Article posted June 18, 2013 at 06:39 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 91
Thank you so much for all of the pictures of the Kiddoes outside. Our bulletin board is about half full. Please keep sending pictures if you have any!!
Article posted June 18, 2013 at 06:39 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 91
Article posted June 18, 2013 at 06:36 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 13
Happy Father's Day. I sure hope all our Kindy Dads had a great day. I know the Kiddoes were excited about sharing the day with you and sharing their special surprise. Our Father's day project comes with a bit of a background story. When I was in Kindergarten, I made a pet rock for my Dad. He kept it on his desk until he retired and it now resides in the basement by the computer. 29 years later it has lost all the decorations and moss, however, the red and white painted rock on a piece of wood still holds a prominent spot in my Dad's memories. I told the Kiddoes this story and it was fun to watch them go through the same experience I did so long ago. I hope you enjoy your Kiddoe's surprise as much as my Dad did.
Article posted June 18, 2013 at 06:36 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 13
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:54 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 122
Each year the school selects one student from each classroom who has exemplified the qualities highlighted during the school year in our awards of excellence assemblies. The Kindergarten class was very proud of this year's winner!!
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:54 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 122
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:52 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 30
The Kindergarten class was pleased to honour two of our classmates during the awards assembly this week. Way to go friends on the amazing work in May!!
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:52 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 30
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:50 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 24
For the past three weeks, the Kiddoes have been working very hard on their final Kindergarten project. Each Kiddoe needed to choose five insects/bugs to draw and annotate. Using the drawing App "Doodle Buddy" the Kiddoes researched which critters they wanted to illustrate.
Once they were finished drawing, the Kiddoes pulled up their pictures using the App "Skitch" in order to annotate them. I was really impressed with the ability of the Kiddoes to use a keyboard in order to type in the name of each critter. Lots of different strategies were used in the annotating process. Some Kiddoes copied the names from the available books and some sounded them out. Once this process was finished, our reading buddies as well as some friends from grade 8 helped us to locate some interesting information about each critter we chose. After a discussion about text features, we used the App "Skitch" again to insert some cool facts about each critter.
The final part of our project was to pull up our annotated pictures and using the App "Book Creator" we used the pictures to create and narrate a story. The Kiddoes were so excited to see the completed project. We were able to tour the school and share our stories with many of the classes here at Braun as well as some of the teachers.
The Kiddoes learned so many literacy and research skills, improved fine motor ability, as well as learned some amazing information about insects/bugs during this individual project. At the moment, Mrs. Wills and I are working on how to share this project online. However, to make sure our families are able to see the amazing work of the Kiddoes, we are having an open house on Wed. June 19th from 9-11:45 for our families to drop in, share a donut and see the amazing work the Kindergarten students have done! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call.
I am so proud of these Kiddoes. They have come a long way since the beginning of the year to be able to complete these individual projects!!
Article posted June 13, 2013 at 10:50 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 24
Article posted June 11, 2013 at 03:28 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 109
Hi All! The Kiddoes and I have been talking a lot lately about the wonderful things we can do outside. I have asked them to either bring in photos or have family send pictures of them partaking in activities outside so we can create a bulletin board together. If you have any photos of your child in any outdoor sporting activity, at the park, or even enjoying an ice cream cone outside, please send them through email or in printed form for us to add to our bulletin board. The only requirement we have is that the picture is of us OUTSIDE!!!
Thanks!
Article posted June 11, 2013 at 03:28 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 109
Article posted June 5, 2013 at 02:11 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 168
What an interesting, fact filled, fun and of course adventurous day we had on Monday! We loaded the bus right at 9 a.m. and began our trip to Wascana Marsh.
Once we arrived we got off the bus and walked the path entering the marsh. Along the way we saw some mulch piles, dandelion seeds, ducks, geese, red winged blackbirds, robins and even a yellow headed blackbird. We stopped every few minutes and Miranda (our guide from the Outdoor Education Department) taught us some interesting facts about both wildlife and the environment.
Once we arrived at the pond, Miranda rolled out a small tarp and poured some pond water on it. We carefully observed the water to see how many 'pond monsters' we could see. Once we poured the water back into the pond, the Kiddoes took to the dock to see if they could see anything of interest in the water. We saw snails, water striders, a variety of insects and even a frog.
Once we were finished pond dipping, it was time for a "tick" check. Now... I am not sure if your Kiddoe told you about our "contest", but I will quickly explain. In the classroom, we discussed that we would see some ticks on our trip. This would be a little deal as ticks in our area do not carry lyme disease and they cannot hurt you. I taught the Kiddoes how to tell the difference between a female and male tick. A female has what looks like a white necklace around the head, and the male tick has what looks like two suspenders down its back. We decided to have a contest and see if we could collect more male or female ticks. Each time a Kiddoe found a tick, he/she would holler, "I have a tick!" I would then ask if it was a boy or girl and place it into the appropriately labeled jar we brought along for the trip. What could have been a scary thing was quickly replaced with lots of laughter and excitement when a tick was found. When someone would holler, all the Kiddoes would gather to see what it was.
As we continued our walk, we got see some cattails and found it interesting when Ms. S. told us a story about how the First Nations People used the fluff from the cattails to make diaper filling a long time ago.
Much too quickly our day had come to end, but we all agreed it was a fabulous learning opportunity. We began tallying our tick collection today so stay tuned to hear how our contest ended.
This exploration was a wonderful experience to end our learning and investigation of insects and the marsh. Hope you enjoy the video below!
Article posted June 5, 2013 at 02:11 AM GMT0 •
comment (2) • Reads 168
Article posted May 31, 2013 at 05:31 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 118
We were very excited to watch as one of our friends was involved in a commercial for the new blue bin recycling here in Regina. Take a look at the commercial and see if you can spot her.
It was interesting to hear our friend discuss how the commercial was filmed and that it took 2 whole days to film 20 seconds. We all agree she did a great job!!
Article posted May 31, 2013 at 05:31 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 118
Article posted May 30, 2013 at 07:07 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 86
Every few weeks Kindergarten gets a special visit from a Grade 6 student who shares a story with us. Yesterday, our special visitor once again visited our room and shared the story, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. However, on this visit, Kindergarten got an added surprise. Our special visitor had prepared a craft for us allowing the Kiddoes to retell the story with puppets. The Kiddoes worked hard to colour in pictures from the story. Once we were all finished colouring, we went into the hall to see if we could retell the story. Below is a video we made.
The puppet pieces have been left out for the Kiddoes to use during centre time if they wish to retell the story on their own. It was a great learning experience for all involved!
Article posted May 30, 2013 at 07:07 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 86
Article posted May 23, 2013 at 05:37 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 264
With only 23 teaching days left this year, it is time for our final Kindergarten project. Instead of a classroom project, the Kiddoes have been tasked with creating individual bug books with their iPad using all the research and learning tools they have acquired over the year. Each book needs to include at least five different bugs which they will illustrate correctly and identify. They will then compile their illustrations and narrate a story. This project is a first for me, so it will be interesting to see where they take it!! Stay tuned.
Article posted May 23, 2013 at 05:37 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 264
