Dear families,
Happy Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe we've already had five weeks of school and that the children are thinking about Halloween already! Fall is a wonderful time of year. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the children do for their "This is Me in October" words and pictures.
We continued our unit on Patterns this week. The children did a good job identifying some of the many patterns in our classroom. Next week we will be making popsicle stick patterns (thanks Mrs. Burn for the idea!) and dabber patterns. The children also made patterns with Thanksgiving pictures. Good job! We made patterns at our tables with paper pictures, shapes and cubes. More to come!
The Seniors reviewed their number and letter formation by completing the upper and lower case alphabet and numbers 1-30. The Juniors practiced their numbers 1-10.
We are reading a series of non-fiction books about Signs of Fall: Harvest time, weather, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and so on. I have changed our Science Centre to "Signs of Fall and am asking each child to bring in a "sign of Fall." It could be a leaf that has changed colour, an acorn, etc. I have an enormous (abandoned) wasp nest for the children to look at as well as a walnut shell that a squirrel has snacked from. Our magnifiers are out and I'm looking forward to seeing what the children bring in. Please also go on a little leaf hunt with your children because I would like to make leaf rubbings on wax paper with them. Softer leaves are best. Thank you!
We'll be starting a little fun unit on Scarecrows next week as an introduction to "Living vs. Non-Living Things." This will tie in nicely to a Science Unit on Pumpkins next. We'll estimate how much our pumpkin weighs, how many seeds are inside, weigh it, count the seeds, and learn how a pumpkin grows.
This week we started focusing on Fall Weather. So far we have counted 2 sunny days, 2 partially cloudy days, 2 cloudy days, 2 rainy days, and 0 snowy days. This is teaching us about how variable the weather can be in the Fall, as well as about graphing and counting. The children are having fun using the Smartboard for these and other activities!
I'm busy preparing a unit on Primary Colours for Science, as a nice next step from leaves changing colour. We'll learn about and make a colour wheel, mix the three primary colours (blue, yellow, red) at various centres with various materials to see what happens, and learn about collecting data, making predictions, observing, and drawing conclusions. I'm looking forward to it!
This week's homework for the Seniors is to complete the Thanksgiving Words Word Search and the Cornucopia Math Sums.
Homework for all the children is to bring in a Sign of Fall for our Science Centre. I could be an object or a photo (of them at a pumpkin patch for example).
Some parents have been asking about where to get those "C-shaped" neck pillows. Chapters may have them, but any small pillow is nice for your child's quiet time (12:30-1:00). I think the children really benefit from this little "down time" listening to nature sounds, especially the little ones who stay for lunch (which is most of the children).
Thank you to Tessa's mom who was our Mystery reader this week. Thank you as well to Olivia's dad, Dima's mom and grandmother, and Christopher's mom, who were Computer Lab helpers this week. Going forward, if you have volunteered for Computer Lab, please sign in at the office then go straight up to the Computer Lab at 9:20 a.m. and start logging the computers on. The password is on the whiteboard. We will meet you there! Thank you so much for your help.
Your received a Student Data Correction Form this week. It is due back to the school by October 16.
That's the news for this week - I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather and colours!
Mrs. Tyndall
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Week of October 5-9
Dear families,
What a beautiful fall weekend!
Last week we continued our units on Signs of Fall in the morning, and All About Pets in the afternoon. The children's homework for this weekend is to complete the page "My Pet" with a drawing of their real (or imaginary!) pet. The Seniors should also write the name of their pet on the lines beneath their drawing, as well as some descriptor words about their pet ("My pet Max is a cute, brown, small, dog.").
With our Reading Buddies we started a Turkey Craft, colouring according to colour words. We have been tying in learning our colour words (more for the Juniors - the Seniors know them) to two booklets we are writing: Colourful Cats (JKs) and "I Can Be" (SKs).
This week we will start our Math unit on Patterning. Patterns are everywhere! Encourage your children to point out colour patterns to you: ABAB, AAB AAB, ABC ABC, ABB ABB, etc. Size and shape patterns work well, too: square, square, triangle/ small, big, small, big/ etc. If your child has patterned clothing, encourage him/her to point out the pattern on their clothing.
The children are enjoying signing in at the Smartboard! We'll also be doing some patterning exercises and colour poems/songs on the Smartboard this week.
This week we will be doing lots of Thanksgiving-related activities: counting turkeys, turkey patterns, turkey letters, etc. We will also be talking more about what "Harvest" means and what we do with the food that is harvested.
We will also be making Venn Diagrams in Numeracy, comparing characteristics of Cats vs. Kittens and Cats vs. Dogs.
A quick note about scissors: please provide your child with child-size blunt scissors at home. We do a lot of cutting and gluing in class and any similar small motor activities your child can also do at home would be beneficial.
So far we have talked about the following letter sounds: S A T I P N C K E H. We do one a day, and will rotate through all the sounds several times this year.
During our Quiet Time from 12:30-1:00, a few children have a small pillow. If your child has a small pillow that s/he can keep in school it would help them rest comfortably. A soft neck-type pillow works well (the kind we use on airplanes, for example).
When your child brings a folder home (the first one was "All About Me"), please keep that folder at home. If is your child's to keep and re-read at home. Your child will be bringing home a lot of work and art this year. If you don't want to keep it, I found with my own children that taking a photo of their work and keeping the special art pieces worked well.
Finally, a big thank you to Claire's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week.
There are still quite a few spots open for Computer Lab volunteers - please let Trudie or Erica know if you are able to volunteer from (9:20-10:00) on Days 1 and 2 each week.
I hope you have a terrific week!
What a beautiful fall weekend!
Last week we continued our units on Signs of Fall in the morning, and All About Pets in the afternoon. The children's homework for this weekend is to complete the page "My Pet" with a drawing of their real (or imaginary!) pet. The Seniors should also write the name of their pet on the lines beneath their drawing, as well as some descriptor words about their pet ("My pet Max is a cute, brown, small, dog.").
With our Reading Buddies we started a Turkey Craft, colouring according to colour words. We have been tying in learning our colour words (more for the Juniors - the Seniors know them) to two booklets we are writing: Colourful Cats (JKs) and "I Can Be" (SKs).
This week we will start our Math unit on Patterning. Patterns are everywhere! Encourage your children to point out colour patterns to you: ABAB, AAB AAB, ABC ABC, ABB ABB, etc. Size and shape patterns work well, too: square, square, triangle/ small, big, small, big/ etc. If your child has patterned clothing, encourage him/her to point out the pattern on their clothing.
The children are enjoying signing in at the Smartboard! We'll also be doing some patterning exercises and colour poems/songs on the Smartboard this week.
This week we will be doing lots of Thanksgiving-related activities: counting turkeys, turkey patterns, turkey letters, etc. We will also be talking more about what "Harvest" means and what we do with the food that is harvested.
We will also be making Venn Diagrams in Numeracy, comparing characteristics of Cats vs. Kittens and Cats vs. Dogs.
A quick note about scissors: please provide your child with child-size blunt scissors at home. We do a lot of cutting and gluing in class and any similar small motor activities your child can also do at home would be beneficial.
So far we have talked about the following letter sounds: S A T I P N C K E H. We do one a day, and will rotate through all the sounds several times this year.
During our Quiet Time from 12:30-1:00, a few children have a small pillow. If your child has a small pillow that s/he can keep in school it would help them rest comfortably. A soft neck-type pillow works well (the kind we use on airplanes, for example).
When your child brings a folder home (the first one was "All About Me"), please keep that folder at home. If is your child's to keep and re-read at home. Your child will be bringing home a lot of work and art this year. If you don't want to keep it, I found with my own children that taking a photo of their work and keeping the special art pieces worked well.
Finally, a big thank you to Claire's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week.
There are still quite a few spots open for Computer Lab volunteers - please let Trudie or Erica know if you are able to volunteer from (9:20-10:00) on Days 1 and 2 each week.
I hope you have a terrific week!
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