Dear Families,

We hope you have enjoyed our blog and our learning activities for your children.  None of us expected for the school year to end like this and we are very grateful for your patience and support while we navigated remote learning.  We are incredibly impressed how you have managed home learning and loved seeing your children grow and learn at home.  Although we have missed them incredibly and look forward to seeing them when they are big Grade Ones!

Our blog will continue to be available for most of the summer, please continue to visit and enjoy the read alouds and the activities.

Wishing you a very safe, happy, and restful summer,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic, and Mrs. Nero

 

 

 

 

Hello Families,

Wow! The time is flying by so quickly. This will be our last post of weekly activities as our last instructional day will be Wednesday, June 24th. We want to thank you again for your continued support and working with your children at home. Please feel free to revisit any of the past post activities throughout the last week of instruction and throughout the summer months.

Time for another story time activity. Listen to Mrs. Nero read the story Imogene’s Antlers by David Small. There is a special moment in the story where you will get to participate. The story will be paused towards the end. You will be asked to predict the ending of the story. Draw a picture and write a sentence about what you think will happen when Imogene wakes up the next day. Remember to draw big, bright, and detailed pictures. Colour your picture with at least 5 colours. Write a sentence using all the sounds that you remember from the story. Someone at home can help you “Sound out” the words with you or scribe your words for you. Next listen to the rest of the story to find out how it really ends. It is a funny story and will make you laugh. 

It’s Father’s Day this Sunday June 21.

Remember to make your Dad feel appreciated. You can do this by helping with chores, making breakfast for your Dad, and telling him how much you love him.

You could also make him a ‘Happy Father’s Day’ card. Decorate your card by drawing pictures of all the special things your Dad does for you throughout the year. Some examples might be your dad cooking you meals, helping with your schoolwork, taking you for walks or activities like swimming lessons, skating or riding a bike. Remember to sign your name on the card you make so he knows who made the special card for him. Have someone in your home help you with spelling the words on your card.

Some words you might consider using in your card could be:

  • Dad
  • thank you
  • love
  • to
  • helping
  • special
  • me

Hidden Creature Picture

This is a wonderful activity to bring out your imagination. Start by covering a paper in patches of different colours using crayons or markers. You don’t have to have any specific pattern, just do whatever your mind wants to do. Let your hand flow. Next, find any faces and creatures in your picture you can see in the patterns and outline with a black marker. Then display your finished work for everyone in your house to admire.

Card games are great fun to play with your family! Learn to play a card game and practise your math skills. There are three engaging games (Naughty Nines. Speed, Go Fish Sums) on our Math Tab. Card games make you smile, laugh and make you happy when all the while you are supporting your learning about math. That is a really good way to spend your time when it is raining outside.

 

Story Workshop – Fairy door writing activity. This is a really fun activity. Can you guess who might live here? Think about what stories the picture setting can inspire. Can you make up and tell a story about the characters who might live in the tree? Tell your story orally to someone in your house or use pictures and words. Can you think of and draw another setting where these characters could visit? Use your imagination. There is no limit to imagination! click on the picture to the right to get a bigger image. It is a beautiful picture.

Why don’t we use baking once again as a fun activity to learn about sequencing, measuring in volume and counting. Then you have a reward at the end of the lesson! Bake delicious Two Hour Buns with an adult’s help. Remember to follow each step of the recipe in sequence from beginning to end. Help to scoop and measure the ingredients, notice the sizes of different measuring tools and how much ingredients they hold. Is it a big tool or a small tool? Help to clean up after you have finished. And, as always, share your baked goods with your family. 

Here are a few more activities to look over and do during the week:

  • Everyone loved the first math story so here are two more: How Big? and How Heavy?
  • Visit Starfall to practise the letters and letter sounds
  • Continue doing activities from Scholastic at Home
  • Continue to check out the June Music Activities
  • Remember to practise your alphabet sounds each day orally with an adult
  • Try to go out for a walk each day and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
  • Check out Mrs. Favaro’s ELL Blog 

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Hello Families,

The end of our Kindergarten year is fast approaching and I am sure many of you have mixed feelings about this as do we. While our final term of learning has been very different than what we imagined it would be, it has given us a chance to learn more about our students and their lives at home. For some students, learning remotely has allowed them to feel more comfortable and confident in expressing and sharing their learning. It has been such a meaningful and special experience for us all. Thank you once again for your support, and putting your child’s learning as a top priority during these unique and unprecedented circumstances!

