Friday April 3

Happy Friday everyone! 

Before we left for March break, the children were
learning about measurement. 

Can you find different items in your house to measure?
We can do this by using non standard units of measure (example: LEGO, snap cubes, blocks, paper towel rolls etc.) Draw a picture and write about the different items
that you measured!

Remember our rules:

• Measure from start to end
• Use the same size tool (example if measuring your stuffie with LEGO- you need to use all the same size LEGO)
• Leave no spaces or gaps

Do you have a deck of cards at home? If so, try and

play the game “high low.” Split the deck evenly
and flip over the top card. Ask your child which card is
higher. Whoever has the higher card, wins!
Do this until someone runs out of cards.

Review the the letters and sounds O and L. Can you find an item in your house that begins with these sounds? Show your family how we do PAT time. Afterwards, draw a picture of the item and stretch out the word (on your own), using your rocking fist.

For some movement today- try this link!
The children (and teachers) love to move to this one in class!

Watch The Letters Get Down

Here is another Yoga activity. many friends have been researching Space these days and will probably love this!

Cosmic Yoga

You will receive more details today and this weekend
about our new online platform "D2L."

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Thursday April 2

Hi everyone!

It's so nice to see all the learning that is happening in your homes! We are so proud of you! Keep up the great work!

Also, just a gentle reminder that when sending out messages using Remind, if you could please add both Miss. Coulson and Mrs. Linse to the conversation box. This helps keep both educators connected. Thank you!

Here are some learning ideas for today:

With the warmer weather coming, many of us like to be outside. If you get a chance to get out today, what are some things you notice?

• What do you hear?
• What do you smell?
• What does it feel like?

This is a great opportunity to draw and write about the things you notice. Maybe you have some questions that you want to record and research? Remember to use your "rocking fist" when trying to sound out words.

Also, if you find yourself taking a walk, this would be a great opportunity to do a scavenger hunt. Here are some things to look for:

• Flowers
• Trees
• Sticks
• Birds
• Nests
• Clouds 
• Rocks
• Squirrels

You could even write this list out and keep a tally of what you see!

Easter is coming next week!

Here is a nice Easter story:

The Story of Easter

We started to learn that this was the time that Jesus died for us on the cross, so that one day we could live with him forever in heaven.

Try and create some crosses today. One of our favourite cross crafts is to put some painters tape on the cross and paint around it. It makes such a beautiful picture once you peel off the tape!

Finally, can you teach your parents about our Number Talks? Choose a number. Brainstorm different ways to show that number. Remember, we can use tallies, dice, ten frames etc. Get creative!

We are so proud of everyone's work on Splash math. Keep that up too!

Happy learning friends!

Wednesday April 1

Happy Wednesday!

Today is the first day of April. Today is supposed to be a funny day called "April Fools' Day."

Here is one of Miss. Coulson and Mrs.Linse's favourite stories about the day.

April Fools Book

What was your favourite part of the story? 

Here are some ideas for today:

In the Spring plants begin to grow!

If you are outside today, keep your eyes out for any buds that are forming on the trees and bushes. Are any plants beginning to grow in the gardens? Mrs. Linse has some starting to pop up to say hello!

Today we encourage you to draw a picture of a garden. Imagine all the flowers have begun to bloom. Make sure you include lots of details and colours in your pictures! Can you draw flowers of different sizes?

We can’t wait to see your masterpieces!

Here is a video about planting a seed and waiting for them to grow:

Plant A Seed

Review the the letters and sounds D and G. Can you find an item in your house that begins with these sounds? Show your family how we do PAT time. Afterwards, draw a picture of the item and stretch out the word (on your own), using your rocking fist.

Another activity with dice:

On a piece of paper write the numbers 1-6.

Roll a dice and use tally marks to track how many times you roll a number. Which number will be rolled five times first? Remember we “bundle up the five.” If you need more of a challenge – see what number will be rolled ten times first.

Today we encourage you to play with playdough or some other sensory type of material. Activities like this are relaxing and work our fine motor muscles.

