2R B.K. BobKat Bloggers

Ski Buddies!

2012-01-29T23:56:00.006-07:00

We had sunshine. We had snow. We had skiing. We had a super time!!

2R impressed everyone with their great moves on the ski hill. Although the bus ride, getting equipment and following through the lessons required patience, all was well worth it! We looked like a bunch of pros! I was so impressed with all of the students and their ability to listen, keep safe and persevere when things got tricky. We have some Olympians in our future!

Here are some pictures of our day!

Patch smiling proudly after making it down the BIG hill during his lesson!

Autumn enjoying the fresh winter air - rosy cheeks!

Can you spot our 2R buddies on the hill?

Rebecca gets ready to go!

Tadas and Jace show good control going down the hill!

Kali take a ride up the Magic Carpet!

Avery glides down the hill!

Kacie-Rae was a pro by the end of the day!

In other news - I am a auntie again!!! Our family was excited to welcome baby Rhys on Saturday, January 28!! I couldn't pass up posting a picture of this little cutie!

Happy New Year!!!!

2012-01-15T23:14:00.006-07:00

After a wonderful Christmas Break it was great to be back in the class. The kids were rested and ready to learn on Monday. We shared our favourite holiday moments through writing and made some New Year's Resolutions. We will word hard at remembering our resolutions each day!

We continue to have fun learning about liquids. We tested a variety of materials to see what would be good "wiper upper" materials and what materials would not absorb water. We had a great time experimenting! We then watched how a solid could dissolve into a liquid and then together create a solid again. Can you guess what we mixed together??

JELLO!!!

Local artist, Sharon Moore Foster began working with out class this week. She taught us to use our eyes carefully when we observe and not to let our eyes tell lies - only draw what we really can see. We completed some drawing exercises and then learned to complete a blind contour of a friend. We had to keep our eyes on our friend and not look at our papers. We laughed and laughed when we saw our pictures!

We had fun with writing this week. We brainstormed things that may be hiding under the snow after a snow storm. We wrote complete sentence clues about our object and then create a fun picture that included a flip page on the front. The turned out spectacular!

Two friends celebrated birthdays this week and Jace and Kjersti received our Helping Hands Awards for December!!

November 28 - December 2

2011-12-04T23:50:00.002-07:00

This week in 2R we read stories called The Dog Who Found Christmas and Mooseltoe. They are both good books.

We had a liquid race in science. Oil was the winner.

In Writers' Workshop we have been busy writing letters to Santa! He is a fun man!

With Mrs. G. we are doing math. We have been using money.

Today is December 2 and it is Sam's Birthday! He gave our special treats!

We do art every Friday. We are starting a blog. It sounds like fun!

by: Kali M.

Get Ready, Get Set, BLOG!!!!

2011-12-04T23:44:00.002-07:00

2R is excited about out adventures into the world of blogging. Our Blog will give us the opportunity to share our classroom experiences with our families and the world. Each week one students' week in review will be chosen to be posted on the blog and throughout the week families can check in for homework updates, important information and reminders. If you sign in as a "follower" you will receive notices when the blog has been updated. Please share our blog with family members so they all can feel a part of our 2R experience!!!

Where Did May Go??

2011-05-29T21:34:00.007-06:00

WOW! May seems to have flashed by and we awaiting the joys of our final month of kindergarten! Our little kinderfrogs have made giant leaps in the last month and have demonstrated great growth in their learning! I am so proud of them!

We had a great month of May. It was busy with much excitement. We enjoyed watching our chicks hatch from eggs and grow into tall white feathered chicks over the 10 days we had them in our classroom. The chicks taught us so much about being gentle and nurturing and making careful observations.

We hatched 10 happy chicks!

Hayden is a "Chick Whisperer"!

This little chick was so cozy he fell asleep in Hayden's hands.

The chicks loved to "fly the coop" when in Gizmo's home. We kept a close eye on our fast moving, wing flapping and jumping chicks!

On Friday, May 27th we had a great Rodeo Day at BK. We dressed in our cowboy and cowgirl gear, made bandannas and took part in some great rodeo day activities with our friends in grade 1, 2 and 3!

We tried the Boot Scootin' Boogie in the gym!

Allie strikes her Cowgirl pose!

Reece and Yang Yang chase the rattlesnake in the Rattlesnake Stomp!

Megan gets dressed up and carries the flapjack to the tray in a relay race!

The highlight of our day!!!! We had a visit from 3 miniature ponies!!!!

May has been such a great month and although it went by quick it was full of great experiences!

Reece's grandma was our Royal Reader! We love to welcome royalty to our classroom! Please let me know if you would like to read to us during this final month of kindergarten!

Nico works on his on Sink and Float bottle. We love to discover new learning!

Mother's Day Love

2011-05-15T22:38:00.003-06:00

We were so thankful that are students each had a special lady in their lives at school to share in our Rainforest Cafe. The students were so excited to host our gathering and show off their talents and share their love for you. The Rainforest Mud dessert was so much fun to make and the kids loved serving their special guest a "fancy" jungle juice!

Throughout the week I enjoyed hearing the students talk about their moms. They love everything mom does for them from baking cookies to giving hugs to playing games. I am so grateful to have moms and families that take such amazing care of their children. Our students are well prepared, rested and full of zest each day at school! I love spending my days with them!

Our Rainforest Cafe was also a great way of wrapping up our rainforest theme in kindergarten. The students have LOVED learning about the creatures of the rainforest as well as thinking of ways that can help to keep the planet safe and protected.

Thanks to all of the moms for sharing with us such a special day!

Learning About Our Faith

2011-04-11T23:28:00.004-06:00

The Kinderfrogs had the opportunity to visit St. Albert Parish this past week. Louis Kloster, our school division's religious education consultant, led our church tour and allowed the children a deeper level of understanding about the church.

Mr. Kloster, taught us a song, gave us some important messages about Jesus (ask your child to tell you the three most important things about Jesus!!), and we took a tour of the church.

The students did a great job walking to and from the church. We had beautiful weather and many puddles to splash in along the way!

Kindergarten Eco-Rangers!!!

2011-04-05T23:39:00.003-06:00

The Kinderfrogs are escaping to the Rainforest!! During the month of April we will learn about the Tropical Rainforests of the world, animals that live amongst the canopies, the many good things that come from the rainforest and how we can protect the rainforest and our planet. We are so excited to turn our classroom into a tropical paradise! Our Kinder Eco-Rangers were busy on Monday spying animals hidden in the classroom. They recorded the names of the animals found. Today the students worked together to create some amazing creatures for our rainforest. We will be learning more facts about these creatures as our month progresses!!

Rainforest Creatures are popping up in Kindergarten!

Yang Yang spots an animal and stops to record the name on his paper!

Sponge painting our classroom chameleon!

Our python is sprawling on the floor - Watch Out!

Stay posted for photos of our Rainforest Journey!!!!

PIZZA PARTY!!!!

2011-04-05T22:51:00.003-06:00

We put on our baker's hats and sported our mustaches to create some delicious pizzas!! We used english muffins and added many toppings. I was so proud at how brave the kids were with trying new toppings - olives, onions, mushrooms, pineapple - YUMMY!!!!!!

We also made a special pizza art project by cutting and gluing our toppings and then marble painting on cheese. We analyzed our pizzas and recorded the number of each topping our pizzas had on top!

It was an "ooey gooey" good day!

Ready to cook!

"L" for Landon!

MMMMMMM...

Striking a pose!

BK Bowlers!

2011-04-05T22:11:00.005-06:00

The Kinderfrogs had a super time visiting St. Albert Bowling Centre. We bowled, cheered one another on, and enjoyed a snack. Of course one of the big highlights was taking the city bus. We learned to wait at the stop, how to transfer buses and to get off the bus at the correct stop. We even got to ride the "bendy" bus home!!

The drivers on the buses and the workers at the Bowling Alley were so accommodating and happy to see the kids!!! We were quite the sight on the bus! 34 kindergarten kids filled the buses with laughter and smiles!!

It was nice to sit and rest while waiting for the bus!!

We filled the bus!

I was so impressed with kindergarten bowling skills. A little birdie told me that the "Wii" has a lot to do with our great one handed bowling!!

Posing for the team picture!!

Bowling pros!!

Fun with friends!

Having fun together!

Wow! We all squeezed into the bus shelter!

Yeah!! The "Bendy" Bus was so much fun!!

The Little Red Hen

2011-03-13T23:57:00.004-06:00

I love March - mostly because I love that we get to learn about food! We have explored foods in so many ways. We have learned about the 4 food groups, we have learned about foods that will give us the "Power to Play", and we have read so many books about food!

One of our favourite stories is The Little Red Hen. It is a story that the students love to hear over and over again as they chime in to help me read and spend time acting the story our in centres. We read many versions of the stories and compared the characters, setting and item to be baked! We recalled our favourite parts of the story and then made our own loaf of homemade bread.

MMMMMMM - It was sooooo delicious! A fluffy loaf of white bread along with homemade butter was the perfect way to end our day of Little Red Hen Activities!!

We admire our beautiful loaf of bread!

MMMMMM...

We illustrated our own version of The Little Red Hen - sooo cute!

With all of this cold weather we decided we needed to bring a bit of summer into the classroom. We made homemade lemonade! We squeezed the lemons, added the sugar and the water, and stirred it up. We compared the amount of lemonade we each had using the words, "more than", "less than" and "about the same".

