Goldilocks and the Three Bears

This past week we dove into the wonderful world of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We had fun making porridge play dough together.  The kids liked to help measure, stir, and knead the oats into the dough!  

Click here to see the fun we had making the porridge play dough: Porridge Play Dough

The room was all laughter and excitement when we re-enacted Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  The children were delighted to take turns being the different characters from the book.  This was a wonderful speech and language activity which encouraged all of the children to take turns speaking in front of the class. 

Click here for a sneak peek of our acting fun: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We strengthened our fine motor skills and engaged in some smelly sensory play painting cinnamon bears.  The children remarked that the bears "smelled like cookies!"  

Click here to see the pictures of our cinnamon painting: Cinnamon Bears

How Spoiled Are We!

The wonderful students at Riverview Middle School have impressed me yet again!  Our Wednesday classes were invited to join Mrs. Giles' health class for some bear art this past week.  Mrs. Giles' students planned and prepared the entire activity for our students.  We had fun creating polar bears and brown bears with our big friends - we also enjoyed the experience of getting to work in their classroom!  

FOPS!

Thank you to all of the families who have taken the time to attend the past two FOPS.  Bobs and Lolo put on a wonderful concert, and I am pretty sure that all of the kids had a great time singing and dancing along.  The messy play FOP was also a hit.  The kids had fun painting, exploring, and getting messy!

Click here to see pics from our FOP days: Bobs and Lolo, Messy Play FOP

In the Gym

We spent the week practicing our two handed throwing skills.  We used balloons to practice throwing "up" using two hands.  We also played a fun game called "Not in my Backyard" to practice overhand throwing.  The kids loved this game.  They were excited each day as we rolled out the "fence" to divide the gym in half, creating two backyards for the game.  The goal of the game is to try and get all the balls out of your backyard by throwing them over the fence, while yelling "Not in my backyard!"

Christmas Concert!

We have officially set the date!  Our PreK Christmas concert will be held on Friday, December 9th at 1:30 pm.  The concert will be held here at Riverview in the music room.  The morning and afternoon classes will be performing together!  

All of the PreK families are invited to stay after the concert for a special Christmas FOP.  We will be setting up different Christmas centers for you to enjoy with your child.  These centers will be designed to help your child practice different developmental skills while having a fun time!  The Christmas FOP will run from 2:00 - 3:00 pm.

Water Bottles Needed!

I have found another fun water bottle craft that I would love to do.  If anyone has any empty water bottles (with lids) that they are willing to donate that would be great.  We will be needing 25 of them!

Coming Up

Next week we will begin our theme of Snowmen!  Important dates coming up:

December 9th - 1:30 - PreK Christmas Concert and Christmas FOP

December 23rd - January 8th - Christmas Break, No School (classes resume January 9th)

Hibernation Week!

What a fun week we had in PreK.  Our hibernation days were so exciting!  We had fun coming to school in our pajamas with our favorite stuffed animals.  It was all giggles and squeals when we came in from playing outside to find out our "napping" bears had actually been playing in the room while we were gone!!  The students worked on their matching and fine motor skills when we went on a Brown Bear hunt through the school hallways.

We worked on our language skills retelling Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See? using strips of paper to recall the different colors of each animal.  We also had fun with the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt and singing the song Hibernating Bear.  We strengthened our fine motor skills by making bear ear head bands to wear.  

Click here to see pictures of our hibernating fun: Hibernation Day

Mind Up Curriculum 

We talked this week about making mindful decisions.  This is thinking before you act.  We compared different behaviors and discussed if they were mindful or unmindful decisions.  This is a big concept for PreK to understand.  Over the next several weeks I plan to help the students begin to understand this concept by pointing out their mindful behaviors to them as they are happening!

Our classroom occupational therapist, Mrs. Sangster was in working with the students on "umbrella breathing."  I will be adding this concept to our deep breathing strategies as another tool for calming down and self-regulating.  

In the Gym

Monday and Tuesday were all about jumping.  The students had fun rotating through different jumping stations.  They practiced jumping down with two feet, hopping across 'lily pads,' jumping with two feet through hula hoops, and jumping over a skipping rope!

We had fun playing bear games in the gym this week.  On hibernation day we played games with our stuffed animals.  The students loved trying to "bounce" the bears off of our blue blanket.  We really had to work as a team to get all of the bears off!  We also worked on underhand throwing by tossing all of the bears into a hamper.  

Click here to get a peak at some of our bear fun in the gym: Bears in the Gym

Christmas Concert

We have begun practicing for our Christmas concert.  I am planning to have our PreK Christmas concert, as well as a Christmas FOP here at Riverview School on Friday, December 9th.  Stay tuned for the exact times - to be announced soon!

