KA Newsletter April 2009

We hope you all had a pleasant Spring Break. We are now on the downward run to the end of the year which is coming up way too fast! I am at the other end of the spectrum with a senior about to face her final school exams and graduate and it seemed like yesterday when she was in kindergarten! As you would know the children are all growing and developing so quickly. They are such independent learners and we have established a wonderful community of learners and friends in the classroom.

Celebrations Thanks to Kristen who shared some of the Easter traditions with us. Everyone enjoyed the egg hunt.

Painting eggs is another tradition at this time of year, we all had to be very careful.

Thanks to Ifat and Yafa for sharing some of their Pesach traditions. We all tasted Matzah which is flat bread and learnt about the special foods eaten at this time.

We’re going on a bear hunt. Learning through literature. Through the grass. Over the logs Through the mud It’s a snow storm!

As a language enrichment experience, Ms Speigel made “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” come to life as we took off our shoes and felt the grass, the mud, the logs, the water and the snow under our feet. The concepts of over, under and through were reinforced as children learn best by experiencing it for themselves. Who was the bear in the cave???

The Very Hungry Caterpillar We looked at a very hungry caterpillar who ate a lot of leaves and his friend had made a cocoon. The children observed closely and drew what they saw. We have read the story too which encourages the children to read and predict as it has repetitive text.

An interest in color and rainbows emerged. We began by asking; What is a rainbow and has anyone seen one? Tal In the sky. Michal I saw a real rainbow in Kaoshiung, I went to the park and I saw a real rainbow. Megan The first color is red and purple and orange. Clint Blue. Grant Purple. A round thing and it’s from the clouds. Tal I saw in the sky but different. It was red, yellow, blue and green. Graciana Rainbow is a half circle, each have many colors. Megan Rain first and then they have some rainbow. Nicole I have never seen a rainbow. Michal When the rain didn’t stop. Jozef I saw a rainbow when I was a little kid. Mia I know the colors; red, yellow, orange, then green and blue and purple. I saw one at my home, out the window, up, up very high. Anya A rainbow comes out when it is sunny and raining. It sometimes comes out when I’m outside. Minna I saw one in Taiwan at my stable. Sunghyun I saw rainbow colors in the sky.

Where can we find rainbows in our classroom? We used prisms to see how white light splits into the many colors of the rainbow. The kaleidoscope also showed us the spectrum.

Making our own discoveries. We experimented using only the primary colors to see what would happen. We made our own colors!

Everyone made their own color to keep.

Using only the primary colors of red, yellow and blue what did you see? Anya I made orange, pink and purple. Christine Red and yellow made orange. I made green too. Clint Change blue to green. Graciana Yellow and blue made green. Grant I can see some purple! Jared Blue and yellow made green! Jozef How do you make black? Megan I make orange, green and purple. Mia I made rainbow, rainbow. Michal I made purple with red, blue and yellow. Minna I can see a little green and orange. Orange is made from red and yellow. Nathan Yellow and blue made green. Nicholas Look! I made green! I put yellow and blue together. It makes rainbow colors. I don’t know what is going on? Nicole It’s like Christmas.

Notices Field trip to The Chinese Opera is Monday May 4. Please return the notice as soon as possible. Please return your child’s portfolio if you still have it as we continue to use it until the end of the year. Wednesday June 3 will be our end of year class lunch party. Note to follow. The last day of the school year is Friday June 5 at