Mrs.

Moreaus Summary
April
SPECIAL EVENTS
LIGHT IT UP BLUE FOR AUTISM AWARENESS
The boys and girls were in true blue fashion for Light it up
blue day! This special day is held to raise awareness and
honour those with Autism. Through watching and discussing
a short Arthur video clip, and listening to the song Dont
Laugh at ME we learned about what Autism is and how God
created each of us truly special and unique. As a class, we
made a puzzle piece poster that is now proudly displayed on
our classroom door. It is not only beautiful, but serves as a
reminder of how we all think and learn in different ways and
that thats ok!

PJ DAY
Not only did we have a super cozy day in our jammies, but we
also collected more than 40 non-perishable food items for the
St. Gertrudes Food Bank! As a class we talked about the
importance of helping others who are less fortunate than us.
Thank you so much for your generosity.

EARTH DAY AND HAT DAY
On April 22nd we celebrated Earth Day while wearing our
hats! Each class was given garbage bags and gloves and
toured around our school neighbourhood collecting garbage.
The boys and girls were very excited to be doing something to
help our planet. We also read the book Cliffords Spring
Clean Up and discussed and recorded ways to take care of
our beautiful Earth! As a special treat we watched the movie
The Lorax with the other Kindergarten classes.

OFFICIAL BLESSING AND OPEN HOUSE
Wednesday April 27th marked the official blessing of our
beloved St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic School. In the morning
we celebrated with a beautiful mass lead by Bishop Nguyen
and Father Peter and in the afternoon the students painted
talking sticks and used markers to create popsicle stick art
that we will be piecing together to form a beautiful cross. In
the evening, families we invited to come back to the school to
listen to guest speakers, tour classrooms and the Book Fair,
make a Dream Catcher and enjoy some refreshments and
snacks. Thank you to all those who were able to make it! As
always, its so nice to see you!

you to
Thank
those families

who were able
to participate in
No April pizza,
s ub
a nd
Wok Box days
Birthdays!
this month.
CATHOLIC GRADUATE
EXPECTATION
AWARD RECIPIENT
FOR April:
Chloe

Please make sure

The Super
Heroes of the
Week for March

Faith
Gia
Lily
Martin

Thank you for
helping your child
with this activity
and for sending in
Play-Doh!

Thank you to those families who placed book

RELIGION

The students participated in a variety of Earth Day activities in their centers, that included a beautiful
Earth painting, colouring a mini easy to read Earth Day booklet, creating art out of recycled items and
magazine pages and making simple bird feeders out of pipe-cleaners and Cheerios. Along with reading
several books about Gods world, we watched a short video called Betsys Kindergarten Adventure:
Happy Earth Day which explained why we celebrate Earth Day, things we can do to help protect our
planet and learned that everyday should be Earth Day! Together we brainstormed ways in which we can
help save Gods world, including turning off lights, picking up garbage, turning off water, using recycled
items to create crafts, etc. The topic of Earth Day and taking care of Gods world has tied in nicely into our
essential question in kindergarten, Where Do You See God?. On our nature walks the students have
pointed out that they see God in the grass, the trees, the worms, etc. We see God everywhere!

LANGUAGE

The students continue to enjoy a variety of books that are read to them or that they read independently. I
am encouraging students to orally retell the story by discussing what happened in the beginning, middle
and end (First, next and last) in the proper sequence. You can easily practice this at home, too! In our
morning messages we have been focusing on stretching and sounding out the beginning, middle and end
of each word when attempting to spell. This has been really helpful in building confidence for the boys and
girls when trying to independently write in the journals or centers.

MATH

The students continue to learn the names of different Canadian coins through songs, exploring coins in the
sensory bin, sorting coins, stamping coins, etc. We have also set up a grocery store where students use
flyers to write out their grocery lists and the cost of their items and then pay a cashier using the correct
coins for their items. At home, you can play with money and encourage your child to use the proper name
of each coin and tell you the value of the coins. We also continue to work on our estimating, drawing tally
marks and counting by 5s and 10s.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

As part of their social development in kindergarten, the students are encouraged to demonstrate an ability
to use problem-solving skills in a variety of social contexts. Often times, a friend will come to me with a
simple problem that could have been solved independently, had they just spoken to the other person
involved. I am currently encouraging the students to try talking it out, prior to going to the teacher, when
a simple conflict arises between friends. Some strategies that we have talked about include saying stop
no thank you or I dont like that, finding something new to do, or moving away from a situation before
getting the teacher to intervene. The goal is for the students to be able to stand up for themselves and
independently choose the best strategy for them when faced with a social problem.

INQURING MINDS

Spring seems to have finally sprung! At the beginning of the month I placed an egg on our prayer table for
the students to discover. Within minutes, it was spotted and the students excitement and curiosity
brought about some amazing questions and discussions. Together, we talked about what animals we
thought were hatched and how eggs were cared for as well as each made a prediction about what we
thought was inside our precious egg and when it would hatch. The boys and girls were thrilled and shared
lots of giggles when after two days a rubber ducky emerged! Recently I have also brought in a real birds
nest and dead dragonflies and some of our friends have collected pinecones and dandelions to examine
with our magnifying glasses in our science center. We are very excited about all the new signs of Spring
we are seeing, touching, smelling and hearing during our daily outdoor exploration!