Freshly squeezed lemonade - a wonderful way to learn about capacity!

We used magnify glasses to take a closer look at our squeezed lemons.

We have enjoyed learning about measurement during the past few weeks and our food theme has made it a blast!

Kinderfoods Is Open for Business!!

2011-03-13T23:41:00.003-06:00

We have been learning about food during the month of March and the students always look forward to opening their own grocery store. The Kinderfrogs have been working hard to build the store, stock the shelves, design the signs, and train the staff!!! The amount of learning that is taking place in our little grocery store is amazing! Students are sorting foods, counting items, taking turns, creating 3-D objects in the bakery, problem solving the design of the store and on and on!!!! We even have a Gluten Free section, a Grocery Bag Clerk and homemade money! The Kinderfrogs think of everything!

An "action" shot or the builders creating the aisle!

We have to make sure the shelves are big enough to hold all of our products!

Mmmmm - Lemonade anyone?? We are learning about capacity!

A variety of colourful bakery items are available to buy!

Teamwork - Creating a sign takes many helping hands!

Zoodles and Oodles of Fun!

2011-03-02T21:38:00.004-07:00

It was a special birthday today in kindergarten! Can you guess who?

DR. SEUSS!!

We honoured Dr. Seuss today by spending the day reading his stories, writing our own, creating fun art and playing with ooey-gooey Oobleck! It was a "Wacky Wednesday" and no one was a "Grinch" It was the best "Diffendoofer Day"!!!

No Dr. Seuss day would be complete without Green Eggs!

We LOVED them!!!!!!!

We watched a Dr. Seuss video during rest time! It was all about a little girl named Daisy May!

We completed the first step in a Dr. Seuss art project. We carefully sketched our Dr. Seuss style fish and added a coat of paint. Tomorrow we will add brightly coloured pastels for a perfectly Seussical picture!

Slimy Oobleck was so much fun. We could squeeze it to make it a solid and then let it run through our fingers as a liquid! It was hands on science at its best. Be sure to read Bartholomew and the Oobleck!!!!!

We also wrote our own versions of Cat in the Hat and broke a number down into two parts using fish just like my most favourite book; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

Wow! We sure worked hard and were learning while having so much fun! These are the best kinds of Kindergarten days!

GUESS WHO??

February Celebrations!

2011-02-14T21:49:00.004-07:00

Wow! February seems to be half gone in a blink of an eye. It is the shortest month of the year but truly is a short month in schools. And when we pack in so many special days it seems to be disappearing very quickly. Here is your quick up to date on what the Fabulous Kinderfrogs have been up to lately!

We celebrated Groundhog Day on February 2. The kids were very intrigued by this little critter and we compared groundhogs to our friend Gizmo who is a close relative of the groundhog. We watch a video and created a tree map which helps us to sort information. The kids created a cute little groundhog book to share one fact. I think the most favourite fact was - Groundhogs are great swimmers!

On February 3rd a huge celebration took place in kindergarten. This is the first time I have celebrated Chinese New Year with kindergarten but I can now say it is an absolute MUST for years to come! What an exciting day!! The best part was allowing our friend Yang Yang share with us about his home in Beijing, China!

During the morning we made red Chinese lanterns, dancing dragons and celebration hats. We LOVED watching dragon dance videos on the Smartboard and attempted to make our dragons move in the same slinky ways.

We brought out the drums and then the grand parade began! We paraded with drums, lanterns, and dancing dragons through all of the classrooms in the school. There was even a special dragon dancing down the halls! By the time we were done our arms were exhausted! Being in a parade was hard work and we were HUNGRY!!

During lunch we tried a variety of foods. Some were loved by all of some loved by a few but I am so happy that the students all tried everything! We shared seasoned nori (seaweed), dried mangoes, dried peas, yummy pudding cups and rice. We completed our day with a fortune cookie! It was a great celebration with a super group of kiddos!!!

Today we shared LOVE with one another by celebrating Valentine's Day. We welcomed a new friend to our class and made sure she felt welcomed! In the morning we worked on a variety of new Valentine math and literacy centres to help us with our letters and numbers. We spent time writing letters in the post office to our friends and used Candy Hearts to work on our sorting and counting. We create a mailbox to collect all of our Valentine's in the afternoon.

After lunch we were excited to welcome our volunteers and get ready for centres! We made delicious fruit kabobs, decorated cupcakes, created Love Bugs, and made a necklace. We spent time delivering our special valentine cards to our friends and then sat down for our yummy treats! We finished in the gym exercising our hearts and feeling them beating hard! We played a Valentine game and had a good workout!

Kindergarten is always an exciting place to be!! We will be sharing in a 100 Day celebration with our Grade One friends on Wednesday. WOW - 100 days of kindergarten!!! Where has the time gone??

We have been LOVING our Royal Readers!!!! We would love for MANY more readers from now until the end of the year. If you have 20 minutes to share with kindergarten we would love to have you. Please send me a quick email or note if you or another family member may be interested in visiting with us!! We promise to treat you with royal respect!!!!

Beach Day Fun!!!

2011-02-01T23:36:00.005-07:00

January has been a month of blizzardy cold weather and it was great to take a break from the frigid temperatures and pretend we were on a warm Hawaiian beach! The kinderfrogs were thrilled to celebrate Beach Day in their summer clothes with their shades and flip flops.

Ms. Hummingbird created a glorious sun-shining beach in our classroom complete with water, fishing, sand and palm trees! The kids loved scooping out letter crabs from the water and testing their hand at fishing with our magnetic fishing set. We added some water to our sand bin and made sand castles while we dug for shells. During our morning table work the students created their own sun visors. They looked fabulous (and some flashed me back to the 80's!).

We read beach and ocean stories, clapped syllables and listened to beginning sounds of ocean animals, and counted seashells. We watched some Hawaiian Hula Dancing on the computer and then created our own grass skirt with streamers and beaded bracelets. We loved dancing to the music!

In the afternoon Miss. Viveiros joined the Kinderfrogs and together created Hawaiian leis with fruit loops. We also went on a treasure hunt by following the clues around the school. Before we could get our next clue we had to complete a tricky tasks such as digging for shells, catching fish, and walking the plank to rescue a friend! We took the time to cool off with a Rocket Popsicle and then we ended our day in the gym playing with hula hoops and beach balls and running obstacle courses!

What a great day of kindergarten memories!!

A new fad has begun in kindergarten! It amazes me how creative our the Kinderfrogs are! We have map makers!!! The kinderfrogs have been creating maps in the drawing and writing centre. The detailed pictures and labels show me what an amazing amount of learning has taken place in the first 5 months of school. We love to encourage this creative play and plan to build on their interest of map making in future weeks by looking at various types of maps!

Catching Up with the Kinderfrogs!

2011-01-24T23:22:00.007-07:00

Wow! It has been a while since I have posted! I will apologize but as many of you know I have been moving houses s-l-o-w-l-y during the past couple of months. We are finally finished and as of Friday Mr. Raypold and I will be the proud owners of only one home!! I hope to be able to spend a bit more time blogging and keeping you up to date with the kinderfrogs and all of their exciting daily adventures!

Here is a photo recap of our week!

Reece created a penguin costume in the drawing centre! It was a big hit during our costume parade.

It was a rainbow blizzard in kindergarten! We read a fantastic poem about asking Winter's Wizard to make it snow a rainbow blizzard and then we used coffee filters, washable markers and spray bottles to create beautiful paper that we turned into snowflakes!

Rowan created a snowman family from playdoh! It was so cute and now we are looking forward to using model magic to create a permanent snowman sculpture family!

You Scream, I Scream, Kinderfrogs Scream for Ice Cream!!!!

It was some cold fun creating ice cream in kindergarten. We mixed milk, sugar, and vanilla in a ziplock bag. We put the bag into a big bag filled with ice and salt. As the ice began to melt it spread its' coldness (is that a word??) to our mixture. Soon we had a delicious treat to eat!

No ice cream would be complete without chocolate sauce! Shea drinks her ice cream with a straw. After three years of making this ice cream in kindergarten I think I will officially need to rename it a Homemade Milkshake!

We rolled out the Red Carpet for our first Royal Reader!!! We received a letter from the Royal Page telling us of a visitor. It was royalty and we needed to be on our best behaviour. We practiced our bows, our royal clap and spent the day brainstorming who might be coming. The Kinderfrogs predicted everything from Snow White to Justin "Beaver"!

Surprise!!!! Allie's mom is true royalty! Reading royalty that is! She treated us to a great story about Chester the Cat. If you would like to be a royal reader please fill out your form and allow us to treat you like royalty! We would LOVE royal readers from now until the end of the year.

We were ready to head off on vacation during Tacky Tourist Day at BK! Don't forget Thursday is Beach Day in Kindergarten. Be sure to send your child dressed in Beach Wear and send along a towel.

We have started our Daily 5 program in kindergarten. The Daily 5 are 5 tasks that the students work on to assist them in developing their reading and writing skills. Each task encourages students to work independently and at their own level. As students are working on these tasks the teachers will be working with individual students and small groups on various literacy skills.

Our first Daily 5 is "Read to Self". Students each have a book bin that consists of a Sharing Book with familiar poems, letter pages and heart words, a picture book and books that students have learned to read. Students find a quiet place to read independently and we are working on building our stamina. So far we can read for 5 minutes without any interruptions. That is awesome for a group of 18 very busy kindergarteners! We will work at building our stamina to 10 minutes before we introduce our next Daily 5 which is Working with Words!

