January 22nd - 26th

 

CBE Indigenous Education Holistic Lifelong Learning 

It was another wonderful week in Kindergarten! Our visit with Knowledge Keeper Hal Eagletail was awesome...we did a very good job listening respectfully to his stories and asked him some really great questions!

Learning Intention:

Oral Language - listening and speaking form the foundation for literacy and improve communication, collaboration, and respectful mutual understanding

I Can:

- practice listening and speaking skills through the sharing of oral stories

- explore stories from the First Nations

- demonstrate a variety of listening behaviours

- ask questions to clarify ideas or information

It was a wonderful opportunity meeting Knowledge Keeper Hal Eagletail. Students were excited and eager to listen to his stories as well as his drumming. We learned how to say hello, goodbye and thank you in the Dene language. Lots of our new learning was connected to our Morning Cree song that we start each day with as well as the book 'Be A Good Ancestor', which we recently read. We talked about learning from the land, spirit animals, and the importance of the buffalo. We learned about moccasins, what the different colours and details represent, and about the important responsibility of protecting the environment. We listened to songs being sung in Dene, Cree and Blackfoot and could feel the powerful heartbeat of the drum. We definitely look forward to our next visit with Knowledge Keeper Hal. 💗

January 15th - 19th

It was looking hopeful at the beginning of the week that we might get outside more...but unfortunately we were back to indoor recesses and stuck having too much fun role playing winter activities inside!

Learning Intention:

- children demonstrate understandings of messages communicated in texts

I Can:

- discuss ideas and details from texts

- sequence events from a text

- retell or dramatize a story, including characters and events 

- interpret illustrations

After reading the story All You Need For A Snowman, students were quick to share about their own snowman stories as we looked back through the book and talked about the beginning, middle and ending. It was now time to get up and retell the story in a fun and active way.

First, we made sure we had our amazing imagination caps on as we began pretending to get dressed to go outside and build our own giant snowmen! We had lots of fun trudging through the thick snow that covered the classroom floor. We quickly discovered that rolling the biggest snowball for the bottom of our snowman was really hard work as we pushed and pushed and rolled it bigger and bigger! After rolling the bottom we started forming the middle ball and of course we remembered that the middle had to be smaller than the bottom snowball but bigger than the top snowball. Students used their strong muscles to lift the second snowball on top and then quickly started making their snowman's head. Our snowmen were tall and mighty and we needed to stand on our tippiest tippy toes to add the last snowball on the very top. It was definitely tricky, but we kept going and persevered...after all we were almost done! Lastly, we set out on a search for objects we could use to add important details to our snowmen such as, noses, smiles, eyes, ears, earrings, arms, hands, buttons, scarves, boots, hats...and lots more creative add-ons! Finally, we all stood back admiring our snowmen creations with our friends! 

Throughout this activity students added their ideas, words and actions to help make this dramatization really come to life! It's original purpose was to practice our retelling and sequencing skills, but it soon became this wonderful opportunity to build vocabulary, get moving, be silly, smile and have fun!

💗 

(And this is why I LOVE Kindergarten!)

January 8th - 12th

Wowzers...that was some serious cold weather this week!

Although it was freezing outside...we were keeping toasty warm inside lighting it up on our rollerblades during our Alien In-Line Skating sessions with Coach Greg!

Learning Intention:

- children explore physical activity in a variety of contexts

I Can:

- understand that physical activity can be experienced in a variety of ways

- participate in a variety of physical activities and games

What an amazing adventure we had this week with our Alien In-Line skating sessions and our Grade 4 Buddies. My heart is full. 💗  It was truly amazing to see the students grow in so many ways as they participated in this experience. For those who had previous experience with rollerblading - they became our expert helpers and role models while also gaining new skills and confidence! Students who were trying it for the first time were brave, patient and extremely resilient! Coach Greg taught us lots of helpful tips and tricks as well as some fun rhymes to help us remember important things like - "Oh no, get low!" for when we were feeling a little out of control and felt like we were going to fall. 

**The T/Th class completed their in-line skating sessions this week and the M/W class will have their last session on Friday January 19th.

 

January 7th - Welcome Back!

 

!!! Happy New Year !!! 

I hope everyone had a really wonderful holiday!

Over the months of November and December, CBE Kindergarten teachers participated in a program from the Learning Disabilities Of Albreta (LDAA) called the Assessment of Foundational Reading Skills (AFRS). This program involved using an assessment tool which helped me to determine each child's strengths and areas for improvement in foundational reading skills. Using this tool allowed me to evaluate students' phonological awareness and phonic skills, which are the building blocks for reading. At school, we will continue implementing various strategies to help build a strong alphabetic foundation for students. Reading skills will continue to be introduced and developed through direct teacher instruction as well as interactive activities.

Here are some definitions from the Learning Disabilities Association Of Alberta: