EPIC books

Hello Kindergarten Families,

I have had some questions on reading at home during the temporary school closures as students are unable to get new books.  So I would like to introduce to you EPIC! Epic is a website that has some great resources that can be read or listened to by students.  Please follow the instructions below to join EPIC! 
Class Code: eas5888

Happy Reading!
Ms. Kahlon

School Canceled Until Further Notice

Dear Parents and Students,

All schools in Calgary will be closed until further notice due to COVID-19. Please continue to check your email for updates from CBE and from our school.

This website (How to Speak to Children about COVID-19) suggests some positive ways to talk about COVID-19 with your children.

For additional information please refer to the below website:

Alberta Govt Website

Take Care and Stay Safe

Week of March 9-13

Hello Kindergarten Families,

This week we finished our study on hibernation and migration. When reading "Mother Bruce" we noticed that the birds had to travel south, to Miami, in the winter.  Students were curious as to what south was, so after pulling up a world map we discovered where south was.  Looking at the world map students noticed different parts such as the green blue and white bits, many lines and dots.  Through conversation we identified the different parts on the map to be land, ocean and snow, roads and cities! At this point we zoomed into our own city of Calgary which then lead us into our  INQUIRY question 'What is a community?'. 

On Tuesday we decided what better way to explore a community than to go on a community walk.  As the temperature was a little on the chilly end, AM students watched a brief video clip on communities (and will go on the walk after spring break), however PM students participated! Below are some pictures.

 

Next we brainstormed as a class what we saw on our community walk and documented our ideas on chart paper. 

 

Wednesday students reviewed what is in their community by investigated pictures and having conversations with a partner.   

After the conversations with peers, students chose 2 ideas to recorded them in their journal through illustration and words.  Students were encouraged to use their special kindergarten words "I, see, a" in a sentence. 

 

 

 

 

Finally on Friday AM students played alphabet BINGO in art!! We worked on letter-sound recognition and identifying what letters come before and after a particular letter.
How cool do they final products look! :)

 

 

Note:  As per the email CBE has decided to postpone parent/teacher conferences.  This also applies to parents whom I spoke with for an alternative meeting time.

Finally parents please have conversations and practice with students on proper hand washing and nose wiping skills.  We are finding students need many reminders on the two skills mentioned above.
Thank you for your help on keeping our schools and students happy and healthy! :)

Week of March 2-6

Hello Parents,

This week students looked at animals in the winter!  We started by watching a short video clip on lots and LOTS of birds flying over my very own house.  Students noticed a number of interesting things for example; the loud sounds they all made,  how the birds travel together in a special shape and that the birds all move in one direction.  We discovered that these birds were called GEESE and  noted the unique shape the birds were traveling (V-shape!). This led to the question "Why were soo many birds flying?"; below are some predictions:

"because they were scared"- Subhamjot/ Hussain

"cuz something else coming you heard that"  (the winds coming)- Prabhjas

"because the monster was scaring them"- Omar

"because there is too much wind and they needed to go to their house so they went together"- Paras  

Next students listened to the book "Little Home Bird" and were introduced to the word MIGRATION.  Migration is when birds fly to a new home because it becomes too cold and it is difficult to find enough food to eat.  This change in the weather marks the beginning of a new season WINTER!  Students learned that in a birds new home there is plenty of food and warm weather!

We connected the term migration with other animals by exploring a number of different pictures, books and animal models. Students were surprised to see how many different kinds of animals migrate and noted that some animals flew, others walked or even swam!

 

 

These images were then documented in journals through pictures and words! 

 

The following day students were met with a surprise character, a sleeping bear! We wondered why the bear was sleeping?  Using our previous knowledge of birds migrating students began to think, could sleeping help other animals stay safe in the cold winter? 

We investigated this by looking at pictures in the book "Under the Snow".  One student pointed out the frog hidden under the snow, when asked why? another students said:
A frog can't fly so they have to sleep instead!- Dania
And that was the start of our discussion on HIBERNATION! Students learned hibernation is when an animal takes a long nap because food is hard to find. Students then listen to the book "Bear Snores On" and learned new words such as, cave, den and lair all which mean a bears home! And finally the PM kindergarten students completed these cute hibernating bear crafts and discussed the different shapes (circle, semi-circle and the letter J) used to build the bear!