As your child looks at books in the evening you can remind them that there are three ways to read a book:

* Read the words

* Read the pictures

* Retell the story

We had fun in kindergarten practicing our sight words, names and letters in shaving foam! This is a great tactile activity that the kids just LOVE!!

It may be messy but that is when learning is at its best!

We have been saying our prayers each morning in kindergarten and keeping Miss. Daniele's family in our hearts as her grandfather passed away last week. We are looking forward to her return to kindergarten this week.

Keeping Warm with Learning!!

2011-01-13T21:22:00.007-07:00

We are reading!!!!!

Wow! What an unbelievable week of weather we have had. Snow, wind and COLD!!! Students have been staying inside for recess since Tuesday and cabin fever has set in! It will be great to see some warmer weather come our way next week so that we can get outside for some fun in the snow!

Playdoh snowmen!

Our kinderfrogs have been doing some amazing work at school. On last Friday (Which has been renamed by Ms. Hummingbird as "Fun Friday".) we celebrated the end of the Christmas season with a pinata that the students had made with Miss. Daniele during the season of Advent. Students all had a turn taking a swing at the pinata and after some hard work it broke free! We most definitely have some baseball players in our future!!!!!

Landon takes a swing!!

Hayden takes a swing!

Hot Chocolate was the excitement of the day. Students were using marshmallows to show their math learning. Our goal was to show how we can separate one number into two. For example 5 can be separated into 4 and 1 or 2 and 3. This is a pre-addition skill and the kids did great. They showed their final understanding of the concept by gluing 5 marshmallows into 2 hot chocolate mugs and being able to discuss how they broke down their number. After we worked hard we had to have a real cup of Hot Chocolate to celebrate and we did not forget the marshmallows!!!

Reece counts his marshmallows before adding them to his Hot Chocolate.

Sorry-you will have to turn your head! 3 marshmallows + 2 marshmallows = 5 marshmallows. YUMMY!!

Our Kinderfrogs were sporting theit best Hot Chocolate mustaches!

Many heard us speaking about the Paper Doll factory that I was planning on opening in kindergarten before Christmas. Our students were so interested in creating detailed and extravagant paper dolls (often Superheroes) in our free choice time. The hard work that went into these dolls was amazing especially as we watched some of our students "train" others to create these dolls. It was so fun to watch!

A new year has started and therefore a new "factory" has begun! It all started with one little boy using a long piece of paper to create a Batman costume and we were off!! With all of the indoor recesses this week our classroom has become a full fledge costume factory, clothes gallery and of course we can not make costumes without a performance!!!! The excitement and focus in the work these children are doing is something I have never seen in my years of teaching. This family of 5 year olds have come together to create elaborate costumes which are used in very special performances. This is 100% kid directed. We stand back and watch in amazement as the kids help one another create their costumes, tape them on, and plan the storyline to the play. All kids are included and everyone has an important part to play! Of course we have our lead designers, our costume fitters (great with tape!), our story writers, and we can never forget a few good directors! The creativity and imagination in this group of children is contagious and I almost feel guilty having them "hang" up their costumes when it is time for work.

After doing research early in my career on creativity and imagination in children, I have to say that I am so excited and feel so much promise for our little kinderfrogs. We live in a world that has been taken over by structured activities, computer and video games and lack of need to think "outside the box". This type of creative thinking and problem solving is something we need to continue to encourage in our kids because as research shows without providing opportunities for our kids to use imagination it will be gone by age 9. YIKES!!!!!! Enjoy the great photos of the kinderfrogs in action!

The costume that started it all! Miguel as Batman!!

Princess Rowan!

Nico is ready for the ball in his tux!

Ethan has a "super" arm!

The rehearsals begin!

Allie in "this seasons" two piece elegant top!

The performance!

Thank you for all of the Royal Reader responses. We will being our program the week of the 24th. For all of the parents and grandparents that have responded you will be hearing from me in the next day or two to confirm a time.

Happy Friday and I hope the weekend brings you some warm time together!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2011-01-05T21:17:00.004-07:00

I hope all Kinderfrog families had a great holiday break with lots of fun, rest and time together!

The students came back on Monday and were ready to work hard and learn. They were full of smiles and full of stories of Christmas joy!!!

Our January theme is based on "Winter Wonderland". Our read alouds, art, poems and activities are based around snowmen, snow, animal changes, adapting for winter and using two books by a favourite author, Jan Brett. The students were so excited to experiment in some of our new "winter" centres. They have been making real snowcones using snow and eye droppers of food colouring. It is too bad we have to rinse them down the sink as they look good enough to eat! Our winter house centre is complete with hot chocolate mugs and a roaring fire. Students created bright snowmen in the art centre with patterned hats, scarves and buttons! They are fabulous!!

Marina is ringing in the New Year with a goal "taking care of herself".

Tomorrow we will have fun acting our the story of Sadie and the Snowman!

Tis the Season!!

2010-12-12T23:47:00.004-07:00

The season of Christmas is always brighter when you are surrounded by children. I am so blessed to spend time with so many wonderful kindergarten students everyday.

Christmas concert is one of my most favourite days of the year! The girls always look stunning in their holiday best and the boys are so handsome. They work hard at being performers all day. Our morning started with a dress rehearsal. We then performed at the 2pm show and came back to school in the evening for our 7pm performance. The kinderfrogs were so well behaved and were true stars!!

Brothers waiting for their turn to shine!!

Waiting in the wings!

Looking so good before the big show!!

We have been having so much fun in kindergarten this month studying the many versions of the Gingerbread Man. We have compared stories, voted on our favourites, made a giant gingerbread man (who ran away!!!) and shared our Gingerbread Man Family projects! We have been whipping up pans of Gingerbread Men in our Kinderfrog Bakery!! One of our favourite activities has been seeing what happens to a Gingerbread Man when he goes into the water!

Our gingerbread man before we placed him in the oven!

Allie records her observations of the Gingerbread Man before he went into the cup of water and after.

This week we will write our own versions of the Gingerbread Man and listen to Jan Brett's versions of this fun story!!

Bear Fun!!

2010-12-01T21:38:00.005-07:00

On Monday, November 22nd we had a great morning at the museum. Celina taught us about bears that live in Canada and then we visited 4 centres. We made a bear craft, we got to look and feel real bear fur, a bear claw and a bear paw, we created a bear mural and learned bear safety. We were visited by a black bear named Albert. He was hibernating but came our of his den to tell us about what bears do before they hibernate. They eat a lot!!!!! We were great listeners on our field trip and had so much fun!!

It was a Teddy Bear Picnic on Thursday!!!! We loved bringing a special stuffie to school to share in our school day. Our teddy bears came with us to the Hoja Concert in the gym. Hoja is an acapella singing group. They were AMAZING!!! The sang I'm a Believer from Shrek, Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga! They were really talented and made all the instrument sounds with their voices. You can download their music on itunes!

Trent from the Kinderfrogs poses with Trent from Hoja!

We returned from lunch to a big surprise! Our teddies were missing!!!! They were not where we had left them. We had a few tears but went on a Bear Hunt! Bear paw prints left us clues around the school and finally led us to our Grade Six Buddies room where we found them hidden. We were so relieved. In the classroom we sorted Gummy Bears, graphed teddy grahams, laced a teddy bear and made teddy bear headbands. When it was time for our picnic we munched on fish, berries and had some apple juice. In the gym we gave our teddy bears a ride in the parachute. We giggled and had a super time!

New Kinderfrog Friends

2010-11-18T00:03:00.003-07:00

We are so excited to introduce two new friends!!! Miss. Assunta Daniele joined us at the beginning of November as an Educational Assistant. She is a kind-hearted, caring and compassionate person who has completed our kindergarten team! We are so pleased to have her with us everyday!

PICTURE TO COME SOON!!!!

Shea began kindergarten with us this week. She has recently moved from Calgary and is a great new friend! She even has a green cast on her arm!! Shea is always smiling and has many new kinderfrog friends to ensure she is settling in to our classroom routines!

Yummy Yummy!!

2010-11-17T23:49:00.003-07:00

We had an exciting morning in kindergarten. We made yummy cookie dough and then created Teddy Bear cookies which were delicious!! Landon's mom helped us mix the dough, shape our cookies and decorate to make them "just right"!!

Allie focuses as she decorates her cookies.

Gabe shares his yummy creations with the camera!

Megan eats the ears first!

Cookies make us SMILE in kindergarten!

Some of our friends made "Gluten-Free" cookies! Delicious!!

A Haunted Week in Kindergarten!

2010-11-01T23:05:00.006-06:00

Last week was a busy week in kindergarten. Our students were immersed in Halloween activities and learning! It was exciting to see so many of our families at our Fine Motor Evening. Families spend time strengthening their hands, building coordination skills and showing off strengths through a variety of activities.

Marina used tweezers to pinch bugs and place them in pumpkins!

Megan shows mom how she cuts with scissors!

Gabe makes letters in the sand trays with his finger!

Hayden shows off his spooky spider web!

Reece gets a hand from dad as he begins twisting pipe cleaners into a web!

On Wednesday we ventured into Edmonton on our second fieldtrip this year. The Rutherford House always provides our students with great opportunities. We learned about the Rutherford family, made witch finger cookies, learned about Halloween traditions in the past, reviewed Halloween safety, played some creepy guessing games and listened to a spooky story. We were all very jumpy and loved all of the spooks throughout the house!

