It's a Zoo in Here!

Well, we officially made it - spring break is finally here!  I hope everyone enjoys a nice, relaxing break from school.  

This past week we had fun finishing up our zoo theme.  We strengthened our fine motor skills by using popsicle sticks and plasticine to build our very own zoo cages!  

You can click here to see more pictures of our zoo cages in action.  

Lions and Tigers and Bears... 

Oh My!

The students were on high alert looking for zoo animals when we took a zoo safari hunt around the school.  This pre-literacy activity focused on hearing sounds in words, expanding vocabulary, and visual recognition.  You can click here to see more pictures of the safari hunt.  

Little Bakers

We made elephant bread on Wednesday.  The students were very excited for this project.  Some of them were quite shocked to find out that our school has an oven!  You can click here to see more pictures of our baking. 

Zones of Regulation

This week we continued to talk about expected and unexpected behaviours.  We reviewed how behaving in an expected way makes the people around you feel safe and happy.  The students had fun posing for pictures of expected circle time behaviour.  These behaviours include sitting on your bottom, eyes looking, ears listening, and mouth quiet:

They also enjoyed posing for some pictures of unexpected circle time behaviour:

 (Yikes!!)

I plan to hang these pictures in our classroom.  This will give the students a visual reference and reminder of what expected and unexpected behaviour looks like during circle time.  

Coming Up

• March 27 - 31st - spring break, no school
• April 3rd - classes resume
• April 5th and 6th - early dismissal
• the morning class will dismiss at 10:25 am
• the afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15 pm
• April 14th - no school - Good Friday
• April 17th - no school - Easter Monday/Semester Break
• April 18th - PD Day - no school 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Even though we built and set Leprechaun traps, we were not lucky enough to catch one!  Those Leprechauns did however, visit our classroom - and they made quite the mess.  It was up to the students to figure out the seven jokes that were played on them, so they could go to the office to claim their gold!  You can click here for more of our St. Patrick's Day fun.

The students had fun building Leprechaun traps this week.  They worked together and demonstrated wonderful collaboration and team work skills to come up with one trap per table.  You can click here to see more pictures of our Leprechaun trap building.  

St. Patrick's Day Art

This week we enjoyed getting messy.  We painted shamrocks using marbles and marshmallows! 

We also strengthened our fine motor skills by making rainbow necklaces out of cereal.  You can click here to see more pictures of our messy fun.

Zones of Regulation

This week I introduced the students to the concept of expected and unexpected behaviours.  We talked about how when you behave in an expected way (for example, sitting quietly during learning time), your friends and the people around you feel comfortable and safe.  When you behave in an unexpected way (for example, screaming or sitting in someone else's personal space), you make your friends and the people around you feel uncomfortable or scared.  We brainstormed and discussed different expected and unexpected behaviours, and how they might make our friends feel.

Check out our Bulletin Boards

We were feeling the PreK Pride when we seen our finished bulletin boards in Riverview School.  Our lions are displayed near the office, and the birds are in the hallway near the gym.  Be sure to check them out if you get the chance!

Coming Up

• March 27th - 31st - Spring Break, no school
• April 5th and 6th - Early Dismissal Days
• The morning class will dismiss at 10:25 am
• The afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15 pm

We're Going on a Lion Hunt!

We were wild about the zoo theme last week!  The students had fun painting lions using forks and making lion masks out of paper plates.  It was all roars and screams when we used our finished masks to go on a "lion hunt!"  You can click here to see more pictures of our lion hunt.

We learned about different animals and their sounds by singing "The Animals at The Zoo."  The students also enjoyed painting some colourful birds for our classroom zoo!  We will be hanging our lions and birds in the front entry way of the school for the Riverview open house.  Be sure to check them out later next week if you have the chance.   

There were several zoo centres set up during play time.  The students enjoyed being zoo keepers and using the zoo keeper checklist to ensure the zoo animals had plenty of food, water, a clean cage, and were healthy.  We even had a couple of pretend veterinarians in the room!  We also painted a snowy winter zoo and enjoyed a zoo scavenger hunt in the sensory bin!  You can click here to see more pictures of our zoo centres.

