and that unkind actions can result in being a bucket dipper.

I have attached a link below so that you can watch it at home. 

February 24th

It is hard to believe that this is the last week of February. The children and I will be discussing the old expression of March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb. Hopefully it doesn't prove to be true and we are done of stormy weather for the year.

Thank you to all who were able to take the time to come to our Family Day Open House. The children were quite happy and proud to show you their classroom and work. Our long awaited Valentine's exchange on Wednesday was also a lot of fun. The children really enjoyed being able to share Valentines with their friends.

This week we are continuing to play catch up. We are going to be doing combinations of 8 and also some math story problems.In Fundations we are starting Unit 3 and our trick word this week is "come".

Pink Shirt Day is on Wednesday and we will be talking about kindness and doing some writing about ways we can be kind.

Wednesday February 26th  -We will be having Pink Shirt Day to recognize and embrace kindness and inclusion.  Students are encouraged to wear a pink shirt if they have one or a shirt that reflects kindness.  For more information on the day visit   https://pinkshirtdaycanada.ca

I look forward to having the opportunity to meet with everyone at the upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences. 

February 17th

Happy Islander/Family Day!

I hope everyone had the opportunity for some family fun together in spite of all this unsettled weather. 

We will be doing our Valentine's Day celebration and Valentine exchange on Wednesday. 

It has been a very busy time so far this January and February. We are going to use this week to do some Family Day activities  and get caught up on some activities and lessons that we did not get to because of snow days.

In writing, the children are working on adding beginning sounds, words or sentences to their writing depending on where they are in their writing development. In Fundations we are finishing Unit 2 and our review of uppercase letters. I will not be introducing any new words this week but will spend some time reviewing the ones we have already done. We will be doing guided reading in class but I will not be sending home any books this week.

In numeracy we are going to keep focusing on the number 8  and the various ways it can be represented. 

Just a reminder of our Family Day Open House on Friday from 8:30- 9:30. 

This Friday is also Winter Wellness. The children are going to be participating in some indoor fitness stations ( i.e. snowboarding, curling, speed skating) as well as some outdoor activities. An extra set of mittens might be a good idea for the day.

February 10th

It will be another busy week at Glen Stewart, as we try to catch up after our snow and P.D.days. We will be doing some Valentine's Day counting and writing as well as playing games and exchanging Valentines during our class celebration on Friday. We will also be doing some Family Day read alouds and activities.

 Our focus in math will be the number 8 and we will be solving some math word problems.

In Fundations we are continuing to review and practice upper case letters as well as tapping out and blending CVC ( consonant, vowel, consonant ) words. Our trick words this week are he and she.  I have not sent home any books this last couple of weeks for Guided Reading. We have been working in class on some decodable stories and have been practicing tapping out the sounds of unknown CVC words and blending them together to solve what they are. I will be sending some of these home for you to do with your children once we have a bit more practice with these skills.

Just a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, February 17th in recognition of Family Day.

February 3rd

I hope that everyone was able to stay nice and cozy this winter weekend.  Hopefully Shubenacadie Sam is wrong and we will have an early spring. 

Our trick word this week is "love". We will continue our Fundations review of uppercase letters. We will also be finishing up many of the projects that we have been working on the last couple weeks. With all the special days and storm days it has been hard to fit everything in.

This week  we will also  be starting to do some Valentine's Day activities. We will be counting Valentine objects,doing some art activities and writing about Valentine's Day.  Our class will be exchanging Valentines in class on February 14th and I will send home the class list at the start of the week. If you would like to send in your child's Valentines before the 14th, I will gladly keep them until the big day. If anyone would like to send in Valentine's treats please keep in mind our peanut/tree nut free policy.

Family Day Open House

The English Kindergarten classes would like to invite our families into our classrooms on Friday, February 21st between 8:30 a.m. & 9:30 a.m. to have a snack and a little visit. If you are not available, please feel free to invite someone else who is part of your family or special to your child in some way. We recognize that families consist of many different combinations and we will not be doing a separate Mother’s or Father’s Day celebration but will instead celebrate families as a whole.

January 27th

The children had a fantastic time on the field trip. The bowling was a big hit and everyone was great to take turns. There were some very interesting bowling techniques on display as well! 😄

The month has sped by and we are now in our last week of January!  It is going to be a very busy week with many events to take part in. Lunar/Chinese New Year, Literacy Week and our Kindergarten Beach Day. Groundhog Day is also coming up quickly on February 2nd and we will be learning about the folklore of this tradition and making our own predictions. We will also be doing some Groundhog related crafts, writing and part part whole activities.

