Good morning dear friends,

As we anxiously await direction around how curriculum and instruction will be delivered moving forward, I wanted to share our daily schedule with you so that you can begin to create some sort of routine during your days together at home.

Children love routine. They thrive on it. They need it. We have a visual schedule posted that the children look at first thing every single morning. It guides our day, offers children predictability and structure and keeps you sane when they ask (for the 756^th time), when it is snack/gym/library/play time. Make it visible for them, add pictures to it, and always refer to the schedule when they have questions about the day. Over time, you will start to see them using this independently (which means less questions for you 😊).

8:40-9:00 

ARRIVAL TIME & MORNING INVITATIONS

9:00-9:30 

SHARING / MINDFULNESS TIME 

9:30-10:10 

LEARNING ACTIVITY 

10:15-10:30 

SNACK 

10:30-11:00 

CENTRE TIME 

11:00-11:15 

GYM / EXERCISE 

(squeeze in as many minutes of exercise as you can!) 

11:15-11:30 

STORY TIME

ARRIVAL TIME & MORNING INVITATIONS (20 – 25 minutes)

Before students arrive each morning, I ALWAYS put on some peaceful music and set out some invitations for them to engage in as they begin the day. The music sets the tone for the space. This is a calm, peaceful place and we are calm and peaceful when we are here. The invitations offer something for them to do INDEPENDENTLY while I welcome the other students and get ready for our day. Our morning invitations generally involve:

LETTERS (sounding out simple words, matching upper and lower case letters, matching pictures with their beginning letter sound, looking through simple books, etc.)

NUMBERS/MATH (matching numbers and quantities, playing one of our number games, puzzles, printing numbers on whiteboards, sorting objects, making patterns, measuring, etc) Check out Mrs. Seddon's blog for more math inspiration! http://mrs-seddonyyc.blogspot.com/

FINE MOTOR (beads, push pins into cork, picking up coins and putting them into a penny bank, picking up items with tongs/tweezers, playdough or plasticine, etc.)

WHITEBOARDS/PAPER for free choice drawing and writing

LOOSE PARTS (random items that can be used to create pieces of art, neat sculptures, etc.)

I will send out more specific and detailed morning invitations and activities in the weeks to come, but wanted to give you some ideas to get you started.

CARPET TIME / SHARING TIME (30 minutes)

This is one of my favourite parts of our day. It’s when we come together to share ideas, to learn more about each other, reflect on what we are grateful for, to calm ourselves, and to be mindful. The focus of this time is to get the children talking about themselves, their feelings, and their experiences. We’re building their oral language skills and their vocabulary, while also connecting with one another. We learn that everyone has different experiences and ideas and that’s ok! Not just ok, it’s welcomed, valued and encouraged! It is our differences that make us special and unique. We do this through sharing circles (where each child shares about something they are thinking/feeling) and through mindful moments.

Each morning when we gather together on the carpet, we close our eyes and take a few big, slow, deep breaths together (try it right now 😊). This helps us all to feel calm, connected and fully present in the day we are about to share together. I would highly encourage you to share in some mindful moments with your child throughout the day. It connects us and helps us regulate the big feelings we are experiencing. This is just as much for you as it is for them!!

LEARNING ACTIVITY (30-40 minutes)

This is the focused lesson time of our day. It may be a new letter we are focusing on, a math challenge, a building challenge, journal prompt, art activity, or something relating to our latest area of inquiry. We use stories, videos, or nature as springboards to inspire the children and then they each engage in some independent work time. I look forward to sharing some possible learning activities for you to engage in with your child after spring break.

SNACK (15 minutes)

After children complete their work for the day, they wash their hands and have a snack.

CENTRE TIME (30-40 minutes)

This is the part of our day that the children love the most. It’s when they get to explore their own ideas and interests. This is our time to build, create, problem solve, construct, paint, pretend, invent and PLAY! My goal during this time is finding a way to bring the children’s ideas to life. How can I contribute to their play in such a way that makes them think more deeply or approach a challenge in a different way? I ask open-ended questions such as:

Can you tell me a bit about what you are making?

I wonder what would happen if…?

Where did you get the idea to build/make/create that?

What inspired you?

What do you think you might add next?