                                              *** Important Assignment for REPORT CARDS ***

(For Mrs. Nero and Ms. Maratovic’s classes ONLY. Mrs. Lee’s class DOES NOT need to do this as they have already completed this. If your child is attending class, you do not need to do this.  Only the students doing remote learning can do the self-assessment at home.  )

Please interview your child and ask them the following questions. You may need to rephrase the questions and give examples to help your child answer. Please scribe your child’s responses to them and send them to your teacher by no later than this Friday June 12th.

  1. What did you like the best about being in Kindergarten?
  2. What are your hopes for Grade One?
  3. What can you do to calm yourself down when you are upset or frustrated?
  4. What did you learn at home during remote learning?

BEACH FUN!

What do you like doing at the beach? Write about an adventure you are having at the beach. What creatures did you see? What were they doing? Don’t forget to write with your neatest printing and draw a picture with lots of detail and colour!

Click here to get your writing page and creature pictures. Once on the site, click the Download button at the bottom of the page, type in your email address, and the pages will be sent to you.

                       

Collections

A collection of things is a group of similar items that interest you. The items are usually fairly small so they can be played and looked at easily.

Some things you can collect: shells, rocks, coins, stamps, stickers, hockey/baseball/Pokemon cards, kinder surprise toys, McDonald Happy meal toys, mini cars, Shopkins figures, lego, items that are all one colour like all pink or all green things, etc.

Take a picture of your collection and send it to your teacher. Why do you like these items? How do you play with your collection? Can you sort your collection into different groups?

Here is Mrs. Lee’s collection of shells and coral.

I like these items because every time I look at them, it reminds me of the time I was at the beach, and in Hawaii. I like to touch the smooth and prickly shells and bumpy coral. I like to lay them out and look at all the pretty shapes and colours. I have 7 shells and 8 coral (7 + 8 = 15 in total). There are 3 cone shaped, 2 smooth, 1 fan shape and 1 prickly shell. There are 5 coral that are bumpy with holes and 3 coral that are smooth.

Rainbow Fish

Listen to the story “The Rainbow Fish”. It is a classic story (one that has been read and enjoyed for many years). The story talks about the importance of sharing and friendship. After reading the story, make your own rainbow fish! You can use this template (scroll down and click Printable Rainbow Fish template once you are on the site), or draw your own fish. You can use felts or paint to colour it. You can use a pompom or cotton ball and paint to make the round fish scales. Add glitter to some of the scales if you wish. Who will you share your glitter scales with?

 

Watch the video on Mystery Science and find out: “Why fish can’t breathe on land.”

TYING SHOES

Tying shoes is an important skill to have for Grade One. In the story “I Can Tie My Shoes”, find out several different ways to tie shoes. Remember to practice lots over the summer!

GAK (aka: fun slime) Recipe

Have some fun with your child and make GAK! It only requires 4 ingredients so it is simple to make. The recipe asks for Borax which is a cleaning detergent/powder and can be found in the laundry aisle at the store usually in a box.

 

June Music Activities

(Message from the Music teachers)

The theme of June is opera! We will start by watching an opera that you would have seen live at Marlborough. It is called “The Flight of the Hummingbird”. “This piece is based on an Indigenous story from the Quechuan people of South America. The story travelled as far as Haida Gwaii. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! We will begin by watching the opera, it is about 45 minutes. Then you can choose one of the activities to complete and submit.

If you would like to try another delicious recipe here is one from Dhanush. It is an Apricot Upside Down Cake. We hear it is absolutely wonderful. Click here to go to the Recipes tab. 

Have a great week and keep sending your child’s learning to your teacher!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

 

Our school has now reopened and while some students are returning to class,  others are continuing learning from home.  We appreciate our families have different needs and are happy to support you in your educational choices for your children.  We will keep updating our blog with new learning activities and we look forward to continuing receiving samples of your children’s work if you are doing remote learning.  You do not have to email work samples if your child is attending class.  While we may not be able to answer your emails as quickly as before, we will do our best to balance in class and remote teaching.  We are pleased to continue partnering with you in your child’s learning and invite you to reach out by email to your individual teacher with any questions or comments.

In Literacy this week we will focus on rhyme. Rhyming words sound the same at the end of the word, not at the beginning.  To hear if two or more words rhyme, listen careful and if they have a similar or same ending sound, they are rhyming words.  (For example: cat and bat rhyme but car and cat do not.)   In Kindergarten, we learn about rhyming  “nonsense” words and real words.

In this simple, rhyming story, Bear like fruit.  After listening to the story,  ask your child to copy the words from the story, Apple, Bear, Orange, Pear, and draw a picture of each.  Perhaps you can ask your child to help you make a fruit salad with 2-4 of your family’s favourite fruits.  After enjoying your fruit salad, perhaps you can draw and write what fruits you used in your fruit salad.