Coming Up

Next week we will be diving into the world of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

It's Been a Short Week!

We had a wonderful three day week.  The kids had fun with our bear theme this week.  They have been enjoying the "Bear Cave" that Mrs. Forchuk made for our classroom!  We have also been having fun with the book "Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?"  

Click here to see some pictures of our bear fun: Bears

We strengthened our fine motor skills this week by making some name art using dried pasta and chick peas.  We also created paper poppies for Remembrance Day.

Emergency Evacuation

I was so proud of the morning class, they were calm and followed protocol during the Riverview emergency evacuation practice on Tuesday morning.  Our class was so well behaved and quiet - we were stellar role models for our fellow Riverview students!

Remembrance Day Ceremony

Riverview put on a very nice Remembrance Day ceremony.  Our morning PreK's did a fantastic job sitting through the presentation!  I chatted with both classes about Remembrance Day and started to touch on the basics about what Remembrance Day stands for.  

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Mrs. Forchuk's son before the ceremony began.  He showed the class his uniform and talked about his badges.  Click here to see the pic: Remembrance Day

Hibernation Day!

Next week our little bears will enjoy a PreK hibernation day!!  

We will do hibernation day twice, so that all of our students have a chance to be involved.  We will "hibernate" on both Wednesday and Thursday next week.  

On hibernation day your child is invited to wear their pajamas and bring their favourite bear to school so that we can "hibernate!"

Coming Up

Next week we will continue with our bears unit.  We will also begin practicing for our PreK Christmas concert - stay tuned for more details regarding a date and time!  We will also continue with the MindUp Curriculum.  We will be learning about the difference between mindful vs. unmindful behaviours.  

Important Dates:

• November 10th - No School - midterm break
• November 11th - No School - Remembrance Day
• November 14th - deadline to register for Bobs and Lolo Production
• November 16th and 17th- hibernation day - wear your pajamas and bring your favourite bear!
• November 18th - 1:30 - 2:30pm - Bobs and Lolo Production in Leduc at Ecole Corinthia Park School

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful long weekend - see you next week!

Halloween Was Fun!

We had fun last week!  The kids had a blast on Halloween.  Our parade through the school was so cute - and the "big kids" loved having the chance to see our PreK's in their awesome costumes!  

Thank you to all of the parents who sent snacks for our party - the kids enjoyed having special treats for the day.  

It was surprisingly quiet in our room, as the students enjoyed the magic of a witches brew story I told them using the light table and common household ingredients for the "boiling brew."  We also had fun "trick or treating" to the office before we went home for an evening of more Halloween fun!  

Click here to see some pictures of our Halloween Fun: Halloween Party

The rest of our week was rather short with a PD Day, followed by two early dismissal days.

Bears

We began our unit on bears.  We have been reading the book "Big Smelly Bear" by Britta Teckentrup.  Everyone loved the itchy bear from this book who refused to take a bath!  The students had a fun sensory experience creating big fluffly bear from the book using puffy paint - made out of shaving cream, white glue, and paint.  

FOP

Thank you to the parents who attended the Drum Fit FOP - the kids had a blast!  Here are some pics of that fun day: Drum Fit FOP

Emergency Evacuation

We have been practicing for an emergency evacuation.  I have been trying to convey to the students that the alarm will sound and it will be very LOUD, but that it is only LOUD and NOT scary.  This week there will be a school wide emergency evacuation practice happening.  I think we are ready to show those "big kids" that PreK knows exactly what to do in the event of an emergency!  

Remembrance Day

PreKindergarten has been invited to watch the Remembrance Day ceremony at Riverview School.  It is on Wednesday, November 9th at 10:45am.  I will be taking the morning class to the ceremony.  

Parents are welcome to come and watch if they would like (please arrive at 10:30).  

The afternoon kids, as well as the Tuesday/Thursday kids and their parents are also welcome to join us for the assembly if they would like.  All of the PreK students will sit in the front row on the floor.  There will be chairs available for the parents farther back.

Each child will receive a poppy to wear.  If you would like to donate a loonie or toonie for the poppy fund please put it in your child's mail bag.  

Coming Up...

This week we will continue with our theme of bears.  We will also be focusing on the MindUp curriculum and beginning to learn about our brains.  

Important Dates this week:

• Christmas Card orders are due by Wednesday, November 9th
• Remembrance Day Assembly is on Wednesday, November 9th at 10:45am
• There is no school on Thursday, November 10th - midterm break
• There is no school on Friday, November 11th - Remembrance Day