How Many Monkeys?

Has your kid been talking about monkeys at school?  Have you been wondering what that is all about?  We have been counting how many students have bananas in their lunch boxes each day.  The students who have bananas get to stand up and act like monkeys at the beginning of first nutrition break.  On occasion, Mrs. Piquette has forgotten to count the monkeys, but never fear: the students remind us EVERY DAY.  We have now started graphing how many monkeys we have each day.  Here are some students to show us what it's like to be a monkey at school.

What do you think of our monkey tradition?  Can you think of some other things we could do to tally different fruits?  Apples?  Strawberries?  Raspberries?

December Has Arrived!

There's excitement in the classrooms and halls at SIB as the holiday season quickly approaches.  On December 1st, we noticed that the children's excitement level was quite heightened, and were thankful that it was day "4-est."  We went for a long ramble in the woods, and found the "Smiley Tree" that we saw last week with Mr. Leader (our supply teacher for two days).

The children explored a new area of the forest, where many trees had fallen.  there were lots of logs to balance on and sit along.  Some students attempted climbing the smaller trees using the branches that had fallen.  A few children pretended that one of the logs was a "rocket ship" and climbed on to blast off into outer space.

We also discovered that our own Elf on the Shelf had arrived in room 105.  A few children discovered the elf when they came in first thing in the morning.  He was sitting on top of our gingerbread house that we decorated on Wednesday.  The class came up with possible names for our elf, and Mrs. Piquette closed her eyes and pointed.  The big winner was "JAMES" so that's his new name!

Today (December 2) was also a very big day.  We started by arriving at school and peeking in the window to see if we could spot James.  The students were so excited that we couldn't keep them away from the window!  When we finally discovered him in the cubby area, we came inside and noticed that he had eaten some candy from our gingerbread house!  Luckily, the manager from Bulk Barn didn't notice when she came to pick up the gingerbread house.  Phew!

Speaking of the Bulk Barn gingerbread house, please be sure to visit the Bulk Barn this month to vote for your favourite.  You vote by adding coins to the container with our gingerbread house.  All money raised goes to Christmas charities in the region.

Only 2 days into December, and already so many updates!  Stay tuned for a paper update coming home in your child's home bag today.  Wowzers!

Sewing Poppies for Remembrance Day

What a busy November it has been!  When I came online this afternoon to write a post, I found that I have not blogged since the beginning of November, and this week will see the end of the month fly by.

We are getting ready for the busy holiday season, and Mrs. Proud and I have some really fun things planned for our students.

However, before we delve into all things winter and holiday season, we wanted to share some photos of our students sewing their poppies.

For those of you who do not know, the children in our class enthusiastically created their own poppies for Remembrance Day this year.  From tracing the shapes onto fabric, to cutting, to sewing on the button, your children became sewing rockstars.

Today we sent home a note asking for each child to bring in a plain, white sock for a new craft we will be doing in December.  This craft will also include sewing, since our students were so enthusiastic about the process of making poppies.  Sewing is going to become a more regular activity in our classroom.  We will even be teaching the children how to thread needles!

A Possible Inquiry Topic - November 2

Beginning after our Hallowe'en celebration, we noticed that the children were showing some interest in building a "city" in the Engineering Centre.  They began building elaborate structures and road ways.  When we asked them what they were building, they said it was Toronto.

The students began by building a base out of large, hollow blocks.  They then elevated the structure using foam brick pieces.  Flat blocks or bricks were placed on top to cover the structure.

Mrs. Piquette went and sat with the children to engage with them and pose questions.

Jake and Liam began by telling Mrs. Piquette that they made the place where the Blue Jays play baseball.

"What's that called?" asked Mrs. Piquette.

"The baseball field." Jake replied.

Next to the "baseball field," Tessa was quietly building a tall structure with the foam bricks.  Mrs. Piquette asked her what she was working on.

"It's the CN Tower." she replied.

The students involved then began to tell Mrs. Piquette about their visits to the CN Tower.  Jake and Tessa talked a lot about the glass floor at the CN Tower and how they weren't even afraid to walk on it.

The most interesting thing about the building that was happening in the Engineering Centre today was the sheer number of children involved.  While Jake, Liam, and Tessa worked on the CN Tower and the baseball field, Evan was quietly stacking blocks and lining up community helper figures.

