Well, we’ve certainly given our boots and raincoats a workout this week.  The weather has been it’s usual Vancouver self – rainy, moody and tempestuous.  The playground has been soaked with rain and we’ve brought more than our share of woodchips into the hallways and cloakroom areas.  We’ve been creative in using our outdoor undercover play space for running games, eating cupcakes and chalk play when the rain is pelting down just a little too hard.

But we know Spring is just around the corner.  The air is cold, but softer than the icy winter wind. The children want to take off their jackets which is a sure sign.  We’ve tried to take advantage of every burst of bright sunshine glowing behind the clouds to get outside and play.  And we’ve got daffodils blooming in the school gardens so the gardeners among us are getting excited about the upcoming planting and growing season.

Another sign of Spring is the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.  And so this week we celebrated Nowruz, in our classrooms.  Thank you to all our parents for their wonderful planning and organization to make this a special day for our Kindergarten children and for teaching us about this important cultural event.  Nowruz traditionally occurs around the first day of Spring.

In addition to some fun crafts, colouring and snacks, our parents set up a beautifully decorated display, the “Haft Sin” table.  In the Farsi language, “Haft Sin” means the Seven S’s, as there are seven items on the table that begin with the letter S.  Each of the items is a symbol of an important aspect in life:

• Sabzen (wheat sprouts) for Rebirth
• Sib (apple) for Beauty and Health
• Sir (garlic) for Medicine
• Serkeh (vinegar) for Age and Patience
• Sumac for the Colour of the Sunrise
• Senjed (silver berry) for Love
• Samanu (sweet pudding) for Affluence from “Nowruz (SimplyExplained)”

There were many other lovely items on the table including a hyacinth, fruit basket, sweets, mirrors, coins, decorated eggs, candles and a glass bowl with fish.  One of our parents explained that the fish represented movement, or moving forward into the new year, leaving the old year behind.

This Week in Our Room:  March 7-11, 2016

The children were able to take out a library book this week for the two-week spring break holiday.  Here are some important and helpful reminders from Mrs. Kennedy, our Teacher-Librarian:

• Leave your library book at home while travelling over spring break.  We’ve had some difficulty in the past years when families have taken the children’s library books on planes, trains and automobiles.  The books were left in holiday homes and hotels and (almost) impossible to get them back.
• Your library book has been borrowed by your child.  Please safeguard your library books from younger brothers and sisters.
• Please also be mindful of pet proximity to your library book as it will be home for a longer time period than usual

Our classes were not able to complete the Vision, Hearing and Dental screeners with all students, so Vancouver Coastal Health nurses will return after Spring Break to finish checking all the children.

We’re coming to the end of our Penguin Inquiry student, so we made these little cuties!

We wish everyone a safe and happy spring break, and we’ll see everyone back at school on Tuesday, March 29.

Christy and I were recently asked if we teach art in small groups or as a full class lesson.  The answer?  Both!  Like most things, it really depends upon the task and if we think the children (and us) are able to manage the art tools, techniques and processes we want to use in a full class setting, which is definitely our preference at this point in the school year.  We’re both well aware that in a few short months our children will be in Grade One and we need to provide them with art experiences and opportunities to be fully independent in a classroom of their peers.  However, if we are at all doubtful, or as circumstances dictate (like this week), we will then opt for small group work; this takes longer, but gives us more control so we can provide the correct level of support for those children who require more.

One of our favourite painting projects is the Snowy Owls from Patty Palmer’s fantastic website Deep Space Sparkle.  (You can click on the link for her lesson description with lots of examples).  We’ve taught this art piece several times and always enjoy it as a full-on painting experience with the Kindergarten.  However, one of the children made the observation that these were baby owls, not adult ones, so we renamed our project to Snowy Owlets.

We like to use soft, bright colours for the painted background.  We had previously set the tables with paper and paint while the children waited at the carpet.  We always go over our expectations during a meeting time at the carpet before the children move to their seats, as there can be too many distractions on the table for them to listen fully to the instructions.  The children were assigned to tables with the understanding that “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset” in terms of background colour.  We use that expression a lot and the children always accept it with good humour.

We have a real mish mash of paintbrushes this year.  Lots of long handled paintbrushes and not enough short handled ones for small hands.  Quite a few children were willing to work with a full size brush, even though it can be unwieldy because of the length of the handle. These children felt they could manage because of their previous painting experiences and they did a great job!  The children’s self-regulation while we handed out brushes and individually negotiated sizes was remarkable as this task takes some time.

