Week of September 17-21

Dear families,

It was a pleasure speaking with you at Curriculum Night!

The letter sound of the week was Tt. The "popcorn words" of the week were ME and CAN. Seniors, please complete the mini read-and write ME and CAN booklets. Juniors, this is an optional activity.

This week we continued learning all about Pets! We counted, tallied and graphed how many children have pets. If your child has a pet or had a pet, s/he is more than welcome to bring a photo in and tell us about the pet! Together we brainstormed and wrote what dogs, cats and betafish CAN, LIKE, ARE, SAY, LIVE, NEED, EAT and HAVE. We also made a Venn diagram (remember those?) comparing and contrasting dogs and cats. With their Grade 4 Reading Buddies, the children read, drew and coloured a booklet called "My Dog." After reading "Pete the Cat and his Cool Shoes" the children coloured a shoes and wrote where they went in their cool shoes. They are also learning how to draw Pete the Cat. Thank you so much to Reina's family who donated 10 "Pete the Cat" books to our classroom library!

In Numeracy, we have started to talk about and look for patterns in our world. The Juniors are learning ABAB patterns, and the Seniors are learning more complex patterns such as ABCABC or AABAAB or ABCDABCD.

In Science, the children learned about how Paper Wasps build their nest and why they are called "paper" wasps. They touched a real (empty!) paper wasp and watched a video about how these wasps make their nests.

In Art, the children uncovered "magic" letters with water colour paint. They are also starting to complete a "dot" to celebrate International Dot Day. We read the lovely book "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds, which encourages children to be creative and to accept that each person is different and unique.

Each week your child is given 2 Snuggle Up and Read books to read at home and then return to school for another child to read. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE IN OR COLOUR THEM! Thank you for taking care of our classroom materials.

Throughout the year we use child-friendly scissors for art activities. Providing your child with a pair of scissors at home to practise with will enable him or her to develop fine motor skills, which will in turn help him or her with writing and colouring. The more we practise, the more we can do!

Please ensure that your child has a change of clothes at school (they stay in his or cubby all year) as well as running shoes and indoor shoes that ensure s/he can run and play safely outside and in the gym. No flip-flops please. Children shjould be dressed in clothing that they can put on and remove by themselves when they go to the bathroom. Thank you!

We also had a visit from our wonderful student teacher Miss. Patel on Friday morning!

The next Scholastic order (with a lot of Halloween books!) is due October 12. Phonics sets are also a great way to support your child's literacy.

Thank you so much to Elise's mom who was our Mystery Reader this week! Thank you as well to our Grade Parents Tina and Leah who compiled a class contact list.

That's the news for this week from Room 166! Please subscribe to my blog (updated each Friday) so that you automatically get updates.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - the first weekend of Fall!