Dear families,
Reading/Writing:
This past week we started our Fairy Tale unit with The Gingerbread Man. This is an excellent tale to start with for many reasons - it is fairly easy to sequence, there is a lot of repetition, and the story can be simplified into a readable version. I am making "literature folders" for each child and each fairy tale we study; the children will bring them home when they are done. In the folder will be a copy of the fairy tale and all their work. The Drama Centre is now the Dress up Centre tied to our fairy tales. I also have a lot of puppets related to the tales to encourage re-telling of the stories. We discussed the differences between the gingerbread man and the fox who tricked him. I have a class set of The Gingerbread Man as well as a tape recording, so each child could have his/her own copy and follow along. Our next story will be The Little Red Hen, a story about sharing responsibilities, working as a team and helping others. It also ties into how to make bread from flour which we can tie back to how to make gingerbread (i.e. where does flour come from?). This weekend's homework is to colour the gingerbread man page according to the rhyming colour words.
This week's poem is "Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"
So far on our word wall we have the "popcorn" (high frequency/sight) words: and, am, the, I, and like. We add a new word each week and practice writing it and reading it each day. The words on the word wall can be removed and brought to the children's tables to help with their spelling. The SKs also enjoyed playing a sight word game this week in which they had to read the word (attached to a lid) and if they were correct they put the word in the can. Whoever has the most lids wins! The children are also practicing their popcorn words with our Grade 8 readers. Our morning books (books we read each morning before calendar) were the Bob books. Next week - Clifford Phonics. The JKs are working on letter sound recognition. So far we have done S,A,T,I,P,N,E and R.
We are continuing to work on the various reading strategies. I have been reviewing the students’ independent reading levels (which is lower than their instructional level so that they can be successful). Thank you so much to those parents who continue to make reading a daily activity with their child. It really makes a huge difference.
Math – We are continuing our work on patterning, and students learned that a patterns repeat.
I am very excited about the new SmartBoard that was installed in my classroom this week! An electrician will do the final wiring and as soon as it is set up we will be ready to start using it. I am looking forward to using this wonderful tool to make our learning more interactive and fun!
Science – we welcomed two Scientists in the school this week and learned about Water (morning class) and Magnets (afternoon class). The children learned so much! Thank you to our parent volunteers to helped make each learning centre run smoothly! Thank you also to Parent Council for funding Scientists in the School. It is such a valuable experience for children of all ages. Our little science table is a magnets table during the month of November.
Our Terry Fox Celebration Assembly was on Tuesday. Since we reached the $20,000 level, there was a fun staff vs. student tricycle race.
Report cards will be sent home on Monday, November 11. The interview is meant to be a way to celebrate the child’s accomplishments, and to help them develop a plan of action for the following term. I am looking forward to meeting with you this week to discuss your child's progress and samples of his/her work. I will be seeing parents most evenings this week starting Monday evening.
Our Remembrance Day Assembly is on Monday Nov. 11 at 10:30 am. All are welcome to join us in the gym. Please remember that this is a solemn assembly and we would ask that there be no clapping at any point. Aria will be carrying our class wreath to the front of the gym. Thank you Aria.
The cold and flu season is upon us. If your child is not feeling well, please be sure to keep them at home, until they are feeling better, and symptom free, in order to stop the spread of illness. You may want to consider having your entire family vaccinated against the flu this season as a preventative measure. Visit Public Health, or your family doctor for more information, as clinics have started to open. Also, please talk to your child about proper hygiene (washing hands, using a Kleenex and not their finger, covering their mouth and nose when they cough and sneeze, sneezing into their elbow and not their hand, etc..
Please remember that the November/Holiday Scholastic book orders are due on November 30th. If you would like to order something as a surprise, for either your child(ren) or someone else, just let me know by writing "surprise" on the outside of the envelope. Books makes wonderful gifts!
Please remember to send your child to school with a coat, hat and mittens as the weather gets colder and windier; the weather is definitely changing!
Have a wonderful week!
