Week of November 24-28

Dear families,

Our inquiry-based learning last week focused on Primary Colours, the number 10, and how to make Tally Marks. We are learning poems and songs about these topics to reinforce the concepts (they will sent home in your child's Friday bag). For example:

1, 2, 3, 4,
Number 5 shuts the door.
6, 7, 8, 9,
Number 10 draws a line.

We did tallies and graphs this week about "Favourite Colours," "The Santa Claus Parade," and "Are You A Night Owl."

The Seniors finished their "I Can Be" booklet about colours, and the juniors finished their "Colourful Cats" booklet about colours.

If your (Senior) child received mixed-up sentences about Bats or Owls in their white bag, please remind them to cut them up, glue them in the correct order, and read them. If your child did not finish his/her "Owl Facts" booklet in class please provide time for them to finish it for homework.

Thank you so much to Megan's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week! She read a book by Robert Munsch and a book by Eric Carle, the authors we are focusing on over the next two weeks. Thank you!! Thank you as well to Anderson's mom who assisted with the Computer Lab!

Please encourage your child's independence by teaching them the Zipper Trick and by encouraging them to do their zippers by themselves. A trick I use that helps is "Put the man in the elevator, hold on to the man to make sure he doesn't fall out, and pull the elevator up!" The kids like it and it helps remind them to hold on to the other side of their jacket when pulling up the zipper pull. Children love to feel proud of themselves and independent so your assistance with this is much appreciated. We have been working a lot on the order in which to put winter clothes on:

1. Snow Pants
2. Boots
3. Scarf and Hat
4. Coat and Zip
5. Gloves or Mittens

Mittens are much easier for young children than gloves with fingers. They are also warmer. Please also ensure your child has indoor shoes that stay in their cubby room.

The kids brought home their "All About Bats and Owls" folder/work this weekend. Please ask them to show and read their work to you. This will reinforce their reading skills.

I was so pleased to read the journal entries of the Seniors who completed them last week. Wonderful! I have glued a list in the front of each journal that I would like you to complete. It is simply a list of things you would like your child to write about, such as a family trip, family pet, what they would like for Christmas or their birthday, their summer, anything that would be fun and relevant for them to write about. Thank you.

This week we will finish our unit on Primary Colours and our mini Author Study on Eric Carle. We will also start an Author Study on Robert Munsch in preparation for our field trip to see Mad About Munsch. Please remember that all the children will be eating lunch at school that day upon returning from the play. Thank you.

This Wednesday morning a Scientist in the School will present to the children about "I Can Be a Scientist." Thank you in advance to the parents who are volunteering for this. Friday is Pizza Lunch Day for those children who are participating.

I hope you have a terrific week!