We Are Spending A Lot Of Time Working On Fine-Motor Activities In September

Will A Coconut Float?

We continued exploring the properties of coconuts. When we "wondered" about coconuts the day the coconut was introduced, there was lots of chatter about coconuts being heavy/light.  We posed the question of whether a coconut would sink or float.  This lead into an exciting experiment and we spent an additional day exploring the concept of sinking and floating with objects in our water table. 

Fun With Coconuts!

We were working on the letter Cc and the children were also really enjoying the book Chicka Boom Boom. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring a coconut into our classroom!  We encouraged the children to talk about this interesting object. Many children told us they already knew lots of facts about coconuts. The children were absolutely fascinated by the sound of liquid jostling around as they shook the coconut. We heard many great theories about this liquid and soon we had lots of requests to "smash open the coconut" and get the liquid out! 

The next day we brainstormed how to do so and we were extremely curious about how to manage the very hard shell. We saw a brief video about opening coconuts and we tired the approach we had observed. It worked!

The children really wanted to see what the inside of a coconut looks like.  We decided to continue using the hammer!

Yummy Applesauce!

Looking For The "Magic Star" and Apple Prints

We kicked off our "Alphabet Bootcamp" on Monday and we followed up with some apple fun to reinforce the letter Aa. We read a book about apples and the children learned that there is a star shape inside of apples. We just had to explore that fascinating idea! And, as you will see in another post, we decided to make applesauce!

Storytime Visits With Donna Are The Best!

Lines, Lines And More Lines!

Our First Day Was A Big Success!

Mrs. Beselaere and I are just thrilled with how our first day went. It was a full day! The pictures below show just a few highlights. 

The children listened attentively to 2 stories today.

Everyone completed a "First Day Of JK or SK" memory page during our 2 centre times.

We went for a tour of the school and learning all about walking in the hallways.

We went to the "Big Gym". What a big space!

Room 106 - Ready For Our New Class

The images above show some of the centres we had ready for our first day.

Special Certificates For Special Students!

We wanted to wrap up this wonderful year by awarding every child with a certificate. The certificates recognized something unique and special about each child. The students sure got a kick out of walking the red carpet, shaking our hands, receiving a special chocolate medal, and having photos taken with us.  Mrs. Beselaere and I loved how the children sat patiently listening to the words we said about all 28 of the students and we really enjoyed hearing them break out into huge applause 28 times!  It was a fantastic way to finish our last day!

Turtle Time

We enjoyed meeting Harper's special pet turtle on the last day of school. Thanks for the visit!

The Glow Dance Was A Blast!

Thanks so much to Gino and family for sharing your glow necklaces and to Cohen's family for sharing the glow fingers.

Rhyming Fun

The children had a knack for rhyming all year long. In June, we spent some time enjoying the classic song "Down By The Bay".  The children wrote their own rhymes to finish off "Did you ever see a ...?".  One of their favourite creations was "Did you ever see a teacher, kissing a creature?".  We celebrated the end of the home reading program with juicy slices of watermelon.  Please check out Raffi's song on YouTube and encourage your child to keep rhyming this summer!

Wish Flower Update

We "wished" to grow wish flowers some time ago! 
Our dandelion-growing experience was a success!

Pretty Peonies

Gino wanted to bring these beauties to school last week. He told his Mom that his classmates would enjoy painting them. He was right! Not only did a lovely painting opportunity come through these flowers, we also tied in some science! Gino taught his classmates about the connection between ants and budding peonies.

Happy Graduation Grade 8 Big Buddies!

Our FDK students develop strong friendships with their Big Buddies. From early on in September we see the grade seven and eight students every week. The Tropical Chill party was our final get together. The "Little Buddies" made paper plate versions of their Buddies (including special grad hats for the Gr. 8 students!) as a special surprise gift. 

All About Snakes

Recently Harrison brought in a snake skin he and his Dad found in his backyard. This generated a lot of conversation! Snakes are very fascinating and the children have learned many interesting facts about these reptiles. 

We Made Our Own Tropical Chill Dramatic Play Centre!

Thanks Evans Family For The Tropical Chill Treats!

We were lucky enough to be treated to some refreshing shaved ice this week. Lachlan's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, parked their Tropical Chill vehicle right by the FDK classrooms. Our Big Buddies also took part in the yummy fun! It was so exciting selecting and pumping different flavours and covering the "snow". Mr. Evans gave us a demonstration of how the machine works and the children were able to use the foot pump and create shaved ice. What a great way to wrap-up an amazing year with our grade 7/8 Buddies. Thanks again Mr. and Mrs. Evans!

Farm Fun Continued!

The learning and exploration with farm materials continued for quite awhile. The children really enjoyed researching different farm animals using library books and they wrote reports about them listing 3 facts. 

We Had An Incredible Time At Point Pelee!

Thanks to all of our wonderful family members for joining us for our year-end field trip. It was a day filled with lots of nature, fresh air, and fun!

Monthly Library Storytime Sessions

One of our monthly highlights for the past school year has been Donńa's visits.  She always brought the most exciting stories, props, and puppets. The students enjoyed all of her finger plays and songs. Donna also treated us to a new collection of library books every month. The children always looked forward to getting a new batch of books as they were able to pick 1 for their "book boxes" for independent reading time. In addition, Donna was always willing to locate books related to topics of interest in our classroom. What a wonderful service! We are hopeful that the children will visit Donna in the Children's Room at the Library this summer. 

Learning About Symmetry Through Butterfly Activities

With all of the "butterfly talk" going on in our classroom recently, we had a perfect
opportunity to tie in the math concept of symmetry.  The children enjoying making designs on the light table (bottom picture)
as well as with craft materials and paint.

We Went To The Park For Our Jewel Jar Reward!

What a wonderful outing! We are fortunate to have this park so close by!

Farm Fun!

Our students became very interested in exploring farming after
seeing the awesome barn and tractors above in the classroom next door. Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. O'Donohue were kind enough to share these items and they are a hit! 
We are having a wonderful time talking about farm animals and experiencing new and classic stories and songs such as "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"!

Dandelion Growing Update

We are having some success with our 
growing experiment!
After an outdoor experience, the children 
wanted to "harvest"
and plant dandelion seeds. They are 
taking great care to water
their seeds daily.

Our Show, Party and Bonus Butterfly Release

We had an amazing turn-out on Monday.
Thanks so much for joining us.
The children did a fabulous job
presenting their musical numbers.
It was an incredible chance to show off
the dance number the children learned in the
dance classes with Miss Brittany from PURE
Academy.  The party in the classroom was a
ball! We are so glad we were able to share
the experience of releasing our butterflies
with all of our special guests!

Caterpillar Update

We had an incredible time monitoring our caterpillars last week! This post will walk you through our week!

DAY 1

Many children started recording their observations right off the bat! This student wrote "I see black and I see brown" on the first day.  These observations were made through the cup as the lids were closed!
                 DAY 2

             

Day 2 was extremely exciting as we took the lids off and found caterpillars! 

                DAY 4

As a student wrote in her observational booklet, the caterpillars were "hanging".  All of them had made their way to the top of the cups and were starting to suspend themselves on the lids. 

             DAY 5

We started Day 5 (Friday) with the excitement of finding that one of our caterpillars had already formed a chrysalis. We finished the day by taping the paper liner that the chrysalis was attached to on the screen for our aquarium. Mrs. Garrow took the rest of the cups home for the weekend to keep an eye on them! Two days later a visit was made to the school so all of the cocoons could be attached to the screen.  Now the waiting begins!