Read To Self

Over the last couple weeks, we have been practicing what is known as "Read to Self". This is an independent time where we look at, and read, a variety of books and poems! "Read to Self" is part of a literacy program called "Daily 5". Almost all classrooms at our school incorporate "Read to Self" into their literacy blocks! By learning how to "Read to Self" in Kindergarten, we are preparing for older grades too!

When we first started, a lot of us exclaimed that we don't know how to read books! We didn't know how we would read books during "Read to Self" time. However, Ms. Petersen showed us that there are 3 ways to read a book. We can:

1. Read the pictures
2. Read the words
3. Retell the story in our own words

Right now, we are experts at reading the pictures! Sometimes we also like to find letters that we know too. When we start our sight word study, we will begin to recognize words too!

Before we start, we always go over the expectations. These are the expectations that we came up with together:

• Read with a quiet voice
• Stay in your spot
• Eyes on your own book
• Read for the whole time
• Be respectful to the books

We also remind ourselves why we need to practice so much. It's so we can become better readers! We talk about how when we learn something new, it takes a lot of practice until we are great at it! It is just like when we are learning to play a sport, learning how to dance or play an instrument. 
 
There are a variety of spots that we get to sit at while we are practicing "Read to Self". We have to come to the picture chart to see where we will be sitting for that day. Then Ms. Petersen changes our names to a new spot for the next day.

When we get to our spot we keep our book closed. When everyone is settled, Ms. Petersen says "3-2-1-go". We do our best to read for the whole time until Ms. Petersen says "Stop". We know that if we finish reading our book before the time is up, we must go back to the beginning and start again.

We have a chart that keeps track of our progress. When we first started, we could only read our books for 1 minute. Now, we are up to almost 5 minutes! We love watching our "tower" get bigger and bigger. Our final goal is 15 minutes! We also realize that we must work as a team to read for longer. If everyone is following the expectations, our "tower" will get taller!

After we fill in our chart, Ms. Petersen picks 2-3 people who were doing an excellent job during "Read to Self" time to add a pom-pom to the jar. This gives us motivation to keep doing a great job! We hope to reach our goal soon!

Colour Days and Observations

We have been so excited to participate in the variety of colour days over the past two weeks! Each day we try to find matching clothing items for the colour of the day. Lots of staff and students in the school notice and ask us why we are all wearing the same colour! We simply say, "Because it's (purple) day!" We also read a book that goes along with our colour of the day and go on a scavenger hunt in our classroom! We try to find one thing that is the correct colour. We noticed some colours are trickier to find than others! We have also noticed a variety of different shades and are learning to identify light and dark colours.

Last week, we also did two experiments! We were quite excited to see what would happen. On Tuesday, we noticed three cups sitting on Ms. Petersen's desk. She asked us what we noticed about the set-up.

Some things we observed before the experiment:

• There are three cups
• One is filled with red water, one is filled with blue water, one is empty

Then Ms. Petersen rolled up two paper towels like snakes. She put one in the red water and arched it so it would go into the empty middle cup. Then she did the same with the blue water. We noticed it kind of looked like the letter M!
 
Each child had to draw what they saw and make a prediction. We talked about how it is okay if our guesses are wrong because they are just that - guesses! We were so excited to see what was going to happen. We kept checking the cups during the day. When we returned to school the next day, we were shocked to see purple water in the middle cup! We also noticed that the paper towels had changed colours. The paper towel coming out of the red water was now red, and the paper towel coming out of the blue water was now blue. We noticed the water "crawled" up the paper towels and went into the middle cup and mixed together to make purple. Blue and red makes purple!

We were so excited when Ms. Petersen set out another experiment for us to watch on Thursday. This time we observed different things:

• There were 2 cups instead of 3
• The cups were empty
• The cups were sitting in a pan with handles

We gathered in front of the desk and watched Ms. Petersen pour vinegar into both cups. We also observed that the smell was not so pleasant for some of us. Some of us have tried vinegar on our french fries before. She added food colouring, like the previous experiment, but this time we used red and yellow. Ms. Petersen showed us a spoonful of baking soda. It looked white like sugar or salt. She told us she was going to put some baking soda into each one of the cups after we made our predictions.

When we made our predictions this time, lots of us used our knowledge from the previous experiment. Some of us thought the cups would change colours - to blue and purple. Some of us thought the white baking soda would change to red and yellow. Some of us thought it would make orange, but we weren't sure where. Some of us thought it would explode! We really thought hard about our guesses!

Then we gathered around the cups again. When Ms. Petersen added the baking soda to the cup with red vinegar, it started fizzing and bubbling until it spilled out of the cup! The same thing happened when she added the baking soda to the yellow vinegar. It exploded! Then she took a spoon and stirred the liquid that was now in the pan. We noticed right away that it turned orange! Red and yellow make orange!