Listen carefully to Dr. Seuss’s There’s a Wocket in my Pocket story and guess which words are nonsense words – made up from Dr. Seuss’s imagination.  Can you draw a picture of an imaginary animal that might sit on this pillow?  Draw and label your picture. Remember your imaginary animal name should rhyme with pillow……I was thinking maybe spillow or trillow?  Can’t wait to see what your imagination came up with!

Listen to the Rhyming Dust Bunnies story by Jan Thomas and find out what happens to our funny friends.  Can you draw Ed, Ted, Ned, and Bob?  Label the picture with their names.  Talk with a sibling or a parent what is it the dust bunnies like to do for fun?  What might they be afraid of?  Perhaps go on a dust bunny hunt around your home?  Play a rhyming game with your family, take turns coming up with rhyming words of your own, if someone misses a turn, they can do five jumping jacks!

Watch and listen to the story I see,  it is very short.  Can you listen to it again and read along with me?  What do you notice about the book?  You can’t really turn the pages!  It kind folds like an accordion.  Ask your parents to help you make an accordion book and you can illustrate and write your own book.  You can use the same animals or come up with  your own!   (Here are some suggestions: Cat/Mat, Frog/Log, Snake/Lake,  Bug/Mug)   Copy the words or try and sound them out yourself.  Say the word slowly, (like the word:  c-a-t)  stretch it out, and write down the sounds that you hear.  Don’t worry if you don’t spell it correctly.

Click here for more  online rhyming activities  to enjoy.

In Numeracy this week we will continue to focus on Canadian Coins.  Can you name the animals on the Canadian Coins?  The Penny, no longer in circulation, has the maple leaf on it.  The dime has the Bluenose Schooner, a famous symbol of Canada.  Make a paper wallet and decorate it with your name.  Write the names of the coins on the outside – Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Loonie and Toonie.  We also have a 50 cent piece, not often used.  Print of some paper coins or ask your parents for real coins to put into your wallet.  Can you set up a play store in your home and spend your money?

For more Math activities this week, please check out our new Math Tab above for lots of games and math ideas.

Everybody loves to dance right?  We loved the Tooty Ta dance in our class!  Check it out and maybe you can teach it to your parents?  Try the Freeze Dance for even more fun!  Maybe you can share your favourite dance moves with us?

We have enjoyed hearing about your walks in the neighbourhood.  Can you try and guess where we were on these walks?  I’ll give you a hint, it’s a big lake in your city!  In Burnaby, not too far from school.  Maybe you too can go for a walk there, but your parents would have to drive you!    Walk 1 – Sky   and Walk 2 – Duckies

We hope you have enjoyed our Recipes and we would like to enjoy yours too!  We invite you to share your family’s favourite recipe.  We would like to publish it on our blog using your child’s first name only.   Please send in your recipes to your teacher by email and look for our upcoming Kinder Cooks tab.

 

 

Go into our Butterfly tab and watch 2 videos! The first one shows one of our caterpillars emerging into a beautiful butterfly, and the other is of Mrs. Lee releasing them in our school garden!

                                                 

Warmest Regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

 

 

 

Click on the image to make it larger.

Hello! We hope you have been able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather. Thank you for emailing us samples of your children’s learning. We love to see their creativity and happy faces in the pictures and videos that you send. Below are the Week Seven Activities. Please choose activities that particularly interest your child. Don’t feel that you have to complete all the choices.

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the image to make it larger.

Listen to Mrs. Nero read the story of The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain. After you have heard the story think about your favourite part of the story. Draw a picture and write a sentence. Remember to draw a big, bright and detailed picture. Colour your picture with at least 5 colours. Write your sentence using all of the sounds that you remember. Someone at home can help you “sound out” the words with you. They can also scribe your words with you. Remember to send your picture to your individual teacher. We would love to see your creativity and ideas.

Photo by Yuichi Kageyama on Unsplash
Photo by Yuichi Kageyama on Unsplash

 

Take a look at the Painted Lady Butterfly tab on our blog. Use your observation skills to carefully see if the caterpillars have changed over the past week. Are they bigger? Have they changed colour? Have they eaten some of the food? Record your thinking in your Butterfly Observation Journal. If you haven’t downloaded a copy yet here is the link to the Journal.

 

 

 

Photo by Victor Ballesteros on Unsplash

 

Learn about Canadian coins and their value. Find a nickel, dime, quarter, Loonie, and Toonie at home. Use a piece of paper and crayons to make coin rubbings. Can you name all the coins? Do you know how much each coin is worth? Sing along to the song “Canada In My Pocket“.

