Freesia's Birthday and Computer Class

What words come to mind when you think of Christmas?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Literacy Week

I hope everyone received their brown envelope containing all of the information and forms for literacy week yesterday.  Lets all try to read as many books as we can and if the school reaches the goal of 500 pledges by next Friday, if we do then I will shave my head!!!!

cheers
Braedon

Thomas and Lucy's B day and weekly centres

Friday, November, 25

            Another busy week has passed and it was great to see everyone out last Thursday at our American Thanksgiving potluck.  There was so much delicious food and it was great to see so many familiar faces. 

Next week will be our last week studying nursery rhymes.  We have studied Goldilocks and Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man.  In math we have now began to investigate shapes and differences between 2D and 3D shapes. 

            I have changed a few things on this blog.  As you can see there are tabs at the top labeled Calendar and Useful Websites for Parents.  I will update them regularly so please take a look when you have a second, also if you find a useful website or article please let me know so I can post it on the blog.  You will also notice a new daily schedule posted below.  A few things have changed with regards to time and we are also doing reading buddies every Wednesday afternoon.

            We have begun practicing for our Christmas performance.  Please let me know if you cannot make it Thursday December 15^th at 6:30pm as I have already planned out what each student will be doing. 

            As you can tell by the blog I take a lot of photos.  But I also love receiving pictures from parents.  If you take a great photo of anyone from the Pre-K class could you please email it to me so I could post it on the blog or have it in the 2011-2012 yearbook.

Also, since December is a shorter school month and very hectic there will be no homework assigned this month.  It will start again in January. 

Student of the Week

The student of the week this week is Lucy.  Her leadership and overall positive energy in the classroom are astonishing.  Way to go Lucy!

Reminders and Notices

1.     Christmas performance will be December 15^th at 6:30 in the downstairs auditorium.

2.     Literacy week is December 5-9 (more details will follow)

3.     Please email me any great photos you have of the Pre-K’s

What we did in our centres this week

Literacy Centres

1.       Guided and silent reading with our portfolios.

2.       Little Red Riding Hood sequencing and retelling the story.

3.      Computer story “Little Red Riding Hood.”

4.      Writing sight words using magnetic letters.

5.      Phonics text books Kk.

Math Centres

1.      Making a 3D reproduction of Little Red Riding Hood’s house.

2.      Play dough and toothpicks making shapes.

3.      Shapes cut and paste booklet.

4.      Computer shape games.

Like always, if you have any questions or concern you can always write me an email at bsharp.his@gmail.com or come by and speak to me in person.

Cheers

Braedon

You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.

Marvin Minsky

Updated Daily Schedule

TIME	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday		Friday
8:20-8:45	Choice Play	Choice Play	Choice Play	Choice Play		Choice Play
8:50-9:25	Morning Sharing Time (weather, feelings, goal of the day, number of days of school etc)
9:25-10:20	Math/Science Centers	Math/Science Centers	Music with Mrs. Fay	Math/Science Centers		Math/Science Centers
10:15-10:55	BATHROOM, SNACK AND RECESS
10:50-12:15	Literacy Centers/ Daily 5	Literacy Centers/ Daily 5	Literacy Centers/ Daily 5	Literacy Centers/ Daily 5		Writers workshop
12:15-12:25	Bathroom and Clean up
12:25-12:55	LUNCH
1:00-1:15	Silent Reading and Rest time
1:15 –1:30	RECESS and BATHROOM
1:30-2:20	Drama with Mrs. Willis	P.E with Mr. Burt	Computer class		Music and Dance with Mrs. Vicky and Mrs. Lee	Afternoon sharing time and themed activities
2:20-3:00	Afternoon sharing time and themed activities	Library with Mr. Welz	Reading Buddies		Afternoon sharing time and themed activities	Assembly/Science experiment/Walk
3:00-3:10	Review of the Day and Closing Exercises

Friday, November, 18

            Time just keeps flying by and soon we will be getting ready for our Christmas break.  I have completed my third reading observations and I am so happy with all of the progress that the students have made with regards to literacy.  Keep reading as much as you can to your child and like I said to some during the parent teacher meetings, it doesn’t matter if you are reading English or Chinese, reading is reading.  I prefer English of course but reading in Chinese will transfer over to English.  Also, when you are reading with your child encourage them to help you locate and read the sight words.  They love helping and showing how they can read as well. 

            Awareness/anti bullying week was a big success and we all learnt so much about how we can stop bullying in our society.  Today we sang a song about how bullying is unfair to the entire elementary school!  We are still working on our anti bullying posters and will be presenting them next Friday at the monthly assembly.  I am so proud of the Pre-K’s in how much they learnt this week about bullying!

            Since Christmas is just around the corner I have begun to plan for our Christmas concert.  It will be Thursday December 15^th.  If you son or daughter wont be able to attend could you please let me know.

Student of the Week

The student of the week this week is Thomas.  He has been an excellent leader with our anti bullying week and has improved so much since September.  This has been a big and challenging goal for him to achieve and we are all so proud of him.

Reading Tips

Tip 5 –  Talk About Books

Talking about the books you read is just as important as reading them. Discussing a story or a book with your child helps your child understand it and connect it to his or her own experience of life. It also helps enrich your child's vocabulary with new words and phrases.

Here are some ways to help your child acquire skills in comprehension, reasoning, and critical thinking:

·                       Ask your child about the kinds of books he or she would like to read.

·                       Talk to your child about your favourite books from childhood, and offer to read them.

·                       Encourage your child to ask questions and to comment on the story and pictures in a book – before, during, and after reading it.

·                       Look at the cover and the title of a book with your child, and ask your child what he or she thinks might happen in the story.

·                       Encourage your child to think critically about the story. Does he or she agree or disagree with the author? Why?

·                       Think out loud about the story as you read, and encourage your child to do the same. For example, ask, "Does this make sense? Why or why not?"

·                       Give your child time to think about the story, and then ask him or her about it again a few days later.

Reminders and Notices

1.      There will be an American Thanksgiving party on Thursday November 24^th

2.     Please return word rings after you are done with them.

3.     Christmas performance will be December 15^th (more details will be available soon)

What we did in our centres this week.

Literacy Centres

1.       Guided and silent reading with our portfolios.

2.       Thanksgiving craft, what we are thankful for.

3.      Computer story “Little Red Riding Hood.”

4.      Writing sight words using lego.

5.      Phonics text books Jj.

Math Centres

1.      Little Red Riding Hood board game.

2.      Puzzles and dominos.

3.      Shapes cut and paste booklet.

4.      Sizing Goldilocks and the Three Bears with play dough.

Like always, if you have any questions or concern you can always write me an email at bsharp.his@gmail.com or come by and speak to me in person.

Cheers

Braedon

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. 

Chinese Proverb