We can't wait to see what other fun colour activities we will do! We also want to thank our families for helping us remember what colour to wear!

 

A Week of Halloween Activities

We had such a fun, engaging week leading up to Halloween! To get us excited about Halloween, Ms. Petersen had set up a variety of special Halloween stations for us to try out as a part of our entry routine! These stations help us work on a variety of skills such as literacy, numeracy and fine motor skills.

We were the most excited to try the Halloween goop! We got to squish the goop around in our hands and it felt very neat. There were even little spiders hiding inside! The majority of us liked squishing all of the goop in our hands, but some students preferred to touch just a tiny bit.

We also worked hard at creating Halloween patterns! At the start of the week, lots of us were creating two element patterns. As the week went on, Ms. Petersen challenged us to make trickier ones!

We also practiced our gluing skills by gluing marshmallows to create ghosts! We needed to use lots of hand muscles to squeeze the glue out. We are also trying to remember that "A little dot holds a lot!"

We all got to practice making spiderwebs as well! We had to concentrate so that we could stretch the small rubber bands over the popsicle sticks. It took some practice, but we made some pretty cool spiderwebs!

On Wednesday, we got to participate in Halloween gym! Mrs. Kjernisted set up the gym with lots of spooky stations. The lights were dimmed and Halloween music was playing, too! We liked swinging on the ropes across the snake infested swamp. We also liked guessing what was in the different boxes when we closed our eyes and felt around!
  

Finally, after many sleeps, it was Halloween! We were sooooo excited to show off our costumes to our friends! We started our day off by using a sharing circle to explain our costumes. We also read a really funny story called "Boo!" by Robert Munsch. It is about a boy who paints his face very scary to get lots and lots and LOTS of candy! We talked about only eating just a bit of candy at a time so that we do not get sore tummies. We would like to thank our friend Adam for sharing this Halloween book with us!

Afterwards, we got to make a pumpkin or a ghost puppet to take home! We worked very hard at cutting out our puppets and gluing on their faces. We also added some silly hands to them!

  We also got to play some special Halloween games. We liked the pumpkin face bowling the best! We had to stand back and aim our ball at the tower of cups and see how many we could knock down! We also practiced our aim by trying to throw paper balls onto our pumpkin plates. The more we practiced, the better we got!

We also had some time to eat the delicious snacks that many families offered to bring! Our tummies were happy that there was as mixture of healthy snacks and special treats. Thank you so much to the families who took the time to prepare the wonderful snacks and goody bags! We also appreciate all of the generous offers from families to supply treats for the future as well!

Our favourite part of the day was when we got to go on our Halloween costume parade! It was so much fun showing off our costumes and seeing other costumes, too. In the morning we went on our parade with Mrs. Bangart's class and in the afternoon we got to be a part of the school-wide parade! It was so neat going through the whole school showing off our costumes. We had a blast!

We would also like to give a special thanks to our wonderful volunteers who helped make our Fall Celebration extra fun. Thanks very much to Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Jaworenko, Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Fazenda, Mrs. Montanez, Mrs. Geladov and Bianca (Mrs. V's daughter) for volunteering your time to help us out!

Volunteers for our Fall Celebration

We are looking for 2 volunteers in the morning (8:40-11:35) and 2 volunteers in the afternoon (12:35-3:30) to help with our Fall Celebration on Friday, October 31! We will be playing some games, doing a craft, enjoying our snacks and having a great time! If you are interested in volunteering on Friday, please send me an e-mail at kpetersen@retsd.mb.ca. We are always looking for volunteers to help on other days as well!

Also, Tuesday, October 28 is Hat Day! Bring $1 to support Unicef and you can wear your hat all day at school! I am looking forward to seeing all of the students' hats! Thanks for your support!

Computer Time

This week we got to go to the computer lab for the first time! We were so excited when we saw the computer picture on our schedule! Last week, we each got a chance to try our computer log-ins on Ms. Petersen's computer. She showed us our computer card, which corresponds with the keyboard image sent home previously.

 

Ms. Petersen showed us how to press the "Tab" button to skip to the next line. She also showed us how to press "Enter" when we are all finished. We still need lots of practice finding these buttons on the keyboard but we know we will become faster typers with practice!

When we got to the computer lab, Ms. Petersen showed us how we could play a game on the big screen. We had to watch and listen very closely and carefully.

The first thing we had to do was find the "e" picture near the bottom of our screen. Once we clicked it, a new box popped up. But that box was so small and we wanted to make it bigger! Ms. Petersen taught us to click the square picture at the top to make it bigger. Then we had to find the star picture near the top. Ms. Petersen had already "favourited" some of the websites we will be using this year.

