Monday, May 25, 2020

Hello Families and Friends,


Welcome to Week 8 of our at-home learning plans. Can you believe we've been doing this for 8 weeks now!? 

From what I can tell by the photos you send me each week, it looks like you're rocking it at home! Look at all these happy faces building boats last week!






 

 



Nice work on your TH investigations and thank you cards!









Click HERE for this week's activity overview. Take note of the reading and mindfulness activities listed at the bottom :) If you haven't already bookmarked the address, click HERE for access to our main Google Drive folder.


TUESDAY

This week, we are learning about the SH letter blend. The more your child sees, hears and talks about this letter combo, the more they will remember it. Search for it everywhere! Take a look at these silly videos for some ideas of things that include the SH letter combo. 



Draw some things that begin or end with the SH sound. Write the word beside each thing you draw. Can you write a sentence that has an SH word in it? Remember to have your popcorn words handy as you write your sentence!




WEDNESDAY


IT'S WORD PLAY DAY!

I apologize for the sight word mix up last week. Extra practice with previous popcorn words is always good, right?! Here are this week’s new sight words. As the words become a bit more tricky, I'm moving to 4 words per week.

FOR  THAT  SHE  LIKE

Print and play this board game to practice this week and last week's words. Click HERE for the printable link. 

INSTRUCTIONS: Print and cut the game board and the word cards. Cut out the words and flip them upside down. Choose a couple small items to be your game pieces. Draw one of the flipped over cards and move to the next space that has that word. First person to the finish line wins! 



Now let's play Sound Switch!
Grab the following letters:
o, h, i, t, s, m, f, r, a, n, p, c, u, b

Guide your child as they make the following list of words (reminding them that they only need to change/switch one letter each time):  hit, sit, mit, fit, fat, fan, ran, man, map, cap, cup, cut, cub, tub, rub, rob, rib, rip, hip, sip





THURSDAY

Today’s science exploration is all about LIGHT and SHADOW. I am offering 3 possible activities to explore this fun concept. Choose what resonates with you and your child. No need to complete them all!

SHADOW ART:


Where do shadows come from? Where & when do you see them the most? Head outside with some paper, some crayons or markers, and see if you can capture some shadows! Take note of where the sun is in the sky. Can you figure out why all of the shadows are on the same side of the objects? 





Thank you to Happy Mom Hacks for the amazing photo inspiration!

 


SHADOW EXPERIMENT:

Why do shadows move throughout the day? Try this fun experiment to see if you can figure out the answer to this question.



On a sunny day, find a spot that will stay sunny for a few hours and trace around your child's footprints and shadow using sidewalk chalk. Above the traced shadow, write the time. 

Come back periodically throughout the day to stand in the same foot prints and trace where the shadow has moved, making note of where the sun is at different times of the day.

After your experiment is complete, feel free to use twigs, rocks or sidewalk chalk to add faces and outfits!



SUNSCREEN EXPERIMENT:


Why do we wear sunscreen? 
Using sunscreen, a coloured sheet of construction paper, and a few rocks you can see how sunscreen blocks out ultraviolet rays. 


● Rub sunsceen all over the surface of the palms of your hands and fingers to the point where you can still see a thin layer of sunscreen on your hands.
● Firmly press your hands onto the sheet of coloured construction paper.
● Place the construction paper outside in a sunny spot using a few rocks around the edges to hold it down.
● After a few hours, the colour of the paper will have faded but the sunscreen handprints will have the original bold colour as they were protected from the sun's ultraviolet rays. How cool is that?!


FRIDAY

PASSION PROJECT DAY

Keep up the amazing work on your passion projects! 


Remember, this is your child’s choice day! Perhaps they create a new small world, a new sensory bin, a book, a movie or a costume to go along with their passion project topic. Dramatic play and make-believe are a big part of our kindergarten days at school.





Check out some of Ms. Lecocq’s MUSIC activities  today.

I can't wait to see what you create this week! Keep up the amazing work! I miss you all SOOOOOO much!

Love,
Miss Roberts 💖






Monday, May 18, 2020

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I am bursting with pride as I look at the incredible work you are doing from home. Although I miss you so very much, my heart is happy knowing that you're having fun and learning so much while at home. 

Look at the beautiful nests you created this week! I love that each one is so perfectly unique. 



 



 



...AND Check out our amazing INDEPENDENT writers! WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! You kiddos totally rocked this writing challenge!







Click HERE for a summary of our activities for this week! 
TUESDAY
Our letter focus for the next few weeks is moving to letter blends. Our first letter blend is TH. The more your child sees, hears and talks about this letter combo, the more they will remember it. Point it out wherever you go, in books, on signs, or even on food labels in the cupboard!

Check out this hilarious video:

Today your letter challenge is to draw 2 things that BEGIN with the TH sound and 2 things that END with the TH sound. Write the words for each thing you draw. 



BONUS ACTIVITIES

I’m thinking of an animal that ENDS with the TH sound. It’s cute and slow and lives in the trees. Can you figure out what it is? 


Check out this neat video. Sloths are very interesting animals!! 

The Life of a Sloth 

As always, there’s an art hub for everything! If you’d like to learn how to draw a sloth, check this out:

RANDOM SIDE NOTE: Some children get the TH, F and V sounds mixed up. If you find your child having a hard time differentiating these sounds, watch this video, which helps children to understand the different things our mouths are doing when we say these sounds. 


WEDNESDAY

Your task today is to write a thank you note or card. Think of someone who has done something kind or special for you. This could be a family member, friend, neighbour or anyone else you can think of!  Create a card or write a letter to let them know how much you appreciate them. Make sure to actually send or deliver it! Talk about how it feels to do something thoughtful for someone else. Doesn’t it feel great to be kind? 


You obviously don't need to go all out on decorating the front of the card. It's the message inside that matters the most. BUT... if you're feeling artsy, go all out and make it special. How neat is this celery idea?!?





THIS WEEK'S SIGHT WORDS:

You're becoming word experts! So proud of my little readers.


Here are our new sight words for the week (if your child has already mastered the first 20):

WITH  THIS  AT  WE  COME

Dandelions are everywhere right now. As annoying as they are, they sure are pretty to play with :)





THURSDAY

Experimentation, building and testing our ideas is a big part of being in kindergarten. Today your challenge is to build a boat! Use whatever materials you can find in your house. Even tinfoil alone is enough to build a pretty neat boat!

@apinchofkinder

Fill a small container with water to see if it floats. Use rocks or coins to test your boat’s strength. Can you modify your boat in some way so that it can hold even more weight? Draw a picture of your boat and label the materials you used.

Just use what you can find at home!







FRIDAY

PASSION PROJECT DAY!

Have you heard of Chatterpix?? It’s a FREE app that our kindergarteners learned how to use in class this year. It’s a way to make photos talk. So for example, if a child drew a picture of a dinosaur, they could use the app to take a picture of the dinosaur and have the dinosaur speak and share facts. It might be a great way for your child to share what they know about their passion project topic. 







How amazing are these questions!? 
How deep are black holes?
Is there a portal in space?
Are we alone in the universe?


Feel free to try out some of Ms. Lecocq’s MUSIC activities  today.

 One last thing...

I want to support your kiddos in their reading at home. I've included some reading strategies to try out with your kiddos in the literacy section of our Google Drive folder. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about them. If you're up for it, make a Raz-Kids recording of a first reading attempt. It's easier for me to provide feedback if I can hear them work their way through new text. No pressure though! 




Have a wonderful week of learning! I hope you find some time to go adventuring and exploring. It's one of our very favourite things to do. Find a new place and get lost! 

Lots of love,
Miss Roberts 💖