We made witches fingers in the kitchen using some gory ingredients!

The scarecrow was the surprise ending of a spooky story!

We were exhausted after our outing!

Sweet Dreams of Trick or Treating!

Kindergarten had a fun-filled day on Friday. We celebrated Halloween traditions through carving pumpkins with our Grade Six Buddies. We scooped the goop, planned the face and watched as our pumpkins came to life! After lunch we had a great time visiting all the kindergarten and grade one classrooms for a variety of centres. We listened to Halloween stories with Miss. Viveiros, we made a yummy cat with Mrs. Traynor, played Halloween Bingo with Mrs. Baird and played movement and dancing games in our classroom. At the end of the day we watched a Word World Halloween video while sharing Monster Munch and juice!

Ty is in charge of drawing on the face!

We love of our Grade 6 Buddies!

Scooping the goop is slimy fun!!

Landon is the team designer!

We all posed with our pumpkin creations!

Family Fine Motor Night!

2010-10-25T19:40:00.002-06:00

Family Fine Motor Night

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

6:30 - 7:30

Kindergarten Classroom/Library

All kindergarten students are invited to attend this special event with their family. We will spend time visiting a variety of centres that promote fine motor skills, visual motor skills and hand dexterity.

We would love to see you there!!

**Please reply to this post if you are able to attend!

Harvest Fest Fun!!

2010-10-23T23:27:00.006-06:00

Wow!! We had an amazing day during Harvest Fest. The kinderfrogs were filled with excitement and energy as we buddied up with the Grade 4/5 class to create a spooky craft for the school mural and participate in a number of fun activities, indoors and outdoors. The events of the day included a Hoedown in the gym, a Pumpkin Toss, Pumpkin Bowling, Wagon Races, Parachute Games and of course The Wagon Ride!! The weather started our bright and sunny but as the morning wore on a cool bite was in the air!! It was such a great day for kindergarten memories!!

Creating our Harvest Mural with our Grade 4/5 friends!

We tossed the turkeys with the parachute!

We raced the wagons with our buddies being the horses!

Allie bowls a pumpkin at the pins!

The "Black Beauties" pulled us around the field!

Yee Haw!!!!

We took a break for snack and to warm up!

Yeah!! Ty rings the pumpkin!!

We rounded up the pumpkins!!

Directed Drawings!!

2010-10-18T22:01:00.004-06:00

Kinderfrogs worked hard on their first directed drawing of the year last week. A directed drawing is a step by step drawing lesson followed by the learning of a corresponding new word. We have been working hard at learning our letter sounds with our Sing and Sign program and we were able to use our knowledge by pushing sounds together to create a word!! The light bulbs were bright and shining as the students made the connection of reading and writing!

Our first lesson was the word "mom". Students learned drawing techniques to help learn to draw a picture of a mom and then we practiced printing our words. The next day students independently created another drawing of "mom" followed by matching words in a simple sentence. Students are using visual discrimination to match words and then practice echo reading the sentence and finger pointing to the words as they read. We are already looking forward to our next word - DAD!!

Thanksgiving Goodness!

2010-10-18T21:45:00.004-06:00

Students shared their thankfulness with one another on October 8th by preparing a delicious Stone Soup. We read the story and then added our ingredients just as the man did in the story. Each students stirred the the pot. We let it cook for the morning and then enjoyed the vegetable goodness at lunch. YUMMY!!!!!!!

We hope you enjoyed your feathery turkey centerpiece during your Thanksgiving Dinner. The students enjoyed creating their little gobbler!!

Catching Up on Blogs

2010-10-08T00:41:00.004-06:00

I have finally had a few minutes to catch up on our class blog so please ensure you scroll down to see blogs about our apple week in kindergarten and the fun we had with Brown Bear, Brown Bear!

The kinderfrogs have adjusted so nicely to our full day kindergarten and have settled into routines. We have completed our learning about sorting items and are working hard at extending and creating patterns in math. We continue to work on learning our letters with our Sing and Sign program and have currently learned all of our letters through to P. Please assist your child in reviewing each of these letters along with their sign and action word.

Our students have begun Writer's Workshop in kindergarten 3 times per week and have already created fabulous stories through their detailed drawings and labels. We always encourage our students to use their "Kidwriting" in kindergarten. Adult writing is only added to a child's writing journal after they have attempted their kidwriting. Students are listening to beginning consonants in their words and are using the Sing and Sign chart to assist in printing initial letters of their labels. Take a look at us in action!!

Young authors at work!!

Landon creates a detailed picture of a spider web! Notice his W label!

We always add many details to our pictures!

We have begun practicing our printing skills using the Handwriting without Tears program. We LOVE our frog jump letters. Ask us which capital letters belong in the frog jump group and ask us to show you how we can print them!! Remember - "We always start our letters at the top!!"

Kindergarten students have been reflecting on what they are thankful for this week. We are thankful for everything from family to our food to superheroes!

I am so thankful that I get to spend each day learning with such a wonderful group of students. They make me smile and laugh each day and I am so proud of them! I hope your Thanksgiving weekend is filled with family, love, thankfulness and great food!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

2010-10-03T21:46:00.006-06:00

Kindergarteners LOVE Bill Martin Jr.'s "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". We reviewed our colours, sequenced the story, sorted M&M's into animal groups, and became actors and actresses to act out the play. We had so much fun reading this story and even created our own Brown Bear book to read with our friends.

Sorting is fun with M&Ms!

Ready to take the stage!

Apples! Apples! Apples!

2010-10-03T21:34:00.008-06:00

Last week was a terrific week in kindergarten. We were exploring apples, creating beautiful apple art and making some delicious apple foods!

We created our apple art using a variety of mediums including q-tips (pointillism), apples and sponges. We continued learning about patterning in math by extending apple print patterns. We used our 5 senses to observe and record information about our apples that were brought from home. The best part of our apple week was cooking!! On Friday we worked together to make delicious applesauce and then baked yummy apple pies!! We love the smell of cinnamon!

We all helped cut the apples!!

MMMMMM!! Cinnamon!!!!

Stirring up the apples!

We learn to be safe around the warm slow cooker!

YUMMY!!!!!!!

Discovering our apples!

We have started using our Smartboard in kindergarten and we LOVE it!!! Each day we use our Smartboard for our morning meeting and also interact with poems!

Counting apples for our poem!

Learning is Fun in Kindergarten!

2010-09-23T22:36:00.004-06:00

The kinderfrogs have adjusted so well to kindergarten and have know completed their third week of school. They have come so far in such a short period of time and it is exciting to watch as they make new learning discoveries each day!

We have continued to work on learning the letters of alphabet and are able to sing and sign the letters a through h! In math students have continued to sort a variety of objects based on their own sorting rule. We have learned about mixing colours and completed a two very cool science experiments! "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?" was our book this week and we will continue to work with this classic story next week as we sequence and role play.

We love to paint!

Working together in the writing centre with letter stamps!

Solving problems with Wedgits!

Working hard at table tasks!

Exploring capacity and water!

Next week in kindergarten is all about APPLES!!! Please send an apple with your child on Monday to assist in our discoveries!

Good-Bye Mrs. Chadwick

2010-09-23T22:23:00.002-06:00

We have been so blessed to have Mrs. Chadwick assist in our classroom for the first three weeks of kindergarten. She has helped us as we have adjusted to a new school year and her love of children is evident in everything she does. We will miss seeing her daily but know that she will be back to visit us.

To celebrate her time with us we had a Tea Party in her honour. We drank from delicate tea cups and shared a yummy snack. We gave Mrs. Chadwick a special gift with all of our names signed on the back along with a tea cup so she will remember us each time she has a cup of tea!! It was a beautiful celebration!

Our Week in Pictures!!!

2010-09-19T17:21:00.003-06:00

We had a busy week in kindergarten. We focused on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as our story this week and began our Numeracy Program and our Sing and Sign Literacy Program. Check us out!!

We use sign language to assist us in learning our letters and sounds.

Here is the A. A is for alligator.

B is for bear!

C is for cat!

D is for dog!

We made a delicious green day snack - A Coconut Tree!! It was complete with the letters of the alphabet climbing to the top. We used celery for our tree. We had the choice of cheese whiz, cream cheese or "no-nut" butter for our glue and Alphabits cereal for our letters. Most of us liked it with Cheese Whiz - the perfect blend of sweet and salty!

We practiced listening for sounds at the beginning of words. Mrs. Raypold pulled items out of a frog and we listened carefully for the sound of a, b, c, or d at the beginning.

We have begun learning about sorting in our numeracy program. We were introduced to snap cubes and sorted the cubes into colour groups. We will continue to sort next week using a variety of objects and will be creating sorting rules!

Everyone sorts on different ways!

Our Superstar of the Day has continued this week! We love learning about our friends and making them a special book to take home. Chester the Raccoon has enjoyed visiting all of his friends as well!!

Sing and Sign ABC

2010-09-15T21:45:00.003-06:00

This year the Kinderfrogs will be learning to identify their ABC letters and associate sounds through the use of a great new program called Sing and Sign ABCs. We have spent the week learning the first four letters of our alphabet. Please ask your kinderfrog to sing for you:

A /a/ alligator

B /b/ bear

C /c/ cat

D /d/ dog

(Student signing pictures to come!!! I forgot my camera at school tonight!)

The students LOVE using the program thus far and we will work toward becoming alphabet experts in the coming months.

