Mrs. Wacker's Kindergarten Class

 Hello Kindergarten Families,  We had a great finish to our gymnastics unit, being super sneaky secret agents in our "Mission Impossible" set up.  The children moved through the equipment without touching or knocking over obstacles.  Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel is one of our favourite games. Using a variety of media (pastel, tissue paper, cut and punched paper, dobbers) to fill sections of our water pictures.  We noticed there are many shades of blue.  We also used many types of lines to fill sections like loops, zig-zags and cross-hatches.  In literacy, we worked on the letter Uu. This is an important vowel, so make sure to practice it a lot.  We point up when we make the sound /u/ for "up" and practice tracking the words in the decodable, "The Pup". Spring break, is a great opportunity to revisit all the letters we have learned so far as well as recognizing and spelling our heart words: the, is, as, said, to, do.   Identifying and highligh...

Hello Kindergarten Families,  We had a super fun week using the big gymnastic equipment.  Thanks for everyone sending their kids to school in "gymnastics friendly" clothing.  The children did a great job following safe routines and experimenting moving their bodies in different ways on the equipment.  Today we worked in our journals drawing about this experience. The children also wrote "I can" statements, now that we have learned the letter Cc in Ufli Literacy.  Children wrote sentences such as:  -I can hang on the bar. -I can run and jump on the mat. -I can climb on the ladder. They are really beginning to see themselves as writers!   Climbing up and hanging on the ropes. A class favourite:  Ramp and big mat Hanging on the high bar. Exploring the barrel. The skinning balance beam is tricky.  Kids did a great job jumping off with a "safety landing". Ask your kids what "motorcycle grip" is? Careful concentration on the transitions. ...

Gung Hay Fat Chow!  Happy Ramadan and Go, Canada, Go!  We had a busy and festive week, starting Monday when we celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Horse.  The children examined artifacts and pictures about Chinese New Year (ie. red pouches used to give gifts), and read one of my favourite books, The Dragon Dance.   We compared and contrasted some of the traditions of Chinese New Year with other holidays that students.  We learned that some holidays start on the same date each year, such as Christmas (always on the 25th), while other holidays' starting date depends on the lunar calendar.  To celebrate the waning crescent moon and the start of Ramadan, we made a class mosaic.   We also showed Olympic spirit, watching a few of the events during snack.  We compared how the athletes moved using lots of interesting verbs (gliding, spinning, twisting, climbing.....) and thought about the different ways you "win": being the fastest (bobsleigh...

 Hello Kindergarten Families,  We continued working hard on our Storytelling Project on Jan Brett's retelling of "The Mitten".  We did our best in incorporate it into all our areas of study. Literacy:  We discussed story organization, including the relevant things that are introduced in the beginning: Who are the Characters?  Where does the story take place? And When does the story take place?  We paid close attention to how the animals moved  and the descriptive verbs used.    We also practiced making cvc words and making connected sentences, using our heart words.  Students listened to Stella: Queen of the Forest and drew about the things in a forest environment.  Here students practiced adding details, labelling object and creating simple sentences.  Math:  In Math, students worked subitizing (recognizing familiar number patterns) on dominos by playing "The Hockey Game".  In this game, students determined the great...

 Hello Kindergarten Families,  We have been excited to start learning  some volleyball fundamentals this week as we have practiced "volleying/setting" and "bumping" with small beach balls. This helps students learn technique and strengthen their fingers and arms.  Literacy :   We have learned letters Aa, Mm, Ss, Tt, Pp, Ff,  Ii  and  Nn . We were super excited to read a new story featuring the letter Nn and our new sight word "is".  Before reading  The Pin In the Map, we identified the heart words:  I, A, the and is . We highlighted these to remind us that we cannot sound the whole word out.  Please practice this decodable story and your /n/ homework sheet and store them in your blue, at-home, literacy folder.  Please ensure you are practicing heart words, letters and sounds and decodable words that we have sent home for the past couple months.                  ...