Merry Christmas!

Well, we survived the last week of Christmas excitement!  And what a fun week it was.  We had a balloon-style countdown.  Each day we popped one balloon that had a message hidden inside.  The messages were fun activities we could do that day.  The message in Wednesday's balloon was to enjoy a picnic snack!  Click here to see pictures of our picnic fun.  The students enjoyed making Christmas tree sensory bottles, gingerbread men, and of course, their gingerbread houses!  Click here to see pics of our gingerbread man craft.  

Our Christmas parties were a hit.  We had fun playing Christmas bingo, watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and decorating gingerbread houses.  A huge thank you goes out to Stacey May, Bill Harstad, and Jennifer White for volunteering to help out with house decorating.  Thanks also to Olivia's Grandma and Sobey's for donating all of the icing.  Click here to see pictures from our party fun.

The PreK staff was so spoiled, thank you for all of the wonderful gifts.  We will certainly be enjoying them over the Christmas holidays.  

MindUp Curriculum
This week in the MindUp Curriculum, we began talking about how other people are feeling.  The concept of considering things from someone else's point of view can be difficult for PreK.  I used the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to bring in this concept.  We went through the story and chatted about the different characters and how they might have been feeling.  I asked questions like, "why do you think Goldilocks ate the bears porridge?  Maybe she was hungry?  How do you think that made the bears feel?  How do you think Goldilocks felt when she woke up?"  

I also introduced the students to the concept of being an optimistic or pessimistic thinker (using a happy or sad brain to think about things).  These are some big concepts for PreK, but I plan to review them continuously throughout the year to help reinforce the idea.  

In the Gym

Last week worked on our locomotor skills and body awareness while we had some hula hoop fun.  The students enjoyed turning hula hoops into cars while we played red light, green light.  We also used the hula hoops for a version of musical hoops while dancing to Christmas music and then finding a hoop to stand in when the music stopped.  

Coming Up

In the New Year our theme will be SPACE!  

Important dates:

• January 9th - classes resume 
• January 11th and 12th - early dismissal days
• the morning class will dismiss at 10:25am
• the afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15pm
• January 20th - Picky Eating FOP 
• 9:30 - 11:00am
• January 23rd - No PreK today 
• Black Gold ECS Teachers' Meeting Day

I would like to wish everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

See you in 2017!

It's Been a Cold Week!

I think we are all feeling a little stir crazy after being stuck inside for SO MANY days.  Hopefully the weather will smarten up soon so we can take the kids outside for some much needed fresh air!  We stayed warm this week by baking cookies for Santa.  The kids had a blast rolling, cutting, and decorating the cookies.  They were delighted to each take a couple home for Santa.  The true test will be if they can stop themselves from eating them before Christmas Eve!  Click here to see some pictures of our cookie fun: Cookies for Santa

Welcome Mrs. Watt!

We are thrilled to announce that our educational assistant Mrs. Watt is now working with the afternoon class as well as the morning class.  Welcome to the afternoons Mrs. Watt, we are so excited to have you working with both of our classes!

A Group Effort

We had fun strengthening our fine motor skills by working together to cut, draw, and glue to create snowmen with our classroom occupational therapist, Mrs. Sangster.  Each child had different tasks to complete to help make our snowmen a success!  Click here to see some of our teamwork in action: Group Snowmen

In the Gym

We were so excited to see "Pool Hall Games" set up in the gym this week.  The kids enjoyed learning about foosball, air hockey, shuffle board, and ping pong as we tried out the different games.  Click here to see some action shots of our game time: Pool Hall Games

Sensory Bags

I hope your children were able to communicate to you what the baggie with shave cream inside was all about.  That was a snowman sensory bag - we worked hard to draw the faces on those bags.  The students loved squishing the bags to move the carrot nose around.  

MindUp Curriculum

This week we began chatting about mindful movement.  How does your body feel when you exercise?  How does your body feel when you are relaxed?  What tools can we use to help our body relax?  We can use deep umbrella breathing to help calm our bodies down.  

We also began to learn about mindful balancing.  We worked together to see how tall of a tower we could build out of blocks.  We found out that we were able to make our tower even taller if we were mindful about our stacking and thought about our actions before adding a block to the tower.

Christmas Party

We will be having our Christmas Parties on Thursday, December 22nd.  The morning Monday/Wednesday students are welcome to join the Thursday morning class, and the afternoon Monday/Wednesday students are welcome to join the Thursday afternoon class.  

This day will be a wear your pajamas and bring a stuffed animal day!

