jeudi le 27 octobre

Salut, les amis.

I apologize for the lack of an update yesterday. It was a very busy day, and I somehow couldn't sit down at the end of it to write to you... it was one of those days where all you can seem to bring yourself to do is to crash! [[Hopefully you know what I'm talking about... although I'm sure that many of the parents out there have some pretty amazing strategies for holding onto energy (green tea with ginseng and honey works wonders, I'm told... :)). Feel free to share any of your helpful secrets with me!!!]]

We began yesterday with some quiet activities and a little exploration of the literacy centres that I had set up at the tables (Cc comme citrouille pages, Cc livres, C'est l'halloween livres, letter beading and playdoh). I have observed that a few of the SKs seem to require additional challenges, and that - although freedom of choice and time to play are very important - the students all seem more at ease when they are provided with a visual schedule of the day's events and a sense of structure in smaller group settings. Keeping these things in mind, as soon as all of the students had arrived, I had them meet me at the tapis, and we discussed what we were going to do today. I showed examples and went over the expectations for each centre before sending them off to explore the centres. I also made it clear that the students were to finish the activity that was set out at at least one of the tables before going on to select their own play activities. I was happy to see that most of the students stayed engaged in the centres, and I was particularly impressed with many of the SK girls' "c'est l'halloween" books! They turned out very well. :) I enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the students at each of the tables. I hope that you have a chance to read your child's "Cc" livre with him/her. Many of the vocabulary words happen to be in the first level Alphajeune reader, which is what we will be using to assess the progress that students have made in reading this June. Not every child chose to create a Cc book on mercredi, but I will do my best to ensure that they all take one home for extra practice.

At around 9:40 AM we met back at the tapis and talked about la lettre Cc, in addition to a review of Aa and Bb. We played a brief circle game with Monsieur Squelette (who was a white balloon with a skeletal face drawn on by yours truly). I then taught the class the basic steps to 'The Monster Mash.' (This was good for French counting practice, as we counted the number of steps that we were taking in each direction, etc.). The students then prepared for their first nutritional break.

When they returned from recess, I met briefly with the whole class to discuss 'sorting rules.' I used examples taken directly from the environment, by having different groups of students with one thing in common stand up (e.g., all girls; all wearing something black). It was up to the class to determine which "rule" I was using to sort the students in this way. I went on to provide another example using different shapes and colours of buttons, and asked them to guess what "rule" I was using to sort them a few different times. I then allowed the JKs to play at the sorting centres, and discussed les nombres un, deux, et trois with the SK students. I introduced a little bit of addition using seasonal objects (e.g., pictures of ghosts, pumpkins, etc.)and was happy to see how well they were catching on to "c'est combien?" Afterwards, I sent the SKs to play at the math centres, and had the JKs meet me at the tapis. I was rather amazed at how many different stages of development are represented in the classroom! Splitting up the class like this is really telling of that fact. With the JKs, we practiced un, deux et trois, and I had them count seasonal objects to tell me combien de choses etaient la, before returning to play.

As the students played, I called small groups over to create "les mains des monstres" (monster hands), by filling plastic gloves with 5 Smarties (pour les ongles - nails) and popped popcorn, all tied together with a ribbon. :) I think that these turned out very well, and if your child did not get the chance to make one on Wednesday, please inform him/her that they will have an opportunity to make one on Monday (Halloween Day!).

Maintenant... a little report on today...

The Grade Ones were full of energy, as per usual. :) It was nice to see, and I was a little jealous today! We watched the video that I put together of them performing our dance to 'The Monster Mash,' and we came up with a short list of things that we liked and that we wanted to change about our performance before it was re-taped. (Some of the students seemed to find it difficult to come up with something they didn't like! :)). Following the nutritional break, we sang the "Purple People-eater" song (sans guitar, as I didn't realize it at the time, but some of the students who were playing with my guitar left it in a rather un-tuned way... and I didn't want to hold up the class as I re-tuned it!), and rehearsed our "new and improved" dance twice, before I recorded it. I had the kids make "The Monster Mash" headbands, and I was planning to make one more recording of the dance with everyone wearing their headband... but we ran out of time. :( Oh well! You have to be flexible with these ideas, I suppose. :)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend, and that you're all getting ready for the best Halloween yet!

Mlle Craig

During second nutrition break, I assisted with the Primary Choir, who will be performing at our school's assembly on the 11th of November. Yesterday was their first practice and they are already sounding incredible! Mrs. Lehman and I selected a song called "Let There Be Peace," and I think it sounds like there are a bunch of little angels singing it so far! :) I am really looking forward to working with the choir on some winter/holiday music, as it is my favourite. :) There has been some mention of a possible holiday Drama, which is very exciting to me, and is definitely something that I would like to be a part of!

After the second nutrition break, the class enjoyed some quiet time with les livres de leur choix au tapis. We cleaned up the coat room and got everything ready to go home fairly early on so that the students could enjoy some free play time at the end of the day.

I am looking forward to our Halloween festivities on Monday! Our parade throughout the school will begin just after 12:00 PM, and the students could use your help with putting on costumes... so if you can make it, we would love to see you around 11:30 AM. :) Following our parade, there will be a party in the classroom with some special centres, games, treats, etc. Please feel free to bring in a treat as long as it is nut-free! There are 19 students in the class, now that the re-organization has occurred.

mardi le 25 octobre 2011

Bonjour tout le monde!

