jdarwish – Page 3 – OJCS KINDERGARTEN / GAN

Global School Play Day at the OJCS!

Posted on February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by jdarwish

What a Great Global School Play Day we had. Thanks for sending in such great games to use in the class and play with. The class demonstrated great sharing, inclusiveness with their games and making everyone feel welcome to play, and of course using great critical thinking and creativity while using our time to collaborate with each other. Here is a snapshot of what it looked like in the Kindergarten today. I was so proud of our children and being a part of this huge global awareness day.

Here is a letter from our Winter Fun Day Planners.

Good morning K parents and students!

Our exciting Winter Fun Day is quickly approaching and before we can fully immerse ourselves in the wonder of snow and ice… We need consent forms filled and returned. I have printed paper copies for those who have not handed back in and extended the return date to Friday, February 7th, 2020. These copies will be coming home tonight.

As mentioned in a recent email you can indicate on the form whether your child wishes to partake in skating or tobogganing so we can allocate appropriate numbers of staff to each activity.

Regardless of the activity, helmets MUST be worn.

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss M

Thanks,

Global School Play Day is Tomorrow!

Posted on February 4, 2020 by jdarwish

Tomorrow is Global School Play Day that our class will be a part of. If you have any board games or items you think can be incorporated into our day, you are welcome to send them to school tomorrow. Unstructured play helps children develop 21st century skills.

In a world where education places emphasis on “academics” why would a school dedicate a certain amount of the day to play? There are many good, solid reasons:

Boosts Creativity — When children create make-believe games, they use their imaginations and develop abstract thinking.
Teaches Social Skills — Playing together, children learn how to get along with others. They develop empathy while learning to negotiate and compromise.
Develops Critical Thinking Skills — During unstructured play, children take risks, make mistakes, and learn important problem-solving skills.
Promotes Emotional Health — Free play reduces anxiety and stress in children, allows them to sleep better, and improves overall emotional health.
Fosters Independence — Children learn to make decisions, follow their own interests, and gain self-confidence.
Improves Physical Fitness — Playing actively helps children improve gross motor skills and build healthy bodies.

Thanks for your support in helping make this Day a Great One!

*On another Fun Day Note… please send in your permission slips for Winter Fun Day by Tomorrow if you haven’t already. They were sent home electronically.

The K Team

General Studies

Kindergarten goes Under the Sea!

Posted on January 31, 2020 by jdarwish

As we end our unit on Space…we’d like to share a link that we watched in class. The link is called EarthSky and thanks to Miko’s Mom for taking the picture of the planet Venus, that was visible in the sky, two days ago.

We are now going from up above to way down below. There is so much to learn about the Ocean! Take a look at our photo of some of the wonders and inquiry’s the class will be looking into. It’s already an exciting adventure. Listening to whale sounds, talking about how to keep the oceans clean, as well as life under the sea. If you have any books or expertise on the subject, and would like to share it with the class, please do so. Shabbat Shalom!

Uncategorized

Kindergarten at its Best!

Posted on January 21, 2020 by jdarwish

Learning Flipgrid with our Grade 5 students!

Fun with our new found dress up accessories!

As we wind down from our Space Inquiry… we hoped you all had a chance to talk about our amazing Solar Systems the kinders made. After learning many facts about each planet we created each planet according to their properties. We then had to order them in the correct order. We practised our printing skills by labeling each planet and giving it a Title. Today we listened to the story Ada Twist the scientist ,read by an astronaut from her shuttle. If you would like to listen to more stories, read by different astronauts, here is the link.
https://storytimefromspace.com/

We began our learning about Flipgrid with our Grade 5 students helping us navigate this tool . Everyone logged into the site and recorded what their favourite planet was. We will continue to learn how to use Flipgrid and send you information as we learn it.

