Sorting

We began our Data Management unit this month with a basic look at attributes and sorting by attributes. The Junior Kindergarten students are beginning to look at sorting by shape, colour and size while the Senior Kindergarten students will review these attributes to sort by but will also be encouraged to do some higher level thinking when they sort.

We've been primarily been doing sorting as a team activity. Students are beginning to work in small groups to solve problems. While this seems like a very easy endeavour, for some it means compromising, working together, taking direction or leading the activity, and sharing materials. The children are still working on character and community building so working in flexible groups allows them to work on their social skills, to practice interacting with different groups of peers and to take on various roles and incorporate problem solving strategies from time to time.

They really worked hard in teams to sort their items. Some teams were very efficient, while others struggled to stay on task and/or to work together (rather than independently).

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

One of the favourite stories of Kindergarten students is called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It is a wonderful story where the alphabet letters try to climb up a tree but are much too heavy for the tree. Not only is it a fun story but it also rhymes!

One of the refrains of the song is "Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?".

Sadly, there is not enough room at the top of the coconut tree for all the letters, so they come tumbling down, only to race up yet again. The children love this story every year that I teach and were also able to watch the video of the story on a rainy day last week.

Most of the SK students are really experts in alphabet recognition so they were the "mentors" to the Junior Kindergarten students. They were the leaders in the game with their partner, demonstrated cooperation, turn taking and helped the others to play the game of Chicka Chicka in our classroom. It is wonderful to see the Senior Kindergarten students taking on a leadership role with their partners, teaching them the game, the rules and reinforcing the letter names and sound as well. The Senior Kindergartens are awesome role models for the Junior Kindergartens and little teachers in their own right!

Students reached into a baggie, taking turns reaching for an upper case letter, then were able to use a bingo dabber to "dab" the corresponding letting on the coconut tree. They were all smiles and giggles playing this game and many of them of course, forgot that they were learning. That's the joy of Kindergarten!

At home, reading rhyming books, poems and nursery rhymes is an important pre-reading skills. I cannot emphasize enough how children need to be given opportunities daily to listen to rhyme so that they can develop their "ear" for rhyme over time.

Here's some fun links:

Watch the song/video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QdN-HYp46c

Listen to a reading of the story again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOGiFqVTfUY&feature=related

Mrs. S.

Art in Kindergarten

Product Based Art and the Young Child

"Art" may have a lot of different meanings to different people. I'd like to take a few moments to explain about the art in our classroom. You may be thinking back to your own childhood experience when you completed "crafts" at school and everyone made a paperbag turkey for example. Back when we were little, crafts were very popular. Everyone made the same craft that the teacher modelled and all the "results" looked fairly similar. While at times, we may participate in product based art or an odd craft, for the most part, in Kindergarten, we tend to believe more in:

"The process and not the product"

"Process" means allowing children to explore art materials with freedom without the pressure to copy a model or stay in the lines. Process is experimenting with paints, watching the mixing colors, and feeling the textures of more or less. It may not involve an end product pleasing to the eye, but the product is far more pleasing to the child. Process is gluing various sizes, shapes, and colors of paper together to create a collage. It is experimenting with atypical creation - building with blocks, legos, foam blocks and shaving cream! Process is freedom to experiment and enjoy the feeling of creating without being concerned with the outcome or the product. Process is creating something that is uniquely yours and not a copy of someone else's. It is about being proud of your own imagination, ideas and creativity!

Remember your own experiences as a child. The first time you discovered the magic of colors mixing, the sticky feeling of glue, the feeling of power as you modeled clay, the sense of accomplishment and pride seeing your own beautiful picture proudly displayed in your childhood home. If you did not have these experiences in your own childhood, you can easily create them for your child. To create an environment in your home that fosters creativity and experimentation you can purchase paints, brushes, an easel and paper. The Dollarama is an excellent place to pick up these items cheaply as well. You can also save "junk" (buttons, old greeting cards, ribbons, wrapping paper, doilies, paper tubes, fabric, etc.) for collages.