The children really enjoyed the story The Mitten. They were very curious about the badger that appeared in the story, as it is not an animal that we are very familiar with here in Atlantic Canada. We will be starting to do some research about badgers and will make a class  "learn about the world"  or non-fiction book with badger facts that we will put in our classroom library.

The trick word this week is "and".

We are focusing on the number 7 this week and will be doing some part part whole activities with bears in and out of the cave.

Two of this week's read alouds will be The Snowy Day by Ezra Brown Keats and a book with a hibernation theme by Denise Fleming called Time to Sleep. 

Here's a quick recap of the week's special days /activities

Monday- Book Buddies- KC is partnering up with Mrs Hyde's Grade One class to do some reading with the "big kids".

Tuesday- Pajama Day- for some cozy reading in class

Wednesday- Dress as your favorite book character or dress in red/yellow in recognition of Lunar New Year- Year of the Snake

Friday- Beach Day- come dressed in your beach attire for some indoor pretend summer fun ( with warm clothes for recess as well)

Morning Arrival

Just a reminder that for children that are not travelling by bus to please be at the school in time to begin class at 8:30 if at all possible. I begin my morning circle time at 8:30 and this portion of the day covers a lot of the new material and activities that we will be doing for the remainder of the day. It is also a time that I review many of the topics that we have already covered. When the children come late or in the  middle of a lesson it is sometimes confusing for them and they are missing a key part of the day. Thank you for your help.

January 20th

The class is continuing to talk about winter and winter activities. The children are enjoying reading the story The Mitten and learning about some of the animals featured in the story. This week we will be doing  a retell of the story and putting together mitten books of our own and using them to practice our trick words and one to one matching of words. The children have begun guided reading and are very excited to have their own stories to read. I am asking the children to return the books each week by the end of the week. There are limited copies of each book title available and I will need them for other groups the following week. Our trick word this week is "play".

We are continuing to work on our number sense concepts 6-10 and are going to be counting and recording the amount of sets of winter objects. The class will also be using mittens to measure themselves and their classmates (non standard measurement). 

This week we will also be starting to learn a little about Lunar/ Chinese New Year- The Year of the Snake which is coming up on Wednesday, January 29th.

Field trip- Just a reminder that our bowling/library field trip is this Wednesday morning. Please return your child's permission slip and $8.00 payment if you have not already done so. It should be a lot of fun!

Beach day

The kindergarten classes thought it might be fun to have a beach day in the winter. On Friday, January 31st, your child is invited to come dressed in their beach wear (sunhats, glasses, shorts, sundresses etc.…) for some fun in the sun! Please make sure that they also bring their outdoor clothes for recess. 

One of our read alouds last week was Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. It really captured the children's interest and they requested that we read it many times. We also created some Sneezy the Snowmen ourselves, by using shaving cream and glue.

Below is a picture of their creations and a link to a reading of the story on YouTube. 

Sneezy the Snowman 

January 13th

January marks the beginning of our guided reading program in kindergarten. The children will be involved in small group reading instruction and will be starting later in the month to bring home their books /reading material for "homework". It is a very exciting time for the children. I will be sending home information explaining guided reading and how you can best support your children from home.

We are ready to begin Unit 2 in Fundations. The parent packages that I will be sending home for Unit 2 contain a lot of information and activities. Please do not feel overwhelmed as they are meant to be done over an extended period of time. The the trick word  this week is " to".

We will be reading the story The Mitten by Jan Brett. We will be using it as a launching point for some literacy, numeracy, art and dramatic play activities. The children will be counting the animals in the story and figuring out how many animals are in mitten and outside of the mitten (part part whole). Our focus this week is on the number 6. They will also be making their own mini books featuring these animals. 

Kindergarten Field Trip

The English Kindergarten will be having their first field trip of the year. On Wednesday, January 22nd we will be going bowling at the Murphy's Community Centre and then walking to the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre to do some activities and have a story time. We will be leaving in the morning and will be back by lunch ( travelling by bus both ways). The cost of the field trip is $8.00. I will be sending the permission slip home this week for you to sign and return.