The weather was rainy, but that didn't seem to put a damper on the overall Grade One energy level this morning. :) We began by practicing our dance to "The Monster Mash" that we learned last week. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students who remembered all of the dance moves! Maybe some have been practicing? We rehearsed the dance a total of 3 times before the first nutrition break, and after the students returned from recess, I videotaped the class performing together! We are going to begin Thursday's class by watching this video and discussing ways that we can improve how our dance looks to an audience. Following our rehearsal and taping, I introduced the song "Purple People-Eater," which I attempted to play on the guitar. :) The class caught on very quickly to the song, and was able to sing the whole first verse and chorus with actions faster than I had anticipated. Yay! We ended the class with a drama exercise in which students acted out various emotions and the class guessed what they were representing. It was quite funny to watch - especially the "excited" emotion, which many people mistook for "happy."

I will now proceed to blather on about yesterday's workshop! :) It was a really inspiring one for me. The presenters talked about how we can more effectively use guided reading in the classroom. They gave a bunch of wonderful examples of how read-alouds can be used as a springboard for showing students how to re-tell stories (which is an important skill to be learned in Kindergarten). They also talked quite extensively about assessment, and how the idea of assessment in Kindergarten is changing. They are now recommending 'at-a-glance' observation to be tracked throughout the day on corresponding sheets, as well as photos, videos, checklists and portfolios to be collected as evidence of student learning. I will have to revisit the papers that they gave us in this regard as it is all very interesting, and I hope that it can be applied within the classroom! A story that they read to us at the workshop that I would really love to read to the class was called "Big Al." It's sort of a character education book about acceptance... a great read!

Another thing that got me thinking yesterday was the lack of truly developmentally-appropriate French Immersion Kindergarten resources that seem to exist at the moment. It seems that books that you want to read in class, etc. just haven't been designed for beginning language learners. I think it would be great to have books and other materials that have been written so that children who are just beginning to learn French can understand them with the fluency intact (e.g., not always having to stop and translate from French back to English). Maybe this could be something of a side project?
:) Let me know if you're interested and maybe we could work on something together...

Enterprisingly dreamingly yours,  ;)

Mlle Craig

vendredi le 21 octobre 2011

Well... it's been a very informative and productive PD Day here at l'école. :) We met to discuss a wide range of topics at our staff meeting this morning. Then, we broke off into our divisional groups to discuss some current issues. At the moment, I am getting a few things organized in the realms of assessment/evaluation, and I think that I will spend some time preparing for my supply teacher on Monday, as I am attending an in-service workshop during the day that will focus on Kindergarten Literacy development. :)

I hope that everyone is enjoying their vendredi, whatever they might be up to!

Mlle Craig

jeudi le 20 octobre 2011

Aujourd'hui I had the privilege of accompanying Mrs. Baxter's Grade One class downtown to see "Dufflebag Theatre's" presentation of "Dracula." It was an interesting experience to say the least. Today I learned that young children often become quite excited about field trips, and that it is wonderful to have volunteers in the class during such excursions! :) I think that my ability to walk backwards has really improved over the past month or so (I usually do this just so that I can watch the entire group of kids as we are in transit)... but that strategy was put to the test this morning by a few children who decided it would be fun to out-walk me! :)

Thankfully, we somehow managed to stay together, cross the street, and enter the Fergus Grand Theatre without any major incident. The play was quite comical - a nice blend of improvisation with audience involvement. Count Dracula was, in my opinion, the best character and her ability to speak in accent for over an hour was truly impressive! The kids really seemed to enjoy this performance, and only needed a few reminders to keep their feet off of the seats ahead of them, etc. :)

We walked back to the school and the students ate a late snack, as our schedule had been altered because of the travel time. After the students ate, we talked a bit about our favourite parts of the play, and certain features of the performance that we found to be particularly striking. Next, we tried out our own acting skills with a game of Halloween-themed charades and Pattern Master. I led the class in a series of "repeat after me" songs, and then I provided them with some free-choice activity time. A number of the students saw this as an opportunity to draw some detailed pictures for Mr. Cassano and Mrs. Hopf, which I delivered to the office upon the arrival of the occasional teacher who was taking over for the remainder of the day. :)

Since my day was rather short  - due to the fact that I was only responsible for planning time - I returned home a little later on (after doing a little organizing of my own materials in the classroom) and took some time out to read "Assessment That Informs Instruction," which is one of the books in the Early Learning Program recommended by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. I WISH THAT I HAD READ THIS BOOK ABOUT 1.5 YEARS AGO!!! :) Assessment is one of the areas that is perhaps the trickiest in my Kindergarten experience. You don't want to put children into test-ish situations, because that doesn't provide a good example of what they actually know... however, at times it seems that there is pressure to record data and you wonder exactly how to best go about doing that so that the assessment is authentic (or maybe I should speak for myself here, but this is the case for me! :)). We have these "Developmental Records" that we are supposed to use to track the progress of every student, and I think that they are really great... but somewhat 'utopic.'This book really opened my eyes to new ways of assessing students - and it also alerted me to the fact that I have been observing perhaps more than I thought I had been! (Digital photos of students at work, videos, and samples of conversations/jot notes are all forms of assessment that are recommended for Kindergarten, as these allow the teacher to view the students in their "natural state of play"). I am going to make use of the suggested Observation sheets and charts to get a little more organized in the area of assessment for next week and beyond. I also have been meaning to have the students create portfolios since the first day of school. This is something that I would still like to attempt to do, especially now that I have a better idea of how to go about implementing a system!

