Getting Ready for Grade 1!

Our SKs are getting ready to go up to Grade 1 in September! Usually, at the end of the school year, we practice doing some of the Grade 1 things. I can't show you in person, but I will describe  it here.

In Grade 1 you will start your day by lining up at the back of the School. The SK's should be used to this because we did this when they were in JK :)

Your teacher will walk you upstairs, just like in Kindergarten. You will likely have a locker - just like in Kindergarten. some classes have cubbies inside of the classroom instead of lockers, but the Grade 1 classroom for next year will have lockers.

There will be *some* Grade 2s in your class! You will remember them from when you were in JK and they were in SK - they might have been in Room 9 or in other Kindergartens.

You will start your day by standing for O Canada and listening to the announcements -- Just like in Room 9! You will be inside of the classroom though. Then you will start your day. There will be carpet time, work time and likely you will have some centre time.

In the middle of the morning, there will be recess. (15 minutes) Your teacher will walk you down the stairs and you will play outside. Your teacher might go outside too for "Yard Duty" or there might be a different  teacher out there. If you have any problems, find a teacher! They will be wearing an orange vest. There will be many students out in the backyard of the school.Recess is also your chance to go to the washroom. You will use the basement washrooms - just like you would use if you were in the Lunchroom Gym or in Drama. When the bell rings, line up in the same place that you lined up in the morning. The Grade 2 students in your class will help you find it if you can't remember.

Then you will go back to your classroom for more learning, until lunch time!

Lunch is in the lunchroom in the basement. It is where we ate Pizza Lunch! There will be lots of kids in there and it will be a bit loud. Your teacher will walk you down, and then She will leave. There are Lunchroom Supervisors who will look after you. If you have a question, or have to go the bathroom, put your hand up! You have to say in your seat unless a Supervisor says you can get up. If you finish your lunch, just keep sitting and talk quietly with your friends. The lunchroom supervisor will tell you when it is time to go outside to play.

(this is an old photo of the lunchroom. The tables are a bit different now!)

The afternoon is just like the morning! There is a recess in the afternoon too.

At home time your teacher will walk you downstairs and out the back door for dismissal. It is just like in Kindergarten. You have to wait with your teacher until they see your parent or babysitter or daycare and then they will tell you that you can leave.

Swimming! You will have Swimming twice a week! Parents -- if you get the chance over the summer, you should take your child swimming at Earl Beatty to get them used to the Earl Beatty pool. I used to be a TDSB Swimming instructor, so if you have any questions about Pool, please ask. If your child needs to sit on the side of the pool for a few lessons, that is fine! Please tell your child's teacher, and they will pass the message along to Neil and Julien, our Swimming Instructors.

Word Families and spelling

Some parents have asked about spelling the word families. In Kindergarten, we like to play with the rhymes and word families, and begin to get familiar with them in context (in our shared reading of messages, simple charts and poems). We played with word families with magnetic letters or letter cards, but we are not expected to use them yet in our writing!  In Grade 1, we are expected to begin to write (spell) with the word families.

The best way to learn about word families and rhyming is to play games and sing songs about rhymes.

Down by the Bay is such a fun summer song to sing!

I'm showing these so you knew that your child does not have to learn them in Kindergarten! In Kindergarten your child should be spelling phonetically as they hear a word. If they spell cat "ct"  - that is wonderful! They heard the initial sound and the end sound! That is AWESOME. As they learn more conventional spelling, they will use it. Do not worry if they cannot spell words properly!

As they come across more words in their reading, they will become more aware of word families.

These are the word families that we focused on when I taught Grade 1 and Grade 2.

 Grade 1 (by the END of Grade 1)

at, am, an, ab, ag, ad, ap, im, in, ip

op, ob, ot, ow (low), ow (how), ed, et

ug, um, ay, y

Grade 2 (by the END of Grade 2)

est, ell, ing, ink, ine, ill, ight, ick, ack, ank, ail, ain, ake

eed, ew, ore, ock, out, unk, uck

The Grade 2’s also focus on Letter Blends and Digraphs.

 Letter blends (at beginning of words):

bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, pl, pr, sl, sm, sp and st (also at end).

 Letter digraphs (at beginning and end of words):

th, sh, ch, wh (beginning of words only)

Thank you parents!

Parents! You deserve a huge thank you! You have finished a 3+ month teaching practicum without teachers college (well, I know that at least 4 of you are teachers - but you had to do double teaching duty!) You all had the job of teacher thrust upon you, and your children have thrived!