This week we have been reviewing the zones of regulation.  We sorted different emotions into the coloured zones - blue, green, yellow, or red.  We also discussed the tools of quietly counting to ten and deep "umbrella" breathing to help calm us down if we are in the yellow or red zone.  The green zone is where you should be when you are ready to learn!

Developing Body Awareness 

Throughout the year we have been singing the "Mat Man" song to help develop body awareness.  The Mat Man song sings about the of parts of Mat Man's body.  This week we developed our fine motor skills by participating in a guided drawing activity as we all drew Mat Man while we sang the song together.  

If you want to see Mat Man in action, you should ask your child if they will draw Mat Man for you!  You can click here to see more pictures of our drawings.  

In the Gym

I introduced the students to two new tag games this past week.  We certainly had some good cardio exercise and got our hearts beating!  We had fun playing bridge tag and peacock tag.  It was a great way to burn some of that pent up energy from being stuck inside.

Coming Up

The forecast next week looks marvellous!  I am looking forward to getting the kids outside to connect with nature and for some much needed fresh air.  Please be sure to dress your child for the weather - wearing snow pants or splash pants will be important for staying dry if the warm temperatures actually arrive!

We will take a break from the zoo next week for some St. Patrick's Day fun!

• March 27th - 31st - spring break - no school

Paleontologists in the Making!

What an exciting week we had being paleontologists last week.  


We had fun looking for dinosaurs, fossils, and bones throughout the school while we worked on expanding our dinosaur vocabulary and visual matching skills.  

We used paint to discover dinosaur fossils on paper!

We hatched dinosaur babies out of frozen eggs.  The students had to figure out how to get the dinosaurs out of the eggs.  They used a combination of salt, water, hammers, and smashing the eggs to free the babies!  This project was so exciting that we have saved eggs for all of the students that were absent so they can have a chance to hatch a baby dinosaur next week.

You can click here to see the rest of our paleontologist pictures.

In The Gym

This week we worked on ball skills in the gym.  I set up stations for the students to rotate through that helped them to work on bouncing, throwing, and catching balls.  We used different sizes of balls, and worked on throwing both over and under hand.  

How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends?

We read the book "How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends" by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.  This open some great discussions around how to treat your friends.  

Last week we read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and began to touch on the big concept of telling the truth.  

Coming Up

It's about to get wild in PreK... Next week we will begin our Zoo theme!

I will be sending home a form this week for you to fill out regarding your plans for the upcoming school year (staying in PreK, moving to kindergarten, etc.).  This form is important for our school so that we can begin to project numbers and start planning for the fall.  Please fill this form out and send it back to school by March 10th.

• March 23rd, 5:30 - 8:00 pm - Family Dance at Robina Baker School
• March 27 - March 31st - Spring Break, no school  

Welcome to a Prehistoric Time!

Last week we began our exciting unit on dinosaurs!  The students were all very excited to try out the different dinosaur centres at play time - finding fossils in the sand table, playing with muddy dinosaurs in the sensory bin, making fossils out of moon sand, walking on dinosaur stilts, and building dinosaur puzzles.  

Some Dinosaur Math

I challenged the students with the question - just how BIG was a T-Rex?  We watched a short video that compared a T-Rex to a house, elephant, tennis court, and football field.  The students couldn't believe that the T-Rex was as tall as a house and the same length as a tennis court!

We then got chatting about a T-Rex's foot - I challenged the students again - how many of our feet do you think can fit inside a T-Rex's footprint?  We used a paper template of a T-Rex foot to measure.  The students could not believe how big it really was, and just how many of our shoes we could fit into just ONE T-Rex footprint.  Click here to see more pictures of our footprint measuring.  

Dinosaurs Like to Get Messy Too!

We had fun making dinosaur footprints this past week.  We worked together to make two big 'dino track' pictures per class.  Click here for more pictures of our footprint painting.

