In our school, we do our Daily Physical Activity (DPA) as an entire school.  In the fall, our principal initiated our Morning Walk Program. Our morning bell used to ring at 9:10am.  Now, it rings at 8:55am.  This signals the entire school that our morning walk has begun.  We use pylons to set out a track [...]

To help our kindergarten students learn about good nutrition and healthy eating habits, today we did an art project to help them learn about creating healthy lunches. In our art centre, we had pictures of foods from each group.  We got them out of grocery flyers.  We set out glue, and brown paper lunch bags. The [...]

We wanted our children to create Valentine’s for their friends.  But, we didn’t want them to have to make ones that looked like a pre-made craft.  So, on Monday, we set up 2 art tables.  We put heart stickers, foam hearts, doilies, red/pink/white/purple/black paper, markers, glitter and glue out.  We had some pre-cut heart shapes, [...]

To continue our Full Day Kindergarten’s focus on nutrition, today we painted with vegetables! I brought in 2 potatoes, a cucumber, a carrot, a green pepper and a red pepper to class today. I cut them in half (the carrot I cut into thirds) and we used these like paint stamps to create a collage [...]

To continue our focus on healthy eating in our Kindergarten class, I went to the grocery store last night and bought some fruits and vegetables.  During our last recess, I cut some of them up into bite size pieces and put them on a plate.  When the kids came inside, and were settled on the [...]

This week we are beginning to talk about healthy living in our classroom.  We will be learning about good nutrition and the importance of exercise. Today, we began with healthy eating habits.  During a large group instruction time, I took a piece of chart paper and divided into 4.  I drew a picture of one [...]

A colleague emailed me the following daily schedule for her Full Day Kindergarten Classroom. Children’s Day (Outline)  ** Times are approximate ** Activities may change depending on day Entry 8:40 *Arrival *Lockers (coat, boots, hat, mitts etc) put on shoes *Check backpacks for envelopes/library books) *Find name and match (first/last) *Carpet (name square) 8:45-9:20 *Name [...]

Finally, we got some snow outside.  Last night, we received tons of snow.  So today, we thought the snow should come inside! We took the cotton out of our sensory table to empty it.  We then filled the sensory table 3/4 of the way full with real snow.  We gave the children mittens to play [...]

Our daily schedule might be different than most Early Learning Kindergarten classrooms.  However, my teaching partner and I have tried different ways of making it work in our room, and for us and our students, this schedule works the best.  We do alter it during different seasons, but not greatly.  The main way we adjust [...]

To change from the sand in our sensory table and to add something new, today we had “snow” in our kindergarten room.  We filled a large tub with cottonballs.  I sprinkled a little bit of silver glitter on the cottonballs to make it sparkle like snow.  We added small mittens, pine needles, pine cones and small shovels. [...]

My teaching partner, Jenn, brought in 5 “pirate” telescopes today.  We used them to go a Treasure Hunt for the Alphabet.  In our literacy centre, we had a photocopied chart of the alphabet and pictures that began with each letter.  We copied it onto cardstock to make it more sturdy for the students.  We then [...]

For the past couple of days, I have been ensuring that each child in our Early Learning Kindergarten class had an opportunity to conduct a survey.  Once each child was done, I met with them individually to assess their knowledge of what the survey meant.  I asked them to tell me something about the survey [...]

Today I demonstrated how to conduct a simple survey to our Early Learning Kindergarten class.  I drew 2 columns, each with 10 squares in it.  At the bottom of one column, I had a smiley face.  At the bottom of the other, I drew a sad face.  At the top of the page, I drew an [...]

Our current math course of study is on data management.  This involves sorting and classifying information, as well as surveying classmates and creating and interpreting graphs. For graphs, we do this every morning in our classroom.  After the children take off their outdoor clothing, and change their shoes, they enter the classroom.  The first thing [...]

Now that Winter Break is over, the children are getting back into the routine of our Kindergarten day.  One of our students’ favourite activities is our sand table. Before the break, we had items that are used for baking in the sand.  Now that the holidays are over, we have changed the sand table toys in [...]