 

 

 

 

Be an architect. If you could live anywhere you wanted, what would your house look like? Architecture is the art of making building. Pretend you are an architect and design you own home! Draw the outside of your house. Make a first floor, a second floor and a roof. Add doors and windows, a garage, a greenhouse for plants, or a tower. If you run out of paper, tape another piece on and keep drawing.

Click on the image to make it larger.
Click on the image to make it larger.

 

Now flip the paper over and design the inside! Plan what each room will be and draw stairs -or an elevator- furniture, curtains, and decorations.

 

 

Click on the image to make it larger.

 

Sequencing, measuring in volume and counting. Bake a yummy Chocolate Wacky Cake  with an adult’s help. Remember to follow each step of the recipe in sequence from beginning to end. Help to scoop and measure the ingredients. Notice the sizes of different measuring tools and how much ingredients they hold. Help to clean up after you have finished.

 

 

 

 

Click on the image to make it larger.
  • Visit Starfall to practise the letters and letter sounds. There is so many things to do at Starfall that you can go back all the time for more excitement and learning. 
  • Continue doing activities from Scholastic at Home. This website is like Starfall. There are many interesting activities to do here. 
  • Continue to check out the May Music Activities. There are a lot of fun things to do with music. 
  • Remember to practice your alphabet sounds each day orally with an adult. Try to go through all of the sounds of the alphabet slowly and concentrate on saying each sound just right. 
  • Try to go out for a walk each day and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. The weather has been beautiful and walking around in the sunshine is very healthy for you. 
  • Check out Mrs. Favaro’s ELL Blog. Mrs. Favaro has added some interesting activities for you to do. 
  • If you want to see something new and learn about plants in the garden then go visit the video made in the Marlborough School garden by Mme Dare. It was Outdoor Classroom Day on May 21st and Mme Dare gives a tour of the school garden. The plants are growing really high and would love for you to have a look at them. 

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Hello Families! We are on Week Six of remote learning and it has been such a positive learning experience for us all! Thank you for continuing to support your child at home. It is greatly appreciated!

BUTTERFLIES!!

We are very fortunate to have the unique opportunity to learn about Painted Lady butterflies for the next three weeks! Mrs. Lee will be sharing her home with 6 of these little creatures, and will be giving updates every few days as to how they are doing. There is a new tab on our menu above called “Painted Lady Butterflies”. Go to this tab to find updates and links to anything butterfly related. For this week though, we have included the butterfly activities and links on the home page. We hope this experience will be fun and exciting for everyone!

DAY 1

Butterflies start off as caterpillars. They are very small. They will be living in a small plastic tub with a layer of food (soy, wheat and vitamins) on the bottom for the caterpillar to eat. They will mainly eat and rest for up to 14 days or until they move onto the next stage in their development. We can keep track of their growth with a Butterfly Journal. Mrs. Lee has started one and you can too! Click here to get a copy of the Butterfly Journal.

 

Science: Why are Butterflies So Colourful?

Watch this video from Mystery Science to find out more. After watching the video, click on “Extensions” or the blue tab “Hands on Activity” to make a paper butterfly. There will also be instructions on how to make a flower card for the butterfly to rest in at the end of this craft video. Take a photo or video of your paper butterfly flying!

Click here to see how to draw a butterfly. Add patterns to your butterfly. Make the pattern symmetrical (the left side is the same as the right side). After drawing and colouring your butterfly, write a story about your butterfly. Where did it fly to? What adventure did it go on?

Check out the new story in our Storybook Corner called “From Caterpillar to Butterfly”.

Make origami butterflies! Don’t forget to watch Mrs. Rawnsley read “Butterflies for Kiri” before you make them.

 

Make Word Family flowers! A word family is a set of words that have the same endings and sound the same, but the first letter(s) is (are) different. For example the “-ap” word family includes: cap, map, lap, tap, flap, etc. There are 4 word families included in this activity, but you can make more word families by making different flower centers and petals. Other word families you could use: -at, -ed, -op, -in, -ug. Make a garden full of Word Family flowers!

Create a story. Go to Scholastic Story Starters. Spin the wheel and see what interesting or silly character you will write about. Use your imagination! You can draw a picture of your story and print it out too! Happy writing!

Make your own Glitter or Sensory Calm down Jars to support your child’s social and emotional needs. This jar is a container usually filled with a liquid solution where different materials can float and flow creating a visually soothing and pleasant experience. By shaking the jar and watching the glitter slowly fall down to the bottom of the jar, children have a few moments to take a breath and calm their anxious or upset feelings. Read this poem to them while they use the sensory jar.