January 6th

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and some time to relax and be with friends and family.

This week will be spent settling in and getting back to our normal (or as normal as it gets in kindergarten) routines after the holiday break. We will be doing some further exploration of patterns before moving on to number sense concepts with number 6-10. It will be a review week for our trick words and Fundations. This month we will be talking about winter and the various subjects related to this such as snow, winter activities and animal behaviours in winter. 

December 16th

Your children did at fantastic job at their Holiday Concert. It was so nice to see all those sweet smiling faces up on stage singing and dancing!

We will be using this last week before Christmas to finish up some projects and activities. The children have been having fun making gingerbread people with the gingerbread playdough we made together. We will continue  our gingerbread theme with the story Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett. Our class Christmas celebration will be on Friday. We will be decorating gingerbread cookies and having some treats. 

Fundations this week is the last two  letters to be introduced- q and z. The children are very excited about having done the WHOLE alphabet. Our trick word this week is "look".

Just a reminder of our upcoming Spirit Days for the last days of school before the Christmas break.     

Monday, December 16th- Dress in green, red,                    

Tuesday, December 17th- School wide Read Aloud with Ms MacKinnon and Ms Dunn

Wednesday, December 18th- Pyjama Day   

Thursday,December 19th- School wide bingo

Friday, December 20th- Festive attire (plaid, holiday shirt, holiday socks, etc..)  

I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe Christmas.  I hope you all find time to relax and connect with friends and family.

Happy Holidays

December 9th

It's concert week!

( just a hint... When you are choosing your concert seats, our class will be on the right hand side if you are facing the stage.)

Our big book this week is My Puppy by Anne Brailsford which talks about the things a puppy needs. We will be using this book as a launching point for some social studies outcomes and learning about needs and wants and what the difference might be. It could lead to some interesting conversations around this time of year. The trick word this week is "my" and our letters are "y" and "x" . 

The children have been enjoying creating patterns in a variety of ways. We will be creating paper patterns for our class Christmas tree and light bulb patterns this week, as well as talking about sound patterns and patterns we see in our environment. 

The Grade One classes have been raising baby chicks in their classrooms. They have had the eggs in an incubator and last week they hatched! The teachers were kind enough to invite us in to see the chicks and we even got to hold one!

December 2nd

December is already here and the countdown to Christmas is on !

We will be continuing our look at patterns and making patterns with cube-a-links, as well as creating patterns from materials we find in the classroom.

In class we will be reading Mrs Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley. This is the first of three Mrs Wishy Washy books that we will be exploring. We will be using the book as a launching point to practice our trick words, one to one correspondence, syllables, and sequencing. The letters this week are v and w. The trick word is "you".

Holiday Concert

The afternoon and evening concerts for Kindergarten are on Tuesday, December 10th. This year we are asking students to come dressed in what their family decides is best for their concert performance. The children are wearing headbands for the performance, so for the children with long hair, lower ponytails etc.. would be easier when they go to put them on. The school will be sending out information about the times and tickets.

The children had a fun time at the UPEI nurse's Teddy Bear Clinic. Their animals were weighed, measured , x-rayed and bandaged. There were quite a few interesting stories about what was wrong with their teddies and how they got injured! lol

November 25th

Thank you for attending the Parent-Teacher conferences. I really enjoyed meeting  with all of you and getting to know your children better through your eyes.

This week we will continue our unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. We will be reading the book Each Peach Pear Plum which features many of the characters that appear in the nursery rhymes we have been reading. We will be reading Goldilocks and the  Three Bears and doing some retelling and rhyme activities. 

It will be a three letter week in Fundations- l,h and k.  The trick word is "in".

In numeracy we will begin looking at patterns and sorting items by attributes ( size, colour, shape, etc...). We will be discovering patterns around us, as well as creating two part patterns of our own.

Just a reminder that our Teddy Bear Clinic is on Wednesday, November 27th. Your children can bring in their stuffed animals or dolls for some TLC from our UPEI nursing students.

November 18th

Thank you for signing up to attend the Parent-Teacher conferences. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you this week.  If you have not already done so please use the following link to sign up. 

School Appointments 

This week we will continue our unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. We will be using Humpty Dumpty as a launching point for some sequencing, writing, rhyming and part part whole activities. We will be using materials that we can find in the classroom to build walls and see what will happen to Humpty when he falls. Last week we saw how high we can jump over the candlestick that is in the Jack Be Nimble nursery rhyme. We also created our own book about what other things Jack could jump over. 