Amir and Vinu were working on building roads around the city.  When they ran out of road pieces, Mrs. Piquette went and got some grey construction paper for them to use.  Vinu placed the roads, and Amir drew the white lines with a crayon.

Madden joined in with Amir and Vinu, adding tape to the paper so it wouldn't fall off of the blocks.  Maya also took an interest in the paper roads, helping Vinu figure out the next spot to put the roads.  She and Vinu got more blocks to put into place for the paper road pieces, while Madden taped them in place and Amir drew the lines.  Each time Amir finished one road piece, he would look up, smile, and say "finished!"  The four students worked together on building an elevated road way for several minutes.

Zachary became interested in the city and came over to see what the other students were working on.  At first he watched from afar, but then he joined in, and started "fixing" the broken parts of the city.  He also began adding small loose parts to the structure the other children had made.

Grace came over and joined Evan in making a road on the far side of the city, away from the large road that Amir and Vinu were building.

Zachary's "fixing" encouraged other children to start fixing as well.  Liam used a wooden branch block as a hammer and tapped the blocks into place.  Meanwhile, Bronson and Zachary added people to the "basement" of the baseball field.

As the carpet area started to fill up, Liam stood on top of the ramp leading up to the "baseball field" and looked around.  The students started talking about whether or not their "city" looked like Toronto.

Mrs. Piquette stood back with Mrs. Proud and looked at the city.  We observed the students and listened to them talking about Toronto.  Mrs. Piquette decided it may help if the students had a visual.  Bringing the computer over to the projector, we projected an image of the Toronto skyline on to the ceiling, just above where the students were working.

As we projected the image, Mrs. Piquette took a video of the children reacting to the photo of Toronto.

Happy Hallowe'en!

After going through well over 200 photos, here are the best images from our Hallowe'en Celebration earlier this week.  Enjoy!

Mousekin's Golden House by Edna Miller - Tuesday, October 25

Each cycle day 4, we try to go on a walk in the neighbourhood, either to the woods, or to a trail where we can see some wild life and conduct investigations in nature.  We have even started calling day 4 "day forest."  (let's start this hashtag up on twitter!)

On Tuesday, October 25, we went for such a walk on the trail behind Gray Oak Drive.  Mrs. Piquette brought a story that she used to love when she was little, called "Mousekin's Golden House."  The story is about a small mouse who finds a discarded Jack-o-Lantern in the woods.  He makes a home out of the Jack-o-Lantern for the winter.

After reading the story in the woods, the children set out to find animals.  We eventually encouraged them to find a quiet spot to sit and wait.  The students showed incredible patience in this activity!

We collected some leaves to bring back for our sensory bin, and headed back to school.

Autumn is Finally Here!

The Invisible String - Tuesday, October 25

On Monday, Ms. Skerritt, dropped by our classroom to show us a new book that she got.  It is called "The Invisible String" and it is by Patrice Karst.  The book is about twins who are afraid and don't want to be away from their mom.  In the story, the mom teaches her twins about the invisible string, a magic string that keeps us connected to the people we love, even when we are not with them.

We thought that reading this book might make some of our friends feel a little less anxious about coming to school in the morning and saying goodbye to moms and dads.  If we all remember that we have an invisible string that connects us to each other, transitions and other scary events can be made a little easier.

The students LOVED the story, and now ask for it every day.  We have read it three times now, and will continue to read it as long as the students ask for it.  In the meantime, we recorded Mrs. Piquette reading the story to the children and wanted to post it here for you to enjoy at home.

It's Not a Stick

After our walk to the woods at the beginning of October, many students were eager to put their imaginations to use and come up with ideas for what a stick could be.  With our Learning Buddies from Mrs. Kelly-Miller's class, we put together a video showcasing our "Not a Stick" art work.  This same art work will be on display in the hall outside our classroom soon.

We also read "Not a Box" and began playing with boxes in our classroom.  We have made forts and ramps so far, and now the children are interested in making cars with larger boxes.  Stay tuned to see some amazing, imaginative projects inspired by "Not a Stick" and "Not a Box."