Have a great PD Day tomorrow, and I'll see you on lundi!

Mlle Craig

mercredi le 19 octobre 2011

Quelle journée!

Today reinforced two very important understandings for me:
(1) Wherever possible, do not enter a Kindergarten classroom and attempt to teach on only a few hours' sleep;
(2) Even when it seems like the class "has got it down" routine-wise, it is essential to continually remind the students of the appropriate way to follow all classroom procedures.

On the whole, it was a good day, but there were a few more situations in which some students did not make good use of their words, and chose to solve their problems in an unacceptable physical way. :( In each case, I talked individually to all parties involved and we discussed more suitable ways to deal with conflict in the future (e.g., it is important for us to use our words, and to tell someone that we do not like what s/he is doing instead of using our hands or feet to make the problem more complicated).

We began the morning with Literacy centres that included a review of "Bb" through mini books and rainbow writing; felt board story-writing; beading with letter beads, playdoh and letter stamps, and both sequencing and alphabet-ordering puzzles. During this time, I managed to meet with a small number of students to help them practice writing "Bb" in their 'Sons et lettres' books. Unfortunately, time did not permit us all to finish this letter in our books, and so I have kept them at school for us to re-visit on lundi. It took a little longer than usual for the students to clean up their centre areas and meet at the tapis today, for some reason. A few of them were singing "Rangez, ramassez," but didn't appear to be helping to complete either of the actions that they were singing about! Oops! With a few more rounds of the song and a countdown though, the majority of the class was ready for a brief circle time before gym.

We walked down the hallway to get une boire de l'eau a la fontaine ensemble, and then there was an announcement that a "Lockdown Drill" was going to take place in only a few minutes. We returned to class and prepared for this drill by pretending to be les tortues on le tapis. I covered the windows and made sure that the door was locked. I did have to remind the class a few times to remain silent, as this is key during a Lockdown Drill. If the school were ever to go into lockdown mode, we would need to be as quiet as physically possible! Following the Lockdown Drill, we washed our hands for the first nutritional break. I had to cover lunch duty in Room #2 today, and the students were not quite ready in time to head out for la recréation when the bell rang! :S ! On lundi, I told the class that I will set the timer for them, and they will need to take the responsibility to begin packing up their lunches when it rings. The teacher who is supervising in the room will help the children with this until it becomes like second nature for them. :)

After la collation, the students re-entered the classroom and changed into their indoor shoes. We met at le tapis and played a little game of "Je vois" using a giant poster of a treasure chest that is a Nelson Math resource. The students had to choose an object that they saw on the poster and provide a small hint to their classmates, who would then guess what the object was. I drew the students' attention to the fact that there were multiple objects that seemed to share some common attributes. I then had some volunteers come up and point at the objects that they would group together based on something that the objects had in common. We proceeded to sort the contents of a "real" treasure box (thanks, Karla! :)), and discussed different ways that we could sort the treasures (e.g., by colour, by type of treasure - e.g., bijoux, autre chose - taille, etc.). I then sent the kids to the tables, where I had them draw pictures of their own treasures in treasure boxes. I circulated around the room to see if they could tell me something about the contents of the box and whether the treasures were similar, different, or in a specific grouping for a specific reason. When the kids were finished with this task, I gave them some free choice activity time.

Eventually, we cleaned up (again... cleaning up wasn't exactly a hit today!) and met au tapis, where we read un livre about les sentiments (The Way I Feel). We discussed each emotion en français, and I had the kids demonstrate faces that represented each emotion. We also shared a few stories about times when we had personally experienced the emotion that was featured on each page. When the book was finished, it was time to wash our hands before the second Nutritional break.

Following NAB #2, we had a sing-along with my guitar. :) I taught the kids the chorus to "C'est l'halloween," and I let them choose from many different voices (e.g., like une sorcière, un fantome, etc.) and we tried to sing the chorus just like that particular Halloween-ish creature. We also had some requests for a few other songs, and so we sang "Old MacDonald had a farm" (with French animal names), and "L'alphabet" as well as "Twinkle, Twinkle." After singing these songs, I gave the children some quiet time to read a book of their choice. We had a little bit of free time, and then (somewhat!) cleaned up the classroom and I handed out les sacs-en-plastique for them to take home. We were organized and waiting in our bus lines a little early today, and so we played un petit jeu of Mlle Craig dit, and then sang the "tete, épaules, genoux et pieds" song together. :) I dismissed the children when it was time for them to go, and I really hope that they have had a wonderful night with you!

