June 17th - 21st

 

We had the most wonderful time down in Fish Creek Park this week! We were inspired by Frank Serafini's book - Looking Closely Through The Forest - and did lots of our own looking closely! While enjoying our time connecting to the land, we discovered many different treasures...dew drops on leaves, interestingly shaped rocks, flower patterns, mossy trees, flying and crawling insects, spiders, ducks, natural and man-made structures and so much more! It was great to hear the students making observations, connecting to background knowledge as well as asking thoughtful questions.

Learning Intentions:

• Children examine and describe surrounding environments

I Can:

• Use the senses to make observations about environments 

• Ask questions about surrounding environments 

• Demonstrate respect while interacting with environments 

• Identify natural and constructed objects in surrounding environments

• Represent objects found in nature and those constructed by humans

• Record observations of changes in environments

• Discuss the importance of protecting and respecting environments

• Identify ways to protect and respect environments 

• Reflect on what is personally considered to be beautiful and appreciated in nature 

June 10th - 14th

Wishing all you amazing kindergarten dads 

a very Happy Father's Day 💗

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 Our trip to Fire Station No. 19 

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Learning Intentions:

- Children demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the characteristics and interests that unite members of communities and groups

- Children examine the ways in which people create a climate of cooperation

I Can:

- Appreciate the important contributions of individuals in the community

- Appreciate the impact that group members have on each other

- Assume responsibility for personal actions, words and choices

- Explore and reflect upon the rules at school, home and in the community

- Work and play in harmony with others to create a safe and caring environment

- Demonstrate appropriate behaviours for social involvement as a responsible citizen

- Consider the needs of others

What an amazing experience we had at the Fire Station! As we walked through the community students demonstrated safety and great community manners by staying on the sidewalk and enjoying our neighbours beautiful trees and flower gardens with our eyes and not our hands! When we arrived, the firefighters at Parkland Station No. 19 were just as excited to see us as we were to see them! Our first job was to go to the 'safe zone' at the back of the station and talk about safety in the fire station. Once we understood what was important about being a visitor at the station, we began learning about how the firefighters keep themselves safe with the special equipment they wear. We noticed how they worked together as a team, checking each other over to make sure their safety gear was on appropriately and working properly. Some of the students made comments - "You're helping each other be safe!", "It's important to help people." and "Teamwork makes the dream work!" We learned that they need to be dressed and in the truck ready to go within 60 seconds so that they can get to the emergency as fast as they can...that sure is quick! We talked about fire safety and the importance of having an escape plan at home just like we do at school. Some of the things we talked about if we are ever in a situation when there is a fire were...

• CALL 911
• Follow your FAMILY ESCAPE PLAN if you can
• DO NOT HIDE (make LOTS of noise so the firefighters can find you)
• STOP, DROP & ROLL if your clothing catches on fire (do not run around)
• STAY LOW and CRAWL (to try and get under the smoke)
• Use your hands to FEEL DOORS to see if they are hot (do not open if it is hot)
• Get to a WINDOW and OPEN it if you can (or bang and wave at people outside)

Once we reviewed all the serious stuff, it was time to check out the fun stuff!

A HUGE thank you to our City of Calgary Fire Department and Station No. 19 for all that they do to help protect and keep our community safe - it is greatly appreciated 💗

June 3rd - 7th

 

It was an action packed week full of great learning, exciting new discoveries and amazing kindergarten kiddos!

Learning Intention:

- Children explore physical activity in a variety of contexts

- Children explore spatial awareness in a variety of physical activity contexts

I Can:

- Participate in a variety of physical activities and games

- Practice moving in relation to the location and proximity of people or objects in a variety of physical activity contexts

What a great opportunity to learn about the awesome sport of lacrosse from one of our very own Calgary Roughnecks player - Dan Taylor - who actually grew up just down the street and went to Andrew Sibbald School himself!

Learn a little more about the Calgary Roughnecks!

Learn a little more about the Elev8 Classroom Lacrosse program

Our first step was learning how to properly hold our sticks and scoop the ball up off the floor...we pretended we were scooping up our favourite kind of ice cream! Next Coach Dan showed us how to cradle the ball by rapidly rotating our sticks in half-turns while also holding our sticks a little more upright. Some of us even mastered a full rotation without letting the ball fall out of our pockets! Once we had got some of the basics under control we were ready to learn the over the shoulder pass!

Did you know...

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Also...with lots of excitement, we welcomed 8 new beautiful Painted Lady butterflies to our Kindergarten family! Stay tuned for more butterfly information coming soon! 

May 27th - 31st

 

As we have been watching our caterpillars tell their story - we have also been talking about the beginning, middle and end of the stories we have been reading in class!

Learning Intention:

- Children demonstrate understanding of messages communicated in texts

I Can:

- Sequence events from a text

- Retell the beginning, middle, end of a text

When we arrived back at school this week our caterpillars had transitioned into the next stage of their life cycle - the chrysalis. As we have been documenting the changes they're going through, we have also been talking about the 'story' of their life - egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly - and referring to these stages as the beginning, middle and end of their life cycle. We continued to explore the idea of beginning, middle and endings of stories and focused on creating simple story maps together as a large group to help us retell these important parts of a story. We did such a great job with our oral retellings so we decided to take on a challenge with a more complex story called 'The Secret Shortcut'. After listening to the story we made our own story maps and then used them to help us retell different events from the beginning, middle and end.