Monday Morning Funny

This morning the kids were gathered around a table learning about a new game we would be playing.  A little girl was pulling a marker lid off and when it came off hit a little boy in the eye. 
After the tears stopped running I said to him, "You can tell your mom and dad that you got hit by a girl at school." 
He quickly replied, "No I will tell him that she stabbed me." 
The class had a little giggle about that one. 
Have a great Monday.

Go Riders go!

Couldn't resist!  Have a wonderful Sunday with your families and can't wait to see the kids on Monday with all their Grey Cup stories to tell. Here's hoping we don't have to practise counting to 12 and not 13 tomorrow.  Go Riders!

Our morning

This morning we had a visitor to our room.  This year we have a exchange student who is joining us one morning a week.  This morning Ale came with us for two classes to help out where she could.  The students were excited to have another helper with us and I quickly became old news. As we went about our normal things Ale helped out with names and colouring and making sure thate the work done was correct. 

She helped us do a craft that the kids are taking home tonight. 

We are doing a Hawaiian song for the Christmas concert and are looking for two small guitars (ukeleles) for the boys to play.  If you have one to lend please let me know.  As well I will be buying grass skirts and leis for the girls (if you have one at home for your daughter to wear please let me know as I will not buy one for them.

Funny for Friday

In class we have been reading lots of books and as I do everyday I try to discuss interesting words that we come across.  Earlier in the morning one of the kids told me that the car had stopped while carrying mom and brother and herself  to their destination that morning. 
"What did your mom do?" I asked.
"She screamed and screamed," was the reply.
As we read the book, the word hysterical came up.  I asked the kids if they knew what it meant. 
The same little girl put up her hand and replied, "Well I know if we had a tire (a flat ) this morning that my mom would have been hysterical!" 
You can't tell me that they don't know what is going on.  They really are a riot!

What the kids are saying

You may have noticed that I have been sending home art and activities that have writing written on or attached to it. Why?
Whenever I have the chance I record what your child had to say about a certain activity exactly as they say it. If they dont have much to say I will encourage them to tell me more. But the recordings are exactly that. Recordings. Exactly what your child said.
When your child brings an activity home ask them what they did or what they can tell you about a page or project. Are they talking in full sentences? Are they about to explain clearly what they did? If they are unclear to you it makes conversation and descriptions very difficult. If they are unclear take the time to expand on what they are saying and tell them what you know or see.
Enjoy your weekend! I am sending home 14 very tired children who survived 4 days of Kindergarten this week!

Red Blue and Yellow

Sorry in advance if some of your children came home with paint on their faces, clothes or other parts. See below for an explanation!

We have spent a good amount of time this year painting but all the painting so far has been very prescribed with an end result in mind. Today I put red, blue and yellow paint out and told them to go to town. I did a short tutorial on what you could do with all the supplies and then I told them to have fun. And the fun they had!

They rolled marbles in paint, they blew colours out of a straw, they stamped things and they had a ball creating and telling. Pretty soon they learned that out of blue and red and yellow come a whole bunch of colours.

• Red and yellow make orange!
• I made purple!
• See my castle!
• See how high my tower is!

Some had to be reminded that when you are blow painting that you have to blow the paint not suck it up and that walking on paint makes stamps on the floor. They worked together to make sure the masterpieces would dry in one piece.

I hope that they come home to tell you all about their painting experiences and that their need for making messes is taken care of for at least a couple of days.

We had fun! The masterpieces will be home when they dry!

*** Blogger was not being my friend with pictures today. Sorry they are out of order and not all the ones I wanted got added.

Remembering

This week we have talked about Remembrance Day. This was a very difficult topic for them to grasp so the comparison we made was to love and remembering those who fought for us and to remember to be peaceful. As we remember those who fought for us to be free and continue to fight so that others can be free here a couple of videos you can watch.

A Pittance of Time

Highway of Heroes - the Trews

Highway of Heroes - Amazing Grace

Lest we forget.

Team Work

Today in centers the kids were showing me the entrance to a dog house that they were building. I asked them where the rest of the building was?
They didn't have an answer so I showed them that they could make a big building quick with the straws and connectors.



Once I got them started I let them go. They learned that you can get a wall done quickly if you work together and were soon telling each other how to be more efficient. One of the kids got ahead of the others and students in other groups were telling them how to fix the problems.

You could sense the excitement of the students when their tower got bigger and bigger. As I write this the back wall of the structure is about 5 feet tall and they are still going strong. I let them leave it up to continue next day.

Good team work Kindergarten!

What we Learned - Kids Eye View!

I asked the kids to tell me all the things they have learned so far. I left this very openended and the following are things they told me, in their own words.

• Do work when Mrs. Hunter says.
• Sit down after recess.
• No hitting people (no smacking too!)
• Hang your coats up.
• Listen to where you need to be.
• Clean up your mess.
• If you are bad you need a time out.
• Don't cut your hair with scissors.
• We are five and we put our coats on ourselves (this is really what they said! No editing.)
• If its winter, wear ski pants.
• If there's a fire, we have to go outside to the big yellow slide.
• Don't go on water if it is not cold enough because it can't hold your weight and it will break!(learned that lesson the hard way I guess!)
• Put your name on your paper.

I found it very interesting that not once did they tell me they learned letters or counting. They are learning these and that is clear in the everyday activities that we do.

I love that they are able to actual use all these rules and need few reminders. They really are getting to better at self reliance.

Good job Kindergarten!