Time now for a little Bach and Vivaldi and let the painting begin!

After all the backgrounds are painted and dry, we flatten them out by placing the stack of papers under the puzzles for a few days.  A mostly flat surface, with no curling edges, makes painting the owlets much simpler.

Next, the children painted snow and the owlet bodies in white.  For the first time, I painted mine in small groups this year because we had no block long enough for me to paint with the whole class this week, so I squeezed in small groups during the morning Activity Time.  Christy painted her owl bodies with the whole class and you can see how beautifully all the children’s work turned out.

The last step is the fine details.  Again, in groups of four, the children managed one palette of yellow, orange, brown and black paint between them.  They all painted the eyes yellow; the beaks orange; the branch brown; and finally did the outlining in black, in that order.  The children were troubled about dipping their brush into the next colour without cleaning it first, but they soon saw that the darkest colour absorbed the lighter ones they had used previously.

We just love our little owlets, real and painted!  Aren’t these super cute?!

This Week In Our Room:  February 29-March 4, 2016

We’ve had lots of fun and excitement this week.

We had some very special visitors from West Vancouver Fire and Rescue come to see us on Wednesday.  Captain Marcia James and Assistant Chief Jeff Bush gave us a short talk on the role of firefighters in our community and some of the tools they use for fighting fires.  One of the most important things we learned is that firefighters do much, much more than just put out fires.  They are helping people all the time, from those who are very sick at home to those who might be injured in some way.  That is why we call them West Vancouver Fire and Rescue.

We had a special treat when the fire truck pulled onto the playground and the children were all able to climb up into the truck and sit on one of the seats.  Some of the children wore the firefighters’ headsets and very cute they were indeed!

We saw the yellow hoses, played with one of the water valves, carried the jaws of life and tested out the weight of a firefighter’s helmet.  And we had quite a long discussion about the blocks used to stop the fire truck from moving, or rolling backwards, while the firefighters were working.

We will be writing more about our West Van Fire and Rescue visit in an upcoming blog post.

It might seem like we are on a bit of a bird theme (we’re not, but this just occurred to us) as we decided to get started on our March self-portraits using a penguin background.  How about these cuties?

On Friday we also welcomed the West Vancouver Secondary School Concert Band and Concert Choir.  Many members of these musical groups are Ridgeview alumni so it’s always wonderful for the school staff to see how beautifully our former students have grown up and continuing to pursue their musical passions.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Ideally, we would have all Library Books returned before Spring Break, so please try to return your book on your appointed Library Day.  Division 15 Library Day is Monday and Division 16 Library Day is Tuesday.

We will be sending home the children’s report cards on Friday, March 11.  We are unable to send them home earlier than Friday.

Mayfair is Saturday, May 7, this year and it is always very fun!  We’re asking everyone for a donation of two goodie bags for the Tombola Challenge, so please return your two bags when you can.  We have examples in our classroom if you wanted to see some.  Thanks to those families who’ve already brought their bags to school.

School will dismiss early on Friday, March 11 at 2 pm.  This marks the beginning of Spring

Break, which includes Good Friday and Easter Monday this year.  School re-opens for the Spring Term on Tuesday, March 29.

We were “in the pink” on Wednesday as we came to school dressed in our pink (and white) shirts in support of “Day of Pink: Celebrate Diversity.”

We spent some time talking about ways we can show Kindness and Caring to others.  Here’s what we’re thinking:

• Clean up our own messes after we’ve eaten our lunch
• Listen to the lunch monitors
• Play with someone who’s all by themselves
• Be nice to others
• Be cooperative with my big buddy
• Use “please” and “thank you”
• If my friend gets hurt, I’ll help
• Make good choices
• Share with the other kids
• Use words, not actions
• Be helpful to our teachers
• Give compliments to others
• Listen to our teacher

We’re noticing how Ridgeview kids show caring and kindness and adding them to our special tree!

This Week in Our Room:  February 22-26, 2016

We’re really flying through the alphabet now as we finished working on letter S this week. Our children are beginning to develop fine motor strength and this is evident in their increased stamina for printing letters and words.

We also met with our Grade 7 Big Buddies to work on the next page of our Penguin Inquiry project, Penguin Features, on the app “Book Creator.”