"Not a Stick" by Antoinette Portis

"Hey, be careful with that stick!"

"Look where you're going with that stick!"

"Watch where you point that stick!"

"Don't trip on that stick!"

How many of us have uttered these phrases when outside playing with our children?  As a parent, our fear of what may happen when our children play with sticks (they will get poked in the eye, hit someone, trip and fall, scrape their arm) often outweighs the possibilities that sticks bring to rich imaginative play.

Today we read a book that illustrated what sticks could become with just a little bit of imagination.  Have a look:



 We were so inspired by "Not a Stick" when we read it, that we decided to go look for sticks to add to our classroom and more importantly, our outdoor learning area.

We walked to the forest area behind St. Ignatius Catholic School to explore the woods and see what we could find.

Andrew's Scenic Acres

On Monday, October 3rd, we were so fortunate to be able to go to Andrew's Scenic Acres. We spent the day at the farm; picking berries, apples, corn, and pumpkins. There was a lot of fresh air, a lot of mud, and a lot of happy children.

We began our trip by introducing many of our JK students to the joys of riding a school bus. The excitement was palpable as we climbed the huge steps on to the bus and found a seat with our friends.
We arrived about 35 minutes later, and dropped our backpacks off at a tent. We then walked to the hay ride, and our adventures began! From the moment we started our hay ride, it was non-stop action.
We walked through a (gently) haunted forest, picked raspberries and blueberries left over from the season, chose an ear of decorative corn to bring home, picked apples, and ventured into the pumpkin patch in search of that perfect pie pumpkin.

Once our arms and tummies were full, we headed back to the tent to eat our lunches, and then played in the hay and the play structures. We visited the animals and took a picture with one of the many beautiful displays.

Enjoy this short video of our adventure!

We Love Music!

After being in school for four weeks with our kindergarten students, one thing is very clear: we LOVE music.  Mrs. Proud and Mrs. Piquette encourage a love of music, and our new music teacher, Mr. Millar, is an amazing musician!

We have had lots of requests from parents and students to see how we spend our days and how we learn in kindergarten.  And since music is such a huge part of that, we thought this first post should be all about the music in our class.  Here are 5 music facts about KC.

A New Year, a New Classroom!

Happy 2016/2017 school year everyone, and welcome to our new blog for Kindergarten C!

Over the summer we changed rooms, and are looking forward to a great year in a bright, shiny new room.  We are located in room 105.

We have worked hard to make our room cozy, inviting, and home-like for our students.  We can't wait for everyone to come and visit during the open house on September 22nd.

For now, here's a preview!

We have been enjoying our small, SK class this week.  Having 14 students in class has allowed us to do a lot of observation and documentation.  We are learning the children's interests and beginning to plan for a wonderful year of learning together.

Amazing Ants

May 19, 2016

In kindergarten over the past week or so, we have been very interested in ants.  The children found ants outside and began asking questions about them.  Then they found ants in the classroom, and they became even more interested!

A few of our students began making houses for the ants out of paper, so we thought we should find out more about ants to determine what kind of home they would actually like to have.  We went outside in the afternoon on May 19th to do some research, and see some ants.

We were lucky enough to find an area outside that had a lot of ants.  We wondered if there might be an ant hill nearby, so we went to get some food to see if we could observe the ants more closely.  We found some cookies and candy and put them on the ground, and the ants came running!

We took lots of pictures and videos, and drew pictures of what we saw.  The children were very engaged.  The inquiry continued after our outdoor time.  The children looked through many books to find out more about ants.  We learned that ants have 3 body parts: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.  We also discovered that ants have 6 legs.

The children used their new knowledge to create ants out of tissue paper and plasticine.  We even made antennae out of pipe cleaners.  One student let us know that ants use their antennae to smell things, and then the students were leaning over to put their antennae on the table, or their food so they could smell things.  One student even "smelled" her mom at pick up time!

"The Forest Kindergartens"

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Inspired by our trip to Mountsberg yesterday, we wanted to let the children have even more time to explore nature and engage in some outdoor learning in the forest.  We decided to go on a short walk to the forest behind St. Ignatius Catholic School down the street.