When school was out, I ran to grab a little dinner with one of the other teachers and we went to see the presenter at our school this evening, Michael Reist. What a wonderful speaker! :) I really took a lot away from this presentation, especially in the area of child psychology, and how what our parents have taught us often becomes how we are "programmed" to parent our own children. He has some excellent advice and really sound research-based ideas. If you are interested in learning more about what was presented tonight (about raising emotionally secure children) you can check out his website at: www.michaelreist.ca . His new book is being published at present, and should be available in late December at Chapters/Indigo. I have a feeling that most of what this man writes is definitely worth a read! :)

Bon week-end, les amis! We are going to be reviewing (and perhaps tweaking some of) our classroom rules and procedures beginning on Monday. If you happen to be talking to your child this weekend, perhaps you could discuss the reasons behind why we need to keep our hands and our feet to ourselves at school - even if we are just playing.

Merci!

Mlle Craig

P.s. One thing I didn't mention was how thankful I am to have great colleagues here at the school! :) I would really like to thank Mlle. Skerritt for her great ideas about the pumpkin life cycle, and Mrs. McKerracher for sharing her resources with me! It's really nice to work at a place where people are always willing to help and to share ideas with each other.

lundi le 17 octobre 2011

Bonjour, les amis!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their day in Room #5. I think that, on the whole, it was a very good day, and I had a great time working with your children. :)

This morning began with Literacy-based centres, including "la vie d'une citrouille" (life cycle of a pumpkin) sequencing with the felt boards; Wiki sticks, textured 'sandpaper' letters and word strips; playdoh with letter stamps (I just purchased some new colours over the weekend, as our supply was looking a little on the brown and crumbly side!), and a 'rainbow writing' and "Bb" practice page that I designed - all of the words on the page were French vocabulary that began with the letter b. The goal was for the students to trace the letters to practice forming them, and then to write those letters on the dotted lines directly below. The students who tried this sheet did very well, and I was happy to see that some JK students were able to not only complete the "rainbow-writing" part of the page, but also took the next step and wrote the letters underneath it very well! Félicitations! :)

At around 9:30 am, the students cleaned up their centres, and we met very briefly at the tapis to discuss our gym activities. The students changed into their outdoor gear and we did some stretching, before heading outside, where we played a few different games with the parachute, inluding one with plastic balls that we made into "mais soufflé." We played a few rounds of "Quel heure est-il, Monsieur Loup," as well, and then returned to the classroom to wash our hands before the first nutritional break.

Following la collation et la recréation, we met au tapis once again and discussed "la vie d'une citrouille" (the life of the pumpkin). We read le livre, "Pumpkin, Pumpkin," by Jean Titherington before reviewing all of the steps in the life cycle of une citrouille. I asked the students to act out each step in the cycle, and they all had very creative representations to share! :) The students then visited math centres that included a reader entitled "Maria compte les citrouilles" (we read and counted the pumpkins together at this table, and then the students coloured the book to take home for extra practice); a cut and paste sequencing activity in which the students coloured diagrams of each step in the life cycle of the pumpkin and then cut and pasted them in order onto a sheet of construction paper; and two sorting tables filled with seasonal manipulatives (les araignées et les vers de terre were quite popular!) for the students to use to practice their sorting skills. Math today was followed by a baking activity! As a class we worked together to make pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies. :) I was surprised at how well these turned out... they had an almost muffin-like consistency. Hopefully you got to try a bit of the one that I sent home with the students in little zip-loc bags!

After the second nutritional break, we had a little bit of quiet time and then walked (very well, might I add!) down to la bibliothèque, where we met up with Mrs. McKerracher's class and Mme. Tovell read (in her wonderfully animated way! :)) a book called "Mister Seahorse," by Eric Carle. The students seemed to find it interesting to learn a little bit about the biology of sea creatures in this context. When the read-aloud was complete, the students were given an opportunity to check out two new books to read at home. It seems that many of them gravitate toward the graphic novels that are meant for higher grades (5-6 I'd say). I am going to see if I can possibly find some graphic-novel-type books for beginning readers in French... maybe through Scholastic. I think that these would be a great way to get some of the kids more interested in reading!

Tonight I attended a workshop as a part of the New Teacher Induction Program. I am so excited to have such a wonderful opportunity to network and to connect with people who are very experienced and knowledgeable in the areas of assessing students. I picked up a number of strategies that I hope to apply within the classroom - particularly in regards to taking better anecdotal notes and for making more effective checklists to capture what I observe going on with each student.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday! We are going to learn the classic song "C'est l'halloween," learn more about la lettre Bb (and review what we know so far of the French alphabet), and also practice le numéro un et deux. :)

Mlle Craig

Photos de la semaine

vendredi le 14 octobre 2011

Where did the week go???? I guess that's what happens with the days that follow a long weekend... they sure fly by! I'm sorry that I haven't written in the past few days (I'm sure the suspense has been killing people. Hahaha! Yeah... right! ;)) Anyway, it's been a quality Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Here's a brief synopsis just for you:

Mercredi

In the morning, the students visited literacy centres based on la lettre 'Bb.' These included a taste test and graphing of "les bonbons préférés" (I had the students design their own representation of the candies and place them onto the graph); the classic game of 'Candyland' - again because of les bonbons!; a 'blé d'Inde'(Indian corn) craft using found materials; and a structured page on which students were asked to draw pictures of themselves eating pieces of their favourite 'bonbons.'

