We started our week with the most magical monday! We read a story called Tiny, Perfect Things that highlighted how many beautiful things we can find in nature if we stop to take a closer look. Inspired to find some tiny perfect nature treasures of our own, we headed outside and brought iPads with us to capture our findings. 

Our kiddos are spectacular photographers! Take a look at these amazing photos THEY took (there were literally HUNDREDS of amazing shots...these are a few of my personal faves).

K is for KINDNESS! We explored many stories and activities that focused on kindness this week. We wore our pink shirts proudly and talked about the possibility of one small act of kindness changing the whole world. Imagine what kind of world it would be if we ALL went out of our way to act with kindness and care, every single moment of every single day. Children reflected on one thing they could do to spread kindness at school or at home. 

Many children chose to write a kind note to a friend or family member during centre time. This was PRECIOUS! Watching them deliver these notes to their classmates was so special.

Each day when children arrive at school, they sign-in by answering a survey question. We then look at the results together and talk about what we see, focusing on math vocabulary such as more/less, one more/one less, equal, most, least, and we discuss different strategies to count large groups accurately (such as checking off or marking each name we have counted). They love this so much that I wanted to give them all an opportunity to create a survey of their own. Each child came up with their own question to ask their classmates and went around gathering data. When everyone was finished, we looked at the results and made statements based on our findings. The kiddos were eager to bring these surveys home, so look for them in your child's backpack! Ask them what they know to be true, based on their survey. For example, they may say:

"I know that more people like rainbows than bunnies." 

"I know that 8 people chose tigers and 6 people chose giraffes. 8 is more than 6."

"Most people chose volcanoes over earthquakes."

"Miss Roberts likes strawberries more than apples." 

(This is also great way for them to practice reading each other's names!)

In an effort to add more detail and information to our drawings, we're learning to add backgrounds to our pictures. To help us practice this tricky new skill, we have a new landscape painting centre that has been very popular this week.

⭐  Reading Tip of the Week ⭐

After reading a book with your child, write out one of the sentences from the text and cut apart each word. Have your child put the sentence back in order, making sure to leave a space between each word. You can also try holding up one word at a time to see if they can identify the words out of order. Have your child pick their favourite word from the sentence and practice writing it down or making it with playdough or small items around the house. Try searching for some of these words in other books around the house or when you're out and about at the store. Reading doesn't have to stop when you flip over the last page! As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about your child's reading progress.

I'll leave you with some fun pictures of our new office centre, some centre time goodness and a new game we played in the gym.

Mrs. Planden will be in tomorrow (Friday) and on Monday of next week. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Miss Roberts