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Wednesday, March 2 will be a busy day in the Kindergarten.  We will be having “Stories from the Firehall,” a visit from the West Vancouver Firefighters.

It’s also our school lockdown practice.  We will be speaking to the Kindergarten ahead of time about our expectations for the day.

It’s been a rock ‘n roll week in the Kindergarten.

By 9:15 am, Monday morning found us in fits of laughter as we watched a wonderful presentation of “Snow White,” performed by the talented drama troupe, Duffle Bag Theatre.  The actors involved some of our older students; they dressed the kids up in costume and with great presence and state of mind, our Ridgeview students did a great job picking up on the cues and telling this familiar fairy tale with the professional ensemble.

Tuesday was a special day as we celebrated Chinese New Year.  We have a large multicultural population at our school and we’re working hard to recognize and celebrate the cultural holidays with classroom parent support and involvement.  We had a fun morning at Centres playing with wooden tangrams; we made lucky money envelopes and scrolls and coloured a sweet Year of the Monkey colouring page.  Many thanks to our mom helpers who not only came in
to assist the children at their activities, but also provided a banquet of food such as delicious homemade egg rolls, dumplings, sticky rice and mandarins.  Our children took home beautiful lucky money envelopes with a chocolate coin and a tiny lantern apiece.

Wednesday gave us an opportunity to catch our breath and have a self-regulating moment.  We returned to our roots and took some time to reinforce our classroom structure, rules and routines at every opportunity and transition.  For us, that meant:

• Review “listening with our bodies” (eyes on the teacher, ears are listening, mouths are closed, hands and feet are still, bottom down on the carpet)
• Review Centres playtime rules:  four to a group, quiet voices, walking feet, share and take turns
• Transitions:  dismissing by table groups/Centre activities to line up with strategic positioning of students (walking feet, go to the back of the line) or move to the meeting area (more strategic seating arrangements); we never let the whole class move at once
• Review eating expectations:  quiet conversation with friends, take small bites, chew with your mouth closed, don’t talk with your mouth full, eat over the table, clean your table space and pick up food from the floor when you’re finished eating
• Self-regulation: no matter what is going on in our day, we meditate to quiet music, practise deep breathing, listen to a read aloud story, and eat snack and lunch on time each and everyday. These scheduled times to practise the strategies help us with our self-regulation, are familiar and provide structure to our day, so that when it’s time for instruction, we are in the green (learning) zone and our learning time is optimal.  

There’s no doubt our classes are amazing; their ability to focus on their teachers and follow directions is remarkable, and they have very good attention for stories and lessons.  But when we have, what Christy and I refer to as “crazy busy days” with multiple changes to our class schedule…well, it’s hard for us, and by “us” we mostly mean the teachers.  We’re not all hard-wired to be naturally flexible; being able to deal with changes of all kinds, reading social situations and responding appropriately are important skills that we must teach and practise, at home and school, grown-ups and children alike.

Thursday saw us back at the arena for our last skating session.  Thank you again so very much to our parent helpers because we could not do this field trip without you: your calm, speed and dexterity in lacing up skates and sizing helmets for a group our size was nothing less than admirable.

In our two 40 minute sessions we could see the increase in confidence and skill by our young skaters.  The children were sorted by skating experience so there were challenges for all.  What amazed us the most, however, is how our children, in the 15 minute transition when 36 of our students are changing out of their skates and helmets and the two Grade 1 classes came in to change into their equipment, seemed indifferent to the noise and activity.  Instead, they cooperatively removed their gear, remained extremely calm and enjoyed a “pocket snack” they carried in their coat pockets and chatted with those around them.  The children were very well-regulated and they made us and our school very proud.

Well, it’s Friday evening and it’s been such a busy week.  But we had a lovely day today, finishing up our Valentine’s, Chinese New Year and letter R activities so we can start fresh (mostly) next week.  Today was Popcorn Day and as always, our classes wait patiently for the time when we say it’s time to eat and they don’t seem to mind.

We’ve really noticed many big changes in maturity over the past two months, how they respond more calmly to situations and self-regulation of emotions.  They’re showing excitement and interest in everything new and beginning to take a few more risks in their learning even if they’re not 100% confident.  The children have always been helpful, but lately they’ve taken on more responsibilities in looking after the classroom and their belongings.  We’re building a strong foundation for learning and looking forward to what the rest of this term brings!

