Dazzling December

Dear Families,

We enjoyed the amazing performances at last week’s Winter Concert! It was wonderful to see so many families join us for this event. The kindergartners did a fabulous job singing and dancing with instruments! And thanks to Ms. Vaesen for coordinating everything.

We had a fun few weeks of Christmas events, songs, stories, and art projects. From Twin Day to PJ Day, door decorating, ornament-making, and Santa visiting our classroom after pancake breakfast, we have not had a dull moment! We hope you enjoyed your Christmas presents from the children.

Happy Holidays to you and your family! Wishing you and your family a restful and joyous season. We will see you in the New Year on January 8th!

Vancouver Aquarium Field Trip

We had an exciting field trip to the Vancouver Aquarium! The weather was sunny and the air was cool and crisp. We saw many amazing sea animals, including sea otters, a 9 metre long Green Anaconda snake, stingrays, sharks, glowing jellyfish, and even Scuba Claus in the water!

Vancouver Aquarium

After the trip, we took a few days to discuss and reflect on our experiences. Students had opportunities to share some of their favorite memories. We drew pictures and wrote in our journals, and created a web of favorite moments. The web became our brainstorm for the upcoming school-wide write.

Here are a few favourite memories that came up during discussions:

“the sea otters playing with us and floating around”
“watching the seals eating”
“the little baby sharks”
“the jellyfish was glowing”
“some stingrays”
“I touch the starfish”
“a monkey in the rainforest”
“tiny poisonous frogs”
“a giant enormous snake”
“the hot chocolate smell from the Polar Express” (this was part of the 4D experience theatre!)
“the ride on the bus”
“Scuba Clause was in the water!”

When asked if the children would visit the aquarium again, they all said, “Yes!”

 

It was wonderful to see the children connect with marine life, and continue to develop a growing appreciation for animals and our environment. Please continue to ask your children questions about what they have discovered.

Finally, a huge shoutout to parents who joined us and helped to supervise the children – thank you!

A Fa-BOO-lous Halloween

Division 12 had an eventful Halloween!  We had princesses, superheroes, video game characters, scary witches, vampires, black cats, a giraffe and even a Starbucks mocha frappuccino, enter our classroom!

 

We created some fabulous art, including these friendly zooming ghosts!

 

Every year, we look forward to the creative and humorous jack-o-lanterns that are created by students and their families. They were on display outside the front entrance of the school.  During our afternoon parade, we had a chance to walk by and view them.

 

We read a funny book called, Room on the Broom.  We then watched the Knowledge Kids’ movie with Ms. Gourlay’s class. We noticed and compared the similarities and differences between the book and the movie, and noticed many interesting elements that were added to the film-version.

The school-wide parade was fun and exciting! We ended in the gym for a dance and sing-a-long.  It was a fa-BOO-lous and spooky day with many treats!

 

Making connections; ask your child:

What was a favorite costume that you saw and liked?

What is your favorite thing about Halloween?

Welcome to Division 12!

We had a wonderful start to the school year!  September was full of school events. In our classroom, we read stories and played games. We are learning how to write our names “the kindergarten way,” starting with an upper case letter followed by lower case letters.  We are learning routines and school procedures, and most importantly, we are having fun!

Measuring A Classmate

We have been measuring some fun things around our classroom and outside in nature! We have been exploring different size units. We used paper clips, erasers, marker lids, crayons, and Lego to measure smaller items such as school supplies and leaves. We used markers, plastic sticks, and even clipboards to measure larger/longer/wider/taller items! Grade one students are learning how to use a ruler with standard units (e.g., centimetres).

Below was a fun lesson where we measured how tall one of our classmates is. We chose many different units!

 

 

Connection: Ask your child to show you some of their measurement skills. What are some things around the house that you can measure together? What unit would you use to measure those items?

Ice-Skating

The students had so much fun ice-skating, many of them ice-skating for the first time! Here are some photos from our two ice-skating sessions at the rink.

 

Thank you again to all parent drivers and volunteers for making this trip possible. ❤️

 

Happy Lunar New Year

The children had a blast creating these lunar new year lanterns a few weeks ago. First, we colored the pictures with crayons. Then, we used watercolor paints to paint over the whole lantern. The crayons resisted the wax on the crayons and the colors “glowed” through the paint. You will see these on our windows!

 

For those who celebrate Lunar New Year,

恭喜发财  [Gōng xi fā cái / Kung hei fat choi]

새해 복 많이 받으십시오 [saehae bok mani badeusipsio]

Wishing you health, happiness and peace in the year of the rabbit!