Week 6 and Literacy Week

Last week was literacy week, and it was great to have many of you come out to read to the class. It was also a week full of sunshine so the students had a lot of time to run round outside at the park. We also worked on our theme for the term. This week were discussed how we can be a good friend in situations like during break time, at lunchtime and in class. The students also made bracelets for each other.

The beginning on last week we did a teacher swap. Mr. Ben came to our class to read and I went to his Preschool class to read. The students also played a game with Mr. Ben.

Further into the week the students from Grade 4 came to our classroom to read to the class. It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time, I think!

It was great to have so many people come to read to the students of our class, even the parents coming to read to us was a treat. The students had a great time listening to the stories, even if they were a bit energetic!

Ai`s mom and Yuns mom reading to the class together.

Julia`s mom reading to the class

Etta`s mom reading to the class.

All in all it was a good week. 

Updates to consider,

At the right hand side you`ll see some information that will be updated weekly. One of them are the words that the students will be practicing each week. These words will change every week and it would help the students a lot if you could help them practice these words at home each week with the laminated vocabulary words that they took home a few weeks ago. 

As always, thanks for giving this a read,

- James Barbosa 

Week 5 in PreKinder.

Week 5 of PreKinder A

Last week was a really good week for weather, we had many chances to spend time in the park and the class is working well together. Each day we covered the alphabet, and numbers up to 100. In regards to the alphabet we focused on the lowercase letters and the sounds of those letters. The students are great at recognizing the uppercase letters, but need improvement recognizing the lowercase letters. They learned that when they read a work in English, they will see that the most common letters are the lowercase letters. These kids are really bright so they caught on quick. 

I'm seeing a lot of improvement in their writing, too. Practice makes perfect.

Week after week we are learning ourselves. This terms central idea is "Communication with others impact relationships" Inside and outside the classroom the students are learning about how friendships, and family interactions impact our day to day lives. We learn about this through positive reinforcement. When they do good things, they are rewarded. We also started to fill our inquiry wall. The students did a cut and paste about what a good friend does and what not a good friend does. Stay tuned to see how our wall will look at the end of the term!

One of the best examples of this is by having them all share one type of toy, and working together to create something they can all be proud of.

An update:

We are in the process of planning a field trip for July, the details have not been finalized but I look forward to sharing that information with you soon!

Last week I had the students take home vocabulary cards. They can keep them at home and if possible take some time out of the week to practice memorizing 4 or 5 words.

Thanks for tuning in!

- James Barbosa

Week 4 and Mothers day.

Week 4 in class was focused around the upcoming mothers day. As you may have seen last Friday the students brought home a card and a craft for their mothers. We hope you enjoyed your gifts! 

The entire week was focused on being a great classmate to each other, I asked them what a great classmate would say, do, is, and is not. And the students would answer and we would write it on the white board. We have done this every day as a way of remembering how we should act in class. 

The park was an interesting time as well. However we will soon have to cut our park time time short as the summer arrives due to the heat. But for now they have enjoyed the park. 

All in all it was a fun week a lot of the playtime was focused around one activity that all the students had to share and work together to use and I am happy that they are working together better week by week.

A few updates,

The students will begin using a phonics workbook. The workbook will stay in the school and they will work in it bit by bit every week. I may have them bring it home on the weekend to show you their progress, and do a little bit of homework in it from time to time. 

Lastly, I will be sending them home with some vocabulary cards that I am making for them to practice. If they could practice the vocabulary a few times a week that would be great! They will be bringing it home this weekend.

Thanks for tuning in.

- James Barbosa

Week 3

The week before golden week went really well. Week 3 was all about how to be open-minded and caring people and we put that into practice. The students also did finger painting, well hand painting is more accurate to say. I wanted to document their growth between the beginning and end of the year. With that in mind I hand them create hand paintings that you can see when you come to the class.

Here is a photo just in case you don`t have a chance to see it this week.

We also had our first birthday party of the year! Happy Birthday to Gento and Ai for the month of April! We listened to music and ate popcorn in celebration of their 5th birthday.

Check back here next week for more!

- James Barbosa