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THE KINDERGARTEN
POSSIBILITIES
HOW WE LEARN THROUGH INQUIRY AND PLAY
REFLECTIONS, RESEARCH & REMINDERS

Reflections

Stand aside for a while and leave room for learning. Observe carefully what children do and then, if you
have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different from before.

DEAR KINDERGARTEN FAMILIES

The past two months have been busy with
lots of learning. With that, we are thrilled
to be sharing some of our reflections,
research and reminders for the months of
January and February.

Educators
Ms. Lyndsy Moffitt, OCT
Ms. Raquel Cortes, DECE

Phone

(289) 342-1001
Extension 131 & 504

Email
lyndsy.moffitt@yrdsb.ca
raquel.cortes-vico@yrdsb.ca

During Thinking & Learning Time,

where children engage in literacy based
activities we have seen many of our
youngest learners begin writing while
our older children work on oral story
telling using beginning, middle and
end.
The children continue to read in
shared, guided and independent
contexts. Many of the concepts of print which are the foundation of strong reading
behaviours - are reinforced during our
daily Shared Reading. The poems are
purposefully selected and planned to
address these concepts of print. There may
also be an accompanying video with the
text, which serves as a way to further
engage our learners.
During Guided Reading, our children
practice applying the concepts of print
while reading a text that is slightly more
challenging with the OCT. Independent
Reading happens when children read a
familiar levelled book or poem, either to
themselves or a friend. These tend to be
easy for the child and help to develop
fluency and confidence as a reader. It is this
scaffolded approach to reading that allows
our children to progress from early to
proficient readers.

-Loris Malaguzzi

During Math Exploration & Learning

Time, the children are continually
exposed to all math strands including
Number Sense, Patterning, Measurement
and Data Management. More recently, we
have explored the Geometry & Spatial
Sense strand more deeply. Please see the
Research section of the newsletter to read
m o r e a b o u t w h a t w e h av e b e e n
investigating and learning about.
During Free Exploration & Learning
Time, our Flower Fairies project has
branched off into an exploration of seeds
and flowers. As well, children are exploring
different weather and climates around the
world through various sensory based
activities. The children are also being
exposed to various art activities using
different mediums and techniques. Over
the past two months the children have
explored with wire, tempura paint,
sharpies and watercolour paints and oil
pastels.
We hope you enjoy reading and learning
about all that we are working on through
our newsletter and Daily Learning Collage.
We look forward to another month of
learning, exploring and sharing.
Best,
Lyndsy Moffitt, OCT &
Raquel Cortes, DECE

www.thekindergartenpossibilities.weelby.com

THE KINDERGARTEN
POSSIBILITIES
HOW WE LEARN THROUGH INQUIRY AND PLAY
REFLECTIONS, RESEARCH & REMINDERS

Research

Spatial thinking is integral to everyday life. People, natural objects, human-made objects, and human-made
structures exist somewhere in space, and the interactions of people and things must be understood in terms of
locations, distances, directions, shapes, and patterns.
-(National Research Council, 2006, p. 5)

THE COMPREHENSIVE MATH PROGRAM

A DEEPER LOOK INTO SPATIAL REASONING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF GAMES AND PUZZLES
With support from Ms. Heather Jelly,
YRDSBs Early Years Math
Consultant, our children have been
exploring the Geometry & Spatial
Sense strand, more deeply through the
use of games and puzzles. Games and
puzzles are just one component of
YRDSBs Comprehensive Math
Program and are considered an
essential component in fostering
mathematics learning.
During Math Exploration & Learning
Time, children have been exploring
geometry more in depth because
research has shown that Geometry is
the foundation of mathematics as we
know it today; it was developed to
explain phenomena and solve
problems that bore directly on daily
life, such as how to measure time or
navigate across the sea. Spatial
thinking gave birth to the earliest
forms of sophisticated mathematical
thinking. And yet, in spite of its
importance, research has shown that,
in North America, geometry receives
the least amount of time compared
with other strands in classroom
instruction (Paying Attention to Spatial
Reasoning, pg. 3).
One of the many skills that develop
from geometry and spatial sense is

spatial thinking [which] plays a

fundamental role throughout the K
12 curriculum. Whether it is the
learning of science, mathematics, art,
physical education or literacy, spatial
thinking skills are important. For
example, high school chemistry
requires students to understand the
spatial structure of molecules. Physical
activity calls on students awareness of
their bodys position in space and with
respect to other objects. Art of all
forms is filled with opportunities to
engage our spatial skills, whether it is
playfully manipulating shapes and
forms while painting or representing
musical notes spatially. Of particular
importance, however, is the role of
spatial thinking in mathematics
education (Paying Attention to Spatial
Reasoning, 2014, pg. 5).
Within our classroom, children have
been exploring with mosaic puzzles,
where they are composing and
decomposing various 2D shapes such
as hexagons, rectangles and triangles.
The purpose of these kinds of puzzles
to build and scaffold geometric
thinking. In the article, Developing
Geometric Thinking Through
Activities that Begin with Play by
Pierre M. van Hiele, geometric
thinking begins at the visual level

