Week of February 18-22

Dear families,

I hope you are having a great start to your weekend!

We've had another busy week in Room 166! The words of the week were BY and CAME. The letter sound of the week was Zz.

We started a new inquiry on "Things That Move" such as boats, cars, trucks, strollers, bikes, rockets, planes, etc. The children helped brainstorm ideas about which human-made inventions help us get from place to place, and which have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and more than 4 wheels. We read a wonderful book called "Let's Go: The Story of Getting From Here to There" which was a history of transportation in Canada.

We talked about how wheels and bikes work and watched a short "How It's Made" (my favourite show!) about how bikes are made. We learned what welding is, too. The children also watched a science video about people stay balanced while riding a bike and why they need to keep moving in order to not fall over.

For a STEM activity, the children worked in teams of 4 or 6 to make something out of recyclable materials that moves people. They made spaceships, boats, a train, a truck and a cars, and took turns explaining to the class how they made it and how it moved. Great cooperative play, everyone! For Earth Day on April 22, I would like the children to make something out of recyclable materials. It can be a vehicle, a toy, a diorama, anything at all, as log as they use recyclable paper or plastic. Once these are done, please have your child bring it in so s/he can present it to the class.

Next week we will categorize our vehicles into LAND, WATER and AIR, and will learn about the parts of a bicycle wheel. We will learn about one new mode of transportation at a time, discovering how they are different and what they all have in common.

The next Scholastic order is due on March 1st. Wednesday is "WEAR PINK" anti-bullying day at LKS. Every day is anti-bullying day! Thank you so much to our Mystery Reader - Mila's mom!

The children enjoyed watching their Reading Buddies perform at this month's Sharing Assembly. We had the iPads this week so they children enjoyed taking turns on them, playing educational games that are TDSB-approved. I have sent home a list of educational games and apps, as well as information about the natural progression of chgildren's writing from scribbles to letters and sentences. It's really amazing to see the progress from JK to SK, from SK to Grade One.

That's the news for this week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!