January Schedule

The calendar won't be coming home until January 6 (in the Thursday folder). The first few weeks of January follow the same schedule as December, if you still have it.

Please note that starting in January we will have POOL EVERY WEEK! The morning class will be swimming right at 9:00 so we will be heading down to the pool straight from outside at 8:55. Pool mornings will be a bit "rush rush"!

Stuff needed

It may be too late to ask for old wrapping paper, but I thought that I'd throw it out there! Used, crumpled -- it's okay! Especially the metallic or foil kind that you can't put in the recycling!

Old holiday cards -- feel free to tear the sentiment side off -- or leave it.

White, clear or silvery "little stuff". It needs to fit in a jar..... Think little bits of yarn, glitter, sequins, broken jewelry, ribbon (used curly ribbon is great). We will need this asap.

Happy Christmas to those of you who celebrate it!

I can't show the special gifts that we made for the parents because they involved portraits of the children. But they were awesome! I wanted to save every one to put up in our classroom.


For readers who aren't part of our school community: Most of the children in our class celebrate Christmas. I am very sensitive towards the students who do not. We discuss as a class how some people do not celebrate Christmas. We focus on many cultural festivals and celebrations throughout the year. Our gifts to the parents were not "Christmassy" I took photos of the children and adjusted the brightness and contrast then printed them onto regular photocopy paper (black and white prints) Then we glued the papers onto canvas, and coated them with an acrylic medium. Then the children chose 2 primary colours to work with, and they painted the backgrounds, mixing the paints on a palette, or right on the painting.

Reindeer

Aren't they so cute? I especially like the one with one big eye and one small eye!

Rubbings

During the last week of school before the break we had lots of fun making rubbings.


This was like an archeological adventure. What would you find when you rubbed the page with crayons? Oh, there's a letter! I found an S! There was great discussion happening!!!


One of the discussions was "How did the letters and pictures magically appear?" I finally showed them at the end of the week!


We used the crayon cakes that we made last year. We peeled the labels off of the old, broken crayons, then put a tiny bit (1/2 tsp) oil in the bottom of each cup of an old muffin tin and placed in some broken crayons in each one until they were 2/3 full. Then we heated them in a 250 F oven for about 15 minutes. The peeling of the crayons took months! I had them out on a table and occasionally a child would wander by and sit down for some quiet time spent peeling.

Symmetry

Learning about symmetry is easy when you use mittens as an example!


As part of my seasonal gift to the children, I made mittens and they decorated them. The catch? I wouldn't glue anything on until they made the mittens symmetrical. (I used hot glue -- it's a bit fiddly to glue the little bits, so the children don't get to help with the gluing) (I glue with a bowl of cold water beside me to dip my fingers in when I miss a bit)

These were the steps:
1. Try on the mittens that you like. Do they fit? Okay, go to the next step.
2. Place the mittens on the table, thumbs together.
3. Pick 3 things that you want to put on your mittens. Place them on one mitten.
4. Find those 3 things again and put them on the other mitten, mirroring the first one.

That "mirroring" step was a bit tricky for some children. Try it at home!

(and a special thanks to Clare's mom for helping with the morning class!)
(yes, I sewed the mittens from scraps of polar fleece from ArtsJunktion -- it's what I do in my cool basement in the summer when I need to escape the heat)

Constellations

After talking about where WE are in the world and beyond (Earl Beatty, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth, the Universe) We talked about the sun and stars. We talked about how important the sun is to our planet (for heat and light). Then we talked about how most of the stars that we see in the sky are other suns. That seemed a bit unbelievable to most of the students, so we just settled on "stars are stars" .

Then we talked about stars and groups of stars that they know. We started with the Big Dipper ("It looks like a spoon". "No, it doesn't, it looks like a pot"). We talked a bit about how stars could be used for navigation (to help us find our way) ("Like a map in the sky" someone said "Yes! Just like that" ) But the concept of the "map in the sky" is still a bit difficult to grasp, so we were back to "stars are stars, and they make pictures in the sky".

So we made our own constellations. We cheated a bit (a lot) by drawing the lines first, then putting the stars up in our skies..... They look pretty spectacular up in our classroom -- especially when we turn the lights off. They don't glow in the dark, but with the lights off, you can't see the lines -- just the stars and the shapes that they make! Constellations!

Colours

We learned about Primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and how other colours can be made by mixing these colours (Secondary colours -- green, orange and purple). We mixed the colours as a group and put them in the window in mason jars. Don't they look beautiful?

Ask your child about mixing colours. What do you get when you mix blue and yellow? What colours so you mix to make orange? How do you make brown? (that's brown in the smaller jar on the right end)
(we haven't talked about tints and shades yet!)


Then I put some coloured water out and students mixed their own "potions"(their words) in small containers. They had to use eyedroppers to transfer the water. It takes a while to figure out how to use an eyedropper!


We made something special by mixing colours. But I can't show them here! You parents are going to have to wait a few weeks to see them :). And the general public? Well, you're just going to have to hear me talk about them......

Be a Santa to a Senior

This year, Earl Beatty will reach out to members of our community with the 3rd annual Be a Santa to a Senior Program. Extendicare Guildwood have identified 35 residents who could benefit from the warmth and care shown by Earl Beatty.

Extendicare Guildwood wishes for a stereo for their lounge area, and also appreciate any small items that can serve as prizes for their Bingo Program.


Our morning class will be sponsoring Betty, and our afternoon class will be sponsoring Andre.
Both of these seniors are wishing for socks, unscented soap or lotion, a stuffed toy, and facial tissues.