For Art that is centred around the environment, you can use nature's best collectibles such as pinecones, beach glass, pebbles, leaves, and twigs for building and sculpting. Encourage your child in the artistic process by questioning and commenting on his/her endeavors. Comments should focus on the experience, the process. Avoid asking questions such as, "What are you making?" and, instead, comment on the process, using comments such as, "I like the red color in your picture." Your goal should be to make your child feel comfortable, confident, and successful. It's about risk taking, initiative and creativity in the moment!



This week for example, the children are experimenting with chalk pastels. They are learning how to draw pictures and to rub their drawings so that they spread colour throughout their pictures. Soft pastels, also called chalk pastels, are considered the most direct medium for working in colour. Pastels are basically pigment and chalk compressed with a small amount of gum tragacanth. They contain no additives nor solvents, and few tools are needed to create stunning works. Students have learned how to use their finger to "spread" the pastel's colour onto other parts of their paper and to blend colours together to create colourful and vibrant works of art!

So if you are wondering often about a paper that came home that looked a little rough around the edges, or you can't quite figure out what it is or "why" it is for that matter, it is probably a matter of an experience more than a final product.


We will be finishing our "paper chalk" blending and pictures this week and next week, we will do some shaving cream painting on the table tops. The room is bound to smell really "clean" I am sure. Stay tuned for those interesting pictures! Thanks go out to the family that donated shaving cream by taking an apple from our "Giving Tree" in the hallway. If you would like to support interesting and creative activities like this, please feel free to choose your apple from our Giving Tree!

Look at the beaming smile - what joy!

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

People in Our Room

We are very blessed to have some wonderful people in our room helping us out on a daily basis. So I'm going to take the time to introduce them to you so that you'll get an idea of who these wonderful support people are!

First off is Miss Jean. Miss Jean has been an Aide at our school for quite some time. She helps out in the office and in classroom and is the Lunch Aide for our classroom.




Miss Jean reminds children of the "safe eating rules" and to take care of their belongings, but she also takes the time to chat with the children, to get to know each of them and their personalities. She always has a wonderful rapport with the children and is interested to listen to their stories, to encourage their independence and to treat them as individuals.

Next, we have Miss Brianna. Miss Brianna is a Co-op Student who is doing a placement for half the year in our Kindergarten classroom. She comes in at the second nutrition break, chats with the children and helps them with their routines. She goes outside and plays with them on the playground and reinforces our safe rules for outside play. Then for the rest of the afternoon she helps both me and the children. If you take a step into our classroom, you'll often find Miss Brianna working with a small group of children on any given day playing letter, number and sound games and encouraging them to risk take, engage in cooperative play and take turns.




Another favourite friend of the children is Aaron. Many years ago, Aaron was one of Mrs. Stefani's favourite "Kindergarten Kids" but he's now grown up and enjoys coming to help the children in our classroom with both nutrition break and outside time. Aaron is a natural with the child coming from a large family of which is proud to be both a big brother and Uncle. Aaron has a natural ease with the children, lots of friendly words and the children get very excited when he walks in the rule. I think he may be a teacher some day!




What wonderful people we have in our room! We are truly so lucky and spoiled!

Play Poem and Pictures of Play

"Play Today"


You say you love your children,
And are concerned they learn today?
So am I; that's why I'm providing
A variety of kinds of play.

You're asking me the value
Of blocks and other such play?



Your children are solving problems.
They will use that skill everyday.

You're asking what's the value
Of having your children play?
Your daughter's creating a tower.
She may be a builder someday.



You're saying you don't want your son
To play in that "sissy" way?
He's learning to cuddle a doll.
He may be a father someday.

You're questioning the learning centers;
They just look like useless play?
Your children are making choices;
They'll be on their own someday.

You're worried your children aren't learning,
and later they'll pay?
They're learning a pattern for learning,
For they will be learners always.

---Leila P. Fagg---