This week was busy in Room 166 and the children completed several Halloween-themed activities. We read the wonderful book "Stellaluna" about a bat who grows up thinking he is a bird, and learned about the similarities and differences between them. There are a lot more differences than similarities! We talked about more than, less than, the same as in relation to bats and birds. The children also did a fantastic job drawing "Bats flying at night" on black paper.

We also compared the two pumpkins we carved. The children took turns putting the pumpkin seeds into groups of ten. The morning pumpkin had over 300 seeds and the afternoon pumpkin, which was slightly heavier, had about 50 less. The children's estimates were interesting - some guessed there would be 10, others over 200.

Thank you to the parents who helped out at our Halloween Craft Party. The children enjoyed making a cloth ghost, decorating a foam skull, making a Halloween theme pattern, making a bookmark, and making a witch and a spider.

Each morning our routine is to select and read a phonics book on the carpet before we start the day with the calendar. This week we changed the routine slightly so that the SKs are "Reading Buddies" to the JKs and read their little books to them. They really enjoyed this!

The homework this week for the SKs is to complete "A Halloween Story" by filling in the missing words. The JKs were to finish their "Halloween Word Book" by colouring and tracing the Halloween words in the booklet.

This week the SKs completed a Halloween Colours booklet in which they had to read the words and colour accordingly. The SKs also helped the JKs with a sequencing activity about the steps carving a pumpkin.

On Tuesday the morning class will be participating in the tricycle race in the gym as part of our Terry Fox fundraising efforts. We are on Team Orange so please dress your child in something orange. If your child is in the afternoon class and would like to watch the morning tricycle race they must be supervised by an adult. Thank you.

Here are some tips on How to be a Good Reader:

Touch each word.
Return to the beginning.
Look at the picture.
Stretch out the word.
Look for little words inside bigger words.
Look at the first letter of the words.

This week we will be starting our unit on Fairy Tales and will continue learning about patterns. We will also be preparing for the Remembrance Day Assembly on November 11.

I hope you have a wonderful week!