Teacher Learning

Yesterday was an inservice for all of the kindergarten teachers in St. James School Division. We talked a lot about asking students great questions! We believe that asking great questions is the key to teaching students how to wonder, question, problem solve and become great thinkers!

All ready for a great day of sharing and learning!

I was honoured to present with the kindergarten teacher from Linwood School on our journey towards inquiry-based learning. We really enjoyed sharing the stories and photos from our classrooms and looking at how far we've come.

If you had visited my classroom 4 years ago, you would have seen a very different room. 

Then

Now our room is a calmer and more homey feeling place. I carefully select materials to inspire the students to wonder and discover new things. 

Now

Once I changed the classroom I knew I also had to change the way I had been teaching. Gone were the pre-planned months, themes and worksheets. They were replaced with hands-on explorations and following student interests. I still teach the curriculum but I use the student's interest to drive our learning. My focus has shifted from all the little specific learning outcomes to the bigger picture and fostering a love of learning. 

In the afternoon the teachers got to play. I brought 4 examples of Discovery Bins that we do in our classroom. It was really inspiring to see the teachers explore the materials and think of all the learning that can be done through play. 

I always miss my students when I'm away but it was a great day of learning!

Library Learning

Our interest in libraries continues!

We have been reading lots of books about libraries. The students are learning to identify the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts. We know that fictional books are not real, they are stories. Sometimes they have cartoon pictures on the front. We are learning that non-fiction books are true and tell us information. They often have photos on the cover and a table of contents inside.

We also explored different kinds of bookmarks. The students looked at many different kinds of bookmarks and studied how they work. Then they used a wide variety of materials to design, construct and test their bookmarks.

During this activity, students were using lots of science vocabulary including, thick, thin, heavy, light,  transparent, and rigid. They also had to use creative problem solving to join materials together.

It was awesome to see many students make changes and improvements to their bookmarks if they did not work the first time.

There were some very proud faces when they finally succeeded!

Library Inquiry

One of my favourite ways of teaching is through inquiry. Basically, I observe students to see if there are particularly strong interests or wonders that keep coming up again and again.

Today I noticed a few children who had set up a little desk in our classroom library. I asked them if they would like me to make an announcement that their library was open for business. They lit up and soon the library was full of children excitedly choosing books and signing them out.

My job now is use their interest in this topic to teach the curriculum. Today we watched a video about libraries and wrote a list (looking at the beginning sounds of words) of things we might need in our library.

So far, we have counted the number of students in our class and got enough "library cards" for each of them.

Students have written their names on their own library cards and made up their own special library number (practicing writing their names and numbers).

A number of children worked together to create a computer for our library (cooperation, teamwork and design process).

They are taking turns to play the role of librarian and shelver.

Students used markers, scissors and paper to create their own unique book marks.

They are learning lots of new vocabulary including fiction, non-fiction, author, illustrator, and catalogue. All of those words in just the first day!!

The library is a busy place!

The Integrated Arts

Over the last two days we have had the wonderful opportunity to work with extremely talented Laura Kolisnyk through "The Integrated Arts" program. Laura is an actress, choreographer, dancer, and the voice of many characters in cartoons. She is even in a band called the Fun-Key Ducks. You can download their music for free here.

She has been teaching us all about acting/pretending.

We have been learning about personal space, feelings, stage positions, and tableaus. We have been playing lots of fun games, dancing, and acting out stories.

Can you guess which emotions we are acting out?

Moving our bodies and then freezing still in "actors neutral"

Playing Magic Rock where we turn into all different animals.

Today we also had bus ridership. Bus Driver Bob came to teach us all about how to be safe on the bus.

Waiting patiently to meet Bus Driver Bob.

We learned that we should never go behind, in front, or under the bus. These areas are called the Danger Zone. When we need to cross in front of the bus we have to get a wave from the bus driver and go far in front so the driver can see us.

Once we were inside the bus we learned about how to sit, safety tools, and how to get off of the bus in an emergency.

Listening to the safety rules.

Bob gave us each a bracelet for being such great listeners.

Learning how to get off the bus safely in case of an accident.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we talked a lot about being thankful.  We watched a video about being thankful. The video was based on the book, Giving Thanks by Chief Jake Swamp.

You can watch the video here.


After the video we brainstormed a list of things we are thankful for.

The list included:

• Moms and Dads
• Pets
• School
• Food
• Mrs. Lowe (melted my heart)
• Teeth
• Air to breathe
• Forest
• Animals
• Healthy bodies
• Brothers and sisters

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Walk to School Day

October is Walk to School Month which is organized to promote active transportation. You can find out more about it here. We chose to walk to school together today to participate and celebrate that!

Many students from Room 8 joined us for the walk. Along the way we noticed that the leaves are changing colour and many have already fallen off of the trees. Some students thought this was a sure sign of fall.

We even stopped to pick up some acorns so that we could take a closer look at them when we returned to our classroom.

Singing O'Canada before we went inside.

Learning our Names

The students of Room 8 have been very busy lately. They have been getting to know each other and building up daily classroom routines.

One of the most important keys to getting to know each other in kindergarten is learning everyone's names, including your own!

At the beginning of the day each student goes to the Smart Board and finds his or her own name and moves it to a circle in the centre to show that they are at school. This is helping each student to recognize their own name.

Throughout the day we also practice writing our names on white boards...

With wooden letters....

And even creating the letters using wire and beads.

Some other ways we're working on our names include building the letters out of playdough, finding the magnet letters, looking for our names on our red folder, and signing our artwork. 

Often the first letter of a child's name is the first letter he or she can identify. From there they become familiar with letters they make connections to, like M for mom, or D for dad.