Our letters this week are "p" and "j" and the trick word is "go".  The kindergarten classes thought that because our letters are P & J this week, that we should celebrate by having a Pajama Day (P.J. Day).  We will be doing this on Thursday to wrap up the week. 

Just a reminder that there are no classes this Friday, November 22nd due to Parent Teacher conferences.

November 12th

This week we will be starting a unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The class  will be doing a lot of rhyming, writing and word play activities, as well as comparing different versions of the stories. If your child has any favorite books they would like to show the class please feel free to send them in.

Our letters this week are r and e and our word is "we". In Writer's Workshop we will be learning that illustrators illustrate colourful stories and that illustrators try their best.

In numeracy we are doing some part part whole and number recognition activities with the quantity of five.

November 4th

 I hope everyone took advantage of the extra hours sleep. 

The children had a wonderful time during the Halloween celebrations. Thank you for your generous treat contributions!

This short week we will not be introducing any new letters or words. We will be using this as an opportunity to practice and review the ones we have done to date. We will be continuing to practice rhyming and doing some writing about all the wonderful stories your children have to tell.

 In numeracy we will be continuing to  work with five frames and looking at the various combinations of five.

We will be talking about Remembrance Day this week and preparing a wreath for our classroom. Just a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, November 11th in honour of this day.

There is also no school on Thursday and Friday ( November 7th and 8th ) due to the annual PEITF convention for teachers.

October 28th

Halloween week is here!

 Just a reminder that we will be having our party Thursday and that there is no school on Friday due to a Professional Learning Day for staff.

 In numeracy we will be doing some counting activities and working with five frames. We will also be doing some activities that practise our number and letter formation. In Writer's Workshop we will be talking about how illustrators use tools (i.e crayons, paper) and that illustrators use sticks, circles and boxes when drawing. I will not be introducing any new letters or words but will be using the time for some practise and review.  We will be reading the big book Pumpkin, Pumpkin this week and talking about how pumpkins grow.  We will be carving a pumpkin and exploring it using our five senses. We will be tasting, touching, smelling, listening and looking at it.

                                        Shape jack- 0'- lanterns

October 21st

Halloween is almost here! Our class party will be on Thursday, October 31st. You can either dress your child in their costume if it is an easy one to wear ( please keep in mind trips to the bathroom) or you can send in the costume and we will get dressed in them before the party. I plan on having the party first thing in the morning and changing out of their costumes before recess. This will hopefully save on outside wear and tear and they will still have a costume left to wear on Halloween night. Please make sure they have street clothes to change back into if they come in their costumes. 

Our letters this week are "d" and "s" and the trick word is "is". In numeracy, we will be counting and creating sets of Halloween creatures , focusing on the numbers four and five. We will also be figuring out how we can share 5 stickers between two treat bags and exploring the different combinations for the quantity of 5.

October 14th

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we will continue on with Fall and Halloween fun. We will be counting Halloween items and making bat windsocks. The class will be looking at pumpkins and comparing and arranging them from biggest to smallest. Our letters this week are "a" and "g" and the trick word is "like". We will be doing some more activities that focus on syllables and rhyming. 

We will be having a class costume party on the Thursday, October 31st . I will send out some more information in next week's update.  If anyone is sending in treats to share from home, please keep in mind that we are a peanut/nut, fish and egg free class.

October 7th

October is flying by and Thanksgiving is approaching. The class will be counting feathers to decorate turkeys, as well as writing about things that we are thankful for.  We will be practicing number formation using our whiteboards with the focus on 2& 3.  

Our letters this week are "c" and "o" and the trick word is "the".  I will be sending home a laminated sheet with the Fundations writing grid on it and a white board marker. This is yours to keep and use with your child if they would like to do some extra letter printing using the Fundations wording. We will be working on syllables and some Fall/Halloween rhyming. In Writer's Workshop we will be talking about how writer's are storytellers and that storytellers share stories.

 I ran out of time for our big book I Was Walking Down The Road last week, so we will reading it this week instead.

Book Fair- The school will be hosting our Scholastic Book Fair fundraiser this week. The flyers were sent home last week and each class will have an opportunity to visit the fair. Our class will be visiting the Book Fair on Thursday but there is no obligation to make a purchase.

