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
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