We have been getting ready for printing letters by practicing our pencil grasps, drawing vertical and horizontal lines (always top to bottom and left to right) and working with start and stops between two lines. Building good habits for proper letter formation in printing is so important as the bad habits are very difficult to break. The kinderfrogs always work hard at their table work and will be ready to start working on their letters soon!!

Celebrating the School Year Together

2010-09-12T21:07:00.003-06:00

We did it!! We worked hard, played harder, made many friends and made it through our first week of all day kindergarten!!

We had a great turnout at our Welcome Back BBQ. It was nice to meet so many families and the kids loved showing off their classroom. I tried to catch everyone when they were in the class but in case I missed anyone I want to make sure everyone is aware of our school division's volunteer policy. Any parents or other family members who wish to volunteer in our kindergarten classroom this year must have completed the volunteer form and must receive both a criminal record check and a child welfare check. This is for the safety of all of our students. We love having volunteers in kindergarten and they are necessary for field trips, kindercooking and special event days at school. We hope all families will have an opportunity to be with us the year!

Each month a volunteer calendar will be sent home with days highlighted that require assistance. If you are able to help us out please sign your name on the date you are able to help and return to school. I will create a master calendar with confirmed volunteers and then resend home to volunteer parents. You can expect your first volunteer calendar for October the week of September 20th.

We celebrated our new school year together with a trip to St. Albert Parish to attend mass. We safely walked to the church with our grade six buddies and then listened and sang along with Father Andrew and all of the students at BK school. Father Andrew talked about the importance of us belonging. Kindergarten at Bertha Kennedy is a great place to belong!

We were so excited to take the bus back to the school!!

Hip Hip Hooray! We Have Stars of the Day!

2010-09-08T21:30:00.003-06:00

The kinderfrogs are adjusting very well to our full day. We have been busy discovering in centres, working at table jobs, listening in circle, visiting Mrs. G at music and playing outside at recess! We continue to make friends and learn classroom expectations. We get better and better each day!!

Miss. Viveiros is so much fun and the Kinderfrogs are excited to have her as their teacher every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon while Mrs. Raypold is out of the classroom. We also have fun sharing our gym on Monday and Wednesday with the Kindermonkeys!

Each day in kindergarten we have the opportunity to rest following lunch recess. The students have enjoyed quietly getting a mat and lying down while listening to soft music. We feel refreshed and ready to go after our break!

Each day in kindergarten we choose a Star Student of the Day. The star student leads our lines, helps with the calendar and teaches us all about themselves. The star leads us in a name cheer, teaches us to unscramble the letters in their name and then answers questions so that we can write a story about them! At night the star student takes home our friend Chester for a visit. It is so much fun being the Star!!

Reminders - On Friday we will be attending church. Please ensure you have returned your field trip permission form. Without permission your child will not be able to attend our trip.

Scholastic book orders are due Friday. There are some great deals this month to help build your home book collection including Chester's book - The Kissing Hand!!

First Week Froggie Fun!

2010-09-02T23:31:00.005-06:00

Wow!!! We had a great first week of kindergarten! It was nice to see so many smiling boys and girls during our staggered start and today we met all of our friends and our new school family for the year!

We met our special class friend on the first day of school. He lives in a small glass bowl and his name is Felix. Felix knows all of the rules of the class and helps boys and girls in kindergarten be the best learner they can be.

We also met Chester Raccoon. Chester was very nervous for his first day of school but his mommy made him feel better by kissing his hand so that Chester could feel her love all day. Chester brought us all heart stickers to help us remember that our families love us very much, even when we are at school.

Today we had Discovery Time with all of our friends, worked on printing our names with Mrs, Raypold and had our first recess!!! We were great! We played safely on the playground and all lined up when we heard the tambourine.

We are looking forward to our full days beginning on Tuesday. Do not forget to bring a healthy morning snack and a good lunch!!

Welcome Kinderfrogs!!

2010-09-01T23:50:00.003-06:00

I am looking forward to meeting all of my new Kinderfrogs on September 2!! Students are participating in a staggered entry to ease the transition into Full Day, Every Day Kindergarten. Students will either visit from 9:00 - 11:30 OR 1:00 - 3:30 on Thursday and all students will attend from 9:00 - 11:30 on Friday.

Please note that there are NO midday buses at 11:30 and 1:00. Transportation must be arranged for each child.

I cannot wait to see the sparkling smiles and bright eyes ready to light up our classroom this year!

Just a reminder - We would love for each student to bring a framed photo of their family to be used to decorate our classroom!

We Love Fathers!

2010-06-13T14:53:00.003-06:00

Father night was a great success! It was exciting to see our Kinderfrogs and their guests sharing special time together. Together they built a birdhouse, had a snack and let loose in the gym. The students were so excited to invite dads, grandpas and uncles to come to school and it is events like these that our kids truly remember. I still remember hammering nails with my dad and making "Ants on a Log" when I was in kindergarten! Thank you again for everyone coming and making our night one to remember!

Fun Day at BK!

2010-06-08T23:59:00.004-06:00

The weather held off for us once again as the students celebrated a long time tradition at Bertha Kennedy School - Fun Day!! Each year the theme changes and this year we blasted off into space with Moonwalk Dancing, UFO Relays, Planet Golf and Shooting Stars!! We ended our day with s spacey treat!! Fun Day helps us learn to work together, support our friends and show great school spirit!!

Children's Festival Fun!

2010-06-07T22:34:00.003-06:00

We could not have asked for a better day to enjoy the Children's Festival! The weather was perfect, the crowds were good and best of all the Kinderfrogs were amazing!

We enjoyed a performance called "At Nightfall" in the Arden Theatre. It was a good introduction to movement as a form of telling a story. From there we enjoyed time in Lion's Park getting our faces painted, jumping in jumpy houses, making magic nuddles and enjoying the great street performers. Our afternoon ended with a visit to Grandma Willow where were listened to a nature story and made beautiful Willow Crowns.

We are so fortunate to be able to attend the Children's Festival each year in kindergarten. It is a memorable experience for all!!

Rainy Rodeo Days

2010-05-30T22:58:00.004-06:00

While the rain may have kept many away for this year's Rainmaker Rodeo, kindergarten went all out celebrating a wild western tradition in St. Albert. Both classes arrived at school on Friday decked out in their finest duds and were ready for a day of learning and fun. The kinderfrogs spent much of their morning across the hall in the art room as we allowed for the kindermonkeys to use the kindergarten room. We read a story around a campfire about a cowgirl looking for her perfect cowboy. The only way to know if he was a true cowboy was to see if he felt a little black eyed pea under the saddle blankets on the horse he rode upon. Sound familiar!! Students are working on making connections as they listen to stories and we had a great "text-to-text" connection to The Princess and the Pea with this story! We sang campfire songs in music and made a cowboy puppet to take home.

After lunch we got together with the kindermonkeys for some western centres. There were many cowgirls and cowboys to sort but we listened and followed directions carefully! We made a special rodeo bandanna to wear, created a horse with a footprint and barrel raced down the hallways. We also roped some horses, learned a cowboy line dance and shared a treat of wagon wheels and juice. It was a "Yee Haw" day for all!!!

**Even the best cowboys fall off their horses at times. It is good to have a "partner" there to help you out!!

Bugs, Bugs - Spring is Here!!

2010-05-15T14:02:00.004-06:00

The students have been enjoying learning about creepy, crawling and flying insects over the past two weeks. It is always a hot topic with 5 year olds! We have read books, watched video streams from Discovery Education (anyone hear about the "yellow jacket"?) and have been writing and creating art. We were fortunate to get together with our grade 6 buddies to create amazing pieces of artwork based on the style of Barbara Reid. Students used plasticine to create spring pictures of insects. The students worked hard and in the end we ran out of time for our scavenger hunt. We will keep it for a warm day soon!

The weather has been fabulous during the past week and with the warm temperatures ahead please be reminded to keep a hat for your child and possibly sunscreen in their backpacks. We often head outside for gym or to explore nature and many of our children are so sensitive to the sun. In addition please ensure your child is wearing good playground playing footwear. Students can trip and often injure themselves when they are wearing flip flops. Runners are still the best for school.

Marvelous Mothers!

2010-05-15T13:57:00.004-06:00

Our Mother's Day Tea Party is a highlight of our kindergarten year! The students vibrated with excitement all day as we waited in anticipation for our moms to arrive. Following our program of songs and stories the students enjoyed serving Strawberry Shortcake and tea to the guests of honour!! We hope you liked your fingerpainted photo holder (or recipe holder) and special buttons! Thanks to our moms for making our day so very special!

What Have We Been Up To??

2010-05-03T22:21:00.004-06:00

Kindergarten is always a busy place with lots of activity going on! I thought I would fill you in on our learning over the past while. Here is what your frogs have been up to:

Literacy - We continue to review and work with our letters and sounds, heart words, rhyming words and printing skills each morning during our morning skills lesson. We solve missing letters and words in our morning message, build word family houses, practice letter formations and listen for rhymes in books and poems!

We have continued to work hard on our kidwriting. We have written a books about our feathery chick friends and well as created an oviparous mystery book. We continue to also write in our writing folders and are working to increase our understanding of sentences and phonetic spelling.

We listen to stories everyday in kindergarten! We always try to find connections with the story, ask questions and make predictions for what will come. We identify characters, settings and problems in our stories. We have begun an author study and will be reading Eric Carle books for the final two months of school.