It’s been a pretty fabulous week in the Kindergarten as far as celebrations go.  We just celebrated our fifth birthday in Division 16 this month, complete with delicious, sugary treats, and both classes are in the midst of distributing sweet Valentines to our classmates.  At the same time we’re getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year next week with some special centres and a small banquet luncheon.  We’re decorating our classroom to reflect our festive mood and there’s lots of bright colour and streamers everywhere.

You’d think with everything going on that we’d be feeling the energy that goes along with the excitement of Special Days and rich eating.  But we were noticing that despite all the interruptions (wait till you hear about next week) and changes in schedule, our children return to their self-regulation foundations, the strategies they know will help them to stay calm despite what’s happening around them.

Christy and I realize that we see the benefits of teaching self-regulation strategies regularly during times of great excitement and change in the classroom routines.  The Hallowe’en Parade and Assembly and Christmas Concert were two major fall school events where we see how well we’ve taught the lessons.  Can our children manage their energy effectively and efficiently?  Are they able to recognize when they have up-regulated to the yellow zone from the green zone, and can they down-regulate as quickly as their emotions have risen?  Yes, we know that they can.  We know that our structured approach to teaching calming strategies and scheduling time for meditation since the the early days of Kindergarten pays off as the school year progresses.

So here we are, another six weeks later, and today, as the children were settling down after recess, the calm and contentment in the classroom as we listened to quiet music (George Winston’s “Reflection” from the Winter into Spring album) was like a lightweight, but cosy blanket you just want to wrap yourself in.  What a delightful time to be a Kindergarten teacher, to watch and enjoy the growth and maturity in each child, all of them blessed with so much wonderful promise and potential.  We are privileged to be in the best profession, and certainly fortunate to be teaching such a glorious age group.  A very jolly time we are having, indeed.

This Week in Our Room:  February 9-12, 2016

Valentine excitement was everywhere, from dressing up in pink, white, red and purple, to tucking in the final Valentine cards to our special card holders to eating some festive goodies. Thank you to all the parents for sending in such wonderful February treats!

We met with our Grade 7 Buddies again this week to work on the next page of “what penguins eat” for our penguin inquiry and digital literacy projects.

We finished working on the letter Q in the alphabet.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

On Monday, we’ll be watching a special Duffle Bag Theatre production of “Snow White” during a school assembly.  Monday is Library Book Exchange for Division 15.

On Tuesday, both classes will be having Chinese New Year celebrations in their classrooms.  We’ll be playing special centres and sampling some special Chinese delicacies.  Please remember to wear red, a special good luck colour in Chinese culture.  Tuesday is Library Book Exchange for Division 16.

Thursday is our second and final skate day.  Please remember to send skating pants, gloves and bring your helmets and skates if you have them.  Your classroom teacher and parent helpers will assist with the skate and helmet rentals.

Friday is the popcorn sale and the Kindergarten will participate.  $1 per bag.  The Kindergarten children will only purchase one bag each so please send in only $1.

This Week in Our Room:  January 19-22, 2016

The January days are really speeding by.  We couldn’t believe that we’re already three weeks into this month with only one more to go!

While the first term at school has traditionally been a time to focus on classroom routines and expectations, developing pro-social skills and positive work habits, and growth in self-regulation and emotional maturity, the second term is our opportunity to deepen the children’s learning and understanding of the core concepts and competencies.  And with our Kindergarten classes well settled into their classes, self-regulation strategies practiced and in use, it’s time to move forward in their study of different themes and areas of inquiry.

At this time of year, our Unit of Inquiry: Penguin Edition continues to be a joint collaboration with our Grade 7 Big Buddies.  We enjoyed another week of teaching questioning skills and using the 5Ws What, Who, When, Where, Why (and How?) to help the children reframe their guesses into questions when trying to solve the puzzle of the Mystery Box.  We completed another page using Book Creator on Penguin Habitat after completing some research about the Antarctic with our Buddies.

This term we are working on developing the concept of Number in Math.  The children are using a variety of math manipulatives, including those they are comfortable and familiar with through previous explorations, patterning, and sorting and classifying activities, along with the addition of some new ones, to create number sets, count, sequence, add-on and take-away from a specific number.  They use the manipulative objects to demonstrate their learning at the concrete level, and then again at the connecting level through drawing and recording their observations.