We then met at the carpet and briefly discussed the letter and sound for "Bb," before heading outside for some gym time. We played "l'écureil et le citrouille" (which is a fun variation on Duck, Duck, Goose in which one of the students is the squirrel who drops the mini gourd into the hand of another student to 'choose' him or her to chase them); and hunted for pumpkins in the playground. I also provided some free play time outdoors for the children to play on the equipment, as I was fearing an indoor recess!

Upon their arrival back inside the classroom, we played a sorting game together at the carpet. I had glued some pictures of different types of food onto construction paper pumpkins, and written "parfois," "toujours" and "jamais" on a sheet of green cardstock. I had the kids work together with a partner to choose a pumpkin and place it in the correct location on the cardstock depending on whether or not the food was healthy to eat sometimes, always, or never. :) I'm happy to report that they did very well with this activity! Afterwards, the children visited sorting centres that included fall-themed items, and worked on their number books for le numéro un. When they had finished at the centres I provided them with some free choice activity time.

The kids cleaned up and I read them a story at the carpet called "Les belles feuilles d'automne" (Beautiful fall leaves), and we had a little discussion about the book before I sent them to wash their hands for the second nutritional break.

Following the second nutritional break, we visited la bibliothèque. We read a character education book together called "Je travaille en équipe," and we talked about how our class is a bit like a team that we are all playing on. If we work together, things just seem to go better for everyone involved! The kids chose some new books and we signed them out, then headed back to the classroom where I handed out their mailbags and we got ready to go home before enjoying a few more minutes of play.

Jeudi

I changed my mind about bringing in my guitar, etc. for Grade One music. I thought that it would be better to try to get to know the students a bit more before bringing in instruments and having a sing-along. Instead, we talked about how "Music is all around us." I showed the class a clip from the movie August Rush (It's called City Symphony if you feel bored enough to look it up on Youtube!), and we played a charades/pictionary game in which the kids acted out things in their environment that made "music-like" sounds. Afterwards, we read a book entitled "Just a Song in My Head" which tells the tale of a bunch of different animals and how they are all inspired by one another to have a song stuck in their heads... but in different ways (e.g., one thinks of the song as a whisper, and another as a whistle). We then chose a song to get stuck in the class' head... we went with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." I grouped the kids and had them work together to think of different ways of presenting this song (e.g., whistling, snapping/clapping, humming, opera style), and then had them perform it for the rest of the class. They did a pretty good job overall, but there were a few students who were rather hesitant to participate! I started to introduce the song "The Monster Mash" to the class, as well. I am no choreographer, but I am planning to develop and teach the class a dance based on the song in the weeks to come, as it fits in so well with the Halloween vibe that is going on!

Vendredi
Today was a good day, but everyone seemed a little 'off' - possibly because of the rainy weather!

We began our day with literacy centres - again based on Bb. These included: Wiki sticks, Candyland, B, b, b, comme les blocs, and Bb readers (similar to the Aa readers that the students decorated and read last week). The kids were also free to practice their writing and to visit the computer to play French games during this time. They all worked so very well this morning!!! I was impressed. We then went outside to play a few active games - dodgeball; rouge, jaune, vert; and Quel heure est-il Mademoiselle Loup? - before washing our hands for the first nutritional break.

Following the first break, we met at the carpet and talked about l'alphabet. We reviewed the letters of the alphabet in French with a fun song from my French CD, and then I had the students practice "air-writing" Bb. We read the new page in "Le grand livre de l'alphabet," this one reads "B, b, b, comme baton!" The kids seemed to like pretending to swing un baton de baseball! Maybe we should have a pinata at the Halloween party after all! We then began a discussion about the life cycle of the pumpkin. I showed them diagrammed pictures and they acted out each phase of the cycle. We also passed a real little pumpkin around the circle to get a sense of the weight and texture.

Our "special guest," Freggie then came to visit us in class, and two nursing students came in along with him to talk to us about the importance of healthy eating! :) I have never had the pleasure of seeing Freggie before, and actually found him to be quite hilarious! :) The kids seemed to really enjoy this little presentation.

Following the second nutritional break, we had some free play time, and I circulated the room and took notes on the play that I noticed that the students were engaging in. I then gave the students some quiet time to read at the carpet and we enjoyed a bonbon because it was vendredi! Le monstre, Pierre, then handed out les sacs-en-plastique, and we got ready to go home.

I'm looking forward to next week - we will be talking more about Bb and the life cycle of the pumpkin, and reading some good books that go along with these areas of the curriculum. On Monday, I hope to make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies together as a class. I may, however, be attending a workshop during the day (if I can find a way to Guelph!), so we'll have to wait and see. An October newsletter is on the way!

Bon week-end!

Mlle Craig

mardi le 11 octobre 2011

Bonjour!

