Day 90

 Yesterday there was a typo in my dates.  Pink Shirt Day is Feb 22, not Feb 23.

Today we read the story, Little Red and then we wrote about our favourite part in our journals.  This was our first time writing in our journal without a story starter on the board. I was incredibly impressed with how well everyone did.  I can't wait to continue working on our writing skills as we work toward the end of Kindergarten writing. 

Our morning friends had music with Mrs. Lysak and in the afternoon our friends exchanged their library books.

Throughout the day sometimes the Kinder friends had Mrs. Wolf as Mrs Hellyer pulled friends out into the hallway for testing. Mrs. Wolf is with Mrs. Hellyer and Mrs. Hughes for one more day.

Day 89

            January has been full of transitions and change and I am very proud of how well our Kinder friends have done through all this change.  At the beginning of the month, Kindergarten welcomed 2 student teachers sharing their time with us.  Ms. Reef was a fourth-year student teacher who practiced her teaching with our kids and taught many lessons during the month.  During this time, she took over many of my other jobs as I supervised beside her.  Ms. Reef’s time is now over as she moves on to her next learning journey. We will still have our first-year student teacher (Miss Jazmine) on Wednesday afternoons.

            As we transition back to me teaching full-time, you will see a return to the daily blog.  I apologize for the lack of communication over the past few weeks but am eager to return to normal. During this time the children have learned the letters O, U, and L and today we learned the letter F.  They have written in the journals about respect which is also our virtue for the month.  In Math, we have worked on representing numbers 1-6 and will continue over the next few weeks to learn all the numbers up to 10. We start the day with new and engaging learning tubs at their tables.  Each child gets to choose which learning tub they work on. We have been learning about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We are currently focusing on the setting and characters We start the morning with new and engaging learning tubs.

            Over the next few weeks Mrs. Hughes and I will be working on testing the Kindergartens on their Reading Readiness Screening Tool (RRST) Sometimes this means that we will have a sub in our classroom while we work in the hallway to assess our Kinder friends without any distractions.

            February is always a fun, fast and exciting month.  Here is what we have planned for the next month. Please check the blog for more information moving forward.

 

 

Upcoming in Kindergarten 

Feb 2: PJ Day - wear your comfy cozy PJs for Groundhog Day 

Feb 3: No School (PD Day) 

Feb 8/9: Art Residency with Jenn Stables 

Feb 14: Valentine's Day (see below) 

Feb 15: Orange Shirt Day 

Feb 16/17: No School for Teachers Convention 

Feb 20: No School for Family Day 

Feb 23: Pink Shirt Day 

 

Valentine's Day 

Can you believe we’re already preparing for Valentine’s Day?!? We will be celebrating and having some fun on Feb 14.     So, what do you need to know? On Feb 14 come dressed in Valentine’s Day Colours (red, pink, purple, white, love/heart themed etc.) If you choose to participate we will be distributing Valentine’s Day cards during class time.  Students can distribute Valentine's Day cards.  If you choose to participate, please make sure to send 22 cards so that everyone gets one.   Please do not address them to individual students, instead,  TO: MY FRIEND  FROM: STUDENT NAME (Great time to practice name writing)

 

 

 

Emily Hellyer

 

Kindergarten Teacher, New Brighton School

Calgary Board of Education l www.cbe.ab.ca

t l 403-817-3516

f l 403-261-1945

e|emhellyer@cbe.ab.ca

http://emhellyer.blogspot.com

 

 

From: "Hughes, Michelle C" <mcmasse@cbe.ab.ca>
Date: Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 8:14 AM
To: "Hellyer, Emily M" <emhellyer@cbe.ab.ca>
Subject: ST

 

 

Kindergarten has been lucky enough to have 4 student teachers sharing their time with us.  Ms. Reef's time is now over as she moves on to her next learning journey.

Michelle Masse Hughes
Kindergarten Teacher 

New Brighton School 
Calgary Board of Education | cbe.ab.ca
t | 403-817-3516

 

Day 80

 Whoopps!  I totally forgot to blog yesterday. I am so sorry we were so busy having fun. Today was also nothing but fun.  We worked in small groups with our artist in residence making bowls.  I have posted pictures to help your child tell you about the different steps.  While the children were not working with the artist they were with me working on the letter Uu

Step one: start with a section of clay

Step two: throw it down a few times to use gravity

Step Three: use your muscles to flatten it out

Step Four: use a roller to even it out

Step five: put it over a bowl

Step six: cut off the edges

Step seven: water down the dry cracks

Step eight: roll a snake to make the foot of the bowl

Step nine: use a wet toothbrush to cut up pieces on the bottom of the bowl to attach the foot to

Step ten: smoosh the foot in the middle

Step eleven: decorate!!!!

