Happy Halloween!

Today was a very exciting day in Kindergarten. The students were buzzing with excitement from the moment they walked in.

We worked together to create a book to show you. The students helped to spell some of the shorter words and the beginning sounds of longer words. They are getting really good at their letter sounds!

In the afternoon we celebrated with yummy snacks (thanks to all of the parents who sent in treats!), musical chairs and a parade in the gym.

Discovery Time

If you walk into our classroom, first thing in the morning, you will see students engaged in a variety of activities at their tables.

We call this "discovery time." The students choose from one of four activities to participate in. The same activities are available all week, unless I feel it is necessary to make a change based on student interest. The students may choose to repeat the same activity for several days or try something different each day. If students arrive late or take a long time to undress, they may have to wait until there is room at the table of their choice.

As a teacher, I put a lot of time and thought into the activities and materials I choose to put out for the students to explore. Some of the things I consider...

• Are there natural materials available (shells, stones, glass beads, sand)?
• Are there a variety of subject areas covered (literacy, numeracy, science, fine motor skills, art)?
• Are the activities open ended? 
• Are the students able to do the activities completely independently?
• Is there enough to keep the students engaged?
• Are all students able to challenge themselves with the activities and materials presented?
• Are the materials displayed in an appealing way?
• Will the activities help students to make connections to things we are learning in the classroom?

You may also wonder about what I am doing during this time.  I use this time to greet and welcome each student, greet any parents who come up to our room, and help students get organized and sign in on our Smart Board.

You might also observe that, during this time, I almost always have my iphone or ipad in my hand. I use these tools to document student learning through photos and videos.

I then use this documentation to inform my teaching. I can take note of what students are interested in, what they already know, skills that are challenging for them, and ideas for future learning.

The students and I also use these photos and videos to share their learning through our blog, twitter, and documentation panels that are posted in our classroom.

Recently, students have also been sharing their discoveries with their classmates using the document camera (it's basically a fancy overhead but projects in colour on our Smart Board).

This is my first year of testing out "discovery time" and so far I am extremely pleased with the results.  Students are constantly surprising me with the things they discover and the ways they choose to show their learning.

Here are just some of the discovery tables the students have explored.

Way Up High...

This week the students in Room 8 learned a new poem called "Apples"

They really wanted to share it with you.  While we read the poem we practice pointing to each word on the chart.

The students asked me to send a copy of the poem home with them so they could read* it to you.

*Many students may pretend to read the poem. This is a very positive first step in learning to read. They are NOT expected to be able to read the poem independently.

Enjoy!

Author Visit

Earlier this week an author came to visit our school.

We arrived early so we were able to ask her some of our questions. 

We asked:

"What does an author do"

"How do you make the pictures?"

"What is your book about?"

Playing Games

Today 4 students from our class got to go with Mrs. Macdonell to learn a new game.  She taught them how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose."

While they were playing, they recorded some rules to help everyone have a fun time playing.

In the afternoon, our whole class got to watch their video. Then two of the students taught other children how to play. They really liked getting to be the teachers.

What games do you like playing at home?

Ted's Run for Literacy

Hello everyone, it's Mrs. Lowe writing today.

Yesterday I told the students about a race that I helped to organize.  It's called Ted's Run for Literacy.

The race will be happening at Kildonan Park on Sunday, October 20th at 10:00 am. The event is in memory of Ted Swain who was a teacher and a runner. He was passionate about literacy.

The race raises money for Start2Finish running and reading clubs.  These clubs meet weekly at 2 inner-city schools in Winnipeg and 2 schools in northern Manitoba. The children spend time reading together and then running.

Last year, the money that Ted's Run donated was able to buy new running shoes for 200 children in Manitoba.

On Sunday, there will be a 10 kilometre run as well as a 4k and 2k walk.

If you would like to participate, you can register online at: 
http://www.events.runningroom.com/site/?raceId=9531

Or you can just show up the morning of the race and pay $5/child, $10/adult or $15 for your whole family to participate in the 2k or 4k events.

It will be a fun event with live drummers, a fancy finish line, and maybe even some special prizes! We would love to see your families there!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Yesterday we started talking about how we can help keep our earth clean.

Mrs. Lowe showed us this picture. This poor turtle got caught in a six-pack ring when he was just little. As he grew, his shell grew around the rings. The kids in Room 8 thought the turtle probably felt very sad.

We read some great books to give us ideas for how we can be friends of the Earth.

We decided to start with our classroom. We sorted our garbage into three different containers. 

 One for garbage, recycling, and compost.

Because we were so good at sorting our garbage, Mrs. Lowe asked us if we would help her make signs for a race that she is going to on the weekend. The signs will help the people at the race to know where to put their garbage. You can read more about the race here.

We are pretty proud of our work!

Thanksgiving

Yesterday we spent some time talking about our Thanksgiving traditions and celebrations. 

Here's what the Room 8 kids had to say:

My Grandma bought turkey. - Ethan

I ate turkey and pumpkin pie and chocolate pie. - Cassie 

I was eating turkey with my mom and watching a movie. - Denise

We all gather up and we eat pumpkin pie and turkey. - Tayna 

I had turkey and rice. - Chase 

I am thankful for my Mom and Dad. - Bryce 

I had stuffing and meatballs. - Nevaeh 

My Grandma and Grandpa came to my house and we had turkey and pumpkin pie. - Danica 

I had chicken. - Jericho 

I had wild rice, rooster and some stuffing and mashed potatoes. -Leah 

We also watched a video made by Erin Malkosky's grade 1/2 class. They used stop-motion animation to animate a classic song by Raffi. 

You can visit their blog post here.

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We made a list of all of the many things we are thankful for. Then we made a word cloud, using Tagxedo. 

Popcorn Party

Today was the big day, we got to celebrate our success with a popcorn party!

We used our Smart Board to choose which movie we would watch.

We used coffee filters to hold our tasty popcorn.

When we were finished eating our popcorn, we used markers to colour designs on the coffee filters. Then we sprayed them with water and watched the colours mix together.  They turned out pretty great!