Wednesday 17 December 2014

JOYEUX NOËL!!!

Dear Parents,

I wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.  Following are pictures of some of the Christmas fun we've been having in class over the last couple of weeks, ENJOY!

PAINTING SANTA'S SLEIGH

SANTA'S WORKSHOP

LOADING SANTA'S SLEIGH WITH PRESENTS

WRAPPING GIFTS









CRAFTS, CRAFTS AND MORE CRAFTS!!!!

JOYEUX NOËL ET BONNE ANNÉE!!  


Sunday 14 December 2014

Birthday Party for Baby Jesus

A reminder that tomorrow afternoon is our Birthday Party for Baby Jesus. The festivities will begin in the Gym at 2:00. Students came home with a specially decorated snack bag on Friday. Please pack a nut and whole egg free snack that your child can share with his/her guest(s). Students are welcome to bring the snack to school with them in the morning, or you can bring the snack when you arrive. Please make sure your child knows if you will be bringing the snack. Please remember to bring a jar of baby food or some other baby item to the party tomorrow. All items donated will be given to St. Mary's Home. You are welcome to take your child home with you after the party is over tomorrow, but please make sure to speak to one of your child's teachers before doing so.

Looking forward to a fun-filled afternoon!

Monday 8 December 2014

White Elephant Sale Thursday

Just a reminder of our annual White Elephant Sale this Thursday, December 11. Please send in a list of who your child should be shopping for on this day. Grade 6 students will assist the kindergartens with their purchases, and prices will range from 25 cents to $5.

Thanks for your support!

Friday 5 December 2014

What we have been up to...

It has been a busy few weeks in the Hummingbird class. Lots of excitement has been building as we prepare for the Christmas season. The students have been busy working on creating and extending patterns - patterns are everywhere!
We made a list of what makes a pattern.




I noticed that the students have been using the dramatic play area often, and decided to ask them to help me change the area to something different. We came up with a list of choices that we would like, and then the students had an opportunity to vote on which option they liked the best. 


After our voting was done, the students decided that we would change our dramatic play area into Santa's Workshop. We then needed to decide what kinds of things we would need to put in the area to transform it. The students decided that we needed a sleigh, wrapping paper and tape to wrap the presents, a magnifying glass to check over all of the toys (to inspect them, of course!), a mailbox for all of Santa's letters, and a bag for all of the presents. Ms. Diane (the EDP coordinator) helps out in our kindergarten classes every week, and she graciously donated a large box that we have started to transform into Santa's sleigh! We are very excited to start transforming the rest of the space. If you have any items you would like to donate to help make our transformation complete, we would gladly accept them!

This week we participated in Artapoolooza - a Kindergarten crafting bonanza! Thanks to our many parent volunteers, we had 6 different crafts set up around the room and the students rotated through each of the centres and got to take home their crafts that day. We had a lot of fun.

Next week our school will be starting our annual toiletry collection for the Shepherd's of Good Hope. Each grade is asked to bring in different personal care items that will be donated to the Shepherd's, including men's socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and shaving cream. Typically, kindergarten students are asked to bring in socks, but any items you would like to donate will be gladly accepted. 

Also, Scholastic orders were due today, but if you still would like to order, I will wait until next Friday to place the order. A reminder that if you would like to order anything for Christmas, please let me know and I will put it aside for you. 

Have a great weekend!
Ms. Quinn


Wednesday 3 December 2014

PJ Day

A little reminder that this Friday, December 3rd is a school wide PJ day! Image result for pyjama clipart

Tuesday 2 December 2014

DECEMBER VOCABULARY AND SONGS

Not only is December a short month, it is also a very busy one!  We join the Puffins and Chickadees daily to practice our songs for the "Baby Jesus Birthday Party" and with all the Christmas crafts and activities, I always feel that we run short on time.  Following are the vocabulary words and songs that we will do our very best to learn over the next few weeks.  ** I apologize, the French accents aren't working on my computer at the moment**


 "C'est Noel" to the tune of jingle bells.

"Les etoiles dans le ciel" to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star.


