with Ms. Lai & Ms. Loungsay
Welcome to Division 9’s classroom blog! We had a great September start, and the kindergartners are settling nicely into our school routines. We have read many books, celebrated some birthdays, and have had lots of time to play. We are exploring, creating, and building friendships!
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The RULER program has become an integral part of our social and emotional learning. As we are always trying to find better ways to help our children solve conflicts, we hope that teaching these skills can help them to better understand and manage their emotions. This is what RULER stands for:
Since the beginning of the school year, we have been discussing feelings and emotion words. Students are learning how to label their emotions. As a class, we voted on the words that we felt were important to us. They were able to narrow them down to three words that they felt were most important to them.
Using these three words, we created our classroom charter. Our statement reads:
“We want to feel safe, peaceful, and included.”
Students also drew pictures about their feeling words. Here are three examples.
In conflict situations, I often relate back to our classroom charter. If someone forgets to clean up a mess on the floor, I would ask if this was a “safe” thing to do. Students would say that someone could slip on the mess, fall and hurt themselves.
By increasing our students’ social skills and emotional intelligence, we can build a classroom culture that encourages positive relationships. For more information on RULER, here is their website: http://ei.yale.edu/ruler/
On February 28th, we encourage everyone to wear pink. By wearing pink, we are promoting kindness and friendship, and standing up to bullying. The original story behind Pink Shirt Day can be found here: The Pink Shirt Day story
The kindergarten students created their own pink shirts!
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While it is not always easy to talk about Canadian history and war with young children, Remembrance Day presents a good opportunity to recognize the courage of those who served for our country. In class, we talked about the significance of wearing a poppy and about peace – what peace looks like, sounds like, and feels like. We can give our children a reason to work towards a more peaceful world.
Here are some comments from the students:
“Peace is going to the playground.”
“Peace is sharing our toys.”
“Peace is feeling safe in school.”
*More comments will be available in students’ e-portfolios.
This is a great book for young children: The Peace Book by Todd Parr
The kindergarten and grade one students in Div. 8 & 9 did a wonderful job reciting this Remembrance Day poem at the school assembly. Thank you to parents for helping your child practice the lines at home.
Poppy Poppy
Poppy Poppy, what do you say?
Wear me on Remembrance Day.
Poppy Poppy, what do you tell?
Many soldiers in battle fell.
Poppy Poppy, what should we know?
That peace on Earth should grow, grow, grow.
Poppy, we are but children small,
We are too little to do it all.
Children, you may do your part.
Love each other is how you start.
Play without fighting.
Share your games and toys.
Be kind and thoughtful,
To all girls and boys.
What a fun day it was! The children arrived at the Aquarium with wonder and curiosity about the world of sea animals. We saw sea lions, frogs, salamanders, turtles, jellyfish, and more. We saw playful sea otters, jumping dolphins, and African penguins shorter than us. At the Discover Rays pool, children were able to touch the stingrays who glided just beneath the water’s surface. Some of the children were shocked by their moving chair and sprays of water during the 4D movie, Coastal Predators.
We are scientists who observed, questioned, analyzed, and discussed what we saw. The children left the aquarium tired (and many of them napped on the ride home), but inspired to learn and care for our environment. Over the next few weeks, we will continue to discuss our observations and study about animals that live under the sea.
September 29th was our school’s Terry Fox Run, as well as Orange Shirt Day. Ms. Price, our Aboriginal Resource Teacher, visited our classroom to tell us the story about Phyllis’ experience at a residential school.
Having Orange Shirt Day on the same day as the Terry Fox Run was a good opportunity to talk about Terry Fox’s Métis ancestry. Thank you Parents for your donations to the Terry Fox Foundation. As a school, we surpassed our goal and raised…
More photos from the run:
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