SCIENTISTS IN SCHOOL AND OTHER NEWS

Bonjour les parents!

This morning, we became scientists!  Scientist Nancy from Scientists in school came to help us learn more about winter.  Please read the handout in your child's mailbag as it gives a detailed description of the 5 centers your child worked at today.   We spent the morning learning about many different aspects of winter.  Following are some pictures of the children at work.

Learning about snowflakes: observing snow

Learning about the structure of a snowflake 

Learning about birds 

Making bird feeders

Learning about body heat and insulation

 Learning about animal habitats during the winter

Learning about snow, snow pellets and sleet

It was a great hands on workshop enjoyed by all!!

A reminder to continue reading every evening and to fill out those reading sheets!  For every book read, a snowball is added to our snowman!  

As you can see, we have reached almost 1/3 of our goal!

In French, my goal is to have everyone speaking as much French as they possibly can during the day.  In order to encourage this, every time they speak to me in French, they get a sticker on their mitten.

Once the mitten is full, they can take it home.  The children are quite motivated by this and it is so nice to hear all the French being spoken!  We started this initiative this week and as you can see, already several stickers have been awarded.  I have also started documenting some of the words that are being said in class.  My goal is to move them from words to sentences.

 Mittens and French words spoken on the first day of initiative.

BRAVO MES HUMMINGBIRDS!!

Happy New Year! (and homework???!!)

Happy New Year to all of our Hummingbird friends and their families! We hope you enjoyed your holidays. The students were very excited to share their stories about their holidays with all of us today. We had a great first day back.

Today, since the weather was slightly uncooperative (much too cold), we were only able to get outside for a short 10 minute block this morning. While we were outside, lots of friends had questions and wonderings about the snow and ice. When we came back inside, we started to talk about some of the things we noticed, and some of the things we were wondering about.

After talking about the things we saw, and writing down some of our questions, I asked the students to think about what they wanted to know about the snow... In fact, I told them this was their "homework" for tonight! Your child is going to make some observations about the snow (what they see, what it feels like, what they already know about snow, etc.), and any questions they have about the snow and bring them to class so we can add them to our list. Please write them on a piece of paper and send them in the note totes on Wednesday (the next English day). Your child can write their observations/questions themselves, or parents can help. 

Thanks so much for your help in growing our inquiry about snow!

Ms. Quinn

JOYEUX NOËL!!!

Dear Parents,

I wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.  Following are pictures of some of the Christmas fun we've been having in class over the last couple of weeks, ENJOY!

PAINTING SANTA'S SLEIGH

SANTA'S WORKSHOP

LOADING SANTA'S SLEIGH WITH PRESENTS

WRAPPING GIFTS

CRAFTS, CRAFTS AND MORE CRAFTS!!!!

JOYEUX NOËL ET BONNE ANNÉE!!  

Birthday Party for Baby Jesus

A reminder that tomorrow afternoon is our Birthday Party for Baby Jesus. The festivities will begin in the Gym at 2:00. Students came home with a specially decorated snack bag on Friday. Please pack a nut and whole egg free snack that your child can share with his/her guest(s). Students are welcome to bring the snack to school with them in the morning, or you can bring the snack when you arrive. Please make sure your child knows if you will be bringing the snack. Please remember to bring a jar of baby food or some other baby item to the party tomorrow. All items donated will be given to St. Mary's Home. You are welcome to take your child home with you after the party is over tomorrow, but please make sure to speak to one of your child's teachers before doing so.

Looking forward to a fun-filled afternoon!

White Elephant Sale Thursday

Just a reminder of our annual White Elephant Sale this Thursday, December 11. Please send in a list of who your child should be shopping for on this day. Grade 6 students will assist the kindergartens with their purchases, and prices will range from 25 cents to $5.

Thanks for your support!

What we have been up to...

It has been a busy few weeks in the Hummingbird class. Lots of excitement has been building as we prepare for the Christmas season. The students have been busy working on creating and extending patterns - patterns are everywhere!

We made a list of what makes a pattern.

I noticed that the students have been using the dramatic play area often, and decided to ask them to help me change the area to something different. We came up with a list of choices that we would like, and then the students had an opportunity to vote on which option they liked the best. 

After our voting was done, the students decided that we would change our dramatic play area into Santa's Workshop. We then needed to decide what kinds of things we would need to put in the area to transform it. The students decided that we needed a sleigh, wrapping paper and tape to wrap the presents, a magnifying glass to check over all of the toys (to inspect them, of course!), a mailbox for all of Santa's letters, and a bag for all of the presents. Ms. Diane (the EDP coordinator) helps out in our kindergarten classes every week, and she graciously donated a large box that we have started to transform into Santa's sleigh! We are very excited to start transforming the rest of the space. If you have any items you would like to donate to help make our transformation complete, we would gladly accept them!

This week we participated in Artapoolooza - a Kindergarten crafting bonanza! Thanks to our many parent volunteers, we had 6 different crafts set up around the room and the students rotated through each of the centres and got to take home their crafts that day. We had a lot of fun.

Next week our school will be starting our annual toiletry collection for the Shepherd's of Good Hope. Each grade is asked to bring in different personal care items that will be donated to the Shepherd's, including men's socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and shaving cream. Typically, kindergarten students are asked to bring in socks, but any items you would like to donate will be gladly accepted. 

Also, Scholastic orders were due today, but if you still would like to order, I will wait until next Friday to place the order. A reminder that if you would like to order anything for Christmas, please let me know and I will put it aside for you. 

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Quinn

PJ Day

A little reminder that this Friday, December 3rd is a school wide PJ day!