Movement Idea: Think of an exercise. Roll a dice. Do the exercise that number of times.

Ideas: Jumping jacks, toe touches, sit ups, push ups, arm rolls, high knees…

Have fun!

Tuesday March 31

Hi friends!

We are so proud of all the learning that you have been engaged in.
Did you know today is the last day of March? What month will it be next? Sing the months of the year song to help you out!

Here are some learning ideas for today:

Think about a rainy Spring day. What sort of clothes would you need to wear in order to play outside?

Draw and either label your picture or write a sentence about it. Don't forget finger spaces and a period at the end of your sentence!

The word Spring is part of the “ing” word family. What other words can you think of that end in ing?

Review the the letters and sounds R and M. Can you find an item in your house that begins with these sounds? Show your family how we do PAT time. Afterwards, draw a picture of the item and stretch out the word (on your own), using your rocking fist. 

Can you draw a chick? ArtHub has a great learn to draw activity.

How To Draw A Chick

Finally, try the adding with dice activity again. If you need a challenge, roll the dice twice to make bigger numbers.

Remember our counting on strategy – we hold the bigger number in our head and then count up the number we are adding to it.

For some movement today – Try Cosmic Yoga: Enzo The Bee

Cosmic Yoga

Happy Learning Friends! And remember to share your adventures with us!

Monday March 30

Let’s Continue with our learning about Spring!

Great job drawing pictures and labeling the signs of Spring on Friday.

Today we would like you to try:

1. Creating a picture of your favourite activity to do in the Spring time. You can use whatever you would like to make the picture – crayons, markers, paints etc.

Can you write about your picture? If you are not yet at the writing stage tell someone about what you drew.

2. Do you have dice? Roll two dice and add them together to find the sum. Can you write the addition sentences? If not - this can be done with playing cards. Draw two cards and do the same activity!

3. Review the letters and sounds C and H. Can you find an item in your house that begins with these sounds? Show your family how we do PAT time. Afterwards, draw a picture of the item and stretch out the word (on your own), using your rocking fist. 

4. Count backwards from 20.

5. Remember to try a Splashmath activity and if you have LEGO - create something from the LEGO challenge.

And don't forget... share your learning with us!! 

Friday March 27

Happy Friday!

Today we encourage our friends to take a look at "Day 5: Spring" on the Scholastic Learn at Home site. There are stories to listen to , videos to watch and movement songs.

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-prek-k.html

Afterwards: Can you draw a picture of Spring? Remember details in your pictures, think about the colours that you will use too. Can you label the "Signs of Spring" that you drew in your picture? Remember to use your rocking fist to stretch out your words.

We love seeing how many friends are using Splashmath too. Try another activity on there today!

If you can, go for a walk today (or this weekend). Keep your eyes out for signs of Spring. Have a discussion about these signs. What do you see, hear, feel, smell.

Finally - if you have LEGO try building something from the challenge.

Remember to share your learning with us!

Thursday March 26

Hi everyone!

We will be using this blog as a platform to communicate with you for the next little while! Things might change as we get more direction on distance learning, but for right now we think this will work well!

We hope that everyone is keeping well and listening to their moms and dads. Always remember your number one job friends - Show God's Love! 

Today we would like for you to practice the following songs:

- the days of the week

- months of the year

- the lunch prayer

- end of day prayer

Find a quiet space in your home to do this. Sing each song / prayer three times and then when your family is ready sing them the songs.

We hope that you have had a chance to try Splashmath and maybe even made a rainbow today. Who remembers the order of the colours?

For some quiet time today - find a book and tell yourself a story from the pictures. Hunt for the sight words you know and write them down. 

Tumblebooks is another great online reading resource

https://www.tumblebooks.com/

Login: hcdsb

Password: books

Remember to send us rainbow pictures! Remind is now set for two way communication so you can send it there!

We love and miss you all!

Importance of Rhyming!

Over the last week we have been doing a lot of explicit teaching on rhyming.

Rhyming is an important in phonemic awareness. It teaches children how language works.it helps them notice and work with the sounds within words. This helps our little learners in their journey towards reading and writing. 