Even if you never did any of the activities that I posted, your children learned so much from you during the past 3 months. They cooked with you, cleaned with you, learned how to deal with boredom, and played with you -- and they all looked so happy when we saw them in Google Meets.

So many of you went for nature walks. I wish that we could go for a nature walk every day with our class! Free play outside is one of the best things you can give your children to help their growth and development. Keep it up!

Lets hope that we are back in the somewhat normal classroom in September. Fingers crossed!

High Fives and Hugs all around!

(but maybe just within your family for now, right?)

(please give your children a high five or a hug from me)

Morning Message for Friday, June 26

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Math Word Problem of the Day!

This is the last day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we have focused on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Please continue challenging your children with simple word problems throughout the summer!

Henry K and Winston were playing Pokemon. Henry had 9 cards and gave 2 to Winston. How many Pokemon cards does Henry have left?

Me, on my last day of Kindergarten

Today is the last day of school. It is your last day of Junior Kindergarten, or your last day of Senior Kindergarten.

It has been a very different year than most years!

Please draw a picture of you on your last day of Kindergarten. Do your very best drawing!

This is Mrs. Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten. (by Joseph Slate)

We didn't get to do some of the things that this class does, but usually, we do! We DID clean the classroom before the break though. Do you remember washing the toys and tables? And trying to find every piece of Lego and every Snap Cube so the caretakers didn't sweep them up? Thank you for helping with that!

Thank you for a wonderful year, Room 9!

Ms. Brown and Ms. Emerson will miss you so much. Have a great summer, and we will see you in September!

Morning Message for Thursday, June 25

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Happy Birthday Grace!!!!

Grace! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Grace, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Grace's mom make 4 cupcakes for their family. Grace ate 1, Graces's mom ate 1, Graces's dad ate 1, and Grace's brother ate 1. How many cupcakes are left to eat tomorrow?

Our Friends

Our friends make us happy. They cheer us up when we are sad.

Read along to My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems. I think that you will be able to read many of the words. Once the book has played through once, play it again and read along! (Parents: You could turn the volume off, and pause on every page. Have your child find some words that they know. You could read the words and point to them, and they could chime in on words that they know)

Today, we continue our Year in Kindergarten Booklet! Who were some of your friends this year? I know that we are all friends (This year we had an amazing class of students who worked and played together better than any other class!).

Who did you enjoy playing with the most? Who made you happy?

Draw a picture of you playing with your friends, and write their names on the lines.

Don't worry, we will see our friends soon.

Morning Message for Wednesday, June 24

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Jack! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Jack, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even Madelyn! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Andrew and Ethan were at the library. Andrew read 5 books and Ethan read 3 books. How many books did they read altogether?

What was your favourite Centre?

What was your favourite centre in Room 9?

On the Favourite Centre page in your Kindergarten Year Booklet, draw a picture of you playing in your favourite centre, and write what centre it is.

Here is a list just in case you can't remember them all!

Drawing and Writing

Letters and Words

Dramatic Play

Blocks

Building

Lego

Reading

Snap Cubes

Play Dough

Nature Stuff with ponies

Painting

Board Games

Making Patterns

Puzzles

5 Frames or 10 Frames

Water

Sand

Water Beads

Snack ☺

Cut and Paste

Magnatiles

Loose Parts

Nature Yard!

Can you think of any more?

(Letter Centre)

(Nature - Loose Parts)

(Block Centre)

(Building Centre)

(Loose Parts)

(Magnatiles)

(Math)

(Nature Yard)

(Painting Centre)

(Poetry Centre)

Nature crowns

Every year during our Fun Friday Play Day, we have an outdoor centre where we make Nature Crowns.

I am hoping that you can make a nature crown and wear it to our Google Meet Birthday Party tomorrow! (11:15 am)

*** Parents! If you have your own way of making a crown, you don't have to follow the instructions ☺***

You will need:

• paper - construction paper, computer paper, brown paper from a paper bag - whatever you want your crown to be made from!
• nature bits that are light (leaves, stems, flowers, seeds)
• tape (masking tape, clear cello tape, washi tape - whatever you have)

First, cut your paper in half across the long part:

Then tape it together to make a long strip.

Then cut a zig zag pattern. It is easiest if you or your parent draws it first. (parents - I made my points at 3" intervals).

Then to cut the zig zag, cut from the outer edge, into the V. then take your scissors out and cut from the outer edge into the V from the other side. It will be a lot of cutting! I cut 150 each year, so I think you can help!☺. If you don't want to cut points on your crown, that is fine!