Check out our Recipes tab for a delicious and healthy recipe of Zucchini Waffles!

Take a walk outside or around your neighbourhood and ESTIMATE:

How many minutes will it take to go around your block?

How many trees are there along your block?

How tall (in centimetres) is the flower plant in front of your house?

How many rocks it will take to fill up a cup?

How far (in metres) can you hop on one foot?

How many steps it takes from your front door to the mailbox?

What other ways can you estimate?

We are excited about the new learning opportunities this week and hope you enjoy doing them with your child! Remember to send your child’s teacher all their learning.

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic, and Ms. Nero

 

We hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather and have had a fun and relaxing Mother’s Day!  Thank you for sharing pictures of the cards and gifts made with love by your children.  They brought joy to us just as they did to you!

As you are choosing this week’s activities to do with your children, please remember that learning in Kindergarten is not a “one-time activity”.  Learning takes repetition, revisiting, and redoing activities over and over.  Please repeat, revisit and redo some activities your child has already enjoyed these past few weeks.  In addition, this week, please observe “where your child is at” with their learning and what you might want to do next over the coming weeks to help them learn.  Please do these activities for a few minutes each day, rather than a long chunk of time in one day.

  • Ask your child to write their name.  Observe.  Are they printing the letters properly?  Are they using all capital letters or just for the first letter?  By end of June, it would be nice if they printed their name using the Capital letter for the first letter and using lowercase letters for the rest.  You may want to teach your child to write their last name as well.
  • Ask your child to say the alphabet.  Are there any letters they are confused with or not confident with?  Practice those letters specifically.  Can they identify the letters of the alphabet at random?  Capitals and lowercase.  If they are missing letters, practice those letters specifically, a little each day.

Visit Starfall for a complete guide to letter names and letter sounds.  Have your child practice the letters and letter sounds they are not confident with.  If your child has access to a device, please visit Starfall daily.  There are many literacy and numeracy activities to explore for all reading readiness and reading levels.

  • Count by 1s to 30.  Practice until it is easy for them.  Ask them randomly, what comes after 11, after 23, after 29.  Ask them what comes before 5, 9, 14, etc.  Of course, you can work with higher numbers if your child can count to 100.
  • Count objects in your home.  For example, you can ask your child to go and count all the pillows and tell you how many pillows there are.  (other ideas:  chairs, beds, tables, pots and pans, cutlery, sets of toys – cars, dolls, etc.) If you have small items at home like buttons, or blocks, or crayons, ask your child to count out 10 of them and put them on the table.  Have them count them and arrange them in a line.  Add 2 or 3 and ask your child how many there are now.  Take away some and ask your child how many there are now.  Observe your child’s thinking by what they are doing.
  • Teach your child your cell phone number and your address.  Practice each day until they have it memorized.  If you think it is too hard, try again in a week or so.  Practicing together once a day will help them learn.  Please be patient.  If your child already knows their phone number and address, practice having them write it down.

Remember our Salmon and Mme. Dare’s release video?  To learn more about salmon or for other science activity ideas, please check out Science World – Dome at Home link.

 

 

 

Emergencies – Does your child know what to do in case of an emergency at home?  Does your child know when to call 911?  Please check out this website from the Canadian Government and watch the videos on making a family plan. 

 

Story Book Corner has more read alouds for you to enjoy!  Please revisit the previous stories and enjoy the new stories added to our Story Book Corner. Happy Listening!

  • Circles of Round with Mme. Wong If you have made some shapes from Mme. Wong’s activity, can you make a mobile with your paper shapes?  If you don’t have wire or dowels, use straws, chopsticks, or rolled up paper straws and string to create a fun mobile!  Click on this link for more Mobile Making ideas. 

   

  •  Wishes from Mrs. Rawnsley Can you think of a wish for yourself?  A wish for your mom or dad?  A wish for your brother or sister?  Ask your mom, dad, brother, sister or grandparents what their wishes might be.  Working hard together we can make our wishes come true!  Send us your drawings of your family wishes.  Happy wishing!

 

 

 

 

  • Ms. Maratovic will read you a fun story of three misbehaving cows and a chicken called Is Everyone Ready For Fun?

 

 

 

 

 

  •     Mrs. Lee  will read you a fun story about a Very Impatient Caterpillar!

 

 

 

 

 

Coming soon to our blog – Painted Lady Butterflies! We are looking forward to our butterfly larvae arriving  and observing the butterfly life cycle and learning all about Metamorphosis.

