Room 103 News and Updates

On Tuesday, November 5th, we welcomed a new student to our classroom: Jordan A. 

He comes to Oakville from Nigeria and saw snow for the first time!     

                          

It takes a village to raise a child ... Miss D. and I receive valuable assistance from two wonderful women: Mrs. B.and Mrs. Cano! Both are Early Childhood Educators. Mrs. Cano is our lunchtime supervisor who comes in each day between 11:30 and 1:30. Mrs. B. is a parent at St. Andrew who volunteers in our classroom a few times a week. They are extremely supportive of our children's learning and we are so grateful!




You may have also heard that we have a beautiful new carpet!😀
And, so exciting, a cottage to decorate and play in!

❆Snow in November!❆  

Snow has come early this year. Outdoors, we love to make footprints, snow angels, snowballs and snow forts! 

We are even bringing the snow indoors! 

On Friday, we wanted to know which would melt snow the fastest: sun, rain or salt? Most of us predicted the sun. We brought in four snowballs of equal size to test our hypothesis. The teacher applied heat from a hair dryer to one snowball to mimic the heat of the sun. Each child applied five squirts of water to the second snowball and three handfuls of table salt to the third. Our fourth snowball was left on a tray at room temperature. We discovered that water had the quickest impact on the snow, turning it to slush! Our students were asked to observe the snowballs during the afternoon and will report their findings on Monday morning!

The children continued to explore the subject of snow with Miss D. as they created  a variety of snowmen.  With paint, they made fingerprint snowmen. They were also given the opportunity to use their imagination to create using loose parts (cotton balls, pom poms, beads, Q tips and pipe cleaners). Finally, they were able to draw their designs on the classroom whiteboard. 

Thank you for practicing putting on/taking off snow gear with your child. It helps boost your child's sense of confidence and independence. To help prompt the little ones in the cubby area, we sing, to the tune of London Bridge, "Snow pants, boots, jackets and hat, jackets and hat, jackets and hat.  Snow pants, boots, jackets and hat, scarves... and ... mittens!"

Please send in extra LABELLED mittens (preferably water-resistant) and socks for your child. Wet, cold hands and feet are no fun!🙁

Math in Our Classroom

Research indicates that supporting the development of young children's mathematical knowledge plays a crucial role in their long-term success in school. In 2007, it was found that mathematics skills among children in Kindergarten were the best predictor of later school achievement, regardless of gender or socio-economic status (Duncan et al., 2007). Further studies confirm this finding (Claessens, Duncan, & Engel, 2009; Claessens & Engel, 2011), and additional work regarding the specific skills needed to be successful indicates that spatial thinking skills and geometric reasoning play a critical role in the development of problem-solving skills, mathematical learning, and reading comprehension (Clements & Sarama, 2011; Wheatley, Brown, & Solano, 1994; Casey et al., 2008).

The following are some examples of ways in which families may support children in their conceptual understanding of mathematics at home:

• manipulating objects (e.g., fitting different sizes and shapes of a construction toy together, fitting toys onto a shelf, sorting household items and clothing)
• making comparisons (e.g., “I'm taller than you”; “I'm older than my baby brother”; “I live on the fourth floor and he lives on number ten”)
• making observations (e.g., “This bag is really heavy”; “There are so many rocks”; “I have ten fingers”; “There is a square on my building”)
• asking questions (e.g., “Who is taller?”; “Who has more cookies?”; “How big is it?”)
• solving problems (e.g., “We can make all of these toys fit in this basket”; “Let's see how many steps we have”)                                                                                                                                                                   - The Kindergarten Program, 2016

One-to-one correspondence is the ability to recognize
that numbers are symbols to represent a quantity.

Magnitude is the understanding that
as you count forward, the quantity increases by one
and as you count backwards, the quantity decreases by one.

By exploring symmetry, children can gain an understanding of geometric shapes.
It also helps them connect mathematical understanding to the real world
as they seek balance and order when they observe
natural objects, works of art, buildings and machines.

November PAT Time Letter Schedule

Week of November 4 - Tt

Week of November 11 - Ii
Week of November 18 - Pp
Week of November 25 - Nn

Important Dates

November 20 - Initial Communication of Learning and Confirmation of Parent/Teacher                                  Learning Conference Time Go Home
November 21 (evening) - Parent/Teacher Learning Conferences
November 22 - Parent/Teacher Learning Conferences
                         PA Day - No School for Students   
November 26 - Oakville Symphony Oboe Presentation (Kindergarten Classes Only)
November 29 - Pizza Lunch 🍕
November 30 - Mary Mother of God  Parish -  Mass in a Barn - Kelynack Stables, Burlington
December 1 - First Sunday of Advent

🎜Poems, Songs and Chants🎝

 Poppy, poppy, what do you say?

 Wear me on Remembrance Day. 

Poppy, poppy, what do you tell?

Many soldiers in battle fell.

Poppy, poppy, what should we know?

That peace on earth should

grow, grow, grow.

📸This Week(s) in Pictures📸 

Working on our journals

Enjoying a good book

Hanging out in the cottage

Catching a snowflake

Our School Bus Safety Presentation was really cool!

Thank you to Miss D. for capturing our learning and fun!

Please know that if your child does not appear regularly in pictures it means that he or she  may be constantly on the go, exploring many different learning opportunities and is difficult to photograph! 💗