Halloween

Thank you so much to all of you that donated treats and craft materials for the kids Halloween party. The kids are so excited, I don't even try to teach them anything today. We did have computer lab, though - it's a good thing to take a party break sometimes.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween. Let's hope the sun comes out to keep us warm and dry.

:)
Miss Mynes

our day today

Today we start with a Halloween riddle before we move on to our Art activity. We will be using our creative expression, fine-motor coordination and expressive language while making an art piece using a technique similar to crayon-resist. The morning class will have gym where they work on star jumping from a height. The afternoon class has library/health. We will also be watching a Halloween movie.

Have a great day,
Miss Mynes

a request

If you have any old candles hanging around at home, feel free to donate them to our class as soon as possible. I would love to do an art activity, similar to crayon resist.
Thanks in advance,
Miss Mynes

today in kindergarten

This weeks theme is Halloween. All of our riddles will be about Halloween vocabulary. I had to cancel our art project for today as I could not find an essential part of the project, so we will do our writing folders today and do art later in the week. In gym, the morning class will be working on their balance. The afternoon class will be voting on which student they thing is most responsible. We will be watching a movie that shows us about some of the work of UNICEF to inspire us with the UNICEF fundraising. The afternoon class has library today.

Have a great day,
Miss Mynes

today in kindergarten

Today we are continuing our theme of Big Zoo Animals. We are working on printing the number 2 as well as doing number walks in the classroom to record all the numbers we can find. The morning class has library and the afternoon class has gym where they will be working on sustaining aerobic activity for 5 minutes. I will be out of the classroom at the end of the day to meet with my colleagues to unpack the EQAO data. An occasional teacher will cover my class, I believe it will be Ms. Bonvallin.

Have a great day,
Miss Mynes

Halloween

On October 30th, we will have a Halloween party in our class. The children can dress in a costume if they wish and we will make Haunted Pizza. Instead of buying treats for your child to share with their friends for the party, consider sending in some things to help with our Haunted Pizza. We will need sugar cookies, vanilla pudding, crushed chocolate wafer cookies or crushed Oreo cookies and gory treats to decorate the pizza - for example gummy worms, lady fingers, gun drops.

Thanks for your support,
Miss Mynes

Friday

On Friday, at 1:30, the whole school will meet in the gym to watch a play called The Raven Stole the Sun based on a traditional story of the Tlingit Nation. It is being preformed by Red Sky. For parents of morning students, feel free to join us in the gym with your child for the performance.

a snapshot of today

Today we will continue our focus on big zoo animals. We have our second riddle and a movie about how animals are fed at the zoo. We are also finishing our focus on predicting what will happen in a book and describing why we think that. The morning class will see Mrs. Poirier and the afternoon class has gym.

Yesterday, we had an art lesson called Crazy Clay Creations. We made play dough in small groups and then made big zoo animals with the play dough. One of the kids asked me for the recipe.

Simple Play dough

Mix 3 parts flour with one part salt. Add one part water, a spoonful of oil and colour and scent if desired.


Have a great day!
Miss Mynes

our day today

Today, we are focusing on printing our numbers. I have started a Math folder to collect all the kids work and so I can see their growth over time. We also watched a movie about the changes that happen in Autumn. Our riddle today was about pumpkins. The morning class went to the library with Mrs. Poirier and the afternoon class went to the gym with Mrs. H while I got some extra work done.

Let's put some positive vibes out there for some warmer weather, it feels like November out there and I'm not ready for November.

:)
Miss Mynes

a snapshot of today

We are starting our day continuing our theme of Autumn but solving a riddle (the answer is apples). Apples are so yummy this time of year, be it red, yellow or green.

We will be working in our writing folders - some of us are almost ready to move onto a new focus in our folders. I will also be reading with the seniors who have returned their book bags.

The morning class will be working on lrolling a ball down a pathway in the gym.

We will be reading a story about a scarecrow and working together to practice our predicting skills.

The afternoon class will be seeing Mrs. Poirier.

Have a great day,
Miss Mynes

a question from a parent that you all may be interested in

Are the kids getting music class?

This year the kids are doing music with me in the classroom. Ms. Brooks has retired so we have lost her specialty in that area. Mrs. Poirier will be teaching health to the students as well as being the librarian. She is a fantastic teacher and her library time will help to reinforce my language program.

Will you be doing any phonics with the kids this year?

I have to be honest, doing phonics in isolation is considered bad practice by the TDSB. Children learn best when all parts of language are melded into the program and not taught in isolation. I know there are many teachers who still do it that way but with such limited time in the day, spending so much time on just one aspect of language learning isn't the best use of our time.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.

:)
Miss Mynes

A day in the life

Today in kindergarten, we will continue talking about Thanksgiving. We are learning a song called "Thank You". Ask your child to sing it for you. It's to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Thanks You are the words we say
Not just on Thanksgiving Day
Thank You are two magic words
Say them loud so they are heard
Thank you are the words we say
We give thanks in many ways

We will also be having a science lesson today where we learn about the difference between wild animals and domesticated animals. When your child gets home, ask them What is Wild?

Both classes have computer lab today.

We are working on predicting what is going to happen in the books that we read together. Today, we are reading A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom.

For the Friday Award, I'm looking for someone who is a good thinker.

Have a wonderful long weekend. I have 3 Thanksgivings this weekend and will really enjoy the time with family and friends.

a mystery

I have 2 books that came with the September Scholastic order that I can't seem to place. It seems that no one ordered them. If you ordered If You Take A Mouse To School or A Poppy Is To Remember please let me know.

Scholastic

The September Scholastic order has been shipped. Sorry for the delay. You should see your books (hopefully) tomorrow.

Our Day today

Today in kindergarten we will be working on several things. The mornig class has gym and they will be working on stair climbing. Lots of us still go down stairs one stair at a time instead of alternating legs and stairs. We will see if we can build their confidance and teach the skills necessary to get us all using the stairs like big boys and girls.

This months character trait is Responsibility. We have talked about what it means to be responsible - doing your share of the work and taking care of pets. Today we will talk about why it is important to put your toys away.

We will be finishing our badges today where we recognize our strengths - some people did theirs yesterday. We must think, print, colour and cut to make them. We will also try to find time to have the seniors who have returned their book bags read to me and (here's to being optimistic) try to have a few people work in their writing folders.

Every day is so busy!

:)
Miss Mynes

Scholastic

For those parents who ordered September Scholastic books, I'm sorry the order has not arrived yet but it has been placed and should arrive shortly.

The coming week

It's nice to be back and be over my cold. I so rarely get sick (thank goodness).

This week we are learning all about Thanksgiving. Also, the Social Justice Club is running a food drive for the food bank at the Birchmount Community Center. Please send in some non-perishable food if you can spare it.

Today, we are making collages. If you have anything at home that you would like to get rid of that would be good for collaging, please send it in. I know that after we made collages last year, they became a trend and we went through a lot of glue and materials.

In Gym, we are working on log rolls. They are harder than you think and take a lot of abdominal strength (I know from all my demonstrating).

Have a great day,
Miss Mynes

bits and bobs

Our Bear Wear sales are today and tomorrow. Feel free to bring you child to the gym before or after class to have a t-shirt or sweatshirt made with the J.G. Workman P.S. logo.

This week we have been learning about the days of the week. Talk to your child about what they have learned.

This months character trait theme is responsibility. We will be talking every day about what responsibility is. One afternoon student will be chosen as the most responsible and win the October Great Golden Bear award.