Aujourd'hui on a commencé un nouveau aventure. :) I couldn't help but peek into the classroom a few times over the course of the day today (as I was on my "planning time") to see the kids. I miss teaching them so much already! I just wanted to let you know that I think that Mlle B is doing a wonderful job! She knows so much about technology, and I know that the students will learn a lot of valuable things from her! :)

I had fun in Grade One today! As I am now responsible for teaching them Drama, Dance and Music, I began with some fun "get-to-know you" activities. We sang the song "Bungalow" and played the drama games "At the party" (which is a variation on charades) and "Get my Attention" (which is a little competition to see who can hold the attention of the audience the best through an impromptu speech! :)) The audience selects the topic, and it's great fun. I look forward to beginning some spooky tunes with the class on Tuesday... I might even bring my guitar! ;) (Perhaps an even scarier thought!)

Mlle Craig

vendredi le 7 octobre 2011

Joyeuse action de graces!

This morning's literacy centres were designed to be festive, with a repeat of the "make your own hand turkey," playdoh and a cornucopia-based "Merci pour" page that I created for the students to complete. What was interesting for me to see was the unique 'spin' that they put on these activities! I saw everything from a "monster dinde" to a beautiful pastoral scene with a rainbow, grass and a happy-looking little oiseau in the distance. :) I am sad that so many of the students left their work at school... it's such a great example of how active the right-hemispheres of their brains are at this age. They truly are capable of innovation! The class cleaned up exceptionally well this morning, and were rewarded with a handful of the biggest pompoms that I could find in the jar. They were ready on the tapis for gym avec Mme. Murray, and I was very proud of their efforts!

I was called in to cover the Grade One class for a few minutes during my planning time, and this happened to be during another practice fire drill. Mme Murray and I had been helping the JK/SK students out of the school during our last two fire drills, so I was curious to see how well they did... good news! They worked together very well once again. :)

The students enjoyed their nutritional break and first recess outside in the Kindergarten yard. We then embarked on a nature walk to admire the colours, shapes and sounds of l'automne, and to collect some leaves as well. When we returned to the classroom, the students changed into their indoor shoes and we met at the carpet for a few minutes to sing "Bonne fete" to one of the students, who had brought along some special treats to share with the class. :) We also enjoyed a visit from l'ours de l'anniversaire who sang us a rocking version of "bonne fete" en anglais. When our little celebration had concluded, I had the students explore some of the bins that we will be using in our sorting unit. It was nice to see them playing cooperatively and they really seemed to enjoy interacting with the math manipulatives. I circulated throughout the classroom to get a better idea of how each student connected with these materials.

For the remainder of the day, I attended a workshop for teachers who are new to Kindergarten. What a great learning experience! :) I have always loved school and have been missing university since I graduated, so it's great to have the chance to attend workshops that are so applicable to the present situation! :) I will pass on a few facts that were communicated to us this afternoon that I found to be particularly interesting:

*"Pretend play is the primary mode of learning during the preschool years and continues to be important into the primary grades."

*"Regulating one's thinking, emotions, and behaviour is critical for success in school, work, and life. Research has found that young children who engage in intentional self-regulation learn more and go further in their education. One of the best ways for children to develop self-regulation is through play (Self-regulation: several complex processes, across all developmental domains, that allow children to control their attention, thoughts, emotions, and behaviour and respond appropriately to their environment). Also interesting was the concept that 'children learn to regulate thoughts, feelings, behaviour and emotion by watching and responding to adults' self-regulation."

*"Research suggests that four and five-year-olds given 15 minutes of free play will spend a third of this time engaged in spatial, mathematical, and architectural activities. Studies also show that this kind of play, especially with blocks, helps children discover principles such as symmetry and geometry and sets the stage for more advanced skills used later on in mathematics and geography."

*The speakers at this workshop spent a good deal of time reviewing the stages of brain development from ~ 2-7 years. If you are interested in learning more about Early Brain Development and "How early experiences affect our children's schoolwork and relationships throughout primary, junior and intermediate grades," you are invited to attend a presentation on November 23 at John Black P.S. between 7 and 8 PM. There is also a very interesting-looking speaker coming to James McQueen on October 19th (I'm sorry, but his name escapes me at the moment!). He will be speaking on the topic of "Raising Emotionally Healthy Children." I think that I will be there, even though I don't have kids! Haha! It just seems like good information to know as a teacher, and maybe I can bring some of that insight into the classroom. Apparently this guy has also written a book about how boys and girls learn differently. I might have to be a complete geek and purchase a copy for the dude to autograph! ;)

Hope that you all have a fantastic weekend with la famille!

Mlle Craig

                                                  [some truly "unique" creations!]

   [a faux leaf collection that was used for an intro to sorting with our wonderful supply teacher, Mrs.
    Hewitt]

   [a chart that the leaves were taped to. The students sorted by colour, shape and size today. Bravo!]

jeudi le 6 octobre 2011

Bonjour!

It was so bright and sunny day aujourd'hui, and I think that this improved many moods as there were only minimal tears this morning! :) Fantastique!!!

The day began with literacy centres as usual. Students were given the option of starting with one of the following tables: make-your-own hand turkeys, la lettre Aa stamping, felt board storywriting, beading, and letter writing practice with Epsom salts. We managed to clean up the classroom fairly well, and made our way to the tapis where Mme Murray waited to take us to le gymnase. We went over the Fire Drill procedures as a class, and I am again happy to report that the actual practice run went very smoothly, with all of the students being their most cooperative!
Following a health lesson on safety in the washroom, the students enjoyed their first nutritional break.

