Pottery and Post Office

Friday April 19, 2013

            The week flew by with pottery on Wednesday and our field trip to the post office on Thursday.  Thank you to everyone that brought in the money for the Baby Boss field trip next week.  Please remember to pack a lunch on the day; there is also a small food court if you wish to buy lunch there.  We will be leaving school at 8:30 and return around 4:00. Bus students will therefore need to make alternate arrangements. We also have 3 extra student tickets at the discounted price.  We had to buy a block of 20 tickets to get the discount so there are some extras.  If any friends would like to join us please let me know.  Any extra money that may raised by the sale of these tickets will go towards our next field trip or a class treat.

            The scheduled field trip to the fire station on May 1^st will be postponed until early May (more details will follow when they call us back) because they have informed us that they are busy on that day.  However, on May 1^st we will be performing a song that we have been practicing and then go on a short walk around the school to see some community helpers.  We will then have a picnic lunch behind the school and parents are welcome to join us.  We will perform our song at 10:00am and then go for our community walk after that.

            I have now completed all of my meetings with parents and a common question or concern was the problem with students writing the letters in reverse.  Below is a short article that summarizes the issue.

Kindergarten parents worry when their child writes letters in reversal. This type of writing is perfectly normal with 4 and 6 year olds. Please do not worry. Being able to take a mirror and place it against Kindergarten writing and then to be able to read the writing perfectly is normal. The right side and left side of the brain continue to develop in young children and are trying to figure out who does what and to sort out specific tasks and cannot, at this age, identify when letters or sentences are reversed. Be patient. This will usually work itself out. When you do notice that your child is writing backwards or in reverse, you might point it out to them but have your child continue on with his/her writing. The letters, b, d, p, q, g, are OFTEN confused with each other and Kindergarten teachers are used to this. It was explained to me once, that if you took a tube of lipstick and turned it on its side, it would still be lipstick, or turned it upside down it would still be lipstick, or turned it backwards, it would still be lipstick. Well, 5 year olds are no different. They are looking for something sane when they look at letters but If you take a letter b and turn it around it becomes a d, or turned it upside down it could become a q, or a g…this is VERY confusing for the developing brain. Your child needs lots of help figuring out b, d, p, q and g. Numbers often have the same problem; a 12 could be confused with a 21, or a 27 with a 72. Once again I say, be patient. This USUALLY sorts itself out, but if by the beginning of second grade your child is still confusing letters or some numbers, you might want to talk to a specialist.

What we did in our centres this week.

Literacy Centres

1.      Computer story “Firefighters”

2.      Puppet Show “Community Helpers”

3.      Letter scramble and Community Helper books

4.      Phonics the letter V

Math/Science Centres

1.      Monkey scales

2.      Measuring activity using rulers

3.      Sand scales and water addition game

4.      Market role playing

Word of the week:  yes, no

Student of the week

The student of the week is Isabel.  She is always adding to our group discussions and has applied this knowledge to our unit on community helpers.  When we visited people in our community she was always willing to ask them many questions to help us better understand their job.  Amazing job Isabel!

Reminders and Notices

1. April 18^th Post Office field trip
2. April 22^nd Earth Day
3. April 24^th Science Fair
4. April 25^th Baby Boss field trip
5. May 2/3 Mid Semester Break
6. May ____Fire Station Field Trip
7. May 12^th Mothers Day
8. May 27^th Teacher Development Day (no school)
9. May 29^th Art Exhibition
10. June 6^th and 5^th Matilda Show
11.  May 1^st Fire Station field trip

As 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

Vicky and Braedon

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
Marilyn Vos Savant

Musical Scavenger Hunt

School Community Helpers, Playground with Buddies, Centres and Fruit Market

Friday April 11, 2013

This was a wet week in the Pre-K class with all of the rain that we had.  However, they do say that “April showers bring May flowers!”  We were able to visit many community helpers around our neighborhood and school.  The fruit market trip was the highlight, and everyone had the opportunity to buy some fruit.

Today I sent home an assignment I would like you to help your son or daughter complete.  Since we are investigating occupations in our community I would like the students to see what their mothers or fathers do.  Please fill out the form and bring it back to school next week.  There are four questions to complete and on the back your son or daughter can draw a picture of the community helper they picked.   I would especially encourage housewives to be chosen as they have a very important job in our community. 

This week we also started our science fair experiment.  We are investigating plants and the importance of sunlight.  Remember that the Science Fair is April 24^th and we will be showing everything we learnt about our plants that day.

In math this month we are continuing our unit on measurement and will start very basic addition. 

What we did in our centres this week.

Literacy Centres

1.      Computer story “The Biggest Job of All” and Starfall word machine game

2.      Pocket Chart Poems

3.      Word hunt

4.      Phonics the letter U

Math/Science Centres

1.      Monkey scales

2.      Measuring activity using rulers

3.      Go fish card game

4.      Market role playing

Word of the week:  out

Student of the week

The student of the week is Alyssa Smith.  She was very independent at the fruit market and was able to count all of her money to buy herself a kiwi fruit.  Alyssa is also very kind and patient with her classmates.  Keep up the great work Alyssa!!!

Reminders and Notices

1. April 17^th Pottery Day
2. April 18^th Post Office field trip
3. April 22^nd Earth Day
4. April 24^th Science Fair
5. April 25^th Baby Boss field trip
6.  May 1^st Fire Station field trip

As 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

Vicky and Braedon

“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” 
Oscar Wilde

Friday March 29, 2013

I am sorry for all of the confusion surrounding the field trips but I feel that the changes are for the better.  Below are the updated field trip dates.  We are buying a block of 20 tickets and will have a few extra left over.  If any friends or siblings would like to join us could you please let me know.

Fruit Market Thursday April 11^th 9:30

Post Office Thursday April 18^th 11:00

Baby Boss Thursday April 25^th 8:30-4:00

Fire Station Wednesday May 1^st

Due to the rain on Wednesday the Musical Scavenger Hunt is now going to be Wednesday April 10^th at 9:30, if it is raining again (fingers crossed) we will postpone it until the following Wednesday. 

For the past few weeks during our math centres the students have been playing the card game “Go Fish.”  If you have time next week during Spring break could you please let them show you how to play it?  It is a great game that involves many math, language and social skills.  All you need is a deck of cards and a flat area to play on.  Here is a link with the rules (we usually play with 5 cards each).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Fish

What we did in our centres this week.

Literacy Centres

1.      Computer story “Duck Rabbit” and Starfall word machine game

2.      Acrostic poem name hunt

3.      Word hunt

4.      Phonics Review

Math/Science Centres

1.      Measuring string using blocks

2.      Measure the room with blocks

3.      Go fish card game

4.      Making rockets, planets, etc. with play dough and toothpicks

Word of the week:  and

Student of the week

The student of the week is Winston.  He has made breakthroughs with his reading abilities and now loves to spend any free time engulfed in a book.  This has been one of his biggest areas of improvement since August.  Ms. Vicky and I are so proud of this accomplishment!

Reminders and Notices

1. April 1-5 Spring Break
2. April 5^th Tomb Sweeping Holiday
3. April 9/10 Parent Teacher Meetings
4. April 11^th Fruit Market field trip
5. April 17^th Pottery Day
6. April 18^th Post Office field trip
7. April 22^nd Earth Day
8. April 24^th Science Fair
9. April 25^th Baby Boss field trip
10.  May 1^st Fire Station field trip

As 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

Vicky and Braedon

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” 
Mahatma Gandhi