May 2020 – Welcome to Our Blog

Week Seven Learning Activities

May 26, 2020 nerol No Comments Week Seven Learning Activities

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Week Six Learning Activities

May 19, 2020 leen No Comments Week Six Learning Activities

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

Week 5 Learning Activities

May 12, 2020 maratovicw No Comments Week Five Learning Activities

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

Week Four Learning Activities

May 5, 2020 nerol No Comments Week Four Learning Activities

Hello 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.

Listen 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.

Continue doing activities from Week 4 Scholastic Learn at Home.
For music this week please explore the May Marlborough Music Activity.
Continue to explore Cosmic Kids Yoga. You might enjoy it.
Remember to practise your alphabet sounds each day.

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