Some ways to support this at home :

 Play “Rhyme my Word.” Say a word and your child rhymes with it. We like to do this one at bath time in our house! Even car rides are good for this!

Sing silly songs together like “Down By The Bay.”

Say Nursery Rhymes together and have your child identify the rhyme.

Read lots! Most children’s books are rhyming! 

Online games such as -

https://www.turtlediary.com/game/words-that-rhyme.html

Weekly Round-Up

Our week back from March Break was a great one! Everyone was eager to draw and write about some of the things that they did over the break! We loved hearing about their adventures!

Our dinosaur inquiry is still going strong! This week many friends were collaboratively building Dino-Lands and using their imagination to play with the dinosaurs inside the lands that they created. 

We were able to visit the computer lab this week too. Everyone is getting so good at using the mouse to move and manipulate objects on the screen.

We have been visiting the website abcya.com 

We learned a lot about St. Patrick’s Day through stories and visited many St. Patrick’s Day themed centres.

Math focus this week has been on subtraction or as the children call it “taking away.” 

We have also been exploring dominos and using them to match quantity with their number.

The milder temperatures has allowed for a lot of beautiful outdoor play and exploration. A reminder to still send at least splash pants as mud appears to be a favourite place to play and explore outside! 

The letter this week is Bb. 

Sight word is: by 

Have a great week! 

Weekly Round-Up

Another short yet busy week in Room 11! 

We have wrapped up our inquiry on hibernation. Many of us finished up our learning by writing facts about an animal from the story “The Mitten.” 

We have transitioned right over to a new inquiry on dinosaurs! A few weeks ago the letter of the week was D. Lots of friends brought in a dinosaur toy for sharing and this led to lots of wonderings. We can’t wait to see where this inquiry takes us! 

We look forward to the week of learning ahead! 

The letter is Uu. The sight word is up. 

Weekly Round-Up

We had a wonderful week despite the cold and ice! 

The Groundhog has us hopeful that Spring is hopefully on its way! 

By the end of the week we began Valentine’s themed centres and look forward to continuing them throughout next week too.

A reminder that Thursday is our Valentine’s Day Dance. Parents are welcome to join us in the gym from 9-9:30. Students are invited to dress “fancy” as it is a non-uniform day themed as “formal day.”

We continued to explore 3 D shapes this week. 

We particularly focused on prisms and tried to make build them using various materials.

We created a few activities this week that the students  and could easily be created at home too!

We also introduced a new math activity for the kids called ‘Sum Blox.’ This activity is a great way for the children to show their critical thinking skills by asking them to match the height of each number block to its corresponding value.

One was using mega blocks to match our uppercase and lowercase letters! We were also able to match the numbers to the corresponding tally marks!

The other activity was sight word hide and seek! The kids loved guessing which sight word cup the bear was hiding under. All you need are some cups and a little trinket to hide to create and play this game! We also made a number and letter version too! 

This upcoming week we will continue with Valentine’s Day themed centres, we will draw and write about the things we love, listen to lots of Valentines books and write notes to others. 

It is going to be a great week!

The letter this week is Gg.

A reminder that Friday is a PA day.

Weekly Round-Up

Well we survived the polar vortex last week! 

It was too cold to play outside but we were able to get to the gym a few times to burn off some steam! 

We also visited the computer lab too. A change in scenery was nice after some long days in the classroom. Our Year Two friends were leaders in teaching the Year Ones how to use the mouse. It was such a nice opportunity for them to be leaders! 

This week we began learning about 3D shapes. We focused mainly on the cube. Through hands on activities we explored its attributes. 

Another math focus was tally marks. We have learned that they are grouped in 5s for quick counting! 

We got a brand new letter bingo game for the class! It was a favourite centre this week! 

Lots of friends worked on writing about the weekend and after Tuesday’s snow day, many drew and wrote about their favourite winter activities. 

We also participated in a winter write the room activity, sight word practice and word family word searches too! 

 

We hope that everyone has a nice PA day! 

This upcoming week the letter is Dd. The sight word is does.