June is HERE!
It's the last month of the school year. It's also THE cRaZieST time of year, as there are so many things to do and students sense summer is coming and would much rather be outside playing all day (wouldn't we all?!?!)
May 30-June 3, 2022
This week is a shorter week, as we have a PA Day on Thursday (there is an election here in Ontario on that day and most schools will be used as polling stations).
We have a busy week planned though!
In our Writer's Workshop lesson this week, we are playing "The Mystery Bag".
I put something in the bag (such as a maraca) and give 3 clues as to what it can be. Sometimes the students don't know what it is but this lesson is a great way to expand their vocabulary!
It's, by far, one of our favourite lessons because after I show the students how to play, I have them each take turns and bring something in for the next few weeks to quiz their peers.
This lesson is a great way to introduce new vocabulary as well as focus on question words (W5H - who, what, where, when, why, how).
You can find this activity in my "I Can Write! #3" pack in my TpT store.
In math we will be learning about time. It's a 2-week unit that covers so much and is age appropriate. The first week we really focus on what time is, we take a look at our day and discuss morning/evening, and play games to learn how long a minute is (we are often saying to the students, "In one minute we will be...." and they might not understand how long that truly is).
You can find these activities and so much more in my Telling Time in Kindergarten pack in my TpT store.
In religion we will be focusing on our virtue for the month of June - INTEGRITY!
That's always a hard one - so we start by listening to a story I wrote about what integrity is.
I'll also be playing a game about being honest. We have stressed the importance of honesty all year round. Even if you do something that isn't right (hurt someone, break something, act silly, etc.) it's important to tell the truth. That's also hard for young children! This game helps them understand a little better.
You can find these activities, and so much more, in my June Religion pack in my TpT store.
On another note...we have butterflies! For the past month, at our Science and Discovery Centre, the students have had an interest in insects. We ordered caterpillars a few weeks back and they 2 of them have finally turned into butterflies!
(For those of you wondering, we made the mesh butterfly house from 2 outdoor food covers that are from Dollarama - I just clipped them together so we can easily open them).
Here are a few provocations we set out for this week:
Create a spring picture using loose parts!
How high can you stack? Use a variety of lids and popsicle sticks.
You can download my weekly plans for FREE by clicking the picture below.
June 6-10, 2022
With the end of the school year getting closer and closer, we have been spending more time outside as well as practising for our year end celebration.
It is Pentecost this weekend!
Pentecost is like the church's birthday (it's a big day!) and we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles. It falls 50 days after Easter.
We will be making these crowns to celebrate and watching a video explaining what it's all about.
You can find this activity in my June Religion pack in TpT store.
We will shift our focus to blends this month - starting with learning about the -cl blend.
I use these Google Slides activities on my screen for my lesson as well as these pocket chart cards for students to practise writing words and sorting them.
In Writer's Workshop we will be talking about text-to-text connections.
One of my favourite books to read is Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.
We are continuing to learn about telling time.
I bring out this large clock I made to help students understand how a clock works.
I made it long ago using a shower curtain and it's still holding up quite well!
I wrote a book several years back called What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?
You can follow along here:
Students will be using cards to match the time from the story!We will also use the famous nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock to show different times on the clock.
We play a lot of hands-on games to understand time. This is a Bingo game I will be setting up at a table-top for students to play together.
My favourite lesson to teach during this unit is having students match clocks!
They each get to wear a watch - some have digital and others have analog - and they must find their partner!
You can find all of these activities, as well as complete 2-week lesson plans, in my Telling Time in Kindergarten pack in my TpT store.
Here are a few of our provocations set out this week:
Choose a card and show the time!
I just set out log builders and wooden coins to see what students can come up with!
Our snails continue to be a hit at our Science and Discovery Centre!
Students have been researching what snails like to eat and have been bringing in cucumbers, basil, lettuce and even fennel!
They come out and play with us too - we love watching the marks they make on the mirrors.
I just created this fun new game focusing on sight words. It's called "FREEZE - A Sight Word Game".
Place all the cards in a basket or tin (I used a large pail to get that summer feel!).
Have a student come up and choose a card. Read the word and keep the card!
But...if you choose "FREEZE", you place all of your cards back.
The students love it when we play as a whole class and we form 2 teams (girls/boys, Year 1/Year 2).
After I show them how to play, I like to leave this out for them to play on their own during Thinking and Learning Time.
You can download my weekly plans for FREE by clicking the picture below.
June 13-17, 2022
We have our Growing Celebration coming up this week! It's a small concert that our FDK students put on for the parents. We celebrate all the wonderful learning that took place this year, with a special focus on our Year 2 students who will be moving on to Grade 1. I'll share some pictures on Wednesday on my Instagram and Facebook account!
What's happening this week?
Our students have really been loving the BeeBot! If you don't have one of these coding robots I strongly suggest you ask to purchase it! They are super easy to program and we leave them out at the "imaginary carpet" with blocks for students to explore.
At our Science and Discovery Centre we set out an ocean scene for students to explore.
One of our STREAM challenges this week is to build a structure using loose parts.
I found these beautiful pictures on Pixabay (with permission) and printed them. Students choose a picture and use loose parts to create a structure on it.
Click below to download these landscape photos for FREE!
In math we will be starting our unit on probability.
We start by having rich discussion about which colour I will most likely get from this bowl and why they think that way.
We play lots of games throughout the week including flip a coin!
We introduce the words possible, impossible and certain.
There is also a booklet for them to complete to show their understanding.
You can find all of these activities, including complete 1-week lesson plans, in my
In religion we will be learning about Jesus's father, Joseph.
Students will be doing a direction drawing of Joseph, perfect for Father's Day!
This can be found in my June Religion pack in my TpT store.
You can download my weekly plans for FREE by clicking the picture below.
June 20-24, 2022
It's our last full week of school and that means we are starting to wind down. It's such a bitter-sweet time of year!
Our last unit in math is all about symmetry! I just created this huge pack full of hands-on activities and lessons.
We are going to be exploring symmetry using pattern blocks, loose parts and square tiles. There are a whole bunch of games I've included - you can set these up as provocations or pair children to play against one another!
Our focus in Writer's Workshop is on recipes!
I'll be bringing in various cookbooks to show the students. And, of course, we will be writing our own recipe for lemonade...which means we will be making it together!
You can read more about this lesson in my "I Can Write Pack 3" in my TpT store.
Here are some pictures of our Growing Celebration!
You can download my weekly plans for FREE by clicking the picture below.
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