Today we started the week by reviewing classroom and school rules and expectations. We read a story, "I call my Hand Gentle". This book emphasizes the fact that we are in control of our hands and we can choose what we do with them. It highlights all the wonderful things we can use our hands for and reminds us that hands are not for pushing, hitting, pinching, grabbing, etc. The kids practiced giving each other GENTLE high-fives.
We finally created our student-made, classroom calendar. The kids did such an amazing job printing the months of the year and days of the week. It was a team effort having each student print their own label. To reinforce number sense and counting skills, the special helper will print the number on the calendar each day, this gives students an opportunity to practice printing numbers for an authentic reason.
We went to gym and introduced some new equipment and some ways to use them: hula hoops, elephant balls, scarves, and bean bags. The students explored the new equipment and did an excellent job following instructions. Way to go!
In the afternoon we started to look at one of the Wonderwall questions about Peacocks. "Why are mommy peacocks brown?" The kids passed around a peacock feather to examine it. We shared the story of the Surrey Peacocks and the tree that was cut down.
We discovered some interesting facts about Peacocks...
Peacocks are only the males.
Peahens are the females.
Peachicks are the babies.
Peafowl are what you call both males and females.
Peacocks are colourful to attract the peahens.
Peacocks sleep and roost up in trees and their colourful train or tail feathers help them to blend into the tree to hide from predators.
Peahens need to stay of the ground when they have eggs to sit on or peachicks to protect, so their colouring is less colourful and more earthy allowing them to blend in with the ground environment.
If you are interested in reading more about the Peacock situation in Surrey I have added a link to a news story.
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/surrey-peacocks-left-wandering-after-homeowner-cuts-down-massive-nesting-tree
Want more information about Peafowl? Check out this site.
https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-peacocks/
Tuesday:
Today we started our day with some literacy centres. We reviewed the Zones of Regulation and read a story about feelings. The students worked to put the different emotions in the story into the 4 different zones.
We used the class calendar for the first time, counting our the squares to find out where to put Thanksgiving, the field trip, and Halloween. Lots of exciting things to look forward to this month.
In the afternoon, we talked about Thanksgiving and read the first poem in our Poetry books. We used our special reading fingers to follow along and played a game where students tried to find different letters and words. The students then drew a picture of what they were thankful for on the bottom of their page.
Wednesday:
We have numeracy morning work, where the students explored numbers and patterns in various ways.
We continued talking about gratitude and read "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr. This helped the kids to think about other things that they were thankful for. We then had our friends help trace our hands and used our cutting skills to cut them out. When the hands were finished the kids wrote what they were thankful for on the hands.
We went outside for our first OFFICIAL Wilderness Wednesday. Today we wandered into the wooded area in front of the school. Mrs. Kinton read us a story called "What does it means to be present?". We then used our sense of sight, smell, hearing and touch to explore the outdoor area. After our fresh air all three kindergarten classes went into the gym for some free play with equipment. The students did a great job following the rules, even with almost 60 kids.
On Wednesday afternoon after music, I had a scene set up on the carpet for the kids to return to. I did not give any instructions other than to not touch the scene on the carpet and to just look and wonder. I don't think the class has ever been as quiet.
After a few moments, I asked the students to tell me what they saw. 1 student started by saying, "There's a grandma and a kid. They are going to cross the bridge to the pumpkin patch." The next student told a story about someone falling off the bridge into the water and needing help. The next told about a child going off to school on their own and being brave. The kids went on for several minutes sharing different stories that they saw. I then told the students that they would be participating in a story workshop the next morning and that there were going to be several stories set out on the tables for them to explore.
Thursday:
I have never set up a Story Workshop so early in a year, but this group of kids is so creative and playful that I couldn't wait. The kids came in and immediately were drawn to particular scenes. I have used a mixture of loose parts, natural items (Gourds, grasses, pine cones, wood, etc.), small figurines (faceless wooden dolls, woodland creatures), and wooden puzzle pieces (rainbows, houses, fire). After a few minutes of walking around the kids were asked to choose a table. Once they were there they were invited to talk about what they saw and share ideas for stories. After 5 minutes I asked the children to play with the materials to help develop their story.
About 10 minutes into the play, 1 student asked for a piece of paper. I gave them a piece of paper and notified the other students that it they felt like drawing their story they could grab a paper and writing materials. Several students rushed to the carpet while others hung back to play with the materials more. The kids each came up with a unique story that they represented with a picture. Later on in the day the students were invited share their stories with the class. They were amazing! I am so proud of each of the students for their hard work, creativity, and bravery with sharing to the group.
Because of the interest and engagement the students had in this activity, we will be repeating Story Workshop every Thursday morning.
On Thursday afternoon we explored estimating (How many smarties do you think are in your box?) counting (How many are actually in your box?), sorting (How many of each colour do you have?), comparing (Which colour do you have more of? Which colour do you have less of?), and patterning (Can you make a pattern?) with some Halloween Smarties.
Friday:
Today the students had big buddies with Mrs. Leeper's class. We chose books to have the big buddies read with us after recess. When they left we went to gym with Mrs. Stevens class. In the afternoon we were invited to the library with Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Chan-Doyle for makerspace. The kids made their way through 3 stations: The Lego Wall, Building Challenge, and Magnet Challenge. The kids worked together as a team, followed directions well, and took great care of the materials. Excellent work!
At the end of the day we read "Turkey Trouble" as we noticed a bunch of turkey's in disguise throughout the hallway and wanted to know what that was all about.
What a wonderful weekend! Here are the names and links of our stories and songs this week.
Books this week:
How Do You Feel? by Anthony Browne
I Call My Hand Gentle by Amanda Haan
What does it mean to be Present by Rana Diorio
The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
Turkey Trouble by Wendy J Silvano
Songs this week:
Green Jelly Bean
The Green Grass Grows All Around
Hola, Bonjour, Hello! by Champiverse
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