.

Day 78

 

This Friday we did two different jobs.  First, we finished our Goldilocks and the Three Bears character page.  I don't think I have ever seen cuter bears. 

Second, we learned about Lunar New Year.  We compared similarities and differences between Lunar New Year and a holiday that we celebrate. We learned that there are many similarities but not too many differences.  Ask your child if they can share with you any similarities.

On Tuesday, our Artist in Residence is coming to work with Kindergarten to make something super special that hopefully will last a lifetime!!  I can't wait to share it with you on Tuesday's blog. 

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Rock Star Round Two:

This week we completed our next round of Rockstar and we are looking forward to beginning our next rotation. This is an opportunity for your child to be the classroom special helper as well as show and tell presenter! A new name will be drawn each day until each child has a chance to share. 

 

In Kindergarten, students have been getting to know one another. We are exploring how individual characteristics, talents and interests make us unique. Our Rockstar is invited to share a tradition or something special you as a family do together. This can include birthday celebrations, movie nights, family dinners, holidays, game nights, ect.  

 

Some ideas include: 

A photo of games you play during a family game night. 

A photo of a special food eaten during a celebration. 

A photo of significant places you visit like camping in the summer. 

A photo of special clothing you wear for a holiday/celebration. 

 

Please email your child's teacher with the subject "(Child Name) Rockstar " and attach a photo. 

Spend some time with your child discussing your tradition so they are comfortable sharing about it and answering peer questions. 

 

Please complete and send this in by January 30 at the latest, we will begin this round next week. We look forward to hearing all about the special traditions your family has! 

 

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Please keep toys at home!  

A big week back to school and everyone was excited to share their new gifts from the holidays.  I have seen an increase in toys and stuffies from home.  Please make sure these items are not coming to school.  It has caused some problems in the classroom.  The students all know Mrs. Hellyer's rule, the first time I see it, it is mine for the day.  The second time I see it, it's mine until a parent comes to retrieve it. The third time I see it, it is my dog's new toy. I very much appreciate your support with this and next week will be following through with taking things away. 

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You may have seen an email for $8.00 to pay for the material for our Artist in Residence. The office has asked for you to pay this money online in your Powerschool Account and not through cash if possible. 

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Hello! My name is Jaydene Reef and I am a fourth-year practicum student from Mount Royal university. I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with your children. I know I will learn so much from them and I am looking forward to getting to know you as well! I am very passionate about working with kids and teaching and am so grateful to have gotten placed in this kindergarten classroom. 

I really enjoy art, working out, and reading. I am also fluent in French and am hoping to incorporate some songs and other small French words into our school days throughout my time here. 

I know that I am going to take away so much from these incredible kindergarten classes and I cannot wait to see both their growth and my own as a teacher. With the help from a very knowledgeable, dedicated, and passionate mentor teacher, I am confident that this will be an amazing and transformative four months!

Day 77

 Happy Thursday! Today was all about Respect.  In the afternoon we had an assembly where the grade 4 students taught us about Respect and the Buffalo.  We learned about the parts of the buffalo and how we can be respectful to ourselves, our friends, our family and our earth.  We also kick-started our Fairy Tale unit.  This month we are focusing on Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We read the story and focused on the main characters in the book. 

Day 76

 Happy Wednesday!  Today we had fun with a math game where we rolled the dice and then coloured the box that matched the number.  It was very intense and really fun to see which number won!

    

Both AM and PM had PE and got to play some fun games in the gym.  

Tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day.  We have an assembly in the afternoon.

Day 75

 Today we worked in our journals.  It is the first time in a while that we wrote in our journals.  We also wrote two sentences.  The kids were able to copy the sentence starter, I liked and I did not like.  We brainstormed what the kids liked about their Winter Holidays and what they didn't.  Presents were very popular and cleaning or turkey they did not enjoy.  Sounds like your holidays were very much like mine.  :)

Today we went outside and the afternoon friends were able to get new books at the library.  

This Thursday we have an Orange Shirt Day assembly.  Please remember to wear your orange shirts. 

Day 74

 

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!! I have missed everyone so much and I am excited to be back.  Today we welcomed a new teacher Miss Reed.  She is a 4th year student teacher from Mount Royal.  Miss Reed will be with us until the middle of April.  Over the next few weeks, she will be teaching more and more while I help her as she works with the students.  

Today we learned the letter O and had some time outside while we enjoyed the playground.