Miss. Heise's Class
Email Miss Heise: kindergarten [at] westsidechristian.ca
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kindergarten Home Reading Program:
Each week your child will receive a book in a ziplock bag to take home and practice each night. Please keep track of these books on the logs sent home on Monday (try to let your child write/copy the name of the book themselves as it's good practice! :) ) and return to the school on Friday.
We will be meeting for gymnastics on Fridays at Obsorne Gym
Shared lunch and Circus Theme Day will take place this Thursday, February 23rd
Show and Tell will take place every Friday.
This week February 24th will be Matt
Prayer Requests:
The health and safety of all the students and staff at WSC
The health and safety of Matt's new baby sister Zoe!
For the health and safety of Mrs Scale and her baby during her pregnancy.
Ways to Help at Home:
Please reinforce what we've learned in class by asking your child in the evening what they did at school. For example, "What story did you read?" .. "Who were the characters?" "What happened in the story?"
Practice proper pencil holding and posture when at home
Please read with your child a minimum of 20 minutes every night, or put on a book on tape and follow along!
www.tooter4kids.com/classroom/why_read_for_20_minutes_every_da.htm
“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
September 12 - 16
We had a great week this week! As a class we began to get more into our "school routine." We did language arts activities based on the story "The Magic Beads" by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund, practicing oral retelling of stories and journaling activities. We also practiced writing and recognizing the number one in math. Swimming and Gym will continue as per usual next week and remember school photo day is Monday September 19th!
This weeks recipe!
Annie's Amazing Apple Muffins
Cream together:
2 cups sugar (I use 1 1/2 cups)
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Sift:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups peeled, cored, diced apples (around 3 apples)
Brown sugar for topping (around 1/2 cup)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners.
Cream together sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon (I never sift and they turn out fine). Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick. Add the diced apples.
Fill paper liners almost to the top, about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes. Makes 18 muffins.
Pumpkin Blondies
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped, toasted nuts (optional)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the white chocolate and butterscotch chips (and nuts, if using) with a rubber spatula.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.
To serve, lift the cake from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Peel off the foil and using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares.
Source: adapted from Martha Stewart
This month we have been learning all about fall and pumpkins! Here are some photos of us dissecting our pumpkin and visiting the pumpkin patch!
Baking The Week of October 24-28 - Pumpkin Snickerdoodles!
Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
3¾ cups whole wheat flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice
Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the pumpkin puree. Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly. Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.
Source: slightly adapted from Recipe Girl
Pictures from Center Time and Pioneer Day!
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November Theme:
This month we will be looking at different cultures in the world in our "Breads of The World" unit. We will be studying the following places and baking the following items this month! If you would like to participate please email me!
England (home of Miss Heise's Family!) - Scones
Brazil - Pao de Queijo
British Columbia (Haidi - Gwaii) - Bannock
India - Naan Bread
England and Scones!
We had a lovely time learning about Miss Heise's home country England. This week we read books by some of her favorite British Authors, Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit), Emily Gravett (Dogs) and Julia Donaldson (The Troll). We concluded the week baking delicious whole wheat scones that we had with butter and jam! Check out the picture below!
Scones Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg
Directions
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal),
In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden
Brazil and Queijos!
This week we learned all about the country Brazil. We read many books about the culture, landscape and people. A class favorite was reading the folk talk about the Uirapuru bird. In phonics this week we learned all about the letter A. In math we continued our practice as super sorters.
Queijos Recipe
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil or butter
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups tapioca flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 beaten eggs
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Pour olive oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. Set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized balls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until the tops are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
Pictures of the class baking, being super sorters and Coleton leading calendar!
India and Naan Bread!
This week we studied the country India. We read stories about Monkey the Trickster as well as learned about a little girl named Geeta who lives in an Indian Village. We learned that the Peacock is India's national bird, as well as learned about Tigers that live in India. In Phonics we learned about the letter T, and continued to work on our "Super Sorting Skills" in math. We ended the week with Colorful Cultures day making Uganda beads and watching Mulan.
Below are pictures of us enjoying our naan bread and dressed in our colorful cultures outfits!
Haida - Gwaii and Bannock Bread!
This week we learned all about Haidi Gwaii off of the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. We read the stories Frog Girls, Solomon's Tree and heard myths from the Haidi people. We wrapped up the week by baking bannock bread with Mrs Scale class and enjoying their First Nations shadow puppet shows.
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups water
Directions
Measure flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir to mix. Pour melted butter and water over flour mixture. Stir with fork to make a ball.
Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface, and knead gently about 10 times. Pat into a flat circle 3/4 to 1 inch thick.
Cook in a greased frying pan over medium heat, allowing about 15 minutes for each side. Use two lifters for easy turning. May also be baked on a greased baking sheet at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
December Fun and Gingerbread Men!
This month we had fun learning about story sequencing and comparing different versions of the story of the Gingerbread Man. We read "The Gingerbread Baby" by Jann Brett, "The Gingerbread GIrl Goes Animal Crackers" by Lisa Ernst, "The Gingerbread Man - Loose in the School" by Laura Murray as well as the traditional story of the Gingerbread Man. We concluded the unit by making our own gingerbread men, which were quite delicious! It was a very exciting month with all of our Christmas activities and celebrating Jacob and Matt's birthdays!
Here are some pictures of our December Activities!
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January and Winter!
This month we had lots of fun learning all about winter. We learned about winter weather and winter in different areas of Canada. We even got to FaceTime with Miss Heise's sister in Edmonton and interview her on what its like to live in Edmonton in the Winter. This month we also had a special visitor in the form of a "Thrush Robin" we named Speedy! We made daily observations about speedy while he lived outside our window and even made special bird feeders for him and the other birds with Mrs Scale's class. In math we learned special rhymes to help us print the numbers 1-10, as well as looked at different patterns using the letters for example "AABA" to describe them. We wrapped up our winter unit with the Winter Wonderland theme day and making special mitten cookies and decorating them with our big buddies. Check out the pictures below!
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February - All about Me/Valentine's Day!
We had so much fun in the Kindercave on Valentine's Day. Miss Heise had many special surprises for us throughout the day. We started the morning off by reading about Splat the Cat (Love Splat, by Robert Scotten) then making our own books of Valentine's Day themed words. After recess we learned about making estimations and continued our learning on quantities while trying our best to guess how many jelly beans were in the estimation jar. The closest guess was 100 and together we counted 177!! After lunch we made special Love Bug hats and made Valentines treat deliveries to the other classes in the school. We ended the day by reading about Mr Prickles the Porcupine (Mr Prickles: A Quill Fated Love Story by Kara LaReau) and watching a Winnie The Pooh Valentines show with Miss Wong's class. It was such a special day! Thank you all for your support and kindness.
