How Can I Help My Child at Home

Practise...................

1.  Tying shoes.
2.  Zipping zippers on coats.
3.  Matching upper and lower case letters.
4.  Printing first name
5.  Printing last name
6.  Rhyming words
7.  Recognizing numbers 1 - 10.

Please remember to label all belongings.  Hats, mitts, boots, snow pants, coats as they come to school.  There are many similiar items at school.

Read-a-thon

Our read-a-thon was today.  Thank you to all parents who gave money.  We partnered up with our "reading buddies" and read books in their classroom today! 

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to the families from last year and I want to welcome all of the new families.  Please check regularly as we will be posting lots of information and ideas and what has been happening in our classroom.

Recognizing the Alphabet Letters

Being able to recognize upper and lower case letters is a skill that is essential to future reading and writing success.  Below are some suggestions to help your child at home to recognize letters.

1.  Letters are made up of curvy and straight lines.  Use materials such as straws, pipe cleaners, yarn and toothpicks to form letters.

2.  Form letters using playdough.  You can trace letters on a paper and your child can cover it up with playdough. 

3.  Write the letters on index cards and look them over at night.

4.   When reading a story look for a few letters in the story.  We use a fly swatter with a hole cut out in the middle to find the letters class. 

5. Post 5 or 6 letters around the house. Have your child go on a letter search. When they find the letter and can identify it, have your child put it on the fridge.

6. Make letters in "finger paint" ways. Use pudding, shaving cream, apple sauce. Say a letter and have your child make it.

7. Put magnets on the fridge and put in order and have your child say the alphabet.

8. Fridge Phonics is a great toy!!!

9. Place 12 upper and lower case letters on the floor. Make your own or you may have some store bought letters. Play a matching game. Match the upper and lower case.

10. Using clothespins(available at the dollar store) write an uppercase letter on the clothespins and a lower case letter on an index card. Encourage your child to clip the clothespins on the matching card and name the letter.

11. Visit PBSkids.org. Click on games. There are numerous letter games that your child can play.

12. Scratch n'Sniff. Use a new sensation to teach the letters. Write letters with glue on paper, then sprinkle with jell-o powder. Makes a super sratch n'sniff when tracing over the letters.

PLEASE NOTE: It is very important to have your child say the letters as they find them or match them, not the adult.

Fighting Island!!

We had a great day!!  They kept us very busy!!

First, off to the pond to see what we could find.  We collected samples of water and bugs to use later in the classroom under the microscopes.

Then we found animal prints and prepared each one to put the plaster on it!

Next, we collected snails

Then we went off in the bus to the classroom at the back of the island to eat lunch!!

Then it was off to look for bugs and insects!!  We found milkweed.  Monarch butterflies like the milkweed!!

We made a list of what we found on our bug adventure!!

Time to look at the pond creatures under the microscope!! 

That ended the day!!  Time to take the ferry back to catch the bus!!  A special thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers that came with us!!!  The people on the island were very impressed at how the volunteers took part and really helped out!  I certainly agree and I want to thank each and every one of you for coming!! 

Bubbles!!

Oh what fun to blow the bubbles and to catch them too!!

Ponds and Insects!!!!

Exploring the pond habitat at the water table!!

                                         At the light table

         One of our friends made a beetle out of the playdough!!

Ben made an insect at the art table.  He told me it has a head, thorax and abdomen.  He added 2 antennae and eyes.   We have been singing a song about the parts of an insect!!!

This Week!!

We have our very own pond in the classroom!

Crayon rubbings using a variety of objects and investigating the different testures and lines!!

Painting using eye droppers!  What beautiful colours and designs!!

Practising our fine motor skills and math skills.  Sorting by colour and shape too!!