Other items that they may be able to use are:

items such as Kleenex; socks without tight elastics; undershirts (size large); unscented bodywash; shampoo; shaving cream; toothbrush and paste; butter cookies(no nuts); pencils or pens; word search or crossword books; small photo album; mints or fruit candies; hat or gloves. (this is from last year's request list)

I will put a gift tag on each gift stating what is inside to make sure that each senior gets appropriate gifts (i.e. -- no candy to a diabetic patient)

Please send your donations in by Friday December 10 -- you can send in a small cash donation or the items themselves. (This is completely voluntary-- please do not feel obligated to participate). I will be shopping on the weekend for any items that we need to "fill in the gaps".
On Monday December 13 the classes will be wrapping gifts and making cards! If you have any extra wrapping paper or gift bags at home, feel free to donate them (our class already has a few rolls, but some other classes may not).

The gifts will be delivered between December 14th-17th.
I saw the photos from last year and heard some wonderful stories-- they brought tears to my eyes -- the seniors truly do appreciate this.
If you would like more information about the Be a Santa to a Senior program, you can visit the website here!

The Letter Tt

Howard

Howard is afraid to go to school. The Snorton twins have been bullying him. Every day they take his lunch and do mean things to him. But Howard is afraid that if he tells the teacher, then the twins will be even meaner.
Howard learns: "Be brave, be bold, the teacher must be told"

We also talked about the difference between accidents and bullying (accidently tripping over something and knocking down a block building isn't bullying -- walking past someone's block building and knocking it over every time they build it IS bullying)

*** I am not aware of any bullying going on in our kindergarten classroom. The reading of this book is, hopefully, a preventative measure***
(and parents, if your child is EVER afraid to come to school -- for ANY reason, please talk to their teacher -- school should ALWAYS be a safe place).

Fairy Tales

We studied folktales and fairy tales over the last few weeks....

Both classes studied "The Three Little Pigs" We are still having lots of fun acting out the story. All of the boys want to be the big, bad wolf.... sigh........

Here are some of the piggy masks:
And the houses:
(still in progress)

And some writing:
(click on the pictures to enlarge)

Back in a few days!

Hi Boys and Girls,
Today is Wednesday. Guess what? I am almost all better and I am coming back to school to be your teacher on Monday (November 22)! I have missed you all so much. That means that Thursday will be the last day that Ms. Sher and Ms. Sawh will be the teachers in our class (because there is no school on Friday). Thank you Ms. Sher and Ms. Sawh for taking such great care of the Room 9 classes!
Love,
Ms. Brown

Pumpkins

The classes did some counting when making some pumpkins.

More Halloween

Things that are scary:


A Halloween Chant:

Halloween

The kids were very cute (and scary, superhero-like, and bad -looking) on Halloween (I was at school for the full day to see them and take pictures so we could make a Halloween book. The book is finished, but not at school yet).

I wish that I could show their pictures here! We had princesses (and fairy princesses), pirates, Clark Kent/Superman, Wolverines, a Western Outlaw, vampires, Spiderman (and Black Spiderman) Batman, ghosts, Barbie, unicorns, a penguin, a geisha girl, a bee, a construction worker, a fireman, a bat, a Jawa, a pumpkin, a kitten, a clown, a dragon and Robin Hood! -- Oh, but wait -- I can show one of the costumes! Shane (from the daycare) was a Ballerina! If you don't know Shane -- he's very tall and has a shaved head. More football player than princess. But (obviously) a very good sport! I asked him last year why he was never a ballerina for Halloween (last year we had lots of ballerinas at Halloween). He told me that he couldn't be a ballerina because they didn't make tutus in his size. I told him that I could make him a tutu in his size. He said that he'd wear it if I made it. The week before Halloween this year, I brought him his tutu! He added a crown, a wand and some fairy wings on his back! Thanks, Ballerina Shaney, for indulging me and allowing me to use your picture!

More Spiders!

(I haven't been able to get many pictures from the classroom so I haven't posted as often as desired)

The morning class made group paper mache spiders!


The afternoon class made little individual spiders:

(click on them to see them larger)

Spider patterns:

More spidery stuff coming!

I had a little visit to the classroom yesterday to see the children -- I missed them all so much! (but they tired me out pretty quickly). A few still haven't forgiven me for leaving.... but that's okay -- I'll be back soon!

The pm class is doing some spider patterning (so is the am class -- the picture that I took didn't turn out -- more to come!


Both classes are making spiders! There are having lots of fun with paper mache. I CAN'T WAIT to see what these will look like when they are finished and hanging up in the classroom!!!

Spiders

This week the children are learning about spiders....


They are also learning about the letter S:
S is a tricky letter to print for many children! Practicing drawing S curves on a large piece of chart paper allows them to develop their gross motor skills too!

Apples

Last week the class learned a bit about apples!


I like apples too!

Lost and Found

If you have lost something -- it might be in the class. Here are some recent articles of clothing that have been left in the classroom. If they look familiar, send a note in with your child, and we'll send it home with them.

We LOVE the pigeon

We just love the antics of the pigeon. I'm hoping that we will be able to write our own pigeon book soon! (Don't Let the Pigeon ________ ).

We're also learning about speech bubbles and thought bubbles. I often hold a bubble over my head with a few words on it, and I ask -- "Am I thinking, or am I speaking?"

(FYI -- a pointy end on the bubble means speech and a bubbly-not joined-end means thought or dream). Sometimes I ask the students what they think I am thinking about (I hold up a blank thought bubble) They give the best answers! (candy, your dog, candy, your daughter, candy, your mommy, candy). Ask your child what they think that you are thinking about. Try showing what you are thinking by showing the emotion on your face!

(click on these photos to see them closer -- they are WONDERFUL drawings)