A blog post from us is never complete without a quick mention of our Art and Literature theme on Winter.  The children’s Mitten and Snowman hangers was another chance to revisit Patterns on our mittens, and some fun mixed media for the snowman.  Our inspiration for this project were the books The Mitten by Jan Brett and Snowballs by Lois Ehlert.

The Snowglobes were an absolute joy to make with our classes; many of the children brought in a snowglobe for their Christmas sharing so we were pleased to be able to build on our shared experience with this detailed and sparkling rendition.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Please remember to return your ice-skating permission forms as soon as possible.  We would appreciate as much parent help as possible on our two days, Thursday, February 4 and 18,  with the skate lace-ups so please mark these days on your calendar.

Our classes are expected to go outside for the morning recess and lunch, even when it’s raining.  Although we occasionally keep the children inside if it’s an absolute deluge, part of enjoying living on the Westcoast is the lovely temperate weather and with that comes the rain.  Your children should wear their boots and a jacket, preferably with a hood (or hat), for the rainy season at school.  When we come inside, children are expected to change their boots to inside shoes which they can put on independently; it’s important to us to keep our classroom carpets as clean and dry as possible as we sit and play on the carpets everyday.  If your children prefer to wear lace-up runners, please take some time to teach them how to tie their own laces as this is not a skill we teach in Kindergarten.  We do not allow the children to use umbrellas on the playground as it’s a safety issue, so these may be kept at home.

If you child has an upcoming birthday and would like to bring a nut-free/peanut-free snack for the class, please let us know, particularly if you are in Mrs. Daudlin’s class, with our upcoming 7 February birthday celebrations (a new all time high for birthdays in a single month).

We’re back to school and ready to go!

It’s always such a delight teaching the Kindergarten, and none more than in January when we see such a huge jump in the children’s growth and maturity.  They are very ready to return to their classrooms and able to take on more and new learning challenges.  It’s an exciting for them as we begin to explore more deeply mathematical understandings, the rich language of themed based literature and using small equipment in PE activities.

As well, we’re starting our first digital literacy project on Penguins with our Grade 7 Buddies on our school iPads using the app Book Creator this month.  We will be combining our weekly Buddy session with a Mystery Box Inquiry, where we place a mystery object in a special box, and the children ask questions to figure out what is in the box.  Developing strong questioning skills will be a focus for our classes as part of inquiry based learning here at Ridgeview.

After an absence such as the Christmas holidays, it’s important to return to a routine and no one appreciates that more than Christy and myself.  We love routines so much at school, and home, that we’ve written a couple of blog posts about them.

Our Kindergarten Classroom Routines

Start the Kindergarten Day Off Right!

Our children are settling well back into their classroom routines with some gentle reminders.  Thank you as always, for your kind support, in helping us to teach your children to be the best that they can be!

This Week in Our Room:  January 4-8, 2016

Thank you very much for reading our post Food for Thought and reflecting on your child’s lunch food choices.  We are noticing more children are eating and enjoying homemade lunches, and those eating food from the hot lunch program are finding their orders delicious and manageable.  For your interest, many families reduced their hot lunch order or opted out of the program this term.

Our classes were delighted to be able to take out a Library Book this week and we look forward to listening to many good books with Mrs. Kennedy.

We also made our January self-portraits this week!

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Monday, January 11, is Canucks Spirit Day!  Please wear your Canucks gear, or green and blue, to give our local National Hockey League team some support!

We sent home the ice-skating permission forms this week.  Please return your child’s form and cheque soon.  We would so appreciate as many parents as possible to meet us at the arena on our skating days to help lace the children into their skates.  It’s a very big job and made so much easier for everyone with extra adult help.

We are both still missing report card folders in both classes.  Please check one more time at home if you still have yours at home.  We would like to be able to use folders for the second and third term report cards.

Here’s a reminder again about the children’s schedules:

Division 15 (Mrs, Campbell and Mrs. Cantlie)

Monday: Library (please return your library book)

Tuesday: Music; PE (please bring runners to school to wear in the gym)

Wednesday: Big Buddies (most Wednesday’s)

Thursday: Music; PE (please bring runners to school to wear in the gym)

Division 16 (Mrs. Daudlin)

Monday:  PE (please bring runners to school to wear in the gym)

Tuesday:  Library (please return your library book); Music

Thursday:  Music

Friday:  PE (please bring runners to school to wear in the gym ); Big Buddies (most Friday’s)