We began the lesson by talking to the children about the trip yesterday.  What did they like or not like about the trip?  What was the same or different about their outdoor learning on the trip and our outdoor learning at school?  Did they like being in the forest?  What materials did they find there?  Did they want to go back?

The main differences we noticed as a group were that in the forest there are way more sticks, and you can use those sticks to make cool structures, like the one Jayden built at Mountsberg.  In our yard, we don't have those kinds of materials.  We asked the children if they would like to get some branches, sticks, and logs, and the response was an overwhelming YES!

We then told the children that we could go on an adventure right then to find some big sticks and branches.  They were very excited as we set out on our short walk.  We made it to St. Ignatius fairly quickly, and only had to take a few steps into the forest behind the school to find a magical place for our students to play and learn.

After we let the children explore and have some play time, we let them select something to bring back to school with them.  Each student had the option to bring a stick or a larger branch with them.  Some children chose to work together to bring larger branches, and some were happy with sticks.  Everyone was excited about having sticks at school to build forts.
Finally, after we returned and had some time to reflect on our walk, Mrs. Piquette printed out some of the pictures she had taken.  The students were happy to see themselves in the pictures, and encouraged to write about their experience using invented spelling.  This was done at the teacher table, in small groups.  Some of the captions the children wrote were:

"I am collecting sticks"

"I am climbing"

"I am on the fort"

"I am touching the sticks and branches"

We all came back together in a group to share our writing and our experiences.  We ended the lesson by creating a collaborative writing piece to retell what happened on our forest adventure.  The children called it "The Forest Kindergartens."  We hope you enjoy it!

The Forest Kindergartens

One sunny, warm day, Kindergarten A went for a walk to the forest.  When we went to the forest, we saw lots of forts.  We saw lots of ants.  We saw lots of butterflies.  We saw lots of branches.  We picked the branches up and brought them to the school so we can play with them.

When we were at the forest, we noticed there was a pond there.  We saw lots of trees and lots of leaves.  We had a lot of fun and we want to go back again.  We want to go even farther and look around and see if we can find any more forts, sticks, and branches and logs to bring back.  Maybe we could see more cool things.

Curriculum Connections

Social Development

• 1.2 Demonstrate the ability to take turns in activities and discussions
• 2.1 Use a variety of simple strategies to solve social problems

Emotional Development

• 1.3 Express their thoughts and share experiences
• 2.2 Demonstrate a willingness to try new activities and to adapt to new situations
• 2.5 Interact cooperatively with others in classroom events and activities
• 3.2 Recognize places and buildings within their community, both natural and human-made, and talk about their functions

Language

• 1.2 Listen and respond to others for a variety of purposes and in a variety of contexts
• 1.4 Follow and provide one- and two-step directions in different contexts
• 1.5 Use language in various contexts to connect new experiences with what they already know
• 1.6  Use language to talk about their thinking, to reflect, and to solve problems
• 1.8  Ask questions for a variety of purposes and in different contexts
• 1.9  Describe personal experiences, using vocabulary and details appropriate to the situation
• 1.10  Orally retell simple events and simple familiar stories in proper sequence
• 4.3  Write simple messages, using a combination of pictures, symbols, knowledge of the correspondence between letters and sounds, and familiar words
• 4.6  Communicate ideas about personal experiences and/or familiar stories, and experiment with personal voice in their writing

Science

• 1.1  Ask questions about and describe some natural occurrences, using their own observations and representations
• 1.3  Explore patterns in the natural and built environment
• 2.3  Select and use materials to carry out their own explorations
• 2.4  Communicate results and findings from individual and group investigations
• 3.1  Identify similarities and differences between local environments
• 3.3  Identify ways in which they can care for and show respect for the environment
• 4.4  Select and use tools, equipment, and materials to construct things using the design process

Nature Play at Mountsberg Conservation Area

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Today we went on an adventure to Mountsberg Conservation Area.  We left the school at about 9:30am, and didn't return until almost 2:30pm.  It was a very busy day, and the students had a great time.  We had a few students snoozing on the bus on the way home, and it was no wonder.  We were outside all day, enjoying nature and exploring the conservation area.