 

 

Don’t forget to use our Useful Links for May activities from our Music and ELL teachers

Warmest regards, 

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Hang in ThereHello parents. Thank you for all the hard work you are doing at home with your children. We really appreciate your efforts and love receiving samples of your children’s work through videos, photos and notes.

 

 

 

Please continue to send their work by emailing their teacher directly. Listed below are Week Four activities. Choose activities that interest your child and you are able to do at home easily. You don’t have to complete all the activities. Do what works best for your family.

 

 

Please check in with your child regularly throughout the day by asking them what zone they are feeling (Zones of Regulation Week Two post). Our feelings shift throughout the day. It is good to notice that if you are feeling bad (blue zone) your mood can change quite quickly. See if you can notice what makes your child feel better (green zone). 

 

 

It’s Mothers Day this coming Sunday, May 10th. Remember to make your Mom feel appreciated. You can do this by helping with some things like doing chores around the house, making breakfast for your Mom, and telling her how much you love her. 

You could also make her a Happy Mother’s Day card. Decorate your card by drawing pictures of all the special things your Mom does for you throughout the year. Some examples might be your Mom cooking meals for you, helping with your school work, taking you for walks or activities like swimming lessons or skating. Remember to sign your names on your card for Mom. Have someone in your home help you with spelling words on your card. 

Some words you might use could be: 

    • love
    • thank you
    • Mom
    • to
    • helping
    • special

Make your Mother’s Day card special and put a lot of love into it because your Mom does the same for you.

Listed below are Week Four activities. Choose activities that interest your child and you are able to do at home easily. You don’t have to complete all the activities. Do what works best for your family.

  • The Magic FishListen to Mrs. Nero read the story The Magic Fish by Freya Littledale. While the story is being read listen for what the fisherman’s wife wishes for and what happens to her in the end. After you have heard the story think carefully about what you might wish for. Draw a picture and write a sentence about your wish. Remember to draw big bright detailed pictures. Colour your picture with at least 5 colours. Write your sentence using all of the sounds that you remember. Someone at home can help “sound out” your words with you. They can also scribe your words for you. Remember to send your individual teachers your pictures. We would love to know what you would wish for.

 

  • Draw a self portrait in the style of the famous artist Pablo Picasso. You’ll crack a smile at these funny faces! Try Pablo Picasso’s Cubist style of painting – jumble up your eyes, nose and mouth. It’s a great way to be introduced to a complicated art form. You won’t realize that you are also learning about geometry. Artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are credited with inventing the Cubist painting movement around 1907. The artists liked to use geometric shapes in unrealistic ways to show several different views of one subject at the same time.
    1. If you haven’t seen Pablo Picasso’s portraits he painted people’s facial features in weird places. Sometimes he made them odd sizes. The Cubist style of painting uses shapes, such as squares and triangles, in a jumbled, unreal way. It’s like looking at someone from several different angles all at once.
    2. Try drawing a self portrait like Picasso. With crayons, coloured pencils or markers sketch your head and shoulders on white paper.
    3. Draw the eyes, nose and mouth so you see two views at once, the front and side. Draw them in unusual places. Your drawing should look weird!
    4. Colour your portrait with crayons, coloured pencils or markers.
    5. Hang you masterpiece. Enjoy looking at it from different angles. Please send a copy of your portrait to your individual teacher. 

 

 

  • Look closely at size. Can you place different objects in order of size from biggest to smallest. Try to order your toys or household items from big to small. Go outside and look for natural materials such as leaves, sticks, pine cones  or rocks that can be ordered from big to small. You can put objects in a line or try to stack them upwards. Don’t forget to use a baseline. The baseline is a very important part of measuring. Have a look at the examples below. 

 

Listen to the story Achoo! by Virgine Morgand. While you listen to the story pay attention to all the shapes you see. At the end of the story you will be asked to predict what happens next by creating a picture made up of shapes. 

 

 

Let’s try to learn about sequencing, measuring in volume and counting. This is a yummy lesson. Bake Grandma Nero’s White Muffins with an adult’s help. Remember to follow each step of the recipe in sequence from beginning to end. Help to measure the scoops and cupfuls. Notice the size of the different measuring tools and how much ingredients they hold. Help to clean up after you are finished. And don’t forget to share the muffins with anyone in your family who might be hungry!

