My Family

In kindergarten, we begin exploring who we are in relation to others, how we belong and we begin to express ourselves by sharing personal stories.

This week, we began our investigation into "My Family". Students are becoming aware of who they are as unique individuals, how they are an important part of their family, and how they can share stories about their family with others. 

First, we read the story, "The Family Book" by Todd Parr.

In this story, we learned that all families are special and unique. This prompted us to ask the question, "What is special about your family?".

Next, we started discussing the question, "Who is in your family?". Students were encouraged to think about and count the people who lived in their house and were considered a part of their family. Boys and girls enjoyed sharing who was in their family with their peers during a "Minute to Mingle".

Then, we started to draw! Students were asked to draw their family using MATMAN and were encouraged to add important details, such as something their sister likes to wear, what their brother's hair looks like, and much more.

Here is a look at some students hard at work, building their families!



 
 

 

At home, you can talk with your child about who is in your family and the different things that make your family special and unique!

The Three Little Pigs Sequencing

This week, we continued building on our knowledge and understanding of the story, "The Three Little Pigs".

I can put a story in sequence:

Students used scissors to cut out 4 parts of "The Three Little Pigs" story and glued them in order of what events came first, second, third and last. Students were encouraged to write some letters and words to represent parts of the story (such as "B" for bricks or "Ch" chimney).

  

At home, you can practice this skill by retelling the stories you've read in order of what came first, next, then and last!

The Three Little Pigs

Last week, we read the story of, "The Three Little Pigs". After reading the story, we talked about houses that are stronger and houses that are weaker. 

After reading our story, the boys and girls were given a surprise challenge... Instead of having their teachers in the classroom, there were Big Bad Wolves! Their job was to try and build a strong house that the wolves couldn't blow down. 

I can build using a variety of materials:

Students explored with da variety of materials, such as wooden and soft blocks, magnets, lego, and more, to try and build a strong house for the pigs. The Big Bad Wolves (Mrs. Chohan and Mrs. Beaton) were coming and trying to blow down all the houses that students had built. Some stayed nice and strong while some others got blown down!

 
 
 


I can make a connection:

Next, students drew pictures in their journals and explained their favourite part in the story. During their journal writing process, students were encouraged to use shapes to draw their pictures and were also encouraged to write some letter to represent their picture (ex. "P" for pig or "W" for wolf). Students are beginning to express their favorite part through drawing and speaking about their picture. 

 


  

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Art Activity:

For art this week, we used a checklist to first create our own pumpkins and then add then add details. 

 

 


When making the face of our pumpkin, we talked about the different feelings we can have, including worried, happy, upset, and sad. 

In Kindergarten, we learn to recognize our emotions and those of our peers to better learn how to manage them. Learning to recognize how we are feeling and express it verbally can be challenging in Kindergarten but is important as it helps us learn to self-regulate and treat others with greater kindness and empathy. 

Our pumpkins gave us the chance to practice:

Malik's pumpkin was feeling "surprised because everyone was stealing trick or treats". 

Aayan shared that his pumpkin was "mad because he only gets apple when the candy".

Naail's pumpkin was feeling "sad because it's not Halloween".

Here is a look at some of the things we have been doing in the classroom:

Halloween "I see" checklist (for using senses, counting, writing numerals, building vocabulary!)



Halloween Loose Parts (for patterns, counting, learning shapes and sorting!)



 

Halloween haunted house (for learning how to share, play with others and create our own stories!)

Painting gourds (for building fine motor skills, learning to write your name, picking colours that make sense, and exploring with your sense of touch!)

 

Pumpkin play (for exploring with scientific concepts such as using our sense of touch, sight and smell, using descriptive language and creating a hypothesis!)

 

 


We hope you enjoyed your Halloween! We strongly encourage that all Halloween candy stays at home and to please try to avoid sending any candy to school for snack time. We encourage students to eat healthy snack at school and can enjoy their candy at home as home treats.