Patterns

This week, a few students began independently using elastics to build patterns during center time. This led us to ask the question, "What is a pattern?". We decided that a pattern is when I see the same thing over and over and over again. 

 


Inspired by patterns, we decided to design our own mittens using lines, shapes and colours to make a repeating pattern.  Here are a few of our mittens:

 

We will continue to build on our understanding of patterns in the classroom. You can practice patterns at by looking for them in your home (maybe on your clothes or toys) and by have your child repeat a pattern back to you (such as red, blue, red, blue, red, blue). 

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Over that last few days, we have been reading and exploring with the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. This story has quickly become one of our favourite stories with exciting animals and rich vocabulary.

First, we practiced learning the names of the animals that we got to meet in this story in order to build our vocabulary and understanding.




Next, students were encouraged to think about and choose their favourite part. Then, we practiced using all of our words to share, "My favourite part was..." with a peer partner.

 

Finally, we used our understanding of "The Mitten" to draw and write about our favourite part.










Boys and girls are continuing to build on their understanding of the story and story telling through various centers in the classroom.






At home, you can encourage your child to share and write about their favourite part of the story that they read with you. Happy reading!

Writing in Kindergarten

Writing in Kindergarten

We are learning to writing!

Learning to write takes time and practice and looks different for every student. In kindergarten, we usually begin by writing the letters that are important to us, such as the letters in our name. Later, as we learn more letters and sounds, we begin to write the beginning sounds we hear in the words we are trying to write. Once we start to get comfortable writing beginning sounds, we can start using the beginning and end sounds or the dominant sounds we hear. Eventually, we hope to be able to put those words together and make a sentence!

After the winter break, the boys and girls were asked to think about one special thing they did when they weren’t at school. Next, we used our shapes to draw a picture and tried our best to add lots of details. After drawing, students were encouraged to label their picture and try to write a sentence. Students did an excellent job with this challenge and are continuing to build on their skills with the teacher. 

Here are a few examples of our writing:

Writing is something we want the boys and girls to love doing and we encourage them to tell their stories through writing. No matter where your child is in their writing, it is important to encourage them to keep trying their best. :) 

Gingerbreads continued..

After building, drawing and discussing our Gingerbread people with our peers, we realized that they all had different details making them special and unique- just like us!

       

 

Unfortunately, just like the little Gingerbread boy in the story, our Gingerbreads were very tricky and they ran away!

To solve this problem, boys and girls created missing posters of their own unique Gingerbreads. First they drew a picture and added important details, such as ribbons/icing, buttons, nose and more. Then, they coloured using colours that make sense. Last, they made a checklist of what they’re Gingerbread had on its body.

 

After creating our “Missing” Posters, we practiced building our oral language by talking about the different parts of their Gingerbread person with some of the older students at our school who might help us look for them. Boys and girls were challenged to use descriptive words, such as colours and shapes, to be on target when sharing.

  

After talking with our buddies, we learned that our Gingerbreads were hiding in the learning commons! Luckily, we were able to catch our Gingerbreads before they ran away again.

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Have a very safe and happy winter break! We look forward to seeing you back at school on Tuesday, January 7th!