 

 

 

  • Measuring area – how many napkins do you think will cover the surface of your kitchen table? Count how many napkins. Now try and cover the surface of the table with playing cards or magazines of the same size. Record how many of each object covers the surface of your table. What do you notice? Do the numbers change? Think about your observations and develop a theory. 
  • Found Art Self Portrait. Go for a walk outside and look for natural materials that you can use to make a self portrait. Use the sidewalk or a space in your backyard for the background of your “picture”. Examples of materials could be leaves, flowers, pine cones, rocks, sticks, grass or pieces of wood. To the right is an example of a found art self portrait.  Take a picture of your self portrait and send it to your individual teacher. It will be interesting for us to compare your Picasso style self portrait and your found art self portrait. 
  • How is your bean plant growing? Draw a picture of what it looks like now and send it to your individual teacher. We want to see what good gardeners you are. You just might make us hungry!

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero

Hello Parents! We hope you and your children are settling in at home with a regular routine. By now your children should be able to wake up at an appropriate time, have a healthy breakfast, and be ready to start their learning from home with you. We trust that the weekly email communication and blog activities are adequate in supporting you and your child’s learning needs. We continue to look forward to receiving all the creative and interesting learning experiences you are sharing with your child at home. We have listed many fun and different learning activities for this week, including videos of our salmon release and our school garden so, enjoy!

  • Create a story using Story Stones. Find some stones. Paint different characters or objects on the stones, or use stickers of characters or objects to put onto the stones (see pictures below). Whatever stickers you have at home will do. We used princess, Dora, Minions, Holiday characters, Paw Patrol, Sponge Bob, and forest/ocean/zoo/farm animals. You can also use small plastic figures or dolls if you don’t have materials to make the story stones.

Create a setting using blocks or other objects you have at home. Now make up a story. Remember to include all the story elements (e.g. characters (forest animals), setting (where it takes place-in forest), problem (character sees a polluted lake), solution (ask animal friends to find out who made the mess and to help clean it up).

Take a video of your child telling their story and send it to your teacher. It doesn’t need to be long. We have done a sample story video for you to watch.

After watching the video, retell the story in your own words to your family. The boy and dragon have a special friendship. Why is the dragon sad? What happens at the end of the story that makes him happy again? Who do you see in the last page of the book, peeking around the corner? Who is the little girl? Draw a picture of Puff. Continue the story. What happens to Puff? What other adventures does he go on?

  • Writing Tips for Your Child – Children learn to show their ideas on paper gradually. They begin with pictures, eventually experimenting with strings of letters or “pretend writing,” and eventually work their way towards what we can identify as words and sentences. This does not happen overnight, and each stage of writing development is valuable and worthwhile! Help your child develop confidence as a writer at home. Click here to read some valuable tips on writing.
  • Measure the volume of containers. Volume is how much a container holds. Find several containers such as plastic jars, cups, and measuring spoons and cups of different sizes and shapes. Put them in a box or bin. Fill the bin with anything you have on hand such as rice, beans, pasta, or water. Allow your child to fill the containers with these items and explore how much each container holds. They might discover that a short and wide container may hold more than a narrow and tall container. Perhaps it takes 4 small cupfuls to fill one large container? How many spoonfuls will it take to fill each container? Your child will be learning about Estimation in this activity as well.

You can also extend the learning into Science and explore prediction and measurement. Have your child draw the containers and record their predictions in a chart. In one column draw the container. The next column write their prediction (how many scoops will the container hold?). In the last column write the actual number of scoops used to fill the container.

 

Here is an additional activity that explores volume and water that you can do with your child as an option.

  • Play the card game WAR! All you need is a deck of cards and 2 players. Take out the face cards    (Jacks, Queens, and Kings). Your child will learn the following math concepts: greater than/less than, number value, winning and losing, and rule following. Here is how you play.

 

 

 

  • How are you feeling today? Have a daily discussion with your child about how they are feeling. There might be some anxiety or feelings of confusion during this uncertain time. Your child has had many changes happen in the last few months: learning from home, social distancing (less contact with friends and family), distractions at home, more sibling/parent conflicts, less outdoor playtime, etc. It is important that you encourage your child to talk about how they are feeling, and if they are feeling sad or upset, that they should let you know. Use the playdough you made (or go to Recipes on our blog for the playdough recipe) and have your child choose an emotion face card (happy, sad, silly, scared, etc.) to create on their face mats using playdough.

Click on this link to read about how to do this activity.

Click on this link to download the emotions face cards and playdough face mats.

  • Fruit Salad! One way to stay healthy is to eat healthy! Have your child choose a few fruits that they like. Wash the fruits. Give your child a plastic knife. Teach them how to safely cut the fruit into small pieces. You will need to cut the hard fruits for them. Mix the different fruits together. Now your family can enjoy some fruit salad!

  • Spring Crafts- Celebrate Spring with these easy crafts. You only need a few supplies to create them.