We will also be making gingerbread houses on this day.  Thank you to Sobeys for generously donating ALL of the icing for our houses.  I will provide the houses.  I am asking each family to send a small bag of candy for decorating.  I will mix all of the candies together for the students to share, to ensure there is an assortment of candies for each student to use.  I am still looking for one more volunteer to help out with decorating from the morning class.  If you are interested in helping out, please let me know!

Important Dates

• December 22nd - Christmas Parties
• Wear your pajamas and bring a stuffed animal
• Bring a small bag of candy for gingerbread house making
• December 23rd - January 8th - Christmas holidays, no school
• January 9th - Classes resume 
• January 11th and 12th - early dismissal days
• the morning class will dismiss at 10:25am
• the afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15pm

Christmas Fun!

I was so proud of the great job our students did at the Christmas concert on Friday.  Thank you to all of the families who were able to come out and join the Christmas fun.  A HUGE thank you goes out to Tim Horton's for donating the hot chocolate and Timbits!  

Click here to see pictures from the Christmas activities: Christmas Fun

Mindful Curriculum

Last week I introduced the students to mindful smelling and mindful tasting.  They had fun trying to guess the different smells I brought in.  They also enjoyed using all of their senses to see, touch, smell, and taste some different foods: an orange, pretzel, marshmallow, and chocolate chip.

Getting Messy

We had fun getting messy this week.  The students enjoyed the sensory experience of painting with marshmallows.  We also worked together to make a Christmas tree by each painting one green plate that we later assembled into a beautiful work of art!  

Click here to see some of the fun we had over the past week.  

Christmas Party 

We will be having a Christmas Party for all of our students on Thursday, December 22nd.  The Monday/Wednesday students are invited to join our Tuesday/Thursday classes for the day!  The morning students will still attend their normal morning hours, and the afternoon class will come during their scheduled afternoon time.

We are going to decorate gingerbread houses during our party.  I am looking for one-two parents to volunteer for this day, and also for a couple of parents who are interested in making icing for us (I have a great recipe that I can share!)  I will supply the houses, if each family can send a bag of candy.  I will mix all the candy for the kids to share, so if each family sends one kind of candy that will be great.  Please let me know if you are interested in making icing or helping out with our gingerbread fun!  

A Week of Snowmen!

Last week we had fun learning with snowmen.  We painted with loofas to make snowman placemats.  The students enjoyed strengthening their fine motor and early literacy skills while they constructed name snowmen out of paper.  We also worked hard practicing our Christmas concert songs!

Winter Clothes

Fresh air and getting outside to play is so important.  I have been trying to take the kids outside daily.  With the exception of the days when it is too cold, I plan to continue heading outdoors as much as possible.  Please be sure to send snow pants, a toque, and mittens with your child everyday.  

Water Bottles Needed!

I am still looking for about ten more water bottles for an upcoming art project.  If you have any water bottles (with lids) that you are willing to donate, it would be greatly appreciated!

Christmas Concert

Our Christmas concert is coming up this Friday!  We have been working hard to learn our Christmas songs and we are looking forward to sharing some Christmas cheer with you on Friday at 1:30.  

Our concert will be held at 1:30pm at Riverview School in the Music Room.  We will open the doors at 1:20 to allow you time to get your child in and settled.  You can bring your child to the classroom, and then head to the music room to get a seat.  

All PreK families are invited to join us after the concert until 3:00pm for a Christmas FOP.  There will be several Christmas centers set up around the Music Room for you to enjoy with your child. 

There is no special dress code for the Christmas concert.  Please feel free to dress your child in whatever you would like for this day! 

In the Gym

We had fun last week "skiing" both in the gym and in our classroom.  I also introduced the students to the game "red light - green light."  

Click here to see pictures of our skiing adventures!

Mind Up Curriculum

This past week we began to learn about mindful hearing and mindful seeing.  This is the concept of really taking the time to focus on hearing or seeing what's around you.  The students enjoyed trying to guess what was hiding in my sound bag when we were mindful listening.  We experimented with adding food colouring to water to engage in mindful seeing.  

Click here to see some of our mindful seeing.

Coming Up

This week will continue to be about winter, snowmen, and Christmas.  We will be working all week to get ready for our big concert on Friday - we hope to see you there!

Important Dates:

-December 7 and 8 - Early Dismissal Days

• the morning class will dismiss at 10:25am
• the afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15pm

-December 9 - Christmas Concert and Christmas FOP

• 1:30 - 3:00pm

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!