General Studies

Global School Play Day

Posted on January 21, 2020 by jdarwish

On February 5th there is a National Global School Play Day to remember why Play is so important to the health of children. I have chosen to be a part of this Global Day since it is something I am very passionate about. Please read and visit the following article to help you better understand what this day is all about.
There is a great Ted Talk included , that I recommend you listen to, in order to help better understand why play is so important for the mental well being of our children.

https://pin.it/gesadt3ai5uqfj

Global School Play Day Official Website – www.gobalschoolplayday.com

I’m excited to participate in this very important movement to help promote the well being for our children .

General Studies, Reading

Welcome to January 2020!

Posted on January 6, 2020 by jdarwish

Welcome Back Everyone! We hope you all had a relaxing and great winter break. We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New year!

Blasting off into Space!

The Kindergarten Class has begun to learn all about The Solar System. We created an I Wonder chart to see what we want to know and what we wonder about.

The students really enjoy this song about the Solar System! Click the link below if you’d like to listen at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-qLUIj_A0

In addition to the above, in the computer lab,we are working on our reading skills using the website Starfall.
Feel free to access this website using the link below to explore Starfall from your own homes/devices.

https://www.starfall.com/

This year for my Professional Growth Plan in Kindergarten I am exploring how to use Flipgrid as a Platform for Homework in Kindergarten. FlipGrid is a really great tool where you can create videos around a question or a topic. Flipgrid is a very Kinder Friendly Technology Tool to use.

Our first step will be to learn how to use Flipgrid in the class. Once we are comfortable with the process, we can begin to use it for homework at home.

I have begun the process by meeting with our Technology Specialist Teacher, Melissa Thompson, and I am becoming familiar with how to set up a classroom with our own passwords, etc.

One of the ways I plan to use Flipgrid in the coming month is by having the students upload a review of a book they have read at home (with your support) by answering a few basic questions on the Flipgrid.

As we become more comfortable using Flipgrid at home, I hope to use it for Math Problem Solving Questions.

I look forward to having your feedback on my new journey so that we can make this an exciting and meaningful way to have our learning from our classroom to our home come together. As we all know one of our North Stars is We learn better Together.

French Studies, General Studies, Jewish Studies, Reminders

Chanukah News

Posted on December 13, 2019December 13, 2019 by jdarwish

The Kinders have been getting ready for our school Chanukah Celebration on Tuesday evening. We are asking that the children wear a white shirt and blue bottoms. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of our families.

As well on Thursday morning, the Ganon children will be joining us for a joint Chanukah Celebration We will be decorating cookies and having a Chanukah Sing-a-long lead by Mr. G,(Mr. Goddard) our music teacher.

Next Friday our Dress Down Day money will be going to the Ottawa Mission!

Shabbat Shalom!

General Studies, Reminders

Kindergarten Happenings!

Posted on November 27, 2019 by jdarwish

Today we began our first Anchor chart for Writing:

We have been learning our vowel sounds through song. This is a great way to reinforce the short vowel sounds. Whether we know the sounds or are just beginning to learn them, this is a song that everyone enjoys. Feel free to sing along at home. The song is called Vowel Bat.

In math we have started our new unit on number sense. You may have heard your kids talk about Subitizing. Here is our favourite Subitizing song we love to sing . Enjoy!

The book fair is coming up next week. This is a great opportunity to encourage a love of reading, while also receiving new books for our OJCS classrooms. Here are a few notes about this year’s fair…

1) We are going to the book fair as a class on Wednesday, December 4th. Please send your child with money that day if you would like him/her to purchase something at the fair.

2) Parents can pop into the book fair before and after school. It opens at 8:00 AM and this year it will be open during P/T Conferences in the evening.

3) Parents can send a note with their child if they have any instructions for the money; i.e. wanting money specifically spent entirely on books, if at least one book must be purchased, using the change towards buying book from the teacher wish list.

4) Continuing this year, will also be the Teacher Wish List! Teachers will be posting lists of books they would love to have added to their classroom libraries. If you would like to buy a book for the classroom, you are welcome to do so!

5) In the past, there have been some students who spend money on ‘chachkas’ rather than on books. If you’d like to make sure a specific amount is spent on books, please just send me a quick note and I’ll keep an eye out 😉

Please let us know if you have questions.

General Studies