Our Home Reading Program will begin next Monday!!!

Numeracy - We have finished our measurement unit where we compared length, height, capacity, and mass. We completed many hands on activities where the students were able to share their knowledge and learn from their peers.

We have begun our final unit on numbers to 10. Students are expected to have a thorough understanding of numbers to 10 and will be asked to demonstrate making sets of numbers, matching numerals to sets of objects and breaking a number into parts (7 can be made from 4 and 3). We always encourage families to count all the time with their children at home.

Kindercooking - We made delicious lemon blueberry muffins this past Monday. MMMMMM - the school smelled delicious and they tasted terrific!

Mother's Day - We are so excited for our Mother's Day tea party this Wednesday. We have been planning and preparing for two weeks! We hope that a special guest will be there to accompany all of our students! Please do not forget your tea cups!!

Royal Readers - Yeah!! Royalty has been to visit our class! We have been so lucky to have Patch's mom and Kaitlyn and Avery's Auntie Carrie come to visit us!! We love to hear stories and are hoping for more Royal Readers in the future!!

Gym - We have been playing games in the gym that help us to get our heart rate going. Our favourites are Crackers and Crumbs and Fish Gobbler. We have begun our mini-unit on soccer and have been working on kicking and stopping the ball as well as running with the ball. We hope for dryer weather soon so we can be outside!

Change of Date - Please note that we have changed our Children's Festival date from June 4 to June 2 so that we do not conflict with BK's Fun Day!!

Kindergarten is a great place to be! If you have not been in this year for a visit or to volunteer please sign up on the volunteer calendar that went home today! We would love to have you in our class!

Goodbye to Our Friend, Alex!

2010-04-25T22:07:00.003-06:00

On Wednesday we said goodbye to our good friend, Alex. He and his family are moving to the sunny state of Florida!! (Yes, we are all jealous!)

We will always remember Alex's great smile, enthusiasm for everything we do in kindergarten, and his endless energy on the playground! Alex was a great friend and we hope to keep in touch with him through email and Skype!

Cheep! Cheep!

2010-04-25T22:00:00.004-06:00

It was an exciting week in kindergarten. The students were surprised by the amazing growth of our chicks. From tired and wet newborn chicks to fluffy and loud chicks; our students truly witnessed one of God's miracles. Throughout the week we had opportunities to get up close and personal with the chicks. It was a memorable experience for all of our students!

Field Trip to the Parish

2010-04-15T14:00:00.002-06:00

The kinderfrogs had a great trip to St. Albert Parish on Wednesday. We were met there by Mr. Kloster who is the division's Faith Coordinator.

Inside the church the students learned about why it is important to visit the church each week, about the many stained glass windows that tell many stories from the bible and also had the opportunity to see all parts of the church including the tabernacle and reconciliation room. Students were introduced to a variety of new terms and listened carefully as Mr. Kloster told us about how much God loves us.

We would love to see as many families as possible at the Family Mass this Saturday evening at 5pm.

The Miracle of Chicks!

2010-04-15T13:48:00.003-06:00

It is one of the most exciting times in our kindergarten year! The hatching of baby chicks!

On Monday, Mrs. Traynor delivered our 12 chicken eggs from the hatchery. They went immediately into our incubator with a temperature set at 99 degrees.

On Tuesday, the 12 eggs lay still and quiet until the evening when 2 eggs had small cracks and the sounds of peeping could be heard inside!!

On Wednesday we arrived at school to find 6 chicks had been born in the night!!! 2 more were born while we were at the church and another 2 hatched in the afternoon. Jace kept close watch for us during the afternoon!

On Thursday, we have 10 chicks and 2 unhatched eggs. The chicks have been transferred to a box where they have water, food and a heat lamp. They love to huddle under the lamp to keep warm.

PIZZA PARTY!!!!

2010-04-11T21:50:00.002-06:00

We LOVE pizza in kindergarten and we would love to have a Pizza Party! The first class to return all of their registration forms for the 2010-2011 school year will win a party! Please help the Kinderfrogs to be the winning class!!!

Currently: 26 packages to be returned!!

Volunteers Needed!!

2010-04-11T21:48:00.002-06:00

We are still looking for one or two more parents to join us on Wednesday as we walk to St. Albert Parish for a tour of our church. If you are able to join us for the morning we would gratefully appreciate it!

Please email me to let me know if you are able to donate your time from 9:15 to 12:00.

Week of Wild Weather

2010-04-11T21:26:00.003-06:00

Wow! It was a wild first week back from Spring Break. The sun shone and the weather was gorgeous on Wednesday. Students enjoyed their first day back in the sunshine. However, Friday was a different story. Students were unable to go outside for either recess due to the high winds. We made the best of it by having our grade six babysitters spend time with us in centres and playing games.

During our literacy block students worked to compare the /ch/ and /sh/ sound. We also worked at writing stories during writer's workshop and are working towards publishing our work!! On Friday we reviewed our letters and sounds and then enjoyed a game of alphabet bingo. It is so exciting when we get to call our BINGO!!!

Students learned the story of Easter through looking at Resurrection eggs and symbols that represent each step of the story. On Friday we then had an opportunity to watch a children's version of the Easter Story.

Students have been busy during centres creating a "surprise" egg, recycling grocery store items and creating a new Veterinarian's Clinic in our dramatic play area.

Ms. Hummingbird was busy over the break creating a new home of Gizmo. It is a guinea pig mansion and allows for more interaction between the kids and Gizmo - pictures to come!!

We look forward to a week of sunshine, eggs and learning!

Welcome Spring!

2010-04-06T13:50:00.003-06:00

Wow! It has been quite some time since I have posted. The weeks leading up to Spring Break were very busy and I hope that all of our kinderfrogs have had a chance to relax, get outside to play and spend time with family during the break.

I enjoyed seeing ALL of our families at our 2nd Celebration of Learning. The students were so excited to share with their families our classroom and their knowledge and abilities. It is great to have the time to chat with everyone as we look forward to the final term of kindergarten! It has gone by so fast!! Please ensure you return your report cards if you have not done so already. Once we add the final report in June they are yours to keep.

On our final day of kindergarten prior to Spring Break we enjoyed a fantastic performance by the Alberta Opera touring company of "Hansel and Gretel". The students loved the singing, dancing and costuming! It was a great way to celebrate the end of our term. We began our discussions of the Easter holiday and dyed some beautiful eggs that I hope were able to decorate your home during the holiday. We will continue to discuss the Easter season and the joys of new life as we return to school!

One of the most exciting parts of kindergarten is witnessing new life through watching chicks hatch in our classroom. Our chicks will arrive April 12 rather than April 7th to ensure we are able to witness the chicks as they are first born. The chicks will spend approx. 10 days in our classroom and then they are fortunate to have the Embury family in the Monkey class who have found a home for them. Please take the time to stop by and visit our new friends.

I am looking forward to having the students return to kindergarten and to hear all of their exciting stories of their holidays. As we venture into this final term the students will be met with some new routines in their day as they prepare for grade one!!

See you tomorrow!!!

The BK Pizzeria

2010-03-14T15:03:00.004-06:00

We had a fantastic week in kindergarten. Although these weeks have been very short they are very productive and the kids are busy learning, exploring and making new discoveries.

On Monday we had a special visit from Alberta Health Services to help us learn the importance of keeping our teeth clean and healthy. We learned about the foods that are healthy for our teeth and we learned the proper way to brush. Each of us came home with a new toothbrush and dental floss!

After recess our class all became professional pizza makers in the BK Pizzeria! We wore our baker's hats proudly and showed off our Italian mustaches. There are so many topping choices for our pizzas and we loaded them up. From olives, pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms, pineapple and cheese, there was favourites of everyone. The pizzas were then baked and we enjoyed them for lunch! Ask us to create personal pizza for you at home! We sang I am a Pizza and create replicas of our favourite pizza using paper. They look good enough to eat!

On Wednesday we learned about a very special dinosaur. This dinosaur lived in the water and not on land. His name is Ichabod Ichthyosaurus. Ask us to pronounce that for you!!! He became a pet of Iggy, the underwater inn owner. Iggy tried feeding Ichabod inchworms but they made him all itchy inside. That is how we learned about our I sound. When we see an I we itch and make the /i/ sound. We even tried eating inchworms to see if they made us itchy too!

We have continued to work on 3D shapes. We worked as a class to sort a variety of objects to see which could roll and which could not. We know that objects that are shaped like a can, ball or cone are good at rolling. We then pretending we were bakers and created a bakery item from clay. We had to describe it to Mrs. Raypold after we made it. There were lots of donuts, muffins, cinnamon buns and pizzas!!! We even tried a donut shaped like a ball and one shaped like a cylinder! Delicious!!

St. Patrick's day is upon us - each year we keep watch for a tricky little leprechaun who causes all sorts of havoc in our classroom!

Our First Cup of Tea

2010-03-07T15:23:00.004-07:00

After filling nearly two buckets of pennies and change the students were treated to a special Middle Eastern tea party. Ms. Hummingbird brought her special tea cups and tea and organized us into boys on one side and girls on the other. We sat on the floor and listened to special music from Pakistan. We were lucky to have a special snack to go along with our tea - homemade bread!!!

We all helped make the bread so we were all allowed to eat it!!! After reading The Little Red hen we learned that when we treat others well - others will treat us well too!! The bread was shared between all of our classmates and we devoured it! We had even worked together to shake homemade butter to spread on top - YUMMY!!!!!