While the kids were still wearing their outdoor shoes, we went for a nature walk outside. I asked them all to collect a number of different feuilles (leaves) for us to use in our next math activity. At le tapis, I gave the children the task of "sorting" the leaves that they had collected. I didn't give them a specific sorting rule, but rather suggested that they select the leaves that they thought were similar in some way, and had them group them together. We then went around the circle and shared our ideas about how we could effectively categorize the leaves, before heading off to Math centres that consisted of different manipulatives to give them a chance to practice sorting in these ways. After a few minutes' visit at each centre, we met back au tapis where we read two brief math-related books - "Fall, Leaves, Fall!" and "A Creepy Countdown" (don't worry, we counted en français!). I then gave the students the task of organizing a bin of multicoloured, multi-textured faux fall leaves. When they showed me their ideas about how to sort these items, I allowed them to go and wash their hands for le déjeuner.

Following the second nutritional break (it was Pizza Day, yum! :)), the students had "Quiet Time" for 10 minutes, and were allowed to select a favourite book from les paniers rouges to read silently. They then engaged in free choice play activities for the remainder of the day, as I noticed that some children needed to practice their appropriate interactions with others and to reinforce their concept of "partager avec les autres!" We had a brief closing circle, where a number of students shared about their highs and lows of the day. Finally, we cleaned up, packed up our things and got into our appropriate bus and pick-up locations as it was time to go home.

I just wanted to let you all know how much I have enjoyed teaching the children of the Tuesday/Thursday group! :) They are such energetic and enthusiastic bunch. I know that they will be very successful with their new teacher, who is coming in to network with me and other members of the staff tomorrow. I will be outside in the Kindergarten playground area on Tuesday morning (along with the new teacher and our principal) to ease the transition for the students. I wish all of you the VERY BEST for the rest of the year, and I'm sure that I will stay in-touch with many of you through this Blog and through regular visits with the students! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.

I am absolutely thrilled to have been granted a stepping stone in my career (a permanent teaching position within our school/board)! :) ! From this point forward, I will be responsible for teaching the Monday and Wednesday JK/SK Immersion class (in Room #5), as well as covering (Arts) planning time for the English Grade One class next door. As I have gone down in overall time from a 1.0 (full-time) position to a 0.7 (not-quite full-time, but contracted), I will also be attempting to supply teach on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons where possible. I see this as a great opportunity to obtain teaching experience at different grade levels, and I am excited to see where it all leads!

Mlle Craig

mercredi le 5 octobre 2011

Bonjour, les amis!

Aujourd'hui a commencé avec literacy centres for the students to explore including: an "A, a, a, comme araignée" craft for those who had not had the chance to finish this the last day, baking sheets with magnetic letters for practicing first and last names (and a corresponding little bilingual practice book), playdoh and floam with letter stampers and free choice activities. A few students chose to dive into their "sons et lettres" book, where they practiced printing both 'A' majuscule et 'a' minuscule. Fantastique!

Mme Murray arrived to a well-organized class full of excellent listeners! Everyone tidied up so well, and all of the students were waiting au tapis and were rewarded for their efforts with a giant handful of pompoms. Together, we then practiced for a fire drill that was to take place later in the morning. We had a few minutes outside as we double-checked the line-up procedures, and so we took advantage of this time in the beautiful weather to play "Simon dit" and to sing both "tete, épaules, genoux et pieds" and (one of my personal favourites) petit poisson! :) I am happy to report that the class followed all procedures remarkably well during the actual fire drill. Even though the flashing lights and noise were a little on the scary side, we managed to understand that we were only practicing for an emergency situation. Félicitations!

During the recess component of the first nutritional break, it came to my attention that some of the students were not being inclusive of others. :( When the students came inside, we had a little discussion about this at the carpet and I read aloud the story "You're Mean, Lily Jean," as I am trying to address issues as they arise and to provide the children with good character education opportunities.

We then moved on to revisit la lettre "Aa." I hid the sparkly 'A' and had the class walk around the room in attempts to locate it. Paige was very successful in this regard! We reviewed some of the vocabulary that we learned on lundi that begins with la lettre 'Aa.' Some of these words included "une araignée, un autobus, un avion, une abeille, et un arbre." The students seemed to remember some of these words, which perhaps indicates that you have been reading their "Aa" readers at home! Merveilleux! Afterwards, I formally introduced the "sons et lettres" book that you have probably discovered in your child's backpack. I prepared mixed group tables with JKs and SKs and instructed them on how to complete their first assignment in these books (écrire la lettre Aa). I circulated the room and assisted the students who required help, encouraging the SKs to help the JKs to finish their work. Later, I collected and commented on each child's work. You can help at home by assisting your child to complete the second "Aa" page for this week. If you submit them on Friday, I will have them ready for you to review over the long weekend!

