Hi Families,
Physical Education
This week, we have been enjoying having students from grades 4/5 teach us about skipping! They have been helping us develop the coordination and confidence to jump over the rope as they swing it, working towards our personal best "jump count". We are learning about rhythm and sound cues, as we listen for the "click" of the rope hitting the floor to indicate when to jump. We have even tried by-ourselves skipping with hula-hoops AND ropes. We are loving skipping, and loving our student-teachers!
Interdisciplinary Studies
This week, our bird of study is the Northern Flicker. We learned we will often hear Northern Flickers before seeing them, and there are a few common places to look for them:
- the tops of trees...ask your child why...
- the ground...ask your child why...
- the top of lamp posts or metal chimneys...ask your child why...
Children are coming home with an observation sheet for the Northern Flicker. If you need another copy, the template has been uploaded to our Google Classroom --> Classwork --> Resources --> Have You Seen...Backyard Birds
We have been practicing a poem this week for our upcoming assembly! At our school, each class is responsible for hosting an assembly to celebrate the learning they are doing in the classroom. The children in kindergarten will be hosting an assembly at the end of May/beginning of June to share all our learning around local species of birds, and Calgary's Bird vote. Our assembly will be recorded for sharing at home later.
Literacy:
We continue to focus on developing accurate and efficient lowercase letter formation, especially in our own name. Using the Handwriting Without Tears scope and sequence, and prompts, we have been focusing our most recent lowercase letter work on what are called "Magic c" letters.
Here are some visuals from the Handwriting Without Tears program, showing the accurate and efficient formation for each capital and lowercase letter. The most consistent and important prompts you can reinforce at home: "We always start our letters at the TOP!" See below for information from an Occupational therapist on why.
Forming Letters from Bottom to Top*– There’s not a letter in the alphabet that starts at the baseline and ends on the top line. When we write, we start at the top and move the pencil to the base line, or below the baseline.
When kids start the letters at the bottom, they will run into legibility and efficiency issues. It’s harder to move the pencil on to the next letter with the bottom-to-top formation. And, when kids then need to keep up in writing tasks, (beginning as soon as first grade as they copy words and sentences from a model), they will lose the legibility piece.
*https://www.theottoolbox.com/letter-formation/
Volunteer Opportunities:
Thank you to all the parents who have contacted us about volunteering for the upcoming in-class and off-site opportunities. The more the merrier, so if you are available and would like to join us for either upcoming date, please contact your child's teacher:
- Wednesday, May 25th: In-Class Experience with Teacher's Pet
- Friday, June 10th: Off-Site Field Trip to Fish Creek Park
Heading into the end-of-the-year, we will be looking for incidental volunteers to help with in-class tasks (mostly taking down items, cutting, glueing, etc.) If you'd like to support in this role, please contact your child's teacher with dates that work for you.
Important Dates:
Friday, May 13th: PM Kindergarten
Friday, May 20th: PD Day. No school for students.
Monday, May 23rd: Victoria Day holiday. No school for students.
Wednesday, May 25th: Teacher's Pet In-Class Experience. All students.
Friday, May 27th: AM Kindergarten
Have a wonderful weekend families!
Ms. Thomas
