A mini inquiry

We notice that students often like to throw their hats and mitts onto the brick of the exterior of the school and have them stick to the rough brick (sigh!!!). 

With a bunch of senior kinders from the blue group,we watchedthis happen, and then decided to pose a question, why does this happen? We then discussed and experimented with different materials.

We discovered that hats do not stick to the cement blocks...

Nor the doors...

Not even the interior bricks.

Our hats wouldn't stick to this tree trunk.

It wouldn't stick to the fence.

This turned into a discussion of the attributes of different materials. Did it matter if the surface was rough or smooth? We agreed that the surface must be quite rough and "sticky" and not all hats would stick, especially not those that were a bit heavier. This explained why our outside brick was most suited to have the knitted clothes adhere to it. Someone said, "that is just like Velcro!"

So true!

We also had to do some problem solving when some of the toques got stuck on the bricks beyond our grasp. Someone suggested a stick!

You just never know where learning will occur or take you when you listen to student's natural curiosity! 

Patterns are everywhere

Recently, we have been discussing and doing a lot of work with patterns. We have described patterns as colours, shapes, etc that repeat themselves. Being able to identify, continue and create patterns is a skill that contributes to further number concept understanding, counting and then operations (addition, multiplication, etc). We have discovered that there are patterns all around us.

We have found colour patterns on our clothes.

We have identified existing shape patterns in our environment.

We have made our own patterns with a variety of materials.

We have made our own patterns using natural materials that we have collected on our daily nature walk.

Christmas is a wonderful time to identify patterns all around us. Encourage your child to point out patterns in Christmas lights, wrapping paper, decorations etc. based on what they see, can your child identify how to continue the pattern?

Annual Santa's Seconds Sale

Santa’s Seconds Sale

December 7, 2016

Our eighth annual “Santa’s Seconds” event will be held on

Wednesday, December 7th,  2016.

This school initiative is designed to provide students in our school the opportunity to “shop” for the holiday season for family, friends, and loved ones.

Last year, we raised over $3000.00 for Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre, Arnprior Humane Society, Kanata Food Cupboard and Friederich’s Ataxia – what a great contribution to our local and global community!  Our goal this year is to again raise $3000.00!

This year, we invited Grade 6 students to propose charities that are close to their hearts.  After careful consideration, we would like to direct the funds raised to 3 valued charities:

• Candlelighters

• Carleton University “Students for Wishes”
• PLAN International Canada

How can you help?

Please help us reach our goal, by sending in the following new or gently used items:

items for Dad toys puzzles CDs

jewellery games DVDs items for Mom

books crafts housewares knick-knacks

We also need donations of gift wrap, bows, gift bags, gift tags, and ribbon.

Please send your donations on the following dates:

• Thursday, December 1st
• Friday, December 2nd
• Monday, December 5th
• Tuesday, December 6th

All gifts will cost $1.00. If your child would like his/her “top secret” present wrapped, we are asking for $0.50 for that service.  To ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to shop, please send in no more than $10.

We’ve also included a “shopping list”, on the letter to come home to help your child shop successfully.

Sincerely,

Stonecrest Staff

Snowsuit Fund Information

Stonecrest Snowsuit Fund

       November 28-December 2, 2016

Stonecrest will once again fundraise to support the purchase of new snowsuits for local children.  This fundraiser will be held from

            Monday, November 28 to Friday, December 2, 2016.

During this time period, “elves” from Mrs. Storms’ and Mme Vandal’s Grade 3 classes, and Mrs. Wilker’s and Mme Reddick’s grade 6 classes will visit all classrooms every day.  They will accept any donations of money, new or gently used “ready to wear” winter clothing.  If you choose to write a cheque for your donation, please address it to “Stonecrest E.S.”.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, the staff at Stonecrest would prefer that families, who wish to purchase teacher gifts during this festive season, redirect their generosity towards this fundraiser.  Therefore, if you choose to make purchases, may we suggest hats and mitts, or other winter wear, which we will donate to less fortunate families on behalf of our “Stonecrest Family.”  Should you choose to make a donation on behalf of a teacher/staff member, please feel free to use the tear-off tag on the letter that went home to indicate this on your donation.

Sincerely,

Stonecrest Staff

Winter Fun

We took advantage of the snowy conditions and went tobogganing this afternoon. Here are a few pictures of our fun.

Finding Letters

Parents are always asking about how they can support their child's learning. For children who are beginning to recognize letters and sounds, a really easy way to promote this learning is to point out letters in everyday life. For example, your child is enjoying a bowl of cereal, and you can point out the letters on the box, talk about what they look like, what sounds the are, if it is an upper or lower case letter, is there letters in their name that are the same, etc. When out and about, point out letters on signs. 

Here is an example of a conversation: hey look at that s at the beginning of the word. It is curvy like a snake. Do you think it is an upper case or lower case s? Look at the letter at the end? What do you notice? Are the rest of the letters upper or lower case letters? Are there letters that are the same as in your name? S makes a ssssssss sound.

Learning can happen all around us, it does not have to be hard and arduous and using flash cards!

Bones

With the doctors office we have set up this week, we have had some discussions about bones. We have some skull bones that the students are investigating.

They have made a skeletons from play dough.

We are matching X-rays with photos of animals.

We saw some Fables

Today, an acting troupe came and presented 5 different fables to our students. The group was a local children's group aged 9-12. They had done a fabulous job presenting: The Sun and the Wind, The Tortoise and a Hare, The Wolf in Sheeps Clothing,  The Fox and the Grapes, and the Fox and the Crow. Our students seemed to have really enjoyed the experience.

What's up doc?

We have changed our house centre into a doctors office. The students are busy taking appointments, checking out and recording the health (including height and weight) of their friends and of course fixing up all those "sick" friends! If you have anything at home that would inspire our young learners, feel free to send in. We have empty vitamin bottles, and bandage boxes.

It is a great way to entice students to record letters, numbers and their friends names in an authentic manner.