And whenever possible, get down on the floor and PLAY WITH THEM! They love this! Harness your inner 5 year old and let your imagination soar. I promise it will benefit both of you 😁

GYM / EXERCISE (30 minutes)

Just get moving! Too cold to go outside? Do a home workout video together! Search family workouts on YouTube and get everybody moving and grooving!

STORY TIME (15 minutes)

We end our days by coming together on the carpet to share a story or two. Ask your child many questions throughout the story. Comment on the characters. How are they feeling? Why are they doing the things they are doing? What do you think will happen next? Make sure to ask both literal and inferential questions. I often ask children what they think certain stories are trying to teach us. I am often surprised by how many of our little kiddos miss the overarching lesson behind the story.

I know that our daily routine won’t fit perfectly into your home routine, but I hope that in sharing, you might be inspired to give some structure and routine to your days at home. Start small. Start with the first hour and gradually work your way to a whole-day routine, allowing for plenty of flexibility and change as needed.

Let this BLOG be a rich resource for you! There are almost 4 YEARS of weekly updates on here around what happens in our kindergarten classroom. If you view the blog on a computer (or view web version from your mobile device), you can use the blog archive on the right-hand side to view posts by month/year. Check out what we were up to this week last year!

Thank you for your patience as we navigate these new times. Please stay tuned for more specific activities and guidance around curriculum in the coming weeks.

Thinking of you! 💖

With love,

Miss Roberts :)

P.S. Please tell those amazing kiddos of yours I said hello!

Each morning and afternoon when children enter the classroom, there are invitations for them set out on the table. Invitations to create, discover and problem solve! This might be one of my favourite times in our day. It is a peaceful transition time as everyone comes in and begins the day together. It's a time when children know they need to play independently while I do the attendance and greet everyone at the door. Here are a couple of our morning invitations from this week...

Tuesday's focus was literacy. I always offer enough stations to address a variety of skill levels and give the children the ability to choose what they would like to engage in. I was SO proud of the writing that happened on this day. We're all writers now!!! Every single one of us.

 

 

On Wednesday, I offered a variety of loose parts on the tables and said, "CREATE!" They dove in without hesitation and created so many cool and interesting things! I love the diversity of what they came up with. 

"Loose parts play is a type of play that supports invention, divergent thinking, problem solving and offers a sense of wonder to children. They are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials."

Guardian Childcare & Education

 

 

 

 

 

In preparation for our student-led conferences on March 19th and 20th, the children have been preparing some quiz questions to ask you about what animals do in the winter. They are SO excited about this. Start studying now :)

 

On the following day, we explored a new app on the iPads called ChatterKid. We used the app to make our animal art from last week come alive! They loved every second of this. The adorable video clips we made wouldn't load onto this blog post, so you'll have to come in and view them in person! The kiddos are excited to teach you how they created these.

 

This week's letter was J. The children have been exploring new and interesting places in the classroom to do their work. 

Classroom Information and Reminders

1. We have been extra-diligent with our hand-washing in class lately. Please reinforce this at home by reminding your children how to properly wash their hands with soap, for an adequate amount of time. 

2. Exciting news! We have a new student starting in our morning class on Monday. This wasn't confirmed until today so I didn't have a chance to share this with the morning group. If at all possible, please have a conversation with your child about what it would be like to start in a brand new school and how they can make our new friend feel welcome at Briar Hill School. 

Have a beautiful weekend!

Miss Roberts :)

 

We loved "Drop Everything And Read" time this week!

 

Inline skating filled our week and it was AWESOME! The persistence, dedication and determination the kiddos brought to our sessions each day was absolutely amazing. Thank you SO MUCH to all of the volunteers who made time to come out and help us with our gear each day. Our last inline skating session will be Monday.

We even got to skate in the dark with a laser light show!

We also managed to squeeze in some free choice journal writing and focused on the letter I. The kiddos love their helmets so much they chose to keep them on all day 😂

 

 

 

Here are a few centre time highlights from the week...

 

 

 We love slime!!!

 

Classroom Information and Reminders

1. Friday, March 6 is a non-instructional day. There is no school for morning or afternoon students.

2. Mrs. Seddon is back! She will be in on Monday. I'll see you all on Tuesday :)

Miss Roberts