Then, measure the crown so it fits around your head with a little overlap. Cut the extra paper off, but do not tape it into a circle yet. We need to decorate it! if you would like to, now is the time to colour your crown. You can use crayons, markers or paint! Or just leave it paper colour.

Then, take your nature bits and tape them onto the crown. If you are making this on Wednesday, you could glue things on. If you are making it on Thursday, use the tape or the glue will slide off into your hair.

I have taped some nature bits on - but I am going to tape so many more on so I can wear my awesome crown for our party tomorrow!

Morning Message for Tuesday, June 23

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Kayleigh! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Kayleigh, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even Logan! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Sybil and her sisters were looking for snakes! They saw 5 snakes on the path but 2 slithered away. How many snakes were left on the path?

My Teachers

We are winding up our last days of school for the year! Today, we will begin working on our "My Year in Kindergarten" booklets. These were in the bags that you picked up from your child's locker. It has some pages already finished (This is me on my first day of Kindergarten!).

Today we can begin filling out the other pages.

Today we will focus on My Teachers.

Who were all of your teachers? Can you remember all of their names?

I am including them here, just in case you don't know how to spell them!

Ms. Brown

Ms. Emerson

Ms. Swire (Gym)

Ms. Tirkos (Drama)

Ms. Stecyk (Music)

Ms. Sawh (Library)

Andrea (Lunchroom Supervisor)

You can draw a picture of all or some of your teachers and print your names on the lines.

Morning Message for Monday, June 22

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Nate! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Nate, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even to Claire! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on addition and subtraction! Please read the question to your child and ask them if they think that they should be joining the numbers together (altogether is the clue) or taking an amount away from the original number (how many do they have left)

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on addition and subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Henry B, Declan and Theo were playing in the sand pit. Darcy and Tate joined them. How many friends were playing in the sand pit altogether?

It's Probably Time for Probability!

Probability tells us how likely it is that something will happen.

Day 1.

We use words like always, sometimes and never to talk about probability.

Always means that it happens ever time.

Sometimes means that it might happen, or maybe not

Never means that it does not happen.

Lets make a chart!

This chart is about things that you do in your kitchen!

This is about your kitchen. Things that I do in my kitchen might not be the same as things that you do in your kitchen.

(parents: you might want to talk about all the different things that you do in your kitchen. Write some of them on post-it notes and have your child place them in the proper column. This might take lots of discussion! Also add some things that you are not allowed to do in the kitchen. (if you don't have post it notes, then write on small squares of paper that will fit in each column, and just place them on the chart on the table)

__________________________________________

Day 2

We also use words like possible and impossible when we talk about probability.

Possible means that it could happen.

Impossible means that there is no way that it could happen.

Can you jump over a crack in the sidewalk? Yes! That is possible!

Can you jump over your house? No! That is impossible!

Here are a list of statements. Your parent will read them, and you can decide if it is possible or impossible.

1. A spider will crawl on a web.

2. An alligator will ride on your scooter.

3. A rabbit will eat a carrot.

4. An owl will blow up a balloon.

5. A bee will fly into a hive.

6.  A frog will turn into a prince.

7. Some kids will play basketball.

8. A dinosaur will walk in your front door.

9. A penguin will drive to school.

10. It will rain this week.

11. A turtle will teach us about outer space.

12. You will sleep tonight.

13. My dog will write me a letter.

14. Cookies will rain from the sky.

15. A unicorn will watch tv with you.

Draw a picture! Can you draw a picture of something that is impossible? On the paper, write a sentence "It is impossible that ______" . Parents of JK students may want to help with the writing - at this point, one or two words might be appropriate. It is all developmental! Some JK students may be able to write the full sentence.

*** In Kindergarten our curriculum expectation for probability is "Use mathematical language in informal discussions to describe probability."  Feel free to talk to your child about  probability when flipping a coin, or when rolling dice, etc., when you think that they are ready to understand it!

You can also talk about if something is likely to happen or not! Likely/ unlikely.

Morning Message for Friday, June 19

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Thomas! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Thomas, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on subtraction!

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Evren and Wes were looking for animals in the park. They saw 7 squirrels on a branch! 4 squirrels ran into a hole in the tree. How many squirrels were left on the branch?

Nature faces

Today, I would like you to try to make a face from some nature. You will need to collect some smallish bits like small twigs, maple keys, leaves and maybe even some sand. You will also need a bigger leaf. You might want to read through the directions first so see what we are doing with them!

(Shhhhh, we are going to make a card for Dad, because on Sunday, it is Father's Day)

You will need

• a piece of cardstock or construction paper, folded like a card
• nature bits
• glue
• a pencil, or marker or crayon

First, make sure that your card is opening the proper way. Your parent might want to help with this.