Picture Day

Just a reminder that picture day is Tuesday, October 8th.

There are no classes on Monday, October 14th in observance of Thanksgiving.

September 23rd

Just a reminder that there is no school Monday, September 23rd due to a Professional Development Day for teachers and Monday, September 30th for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Sunday marked the beginning of Fall. We will be starting to talk about the season and all the various topics that surround this, such as leaves, pumpkins, and Thanksgiving. We will be reading the big book Changing Colours and creating books of our own. We will also be reading the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle . I will be using the story as a launching point for some retelling, colouring ,sequencing  and number identification activities.

We have finished up our Fundations orientation week and have begun Unit One. The focus letters  are "n" and "m" as well as last week's letter t, b and f. We will also begin to talk about sight words (high-frequency) or "trick words" as they are referred to in Fundations. This week's trick words are "I' and "see" .

In numeracy we will be working on counting and creating sets, as well as reviewing last week's concept of more, fewer, and as many as.

It is going to be a busy 4 day week. Glen Stewart will be having Orange Shirt Day and Terry Fox run on Friday as well as practicing our bus evacuation. There is more information below about the meaning of these events.

Terry fox Run/Walk

 In 1980, Terry Fox faced considerable challenges while running the equivalent of a marathon a day for 143 days during his 3,339 mile Marathon of Hope.  It was all about effort for Terry.  He challenged himself every day with one goal in mind: raise the most money he could to end cancer.  Now it's Glen Stewart Primary School's turn.

On Friday, September 27th the students of Glen Stewart Primary School will be walking and running around the school playground in memory of Terry Fox.  We are asking students to make a small donation of a twoonie or a loonie to help raise money for Terry's cause.  Students can bring donations to their classroom teacher or families can make a donation of their choice directly to the Terry Fox Foundation by clicking on the following link:  

https://schools.terryfox.ca/40847

Glen Stewart will be having Orange Shirt Day  on Friday, September 27th.

Orange Shirt Day is September 30th. Every Child Matters is a movement that is sweeping our country and YOU are invited to become a part of it! At six years old, Phyllis Webstad was excited about starting school. Her grandmother took her shopping and Phyllis picked out a shiny orange shirt to wear on the first day of residential school. Her new shirt was taken from her on that first day and she never saw it again. Phyllis' story is similar to many residential school survivors. Held annually on September 30th, this day honours these survivors of Indian Residential Schools. 

September 16th

We are  working on our fine motor skills and pencil grasp. The children will be doing a section from the program "Handwriting Without Tears" called Mat Man. It helps to develop a child's body awareness, drawing, and counting skills.

We will be continuing to get to know one another in class and doing some All About Me books. The class will be talking about our favorite foods, toys etc... and all the things that make us all unique and special. This week also marks the beginning of our Fundations program. I will be sending home an information packet about this literacy based program with your child this week.

In numeracy we will be starting some number sense activities concentrating on the concepts of fewer, as many as, and more.

We will be having some second year nursing students from UPEI joining our class for a visit this week. They will be spending a few days over the next couple of months with some of the kindergarten classes. At the end of their visits they will be having a Teddy Bear Clinic for the children.

Just a reminder of the upcoming Meet The Teacher evening this  Wednesday from 6-6:15.

September 9th 

This week in class we will be working on establishing our classroom routines and expectations. We will be talking about what is acceptable behaviour both in our classroom and out on the playground. Our class will be reading the book “Hands Are Not for Hitting” and we will be doing some activities around what positive things that we can use our hands for. We want kindergarten to be a happy and safe environment for everyone! We will also be learning about each other this week and finding out what makes us all special and unique. We will be talking about birthdays and how we got our names. I will be sending home a sheet for you to fill out the story of how your child got their name and then sharing these stories with each other as they are returned. Thank you for helping out with this activity.  The class will be involved in various literacy activities  and we will be working on our scissor skills as well.

If you have not already had an opportunity to do so, please sign and return the forms that were sent home in your child's homework bag last week. Thank you and have a great week!

Meet The Teacher Night- We will be having a Meet the Teacher night on Wednesday, September 18th from 6 to 6:15.  I look forward to seeing you then. 

September 5th

Thank you for taking the time to checkout our classroom blog. Starting next week I will be using this page to post weekly what we will be up to in KC. I try to post every Sunday for the upcoming week.