The second NAB rolled around, and the students seemed to get along much better outside this time. They entered the classroom and had a little over 10 minutes of quiet time, as I needed to help a couple of students who had had washroom-related accidents. The class as a whole was very cooperative during this time. The situations were handled and I returned to the whole group to very briefly discuss the concept of sorting. I then allowed the children to explore various math manipulatives that can be used effectively for sorting activities that we will be doing throughout the current unit of study. After they had investigated the centres, I allowed the class to engage in free play activities for the remainder of the day, before passing out les sacs en plastique and getting everyone organized for home. :)

I hope that your child had a good day at school today! If there is anything that you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact me!

Mlle Craig

mardi le 4 octobre 2011

Today was another exciting day here in Kindergarten!

This morning, we revisited the literacy centres that were mentioned yesterday (since only the students in FKE had experienced them). The kids enjoyed the shaving-cream-tinted with food colouring sensory table, and many of them practiced finger-writing la lettre "Aa." They crafted les araignées and honed their printing skills at the craft centre, and again, drew some fantastic c'est l'automne pictures with accompanying text, in addition to "writing the room." 

Mme Murray arrived to a fairly well-cleaned-up classroom, and the children received some pompoms for their efforts in this regard before heading off to le gymnase. Nutritional Break #1 went quite smoothly, and the class went outside to play during the first recess of the day.

Afterwards, we learned all about la lettre Aa, through a game of French/English charades that allowed children to draw pictures and make connections to newly acquired vocabulary. The class then "fancied up" the 'Aa' readers. We read them together and most of them have managed to bring them home to read with their families tonight.

Again, due to our presence in la bibliothèque, we did not have a chance to begin our sorting unit in math today. We will try this again on Thursday, and the students will (hopefully!) begin working on le numéro un in their new number books.

I am leaving now, as I am still at the school and darkness has fallen!!! :) It's a great place, though and I'm so happy to be here teaching such a wonderful group of kids. You should be very proud of all of them!

Mlle Craig

lundi le 3 octobre 2011

In spite of the cold and storm-ish weather, we enjoyed a warm and friendly day here in Room #5. It was interesting to see the children lined up outside before the late bell this morning! They all seemed to know that it was time to go into the classroom (the brief power outage this weekend lead to a little timing mix-up with the bell system today, making everything just a smidgen later until it was figured out... oops!).

The kids made their way inside, hung up their coats and changed into their indoor shoes without TOO much prompting. :) Quite a few students still need reminders to place their sacs en plastique dans le panier, and to put their lunch boxes into the large bin that is meant for them... but we are working on this! Today's (and this week's) literacy focus was "la lettre Aa." Literacy centres included: An "A comme araignée" craft project, an "A c'est pour l'automne" drawing and letter-tracing activity, "Write the room" (mini clipboards programmed with 'Aa' that the students could use to walk around the room and record words that they saw that started with or contained "Aa"), and a very popular shaving-cream-mixed-with-food-colouring sensory table where the students practiced writing "Aa" with their fingers and managed to get rather messy, but seemed to have a great time! :)

After cleaning up the centre areas (today could have used some improvement in this regard, but I think it had more to do with the novelty of different centres and the fact that 2 were Arts-based), the students met Mme Bennett au tapis. She presented a wonderful music lesson where the kids discussed la métronome and les sons différents - everything from bagpipes from a toilet flushing was played for them from a CD, and they were asked to recognize these sounds before playing a round of sound identification Bingo.

Following the first Nutrition Break and recess, we discussed la lettre "Aa" in some more depth. I recently purchased a big, sparkly lettre A, and I had that on a chart paper along with a picture of une araignée. We played a game of charades with a twist - I would call up a volunteer and whisper an English word that starts with Aa en français. I then had the child act it out for the class. The person who put their hand up and guessed correctly got to come up and draw a picture of the thing on the chart paper to keep my araignée company. ;) I then taught them the French words for all of these objects/things and we rehearsed them as a class. Next, we read the first page in our "Le grand livre des lettres" book. "Une araignée sur mon bras! A, a, a, comme araignée!" See if your child remembers the word and action for araignée. :) After this, we read the book "Aa" (from the A-Z reading site)together. I had a copy of this book for each child to colour, and then I tried to read it with as many of them as I possibly could before sending them home with the students at the end of the day. Please take a minute if you can and read this book with your child for extra practice and to reinforce some of the "Aa" vocabulary that we have begun to acquire.

When all of the students had finished their books and engaged in some free choice play activities, we met at the carpet and read the book "Fall, leaves, fall!" I had intended to use this book as a lead-in to a math lesson about sorting... I purchased a bunch of different "fall leaves" and was going to see if the kids could help me sort them in different ways together, but we ran out of time. :( Oh well! At least the book made for some good discussion, and I translated a lot of it into French and they seemed to understand what was happening... good sign! :) We'll have to try the Math lesson again on Wednesday, along with our number books - we're going to be learning le numéro 'un' this week.

Tired, after the second nutrition break and recess, I let the children recover with 10 minutes of "silent reading" time. We then made our way down to la bibliothèque, where the students signed out their first books of the school year! We will be visiting the library every Monday during the last block of the day (2:05-2:30). It was nice, because Mme Tovell happened to be in the library with a group of Kindergarten students for whom she covers Planning Time. The two groups could then enjoy another read aloud together and each others' company! :)

Hope that you have a fantastic evening, and I look forward to seeing all of your lovely children on mercredi!

Mlle Craig