Noel Jazz



Pere Noel frappe a la porte



Vive le vent



Le petit renne au nez rouge

Les anges dans nos campagnes


Quand le Pere Noel


Petit Papa Noel


D'ou viens-tu bergere?

HAVE FUN!!  JOYEUX NOEL!!!

Monday 1 December 2014

ARTAPALOOZA

I would like to thank the many parent volunteers that helped with artapalooza this morning.  The children rotated through 5 Christmas craft stations and it was a great success!!  Everyone had a great time and made some beautiful crafts.  Here are a few pictures of artapalooza in action!












What a great morning with my hummingbirds!!  Stay tuned for some French Christmas vocabulary and French Christmas songs, I will post them later this week.

Thursday 20 November 2014

Being a good neighbour

This week was Anti-Bullying week. To help students understand what this means, we talked about what it means to be a good neighbour. We discussed how a neighbour doesn't just mean someone who lives next door to us - a neighbour is another word for someone who is our friend. We talked about how the students in the Puffin and Chickadee classes are our neighbours, but also our friends. The students then helped create an anchor chart that describes what good neighbours do. They came up with things such as sharing with others, saying kind things, not fighting or hitting, and treating others with respect. This was a good tie-in to our WITS assembly this morning.


The WITS program is anti-bullying program that encourages students to Walk away, Ignore problem behaviours, Talk it out, and Seek help (from a teacher or adult). To help reinforce this message, we watched a Howard B. Wigglebottom story about what to do when you encounter a bully.

The arrival of winter has meant some exciting discussions have popped up. Mme Natalie introduced the concept of hibernation to the students the other day, and they have come up with some great questions about what kinds of animals hibernate for the winter.


The students made caves and animals out of clay to "hibernate". 
Snow also means the arrival of winter clothing! We talked about what order we put on our winter clothes to help students understand the concept of sequencing. To help students remember the steps, we came up with this little rhyme: 

Snowpants, boots, jacket, hat
Mittens go on after that!

We also worked together to co-create an anchor chart to describe the steps we take when getting dressed to go outside. 
Tijs sounds out the word "snowpants" to add to our chart. 
Just a reminder that tomorrow is a PD Day. Have a wonderful weekend, and see you on Monday!

Ms. Quinn

Tuesday 18 November 2014

WEAR PINK DAY!!

A reminder to wear pink tomorrow, Wednesday November 19th, as part of our planned activities during anti-bullying week!

Thursday 13 November 2014

LES CHANSONS

Bonjour les parents!!

At the request of some parents during interviews, I will post many of my more generic French songs here,  As the year continues, I will post songs that are relevant to a specific theme or time of year.  Enjoy watching and singing with your child!!

Assis / Debout

Les mois de l'année

Les chiffres et les nombres

L'alphabet

Les jours de la semaine

Les couleurs

Les parties du corps

Bonjour!

La boogie woogie des chiffres

Please keep in mind that we have not yet learned all of these songs and will continue to work with them throughout the year.  ENJOY!!!

Saturday 8 November 2014

What we have been up to...

Thanks to all of the parents who came to our Parent-Teacher interviews on Thursday night. It was a pleasure meeting all of you, and I look forward to an exciting year ahead in the Hummingbird class!

We have been busy talking about Remembrance Day and the significance of this special day. Students have been busy writing postcards to soldiers and veterans. We talked about some of the things we would like to say to the soldiers, and the students wrote those messages on the postcards.



We have been singing the song, "I've Got Peace In My Fingers" together as a class - ask your child to show you the actions that go along with the song: Peace in my Fingers song

Finally, many parents have asked what they could do to help support their child's learning at home. Alphabet knowledge is a hallmark of early literacy - practice identifying letters with your child. As children begin to identify specific letters of the alphabet, they can begin working on identifying letter sounds. Learning letter sounds is one of the first steps in learning to read. Here is a cute song we like to practice to help us remember the different letter sounds: Phonics Song

Everyday we practice reading and writing our popcorn words. Here are the ones we have been working on since the beginning of the year: I    can    am    see    look    at    a    the  As we learn new popcorn words, I will update the blog.