where figures are judged by their

appearance. We often hear our
children say It is a square. I know
that this is one because I see it. The
next level is the descriptive level where
figures are determined by their
properties. For example, we may hear
our children say I know this is a
triangle because it has three sides and
three corners. At this level, properties
are not logically ordered. So children
may identify equilateral triangles as
triangles" but when shown an
isosceles or scalene triangle, they will
tell us that those shapes are not
triangles. At the next level, the
informal deduction level, properties
are logically ordered. One property
precedes or follows another property.
In order help children move from one
level of thinking, to another, educators
must provide instruction that includes
sequencing activities, beginning with
an exploratory phase, gradually
building concepts and related
language and culminating in summary
activities that help students integrate
what they have learned into what they
already know. (M. van Hiele, pg 311,
1999).

THE KINDERGARTEN
POSSIBILITIES
HOW WE LEARN THROUGH INQUIRY AND PLAY
REFLECTIONS, RESEARCH & REMINDERS

Research

THE COMPREHENSIVE MATH PROGRAM

A DEEPER LOOK INTO SPATIAL REASONING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF GAMES AND PUZZLES
Our use of the rectangle mosaic puzzle is just the beginning of our documented exploration of
spatial reasoning. In this task, children are given a rectangle composed of many different shapes. They
are asked to put the rectangle back together. A completed puzzle and numbers on the shapes are
provided as support. Children are first asked to explore with the shapes (Picture 1). Then they are
asked to put the puzzle together (either directly on the template, or using it simply for reference
(Picture 2). As a final challenge, shapes are flipped over and children are asked to re-create the
rectangle with no support (Picture 3).

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 1

A task such as this provides educators with a great deal of information about what children know
about spatial reasoning. Over the course of the exploration, educators can prompt with questions such
as What can we do with these pieces? and How did you know? to generate math vocabulary.
When children are able to talk about their thinking it provides educators with information about
where the childs level of geometric thinking is, and thus, the educators can effectively plan for next
steps that are differentiated and support the learners in the classroom.
Source: Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning, Support Document for Paying Attention to Mathematics Education.Ministry of Education, Ontario. 2014, pg. 1-27.
Source: van Heile, Pierre. Developing Geometric Thinking through Activities that Begin with Play. Teaching Children Mathematics. February 1999, pg.,
310-316, 1999.

THE KINDERGARTEN
POSSIBILITIES
HOW WE LEARN THROUGH INQUIRY AND PLAY
REFLECTIONS, RESEARCH & REMINDERS

Reminders

www.thekindergartenpossibilities.weebly.com

Homework in FDK

Shared Reading, Think Work Journal,

Think Work Calendar & Levelled
Readers

We feel that homework is

something that has to be
meaningful to children. With that,
we hesitate to send too much
homework as it tends to be
pencil paper tasks that have little
meaning for the children. We have
designed our reading, writing
and oral language Think Work
program in a way that makes
each task familiar, meaningful
and personal for your child.
Our Shared Reading text is
practiced daily for one week, which
not only allows your child to
become familiar with
concepts of print, but allows

your child to read it to you

with confidence.
Our Think Work Journal is an
opportunity for you to reinforce
writing skills that we practice
during our Guided Writing
groups at school.
Review of Our Daily Learning
Collage is a great opportunity
to build your childs oral
language skills. As well, it
provides you with a glimpse into
important learning moments
that happen in our day.
We send home a monthly Think
Work Calendar which provides
prompts and suggestions as to
activities you can do with your
child everyday to build on
what we are learning in the
classroom.

your childs Portfolio and will come

home at the end of the year. Most
We make our learning transparent by student art work is kept at school. It
providing parents with a classroom
adorns our walls and honours each
website? As we embrace the FDK
child. With that, the amount of
program, we understand that literacy paper coming home with your child
and numeracy worksheets are thing
will be limited. We encourage you to
of the past. Important work is kept in visit our classroom website daily in

Did You Know...

Finally, research has shown that

most children do not start
reading until the age of 6. Up
until that point, children are
memorizing words and becoming
familiar with concepts of print. For
now, we will only be sending
levelled readers home with our
SK children. We would like to
allow time for our JK children to
become familiar with the concepts
of print through reading their
Shared Reading text.
Should you wish to discuss your
childs reading further, please
connect with us. We are happy to
discuss resources that can help your
child learn to read.

order to see our learning on Our

Daily Learning Collage. This collage
captures important learning
moments that take place daily. When
reviewed daily with your child, it
serves as a tool to develop and foster
oral language skills and gives you a
glimpse into our learning everyday.