It was a fantastic tea party!!!

Mission Impossible

2010-03-07T15:02:00.004-07:00

We have had a great week climbing, crawling, jumping and shimmying our way through the Mission Impossible course. Students at BK love the two weeks a year that our gym turns into a giant obstacle course. Check us out in action!!!

Bowling Kids!

2010-02-28T14:50:00.006-07:00

Kindergarten had a great day on Friday.

We had a new adventure in kindergarten - taking the city bus! The students waited patiently at bus stops and enjoyed being on the bus. We learned to transfer buses and then watched as Mrs. Raypold rang the bell so we could be let off at our stop near the Bowling Centre.

Students bowled in teams and demonstrated great skills at rolling the balls down the lane! We rolled between our legs, with one hand and down the ramp. We all had great scores and most of all had so much fun!!!

When we returned to school we got to ride on a "bendy" bus which was a thrill!

The students were so well behaved and we were lucky to have such great parents helping to keep us safe!

Pop! Pop! Popcorn!!

2010-02-23T23:11:00.004-07:00

It was a great Popcorn Day with much excitement and learning!!! We learned about our five senses and allowed them to guide our study of popcorn throughout the day.

We popped popcorn in so many ways - a hot air popper, a microwave, on the cob, and in a movie theatre popper!!! We sampled four different types of popcorn including Popcorn Twists which are made from cornmeal. We took a tally of favorites and there was a tie between popcorn twists and white cheddar popcorn!

We used popcorn kernels to assist in our counting and breaking numbers into 2 parts and then wrote a popcorn poem using describing words.

In the gym we made "popcorn" out of the whiffle balls as we popped them into the air with the parachute!

We finished our day with a cup of delicious popcorn and a movie. We could have spent a whole week learning about popcorn!

Did you know?? - Often when kernels do not pop it is because they are missing that little bit of moisture inside the kernel that expands when heated.

Did you know?? - Popcorn is a special kind of corn that grows in farmer's fields. It is harvested specifically for popcorn.

Did you know?? - If you plant a popcorn kernel you will grow a popcorn plant!!!!

Special Reminders - Please return you fieldtrip form prior to Friday. We are looking forward to bowling!!!

GIZMO HAVING A BATH!!!!!

BK Canadians Win Gold on Olympic Day!

2010-02-21T17:22:00.002-07:00

Wow! What an exciting day our Kinderfrogs had as they participated in Bertha Kennedy School's first Winter Olympics.

Our day began with an Opening Ceremony that could be heard from the mountains of Whistler followed by four events, a snack break and cool down. The weather was gorgeous and our kinders played hard! The favourite event of the day - Skeleton!!!!

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-18T16:28:00.003-07:00

After many days away from school our Kinderfrogs returned with LOTS of energy!! It was great to see their smiling faces hear about the family fun they had while they were away.

The students attended their first in school celebration - Ash Wednesday. Father Al visited our school and led our celebration along with Mrs. Kazakoff's grade 3 students. During the celebration each students received ashes on their forehead to symbolize the season of Lent and the time to make changes to ourselves to become more like Jesus. We listened, sang and prayed.

Following the celebration we remained in the gym to discuss our Bertha Kennedy Lenten Project. After many teachers listened to Dr. Mortensen speak at our Teachers' Convention we have decided to as a school community support his project "Pennies for Peace".

Following a lengthy stay with a group of people in the mountains of Pakistan, Dr. Mortensen decided he needed to help the children and families that live in the impoverished areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He decided to help by building schools. Upon returning to the USA he found that the people most willing to help raise money were children in schools and therefore began his Pennies for Peace project.

By collecting pennies and pocket change, enough money has been raised to build well over 100 schools in the mountain areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dr. Mortensen has written 3 beautiful books that share his tale - Three Cups of Tea, Stones into Schools and Listen to the Wind which is a picture book of Dr. Mortensen's story.

I had the fortunate experience of meeting Dr. Mortensen and he was kind to donate 3 of his books. If you are interested in reading his story I am willing to lend out our copies. Please email me.

Our students will bring in their pennies and pocket change during the season of Lent. All change collected will be donated to the Pennies for Peace project. As a class we discussed ways to collect pennies. Students talked about completing chores around the house for pennies. (Sounds like a good deal!!!) Remember - a penny can buy a pencil in third world countries! We would love for all of our students to have the opportunity to share some of their well earned pennies!

Please remember - Olympic Day is Friday. We are Team Canada. Please wear red and white and bring all of your warm clothes!!

L-O-V-E Spells Love!!!

2010-02-14T15:29:00.004-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The kinderfrogs had an excellent Valentine week in kindergarten. We learned about Lizzie Lamb and Lonnie Lamb on Monday and sang a song about love to introduce our "Heart Word" for the week. We are spending time sorting pictures and items into groupings based on initial consonant sounds.

We have completed our math focus of numbers to 5 and the students completed an independent assessment of both recognition of the numbers and one to one correspondance. Throughout the coming weeks students will also complete a hands-on one on one assessment with me showing me what they know about their numbers.

Wednesday morning brought the return of our Artist in Residence, Gerry. Students created a 3 box story board for one of the characters that they have created. WOW!! The stories were amazing. Our kinderfrogs are so creative and always rise to the challenge of whatever is asked of them!!!!

The afternoon was full of LOVE!!!! Students created mailboxes, exchanged valentines, sorted candies, played Valentine Bingo, and made delicious friendship fruit kabobs. We had great mom helpers in our class and kept the students well entertained. We finished our day enjoying our banana splits that were much anticipated!!!! We have shown that we are banana split listeners in kindergarten and now got to enjoy the real thing. I am sure there was not an empty stomach in the class!!!!

I hope all families have a very special long weekend together! We will look forward to both the Ash Wednesday Celebration and Olympic Day next week!!!!

Firefighters Share Kindness with Kindergarten

2010-02-02T22:03:00.005-07:00

We were so lucky to welcome members of the St. Albert Fire Department to kindergarten Monday morning. Four members of Fire Hall #2 gave a talk to our kinderfrogs about Fire Safety.

We discussed what to do in case of a fire in your house, in case your clothing catches on fire and what to do if there is an emergency. We eagerly listened and learned about crawling low to the ground when there is smoke in a building, about STOP, DROP and ROLL, dialing 9-1-1, and making a fire safety plan with your family.

The firefighters showed us their gear and talked about how they stay safe on the job. It was a little scary seeing the firefighter all dressed up with his oxygen turned on, but we learned to never hide from a firefighter if you are in a house fire. We should always yell loudly to get the firefighters attention and go to the firemen.

Following our presentation we got to take a tour of the fire truck. Wow!! How exciting it was to go inside the cab, see the hoses and nozzles and listen to the siren.

We know how important firefighters are in our community learned how they can demonstrate kindness to all people!!

When we got home our job was to make an escape plan with our family in the case of a fire and to learn our address! We will check to see how many friends did their special family jobs!!

Beach Day Fun!!!

2010-01-31T00:08:00.003-07:00

We had a great Beach Day in kindergarten! Our classroom had everything a beach needed: sand, water, seashells, treasure and friends. The kinderfrogs worked hard all morning learning and were excited about the afternoon beach party. We made visors to keep the sun out of our eyes, made Hawaiian leis from Fruit Loops and went on a treasure hunt following rhyming clues. In the gym we hula hooped, played with beach balls and danced to "The Swim" and "The Macarena". We finished our day by cooling down with popsicles. It was a great day and a great way to end the month of January!

Kinder Techies

2010-01-26T23:51:00.003-07:00

In kindergarten our students have the opportunity to visit the computer lab 2 times each month. In addition, students have access to the classroom computers and SmartBoard during workstation time. Computers have become an important part of everyday life in the 21st century and our goal in kindergarten is to have children gain meaningful experience using a mouse and keyboard.

On Monday our students visited the computer lab and explored a fun program called Kid Pix. Students use the mouse to manipulate the tools they would like to use to create unique pictures. From spray paint to stamps this program allows children a variety of options. I think that adding music to the picture is the class favourite.

One of my most favourite parts of watching the students use the computers is to see the collaboration between students. As students notice their friends screen they often ask "How did you do that?!!!" Without missing a beat the friend is at their computer directing them what to click on.

Students today are often referred to as 21st century learners which is something that us as teachers and parents were not. We did not grow up at a time where information was at our fingertips on any topic, 24 hours a day. We were not able to contact people in all parts of the world with a click of a mouse. We did not engage in motion-sensored video games like the Wii (I thought my Atari was amazing as a child!!!). The rapid advancements in technology has major implications in how we teach our students and exploring computers and Smartboards in kindergarten is only the beginning.

I encourage you to visit www.berthakennedy.com and watch the "Vimeo" of our grade 4 students in action. The students are part of a one to one technology project where all students have access to personal laptops. Their teachers engage them in learning through the use of technology. It is amazing to watch these young learners in action!!!

BEACH DAY WEDNESDAY!!!

Kindergarten Readers!

2010-01-21T14:19:00.002-07:00

In kindergarten we love to read and write words!!! Each students brought home two pages of words that we can read and write. Please cut these word cards up and use them at home for the following:

- stretch out the sounds and read the words

- say the words and have your child write them

- play a game of Flip the Word and Read - you get to keep the word if you read it correctly. (Thanks Jessica for your great game idea!!!)

