Kinders are HAPPY!

I hope everyone is having a very HAPPY spring break!

Happy!

Last week, on March 20th, we celebrated International Day of Happiness! We did lots of things throughout the day that made us happy. Doing things that make us happy helps to build community in our classroom and our world!

One of the things that makes us the most happy is DANCING!

We watched these great videos that were inspired by Pharrell Williams song and video called "Happy."


It was cool to see places we known Winnipeg!


This video was made to help show hope after typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines. The kids in our class LOVED the breakdancing.


Stay tuned for our own kindergarten version, coming soon!

Spirit Week Details

Next week will be an exciting week at Stevenson. There is a lot going on!

The Stevenson school parent council has decided to raise money for The Dream Factory. They are a charitable organization dedicated to fulfilling dreams for kids who are battling life threatening illnesses.

http://www.thedreamfactory.ca

In order to raise money, each student is asked to bring $1 per day to participate in spirit week activities.

Monday - Comfy Cozy Monday: Wear your pajamas to school (ensure they are clean and appropriate please).

Tuesday - Mismatch Day: Wear your clothes inside out/backwards, mismatched, etc.

Wednesday - Crazy Hat Day: Wear a silly hat, or any hat.

Thursday - Crazy Hair Day: See how outrageous or bizarre you can style your hair.

Friday - Sports Day: Wear your favourite sports team shirt or jersey.

As well, we are asking family and friends to help out by making a donation. For those who make a personal donation of $15 or more, a tax receipt will be issued (the amount column was cut off on the form you received, please add one so tax receipts can be issued). If you would like a new form, please let me know and I will send one with your child on Monday. 

Each student who participates will receive a Dream Cloud Factory sticker and a Dream Cloud they can sign and display outside the school office.

Students who participate will also be entered to will some great prizes!

The classroom who raises the most money will get a popcorn party, donated by parent council.

Summer Bowling

Earlier this week I sent a text through Remind101 about the summer bowling program. You can watch the video here for more information and check the link below to register (The video is American but the program is also running here in Canada).



http://www.kidsbowlfree.ca 

You just click on the bowling centre closest to you and register yourself and your child to receive free bowling coupons.

Planting Seeds: Part Two

Our seed inquiry is moving along! We have been taking really great care of our little seeds and we are noticing some changes happening.

I love hearing the excitement in the students voices when I bring in their plants everyday. They are looking closely and noticing lots of changes. Today I have recorded their observations to share with you! - Mrs. Lowe

"It's a flower!" -Mia

"It's lettuce!" -Danica

"This little guy is growing." -Ellie

"I can see green sprouts growing." -Gabriel

"They're food!" -Elryck

"This one's growing" - Gabriel

"It's dying, it's sick now." (looking at our gerbera daisy) -Elryck

"I see white things." (pointing to the fluffy seeds on the dying daisy) -Gabriel

"We didn't give it sun or water." -Danica

"Look at this, it's growing." (pointing to a sprout) -Mia

"The seeds are growing and I'm growing too!" -Jahmar

We have predicted that this is a bean plant.

"I noticed that a flower is coming out." -Cassie

"It's dying, we didn't put too much water and sun." (still looking at the daisy) -Gabriel

"It's growing UP!" -Bryce

"It's almost dead, it's turning into a grandma." (gerbera daisy) -Tayna

Oak tree, pea, pea.

"Poor flower." -Nevaeh

"This one's dying and these are growing." (pointing to new blooms under the leaves of the daisy) -Leah

"When they're growing we'll have much food. That's my treat!" -Elryck

We can't wait to see what will happen next!

Extra Special Guest Readers

Today we had some very special guest readers. Students from Room 8 were very excited to read some of their favourite books to our class.

 They did a really great job!

Book Creator

The students in room 8 LOVE using the iPads. One of their favourite apps called is Book Creator. The app is very easy to use and students are able to create books with multiple pages and even add text and photos, all by themselves!

The students are learning to ask permission before taking a picture of someone. It is also important to tell the person what you are going to use their photo for.

The kids can view the books using ibooks on our iPads. I have used iMovie to turn their books into videos to share with you.

Enjoy,
Mrs. Lowe

Extra Yarn

Today Mrs. Wood read us Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Ilustrated by Jon Klassen. We have read this story before but we are always excited to hear it again! 

After the story Mrs. Wood taught us how to knit. Everyone got to do a couple of stitches. 

We are so lucky to have such an amazing and talented librarian.

We also practiced our "Read to Self." Some students were very focused!

Read to Self and Read to Someone

Every day after lunch, the student come into the classroom and read quietly at their tables. The students look at the pictures to give them clues about the story. Last week some of the students were surprised when they noticed that they were able to read some of the words in their books!

Some of the words we have been practicing are:

is

to

we

was

went

can

love

see

yes

no

do

you

the

Since the students were so excited about reading their books, we decided it would be fun to read with a friend.  We call this "Read to Someone." The big kids in our school do "Read to Someone" too as part of the Daily5 reading program. 

The room 8 students did such a great job that we decided to make a poster to share with other kids what "Read to Someone" should look like.  We even sent it to Mrs. Hamm's grade one class, using Twitter.

We used the Book Creator app and its magic pen to add the labels.

 

Planting Seeds

This morning started with some still life drawings of a beautiful gerbera daisy plant.  The students were practicing looking closely and drawing the details. 

"I have to draw the nose so she can smell the flowers."

Elryck brought in some seeds to share with our class.  The students were so excited to start planting them! 

First we sorted our seeds.

We looked closely, using a magnifying glass.

Then we made predictions about what they would grow into.  We also wrote labels for the pots so we would remember what was inside.

We gave the seeds water.

Then we put them in a sunny place.  We can't wait to see what will grow!

The students loved looking out the window at our school yard. 

Panda Inquiry

Recently some students in our class have been expressing an interest in pandas. We decided to start a little inquiry project to learn more about them.

Once the students were gathered, we talked about what they wanted to do as a group. They decided they would like to create panda art.

The kids then wrote their own list of all the things they would need. We went on a little "shopping" trip to the paper room to get all the things they requested.

Then the students looked at books to figure out what their pandas should look like.

They were pretty happy with the results.  We still have lots of questions about pandas, so the project will continue.  Tomorrow the students will be looking at the photos and documenting all of the learning they have done.