Next, open the card up and write on the inside (usually we do this last, but the card will be drying for a while, so we will do this first!) You can write:

Happy Father's Day Dad! (or Dada, or Daddy, or whatever you call your father!))

Love, (your name)

Then, close up your card again and glue your big leaf on the front of the card.

Then put some of the smaller nature bits on the big leaf and try to make a face. You could try to make your dad's face!

What does a face need? (at least eyes, nose and a mouth - you could add ears, eyebrows, eyelashes, hair)

I used my nature bits and made so many different faces! then I decided that I liked these 2 the best.

When everything is the way you want it, you can glue it down. Don't use too much glue! Dots not lots!

When everything is the way you want it, you can put it between some newspaper or scrap paper and put a book on top of it until it is dry. If you accidentally put too much glue on, you might want to put a piece of waxed paper or parchment on it so the glue doesn't stick to the paper. The reason we are putting it under a book, is so the leaves don't all curl up. You will need to leave it under the book until tomorrow! Check it the next day - it might look a bit different if you have used flowers because sometimes they fade when they dry. You could add some extra nature bits and let it dry again. Save it for Sunday to give to your dad!

Morning Message for Thursday, June 18

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE!

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Winston! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Winston, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your dog! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on subtraction!

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Nate and Grace were collecting dandelions. They found 3 fluffy dandelions and blew the fluff off of 2 of them.  How many fluffy dandelions were left?

Whistle for Willie - a Story of Perseverance

Do you know what perseverance means? It means trying really hard at something, even though it is really hard. Our character trait for this month is perseverance.

I know that  you have been persevering at so many things lately! Some of you have you have worked so hard to learn to ride a two wheel bike -- and now you can! Some of you have worked really hard at reading, and now you can read harder words!

I have been working really hard at skipping. I know how to skip, and a few years ago I learned a kind of skipping called "double unders" (that means the the skipping rope goes around 2 times for each jump) But now I am persevering at doing "triple unders"! The skipping rope has to go under my feet 3 times for every jump! I can't do it YET, but I am hoping that by the end of the summer, if I practice almost every day, I will be able to do triple unders.

This is a story about Peter, who we met in A Snowy Day. He is trying to learn how to whistle. The story is called Whistle for Willie. It is by one of my favourite authors, Ezra Jack Keats.

Is there something that you want to learn? Can you persevere, and practice trying it a lot until you can do it? Sometimes we need to take small steps toward it. When I wanted to learn double under skipping, I had to practice a lot of regular skipping first, so I could skip for a long time without tripping. Then I tried to do one double under skip - and I tripped every time for weeks and weeks. And then finally! I did one! And then a few days later, I could do two!I kept adding a few more, until, almost a year later, I could do 50!

Don't get frustrated if you can't do something on the first try. You might need to practice a lot! Be patient and persevere.

Morning Message for Wednesday, June 17

Watch Ms. Brown's Message to you HERE

Before you read the message you need go outside and decide what the weather and what the temperature is! Is it Sunny? Cloudy? Rainy? Windy? Cold? Cool? Warm? Hot?  Where the blank space is in the message, you have to say what the weather is or how the temperature feels.

Ethan! You are our helper! You can take the attendance to the office :) Ethan, you can write the names of the people who are home right now and bring your paper to someone else. Even your brother! You can write the names with Rainbow letters. You can write each letter in the name a different colour. You need to be extra helpful today. What will you do?

Math Word Problem of the Day!

For the rest of June, each day we will have a math "problem" to figure out. We have done these in class, so they should be familiar. This week we are focusing on subtraction!

(Students) Please draw the objects and then count them. This week we will focus on subtraction in numbers less than 10. Parents! Feel free to change the numbers! If your child isn't able to count higher than 5, then use numbers that are less than 5. If your child is able to count larger numbers, change the numbers. I would stick with single digit numbers for now.

Jack and Thomas were by the pond watching frogs. They saw 6 frogs on a lily pad, but 3 jumped away. How many were left on the lily pad?

Over and Under The Pond

Have you ever been to a pond? I know that some of you have - because you have sent us pictures of your adventures! I love to sit in a boat and float on a pond, but I also like to go to Riverdale Park and walk down the paths to see the ponds there.

Have you ever been to see a pond? What is your favourite part about the pond? I like looking for frogs and turtles!

You could draw a picture about your favourite animal (or plant, or non-living thing!)

Write - I like _____. (and write what you like!)