Have a great weekend!
Ms. Quinn

Tuesday 4 November 2014

SLIME!!

What better way than to compare solids and liquids than to play with SLIME!!  At carpet time, the children were asked if they think slime is a solid, a liquid or both.  This was done in French and with a few props, the children easily understood the concept of "Est-ce que de la slime est une solide, un liquide ou les 2"?    They then got to play with the slime and record their decision.






Here are some of the verbal observations made while palying with the slime:  

"I can make a ball"  - Makayla
"It's bouncy" - Mackaelyn
"It's slippery" - Rosemary
"It stretches!" - Maverick
"It's hard to cut" - Makayla

After some discussion, the majority agreed that the slime was in fact both solid and liquid.  Here are some observations made during the discussion:

"C'est liquide because it's wiggly." -Faith
"C'est liquide because it's slippery." - Makayla
"Les 2 because it's really gooey." - Rosemary
"It's both because it's gooey" - Andrea

Those a direct quotes from the kids. I was so pleased that they made an effort to use one of our French popcorn words "c'est" and the word being studied to express themselves!!

Thursday 30 October 2014

Halloween Fun!

We have been busy in the Hummingbird class. Halloween is an exciting time for our kinders, and we love to bring Halloween activities and crafts into our learning. We have been working on making patterns, so we have been using Halloween crafts to help us make them. Some of our patterns are amazing!



We have also been making a number line for our class. Our kinders have been busy creating the posters that we will display in our class for the year. 

Writing the number, the word, and using stickers to show how many.  
Eva made this amazing number poster all by herself! 
Every day we practice reading and writing popcorn words. Popcorn words are words that often "pop up" in the things we read and write, and are also called high frequency words. Here are some of the words we have been working on since the beginning of the year: 

I    can    am    see    look    at    a    the

A reminder that students are not to wear costumes to school tomorrow - we would hate if anything happened to them right before they head out for trick or treating. If your child wishes, they are more than welcome to wear orange and black tomorrow. 

Have a wonderful Halloween! 


Tuesday 28 October 2014

L'HALLOWEEN


Bonjour les parents, 

Here are some vocabulary words that we have been working on in October.  Your child should know some of these words in French, some children might even know all of them!




This is a song that we have been practicing.  See if your child can sing it to you!




HAVE FUN!!!  

Friday 24 October 2014

Friday Reminders

Just a few reminders as we head into the weekend:


  • Monday is Photo Retake Day for any families who are interested. We will also be having a school photo taken.
  • We are asking all students to wear red and white on Monday. 
  • On Friday October 31 we ask that students wear orange and black - no costumes please! 

Have a great weekend!



The Hummingbird Team

Monday 20 October 2014

A FEW QUICK NOTES

Tomorrow is CRAZY HAT DAY FOR 2$.  Your child can wear a crazy hat and donate 2$ for United Way.

We are currently holding a canned food drive for the "We Scare Hunger" campaign by the Social Justice Committee.  Please feel free to send canned items or non-perishable items to school.

I will be away Wednesday, October 22nd.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing my Hummingbirds on Friday, I will miss them!!

Mme Natalie



Thursday 16 October 2014

AND MORE PUMPKINS!!


We continued our pumpkin observations in French today by carving the tops of the large and small pumpkins.  Many observations were made such as "They smell!".  Maverick showed me two seeds and said "une grosse graine et une petite graine".  Markus observed that "the seeds look like they could be planted to make a huge pupmkin!"


The children enjoyed touching, smelling and making observations of the insides of the pumpkin.
Through these activities, the children really understood the meaning of the words citrouille (pumpkin), graines (seeds), petit et grand (small and big).


I found a few more French Autumn videos, ENJOY!!




La valse de l'automne




Bricolage d'automne




















Il pleut


And finally, what to do when we can't go outside??  After tidying up after play time, we did a 5 minute disco posted below (have fun trying it at home).



Then we did some table top activities.  Everyone was very focused and worked very quietly.




Tracing numbers with buttons : Le numéro trois



Puzzles 


Mazes


Dot to dot



And a little earlier, we had done a craft -  Les feuilles de l'automne: rouge, jaune, orange