April 4th Newsletter

Good morning and Happy Easter 

We had a great short week back together. Some of the week's highlights were lots of easter art with oversize eggs at the paint easel and on the art tables. The children painted eggs with watercolour paints to add to our easter art tree and did their first directed draw on paper. We planted peas in the garden with Char and potatoes in the classroom which is perfect timing for our upcoming measurement study.  
We did a vinegar and egg experiment on Tuesday and watched as the egg lost it's shell and turned to a bouncy egg over the rest of the week. In the forest the children enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt. Miss McDonald hid the eggs while we played the sleeping bunny game and read Going On An Easter Egg Hunt. Then the children searched in the forest for a plastic egg. The egg had a little surprise for them and then then the children traded it in for a Kinder egg. 

In the classroom I have continued to refresh the Loose Parts shelves with pastel, spring materials including lots of baby animals, to inspire new stories and invigorate their play. 
This week's counting collections work was amazing. I refreshed the collections over spring break and added larger quantities and some new materials. The children returned to school on Monday refreshed and excited to reconnect. They were completely independent during this familiar framework and, as you saw with the graphic organizer that they brought home, they easily showed their mathematical thinking. Many children are counting by two's, fives and of course Phoebe continues to count by 3's.

I completed my assessment of Kindergarten Sight Words and have begun to introduce new literacy play such as Read It, Build It and Write It, in small groups of 2-3 children. I have played it twice with the children and already they are reading the words more easily. 
In writing, I have added a word box to their journals and expanded the writing block. I have added time for table partner story conversations to encourage the children to share stores. The children will be choosing an important word from their story and writing it in the word box. Some children may choose to write a sentence. My expectation is that they print the sounds they hear in the word.
Miss McDonald will begin her spring practicum on Tuesday and will be with us for six weeks. We are hoping to be offsite Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays weather permitting. As this is her first practicum, I will remain in the classroom to support, observe  as well as  teach and co-teach.
I have also invited Mrs. Radigan and Mrs. Cowan to travel to Neck Point on April 21st and again on May 12th for a field trip. This will be mostly funded by the PAC field trip allowance but there may be a small family fee to cover the shortage as busing costs have increased. We have submitted a field trip application to the school district and then will book a SD68 school bus. Once it has been approved a permission form will go home.
Thank you,