We searched for another star picture in our "favourites". This picture represents www.starfall.com. This is a great website for Kindergarten students! This time, we practiced in the ABC section. We noticed lots of letters that we have learned already. When we clicked on the letter, it made the letter sound and showed us some items that started with that letter. It was really fun!

We noticed that moving the mouse around was really tricky! We are used to using iPads, iPhones and laptops which all have touch screens or pads. It was also hard to remember which side of the mouse to click! We hope mom and dad can practice these skills with us at home. The more we practice, the easier it will get! We look forward to visiting the computer lab again next week!

Fire Prevention Week

In the morning, the AM students got to experience their first assembly! The topic of this assembly was fire safety and fire prevention. Frankie Hollywood and Jen from Energy 106 were the hosts. We thought that was pretty cool because sometimes we hear their voices on the radio. There were also many dignitaries present. We also got to see two real firefighters dressed in their uniform! Then we watched a video that showcased fire prevention tips. The other students in our school did a great job of illustrating posters to show us how we can prevent fires and keep ourselves safe! The assembly ended with a wonderful poem about fire safety.

 

Afterwards, we all got to go inside the smoke trailer. It looked like a mini-house, or a camper, inside. There was a small kitchen area, a TV, and a small bedroom. First, the firefighter reminded us of some important information:

• If there's a fire, leave everything inside - even your favourite toys
• Check and test your fire alarms often 
• There should be a fire alarm near your bedroom
• If there's a fire in your house "Don't hide - go outside"
• Have an escape plan at home
• Tell an adult if you see matches or a lighter laying around 

Then we all went into the bedroom area and the firefighter shut the door. Soon we heard the fire alarm - it went beep, beep, beep, beep. We looked up and we saw smoke (artificial). We knew that we had to get down low on the ground right away so that we wouldn't breathe it in (just like if there was a real fire). The firefighter opened the bedroom door slowly and he said it was not safe to exit that way. We had to find another way out safely. We noticed the window could open and it had a ladder so we could get out without hurting ourselves. The firefighters helped us crawl out the window and down the ladder. It was really neat!

This was a great introduction to fire safety, which we will be learning even more about in the next couple months! We are very thankful we got the opportunity to participate in this fun activity!

Bucket Fillers

Over the last few days, you may have heard your child talking about an invisible bucket that they carry. Or, you may have even heard the phrase "You're a bucket filler". Bucket filling is a concept that is taught and utilized in many classrooms in our school and in our school division.

The idea is simple, but very powerful. We learned that everyone in the world carries around an invisible bucket. Did you know that our pets carry around invisible buckets too? When our bucket is full, we feel happy. When our bucket is empty, we feel sad. When we say or do kind things, we are being bucket fillers. When we say mean things or make bad choices, we are being bucket dippers.

When we fill someone's bucket, we fill our own buckets too! However, some might think that dipping from someone's bucket will fill their own but that is not the case. You can never fill your bucket by dipping from someone else's. All day long, our buckets are either being filled or dipped from. 

Over the week, we read 3 different books about filling buckets. These books showed us SO many ways that we can be bucket fillers at school, at home, and in our community. These books were purchased from Scholastic and are often featured in their monthly flyers.

 

 

 

 

After we finished reading these stories, we sorted these actions to see if they would make people feel happy (bucket fillers) or if they would make people feel sad (bucket dippers). We had some great conversations led by the students. For instance, one child said that "cut in line" could go under being a Bucket Filler because a friend might have been nice enough to save him or her a spot in the line. We also talked about the fact that sometimes we do or say things that do not make others happy. When we recognize that we are being bucket dippers, we simply need to change our words and actions around to do the right thing! 

 

Our chart also inspired us to talk about a time when we were a bucket filler! Here are what some of the students said:

 

·         I helped Newman reach his toy when it was on the dresser – Nina

·         When Lucas fell on the ground, I gave him a bandaid and a nice snack – Lily

·         I listen to my mom and dad – Benjamin

·         I clean up my room – Adriana

·         I clean up my room right away when my mom asks – Cruz

·         I invite my cousins to go bowling – Udit

·         I share toys with Farrah – Kayden

·         I eat my supper when my mommy tells me to – Addison

·         When my cats’ toys are too high, I help them – Daniel

·         When mom said colouring time was over, I listened right away – Isabella

·         I clean up right away when mom plays the clean up song – Mac

·         I share my doctor case supplies with Easton – Katelyn

·         I clean up my toys right away – Thomas

·         I rake up the leaves with mom and dad – Connor

·         I clean up right away in my bedroom – Emily

·         I like raking up the leaves - Adam