-make an extra set and play memory

There are so many ways to practice our words. Each of the words have been taken from our Directed Drawing program or are our Heart Words. By practicing at home our students will become more confident in their skills and will begin to link reading these word cards to reading new words!

Have fun!!

Yummy!! Ice Cream in a Bag!!

2010-01-19T21:14:00.003-07:00

We had a delicious homemade treat at the end of the day on Monday. The only things we needed to make our vanilla ice cream was milk, sugar, a touch of vanilla, a ziplock bag, ice, salt and a coffee can!

We mixed our ingredients together in a ziplock bag, placed it inside a coffee can filled with ice and salt and then rolled, shook and tossed! Soon we had ice cream! We added some chocolate syrup and ate it up!

Cartooning with Gerry

2010-01-19T20:36:00.003-07:00

Our kinderfrogs had a very exciting experience last Wednesday. They had the opportunity to learn to draw with Gerry Rassmussan, the cartoonist for "Betty". "Betty" can be seen daily in the Edmonton Journal and on Sunday in the comics.

Students were introduced to drawing "Ball Head". Through some basic drawing techniques the students were off and working on many very cool character designs. They learned to create expressions in their faces and to show a character's face from many different angles. Our kinderfrogs impressed Gerry very much!!!

Each child has been provided with a drawing portfolio to keep their artwork. This folder will come home at the culmination of the project.

We will spend time with Gerry again on the 20th and then have two visits during the month of February. We are so fortunate that Gerry has volunteered his time to Bertha Kennedy School to provide our students with this amazing opportunity!

Banana Splits Anyone??

2010-01-12T21:24:00.003-07:00

Have you heard about banana splits around your home lately?

No, we are not feeding your child a daily dose of sugar but rather we are encouraging them to do the best they can by using ice cream as a metaphor. At our gathering space the following pictures are posted:

We talk to the students about what their behaviour looks like in terms of an empty cone, one scoop of ice cream, triple scoop and a banana split (which is the best and our expectation!). We expect the students to behave like banana splits when they are listening to lessons, lining up at the door, walking in the hallways, and getting along with our friends. Students have role played all the "levels" of ice cream and know exactly what they need to do to be banana splits.

We have also used the ice creams when talking about our work. From printing our name, letters to writing stories. Students are able to determine the "level of ice cream" when looking at a variety of work samples. Using these terms we coach our students on how to move up on the ice cream ladder. If they are printing their name at the level of a single scoop we then work with them step by step to improve their work so that they can be at a banana split level.

Have I lost you yet?? Not to worry - your child will be able to explain it all to you!!

**One last point to mention - The students are being challenged to demonstrate "Banana Split" behaviour for ten school days. If they do it we will have a special ice cream party!!! So far we have 3 days - 7 to go. I know you can do it, Kinderfrogs!!!

Heart Words and Wintertime Fun

2010-01-09T18:29:00.003-07:00

Wow! What a beautiful weekend we are in for! With sunshine and above freezing temperatures I hope that many families are able to get outside and enjoy time together.

Students were busy learning on Friday and showing so much growth in their early reading skills. It is so exciting to watch students connect sounds of letters together to read new words. We have also been learning about "Heart" words which are sight words that we need to know by heart because we see them so often. At this time we have learned the words:

-I

-see

-a

-can

These words can easily be put together to create sentences and students are encouraged to use the word wall in their writing and to spot these words in our morning message and poems.

Each week we will add two new words to our word wall and work on being able to read these words "by heart".

Over the weekend if your family is having some wintertime fun outside and you are able to take a picture we would love to have a copy. Students will be writing about winter time activities and a photo is always a great springboard for ideas. You can either send in a hard copy of the photo or email me the photo at kraypold@gsacrd.ab.ca.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T22:05:00.003-07:00

Happy 2010!!

I hope all families had an enjoyable winter break! Two weeks always seems to fly by and our kinderfrogs have been readjusting to their days at school. We have wasted no time getting right into our learning.

On Monday students shared memories of their Christmas holiday, welcomed our new calendar year, created new year goals, reviewed letters and sounds, and played a Balloon Bingo number game. In our workstations we added snow with eye droppers and coloured water to our sensory table, used shaving cream to practice printing our letters, and had fun with our new Crazy Forts building materials. Many moms will be happy to now that students were eager to help moms to clean as their new year goals - even to clean toilets!!

Today the kinderfrogs were much more settled and we were excited to welcome a new friend to our class. His name is Ryley and we enjoyed spending time with him today. Also, our friend Daniel is celebrating a birthday tomorrow and so he was our superstar of the day.

Students learned about Kimmy Kangaroo and how she blows kisses to kids at the zoo. The gesture for this letter friend is blowing kisses as you make the /k/ sound. Students did amazing at printing their upper and lowercase Ks. We also reviewed what good writers do when they share information. Students completed their January writing sample and I am so pleased at the number of students independently stretching their sounds in words to write a sentence! Wow!

The weather on Friday looks promising - hopefully we can get outside to build snowmen!!!!

Our KinderFrogs Shine!!

2009-12-13T23:22:00.003-07:00

For any adult who says they lose that special Christmas feeling you had as a kid, I would tell them to come to kindergarten! This is my most favourite time of year as a teacher. There is always a special sparkle in the air and an energy that is not seen at any other time.

Christmas concert is one of those events that adds to the season. I am so pleased that the kindergarten students were involved in the BK school concert for the first time! They have been practicing their song for weeks and when it came time to perform they did so beautifully. Our young men looked so handsome in their Christmas clothes and the young ladies were stunning in their Christmas dresses! We had a dress rehearsal in the morning, an afternoon concert and wrapped our day up with an evening performance. The students were so well behaved and really shined on the stage. Here are a few photos of the day:

I am looking forward to seeing our families on Monday evening for family night. Just a reminder to bring a small bag of candy to decorate a gingerbread house and wear your PJs!

Run, Run as Fast as You Can!

2009-12-07T17:50:00.004-07:00

This morning was full of Gingerbread fun! Together we made a giant gingerbread man. We mixed together and decorated with yummy treats! We made sure to tell everyone to keep the oven door clothes and to not burn so that he would not run away. We watched the time and checked back to find a a delicious smell lingering in the air. Our gingerbread man stayed put and we were able to have a special treat during snack!

We read Paul Galdone's Gingerbread Boy and Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby. We will compare the characters and events in each of these stories.

Mrs. Raypold was off at a meeting with Mrs. Traynor and some other teachers this afternoon and Mrs. Drachenberg was our teacher. We learned about the number 5 and the letter Jj. We shared our gingerbread men that we have created at home.

Be sure to RSVP for our Family Night. It is important that we know how many gingerbread houses will be prepared!

Be sure to keep warm during these cold days. Children should always have ALL of their warm clothing at school and it is recommended that they have an extra pair of socks in their backpacks as they often have wet socks when they come inside.

See you on Concert Day!!!!

"Tis the Season

2009-12-06T21:19:00.002-07:00

Kindergarten had an exciting week and busy week! On Wednesday the Kinderfrogs did a fabulous job taking part in our Advent Mass. Along with the grade four students they performed movement down the aisles to "Children of the Light" and then took part in a Readers' Theatre about Mary.

On Friday we were off to Profiles Gallery and the Museum in St. Albert Place. Students created a beautiful gift for their families at Profiles Studios and then spent some time in the museum learning about bears in Canada. The students were very well behaved and represented our school well. When we returned to school we were able to have our first play in the freshly fallen snow!

We are looking forward to our final two weeks of school before Christmas break. It is an exciting time in kindergarten and we hope that all families will be able to celebrate with us through our upcoming Christmas concert and Family Night.

Advent is Here!

2009-12-01T22:00:00.003-07:00

Students were welcomed into prayer Monday morning by lighting the first candle of the Advent Wreath. We read the story of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary and prepared ourselves to demonstrate patience during this season.

Students have been working hard preparing for our Advent Mass this Wednesday. Together with the Grade Four students we will assist in various parts of the mass at St. Albert Parish. All families are welcome to join us at the church at 2:00. Please remember to return your permission form. Also, we would like to see as many kindergarten students as possible at our family mass Saturday at 5:00 at the parish.

We had a visit with our Grade Six buddies on Monday. Our buddies helped us to write a letter to Santa Claus. We told Santa what we had done to be good this year, our Christmas wishes and asked Santa a few questions. We are hoping that Santa will write us back!!

You will never believe what happened in kindergarten!!!! We had a special visitor! Can you guess who this is??

Hannah Montana!!

We Are Children of the Light!

2009-11-29T23:01:00.003-07:00

The kinderfrogs are joining Miss. Easaw's grade 4 class to assist in leading mass at St. Albert Parish this Wednesday at 2:00. We will be performing liturgical dance and taking part in a readers' theatre about the season of Advent.

We invite our kinderfrogs to join us again on Saturday at the 5:00 mass to take part in the B.K. family mass. The students will once again have a special part to play.

If you are available to join us please comment to this blog or send a note in your child's frog bag. An additional note will be sent home Monday.

The Kinderfrogs Shine!

2009-11-29T22:47:00.005-07:00

We had a terrific turn out for our first celebration of learning. The glimmer in the kids' eyes told the story of how excited they were to have mom and dad see what they do at school. I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with many of you and discuss the progress of you children. We have had such a great start to our year that sometimes I forget how young these learners are - they have grown so much already!!

December is upon us and it is sure to be a busy month! Please continue to monitor our blog and Frog Bags for any additional notes and information.