Mountsberg has a variety of programs for field trips, and their "Nature Play" program, designed for kindergarten to grade 1, fit our needs perfectly:

We took a lot of pictures and videos, as our students were so engaged in their exploration.  We found bugs, spiders, and a lot of different types of branches, logs, leaves, and special materials in the woods for us to build with.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms of our students!  We hope your day is filled with laughter, fun, and above all some time to relax.  Today we want to share the gift of music with you all.  Recently we recorded our kindergarteners singing outside.  Just click on the image below to hear. Enjoy!

KA Problem Solving Circle

The kindergarten teachers at Sir Isaac Brock have begun a teacher inquiry that will drive our program for the rest of the year and into next year as well.

Our inquiry question is:

What impact does teaching our students problem solving strategies, within our play-based program, have on their ability to solve problems independently during play?

In Kindergarten A, we began by asking the children what a problem could be.  We made a list.

The list of problems we made as a class was compiled during a focused group learning time.  We encouraged the children to identify problems they had in class.  The list includes:

• people screaming in your ear
• stealing
• hitting, punching, poking
• kicking
• pushing and shoving
• wrestling
• hiding toys
• when you're hurt or sick
• not including others
• not being nice
• not showing respect
• not being responsible

As you can see, this is where we first introduced the idea of a circle.  The children were very receptive to the concept.

Of course, the next step was to identify what problem-solving actually means.  Most students immediately said that problem-solving means saying you are sorry.  There was only one problem with that: what if you are NOT sorry?  Mrs. Piquette and Mrs. Proud role-played a scenario where it was okay to not be sorry.  After all, a lot of the time, children are not sorry for what they do.  We emphasized that it is okay to not feel sorry but that the problem still needs to be fixed.  Then we brainstormed ways to solve problems without saying sorry.  This list includes:

• telling someone to stop
• using your words (and being specific - don't just say "stop," rather say "please stop [doing that action] because ...)
• share your feelings (e.g., when you [do that action] I feel...")
• change something (a behaviour, the words you are using, etc.)

Our Original Problem-Solving Circle

This was the original circle that we came up with as a class. We first talked about how problems make you feel: sad, angry, frustrated, disappointed (all words from our students) and how USUALLY you feel happy when a problem is solved.  Mrs. Piquette wondered if you ALWAYS feel happy when a problem is solved, and the students agreed that you don't.  For example, when solving a problem means giving up a toy that you really wanted, you may not feel happy, but it was the right thing to do.

The children talked about what pictures we could use to put in the circle, and they also agreed that they should try using the circle two full times before going to an adult for help.

In our Professional Learning Team, we have come up with the following summary of our inquiry:

Student Learning Need:  Students have difficulty solving problems independently and with peers in the play-based learning environment.

Purpose Statement:  The purpose of this inquiry is to investigate the social problems that arise within a play-based program and to explore a variety of problem solving strategies with our students in order to determine the best model for our students.  Our goal is to give our students the tools to solve problems independently in a play-based learning environment.

Inquiry Question:  What impact does teaching our students problem solving strategies, within our play-based program, have on their ability to solve problems independently during play?

Is it Working?

We have been focusing on this inquiry in our class for a few weeks now.  As a team, Mrs. Proud, Mrs. Piquette, and Ms. McCormick have been tracking the instances of problem solving in our classroom.  We keep a tally each day of the number of times a student comes to us to help them solve a problem that could be solved independently using the Problem-Solving circle.

Our numbers are encouraging.  That is to say, we are noticing that since we introduced the finished problem-solving circle to the class and sent a copy home for parents, we have seen a dramatic decrease in the number of problems that are brought to us.  We are hoping that the next step will be an increase in instances of independent problem-solving (as pictured on the right).  We will share our data once our observations are complete in a few weeks.

.

Here a Chick, There a Chick, Everywhere a Chick, Chick.....

Friday, April 15

Today Layla brought in a very special show and share.  Layla and her family have chickens at their house, and her mom asked if it would be okay for her to bring in some chicks for her show and share. We said a very enthusiastic "YES!"  as we knew how much our students love animals.  The result was a fun show and share and some VERY engaged students.  Each student had a chance to see and touch the chicks and Layla showed how to feed them.  A huge thank you to Layla's parents who came in and brought the chickens so we could see them.  What a great show and share!