Pink Shirt Day

We were excited to be able to see the Kindness Matters video on pink shirt day.  If you look closely - you can even see some of our PreK friends in the dancing scene!  I began to introduce the concept of bullying.  The students took turns sharing different behaviours that are "mean" and could hurt someone's feelings.  Each time a behaviour was shared we folded up a paper heart.  At the end I unfolded the heart so the students could see how crumpled it was.  We talked about how when you are mean to someone it hurts that person's heart; and although you can say sorry, you can never take back what happened.  We ended our lesson by each sharing a behaviour that is kind.  

In The Gym

This week we strengthened our gross motor skills in the gym.  The students used towels to pull each other around the gym, they enjoyed taking turns being the "tow truck" and the "broken car".  We also had fun developing body awareness while playing musical towels.  

Coming Up

This upcoming week we will continue with our dinosaur theme.  

• March 1st and March 2nd - early dismissal days 
• The morning class will dismiss at 10:25 am
• The afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15 pm

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fun week of Valentine's activities.  We had a fun day of Valentine's Day parties on Tuesday.  Thank you to all of the parents who sent snacks for the party.  Our morning class had fun with some photo props that one of our friends brought in, you can click here to see some pictures of their photo booth fun.

We enjoyed some messy, sensory art this week.  

We used vinegar and baking soda to make fizzy heart art.  We also used shaving cream and paint to make swirled hearts.

You can click here to see some pictures of our messy fun.  Unfortunately the shaving cream hearts were too messy for picture taking, but we were able to capture some of the fizzy heart art!

Some Mindful Tasting

The students enjoyed being 'chefs' this past week by making their own ants on a log.  We had fun talking about, smelling, and exploring the different ingredients.  I was proud of the kids for "trying" their food creation, and quite a few of our friends even liked it!  We then used the celery ends to paint some beautiful Valentine bouquets.  Click here to see pictures of our celery adventures.  

Spell-A-Thon

I was proud of the students spelling their names for our PreK Spell-A-Thon.  If your child collected pledges, I sent the forms home with their results on Thursday.  Money is due by Wednesday, February 22nd.  

Coming Up

This week we will begin our exciting unit on Dinosaurs!  We will also be having pink shirt day on Wednesday.  Each student will be given a pink shirt on this day.  We will be discussing bullying, kindness, and how our actions can affect other people.  

Important upcoming dates:

• February 20th - no school - Family Day
• March 1st and 2nd - early dismissal days
• The morning class will dismiss at 10:25 am
• The afternoon class will dismiss at 2:15 pm

A Busy Week!

Last week was short, out of routine, and a whole lot of fun!  Thank you for being so flexible with the anti-bullying video and pancake breakfast days.  We had a lot of fun spending the day at Robina Baker, and I can't wait to see the finished product.  

We were spoiled by Riverview School once again with the pancake breakfast.  Our morning students were thrilled to be able to eat pancakes, bacon, and have a glass of juice in the big gym!  Thank you Riverview staff for the wonderful food and hospitality!  You can click here to see more pictures of the pancake breakfast.  

Spreading the PreK Love

The morning class completed their group act of kindness by hanging the rainbows they made around the school.  I am so proud of the splash of colour and cheer they have added to the school!  You can click here to see more pictures of the rainbow hanging.  Thank you Mrs. Rudrud for giving us a hand!

Buddy Reading

Our afternoon class continues to be spoiled every other day by the leadership students who come to read with us.  We look forward to spending this quality time with our big friends.  You can click here to see more pictures from buddy reading.  

Coming Up

This week will continue to be about Valentine's Day.  

We will be having a Valentine's Day party on Tuesday, February 14th.  I have sent home class lists if you want to make cards for your child to hand out.  I have also sent notes home to ask some parents to send snacks for our party.  Our part time Monday/Wednesday students are welcome to join us for either the morning or the afternoon party (depending on which time slot they usually attend).  Please see the note that was sent home for more details.  

Important Dates:

• January 14th - Valentine's Day Party

• January 20th - no school - Family Day