Tie-dye flowers

Watercolour flowers

Cardboard spinners

  • Do Cosmic Yoga every day! Here are a few favourites to get you started:

Star Wars

Frozen

 

  • SALMON!! In January our school received salmon eyed eggs. Our students had the opportunity to learn about the salmon life cycle and watch them grow from eyed eggs to fry. Now the fry are strong enough to be released into a local creek. Mme. Dare and Ms. Rawnsley were at Eagle Creek last week and recorded a video of the salmon fry being released. Make sure to tell your parents what you learned about salmon after watching the video. We wish the salmon fry good luck and safe travels. Goodbye salmon fry!

 

 

 

  • Check out the video of our school garden with Mme. Dare! Look at all the plants that are growing!

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week that is filled with quality family time, active outdoor play, exploration, creativity, and imagination!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic, and Ms. Nero

Parents, thank you for all the hard work you are doing at home, the feedback you are giving us, and for sharing your child’s work with us through photos, notes, and videos.  We miss our students very much and enjoy seeing their faces and the amazing things they are doing at home with you.  Please continue to share their work by emailing their teacher directly.  Emails are listed under the Teacher link above.

Remember our weekly learning activities are like a “Menu” – you can pick and choose what works for you and your child(ren), you are not expected to have your child do everything.  You can also do and share with us other things your child is doing.  We love hearing and sharing your ideas too!

If you feel it is all too much at times, please do less and enjoy your time together more.  Remember, everything you do is a learning opportunity for your child.

Please check the Useful Links (also above in the menu bar) for April Music Activities from our Music Teachers and ELL activities from our ELL teachers.  We are glad to hear that many of you are enjoying the Scholastic Bookflix reading at home.  If you haven’t tried it yet, please do, we think your children will enjoy it!  The link is also listed permanently on the Useful Links page.

This week you can explore the following activities:

 

 

 

 

  • Read together every day, try reading environmental print while walking outdoors, look for letters, words, and signs. Read the labels on your groceries and do letter hunts.
  • Draw a big, beautiful picture each day. Big meaning it fills the page.  Beautiful means it is drawn in pencil and coloured with at least 5 colours.  The picture tells a story. Ask your child to tell you what their picture is about.
  • Write each day. Help your child label parts of their picture, asking them which letters or sounds they know and practice phonetically writing down what they say.  It is not important that they be correct.  It is important that they try.
  • Measure your family! Compare and contrast who is tallest?  Who is shortest?  Draw a picture and label it with the measurements.   Measure your height, size of your feet, size of your hands, your head circumference, your chest, your waist, etc.
  • Measure the weight of different household objects – put 2 objects on the table and ask your child to predict which one would be heavier then ask them to put out their hands and hold the objects – compare to see which is heavier. Hint – an empty cereal box is very big and might look heavier than a jello box, but is it? 😊
  • Write down numbers 1 – 10 on pieces of paper and put into a container.  Ask your child to reach in without looking and pull a number – have them print that number on a piece of paper and draw that many circles.  To make it harder, ask them to write or copy the number in words on their paper.
  • Watch Charlotte Diamond 4 Hugs a Day video on youtube.com and during the week, try having your child learn the song and make a dance to go along with the instructions. Charlotte Diamond 4 Hugs a Day video
  • Go for a daily walk and practice different types of movement. For example, have your child run, jog, skip, slide, shake, for 20 steps each and then do 10 jumping jacks in between.   Be brave, join in the fun!
  • Play I Spy with shapes, textures, colours, animals, insects, anything you can observe on your walks.
  • Bring back an artifact from your walk – a leaf, a cone, pebble, and start a small nature collection.

Talk to your child about “what Zone they are in.”  This is something they are familiar with from school.  (Zones of Regulation)

  • Green – Good level of energy – happy, relaxed, calm.
  • Blue – Low energy – tired, hungry, sad.
  • Yellow – Energetic – silly, can’t sit still, perhaps upset or frustrated, anxious.
  • Red – Very High energy – angry, yelling, out of control.

Zones and feelings can change throughout the day.  Check in with your child about how they are feeling, what zone they are in, share with them what zone you are in.  If Blue, remind them to be kind to themselves and do things slowly until they feel better.  Green is great!  If Yellow or Red, help them breathe calmly, slowly, letting their body and emotions calm down.  It is hard for them to listen when they are upset.   Remind them all their feelings are valid and they can learn to manage them in appropriate ways.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us by email if you have any questions.  We look forward to speaking with you this week and a big hug to all our students!

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Lee, Ms. Maratovic and Mrs. Nero