Adventures in Kindergarten

H is for HOUSE! This week in kindergarten we focused on the letter H. We used this opportunity to talk about the special places where we live and the things about each of our homes that make them unique. The children were thrilled to draw a representation of their home and tell me ALL about it.

Here's what they had to say about their homes...

(another great opportunity to practice our oral language skills)

"This is the couch and the tv and the chandelier. Here’s my kitchen and my fridge. My mom is cooking. Dad is outside spraying our weeds. My sister is on her bed. My other sister is going crazy. I’m just playing in my room. I love that my room is close to my sister’s room."

"This is our venus fly trap we have on our table. That’s the bed. That’s our mom and dad’s bedroom. These 2 triangles are me and my brother’s bedrooms. These are the stairs that go to nowhere. This is the very small, small door and the 2 little windows. I love my bedroom because I can see the park and the street and even the school!"

"Can you see there are eleven stairs here? I count them every day. There’s a garage door. It actually has these lines on it. I always see eggs on top of the fridge. My favourite part of my house is playing downstairs. It’s really big. I like to play with hot wheels down there."

We practiced printing the letter H and drew pictures of things that begin with this letter. Exciting news...we have officially become writers! Writing begins by communicating ideas through pictures, experimenting with letters and labelling our drawings with beginning letter sounds. Some of our early writers have even attempted to record middle or ending sounds as well. Woo hoo!

A large part of being in kindergarten is learning to represent and communicate our ideas in a variety of ways. Each week, children are invited to express what they know through diverse materials, provocations, conversations and learning challenges. As children play and create, they are experimenting with new concepts and solidifying their ideas. One of our learning opportunities this week invited children to build a home out of a variety of building materials. Can you see the little families inside?

We also have a very popular new house centre! They were over the moon about this new addition to our classroom.

On Thursday we talked about family traditions and what it means to be grateful. We learned that each family has their own way of honouring holidays (such as Thanksgiving), and children shared about how they plan on celebrating with their family this weekend. There was a lot of talk about pumpkin pie! We learned about what it means to give thanks and reflected on the many things we are grateful for.

Classroom Info and Reminders:

1. We frequently take water breaks throughout our time at school. Please ensure your child brings a water bottle with them each day.

2. We have now spent time learning about 3 alphabet letters (P, F and H). This is a good time to check-in and see how your child is understanding what we're doing at school. Here are a few fun ways to practice letter concepts at home:

Go on a hunt around your house looking for things that begin with these 3 letters (you can have your child help you with this or have this prepared ahead of time). Next, have your child sort the items based on their initial letter sound. This should be easy-peasy for them at this point. If it's not, no problemo! That just means they might need a little more practice. Feel free to snap some pics and let me know how it goes!
Point out these 3 letters on every sign, book and box you see. Ask your child what sound each letter makes as you point it out. Repetition, repetition, repetition!
Do a letter hunt in your fridge and cupboards. Can you find P, H and F anywhere on the labels? Help your child to understand that letters are EVERYWHERE!