Everything you need to know....you learned in Kindergarten! -"how to sit on the carpet" -"to not draw stick men anymore" -lining up quietly" -"numbers and Math games" -"don't scribble on your work" -"how to play capture 4" -"how to stay quiet in the hallway" -"hands to yourself!" -"learning how to do firedrills" -"add detail to your drawings" -"NO pushing, NO hitting" -"learning about butterflies" -"outlining your drawing and shading nicely" -"treat other people nicely" -"DON'T touch wild animals!" -"treat others the way you want to be treated" -"stay with your parent volunteer on field studies" -"keep your shoes on" -"be quiet when there is a lockdown" -"sharing" -"be nice to people, don't break their things and you will have more friends" -"how to write in journals" -"how to read" Parents: Thank you for lending me your children this year and supporting our work in the classroom. I have enjoyed getting to know their individual personalities and learning from their important curiosities.
Dear clever Kindergarten students: you have made an incredible journey this year in your first experience of Elementary School. I am very proud of the achievements you have made academically, but also the growth you have showed in your friendships and view of the world. Continue exploring, experimenting, caring, contributing, growing and discovering.....you are off to a new adventure! Love, Ms. Sudbury
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The Cross Conservation area is 4800 acres of rolling foothills compromised of grasslands and aspen forest. The land was donated to the province of Alberta by Sandy Cross and his wife Ann, in 1987. The cross conservation area is dedicated to:
The Kindergarten students had a fun filled day! A Big THANK YOU to our parent volunteers for spending the whole day with us. Please talk to your child about what they liked best about our adventure at Cross Conservation area. To help start the conversation, here are some questions: -The Blackfoot people once lived on this land, what direction do all tipi's face? (EAST) What is the significance of this? -What did the First Nations people use some of the plants for? -What kind of critters did you find in the pond? -What plant did you sketch in the forest? Today outdoor exploration focused on picnics, musical instruments, painting with chalk/water and creating "small worlds"...... There is a large tower on the picnic table....it's a slurpee machine! The students were very creative in their play outside. We hope it continues throughout the summer. Enjoy the photos from today's outdoor adventures. Exploration Blueprints: students were given a task this week. We had a brief conversation about use of graph paper, bird's eye view and design. Some of the students were able to share ways in which their parents use graph paper or create blueprints in their careers. Students were asked to contribute their ideas about what would make a great "outdoor exploration space." Please review your child's blueprint with them to share some of the details of his/her design..... Task goals: - show "bird's eye view" perspective - plot different elements in the space (Ex: treehouse, fire pit, pond, etc) - label your drawings - be creative Remember: please remember that we have a field study on Monday to Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area. It will be a full day. Students will need a good lunch. We arrive back at the school at 3:30 in time for regular dismissal at Maple Ridge (afternoon bus).
This week the students are experiencing outdoor exploration. We hope that this will spark some creative adventures outside this summer and foster the importance of "getting filthy" with natural play. We had a conversation about symmetry today. We discussed the "mirror image" that should be reflected in both the building portion of the activity and the sketch. Please ask your child to review his/her work with a symmetry lens..... Please remember: We have a field trip coming up on Monday June 25th. This field study will be extended hours. We will arrive back for a 3:30 pm dismissal time. Students in Topp Kids will be sent to their program when we return. Students that normally bus will catch the MR bus home for the afternoon. Students on "pick up" will be sent to the west doors, as usual, at this time to be dismissed to parents.
Today was Active STEM DAY at Maple Ridge. Kindergarten was in charge of creating a mud kitchen, small world animal play, sound exploration, yarn tree, building challenge and chalk. The students loved every minute...... Butterfly Release: Our butterflies had all emerged from their individual chrysalis. Even though the weather was not ideal, we decided that they needed to be out of the habitat we designed for them and into the Maple Ridge community. They were released in the garden closest to the school to allow them time to adapt to their new environment. Please see the photos of this exciting release! We went into the school after the release and had a conversation about possible places the butterflies would go, now that they had their freedom. The students engaged in a creative writing task. They were given a choice: a cartoon or short story. Task expectations: create a story that tells an adventure, use pictures, add lables and careful colouring. Please review your child's work with these expectations in mind.... Please remember that ALL library books are due back to the school. Library exchange is over for the year.
Field trip forms are due for our trip on June 25th. This week: please ensure your child is dressed with hat, suglasses, sunscreen this week and appropriate clothing for outdoor play. We will be spending our Exploration time outside each day. Active STEM Day: Please remember that June 15th (tomorrow) is Active STEM Day at Maple Ridge. Please make sure your child is dressed in appropriate clothing with labelled water bottle, as the children will be spending all morning outdoors. We will be engaging in some fun learning activities to stretch our scientific thinking tomorrow!
Please check back tomorrow to see some highlights from our week. In particular, our butterfly release today went well and we wish the butterflies a happy flight.... Today students sketched Stage 3 of our Butterfly cycle. We had many active butterflies fluttering around in our butterfly habitat this morning. They were fed a diet of watermelon, oranges and strawberries. They will soon be ready to be released into the world.... The students focused on sketching the profile of the butterfly with the "wings up," which is their common way to keep their wings while at rest. We talked about scientific diagrams. Students labelled thorax, abdomen, head, proboscis, antenna, wings and legs in their drawings. We also talked about adding colour that enhances drawings. Students have been encouraged to outline the shape and shade the interior part lightly. We were very proud of the work the students completed today. They worked hard! Butterfly Update: we currently have approximately 7 butterflies in our habitat, which changes by the hour! Their diet consists of sugar water and watermelon today. It is very important that they have enough to drink. The watermelon works well, as it is hydrating and brightly coloured to attract the butterflies. Earlier in the week, students were remarking that the caterpillars were turning into a cocoon. This sparked an investigation into why the butterflies change inside a chrysalis. We viewed a short video comparing the differences between a moth and a butterfly. We began a Venn Diagram today to document the differences between these two insects. Please ask your child to describe what they learned from this discussion. Exploration Time: Today was another "free flow Friday," where students are invited to explore play in other classrooms. We are exploring measurement and units of measure. Mrs. Lee and I decided to trace each other on long paper. This sparked students to trace each other. Mrs. Lee remarked, "Wow! You are the size of this long table!" There are new discoveries, even for teachers, every day:). Have a great weekend exploring outside.....
Today children engaged in a measuring extravaganza! We started out the morning seeking an object in a surprise basket. Students picked an item and took it back to their journals. The task was to sketch the item they had chosen. We talked about the term estimation. We determined that this was a "best guess" based on someone's knowledge in mentally comparing the size of the unit of measure (cube) to the object being measured. Students looked at a single cube to visualize the size and then made predictions about how many cubes long their particular item would be upon measuring. They all did very well! The second part of our morning involved a brief discussion about what could be measured. They were challenged with this question, "What can you measure that you can not see?" Ask your child to think about this with you in the next few days.... Children were challenged further to take their object and find 3 items that were equal to, longer and shorter than their object. The results were compiled into a T-chart. Students were asked to sketch the object, use colour and label the items that they found. Please review your child's work for this criteria with he/she.... Please remember that the School Photo is being taken tomorrow at 10 am!
Library exchange is coming to an end. Please ensure that your books are ALL returned to the library by next week. The students sketched Stage 2 of our caterpillar journey. On Friday, students observed the caterpillars and documented (sketching and labelling) their habitat within our classroom. There were many interesting questions that came out of this observation. Today, students were asked, "What do you think they are doing in there?" We were referring to the new stage of development inside the chrysalis. Students were asked to observe the net and the new objects suspended from the lid. Please review your child's scientific observations with them... |
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