Weekly News November 2nd
Monday Mrs. Ashworth was the guest teacher as I had a medical appointment. Students worked on their Book of Brown and had a good day. Mrs. Ashworth enjoyed getting to know the students better but she did mention that it was a busy busy day!
Tuesday morning we started the day with fine arts. Ms. Wood did some rhythm exercises with the students and they brainstormed things they wonder about. Thanks so much to all those who sent in red and black bits. We sorted them as they came into school - always a great math activity! At calendar time I re-introduced some of the choices for playtime - including the fort-building kit. It quickly became the most popular choice of the week and students explored all kinds of different places and ways to build their forts. Work time on Tuesday was spent trying to help me figure out what to be for Halloween! There were lots of great suggestions! In the afternoon we went to the library to exchange our books and Miss Julie read us a book by Kevin Henkes called Waiting. We enjoyed it a lot! When we go to library everyone gets to pick a new book. If your child has forgotten their library book at home they can still pick a new book and I will hold it in the classroom until the old book is returned. I created a new tag that will come home if your child has forgotten their book that day.
Wednesday was a very exciting day. We tried to keep things as low-key as possible but the excitement of Halloween was spilling out all over! Mr. Seymour came for his final visit for this term. He sang with us and told us the Hulquminum names for several animals. He will be back with us for five weeks starting in January. Just before lunch recess we did some explorations of the pumpkins and worked on a small group challenge to build a bridge over a "river" that would hold the weight of the pumpkin. Students could choose any building materials and they were instructed to work together to come up with a design and a structure. Working with the pumpkins we found that one of them had some soft spots and smelled funny so I opened it up after lunch and we looked at it and smelled it. We decided it smelled like dirt and compost!
On Thursday we were a very small class... only 9 students made it to school! It stopped raining in time for us to get outside for a play under the trees before the Family Group time. We are still sticking with just the rest of the kindergarten students for family group time but in December we hope to split off into the multi aged groupings with everyone else. During our family group time we discussed the upcoming Remembrance Day assembly and used the red and black things you sent from home to build a poppy which we will present at the assembly. Everyone had an opportunity to glue 10 things on the red and 5 things on the black. It was a great chance to see who has 1:1 correspondence for items to numbers and who can trust their count. I will be doing a FreshGrade post in the next few weeks looking at counting with objects. The scholastic book order came in and I got some new number and letter puzzles that some of the students enjoyed getting into!
Friday was also a small class day - still only 9 students. Clearly there is some bug making its way through the school as other classes were missing lots of students too. We started the day in Fine Arts with Ms. Wood. She showed us our school of fish that the students made last week. She also did an "I wonder" page with the students which was sent home. It was particularly interesting to see how many of them mirrored the wonders we had brainstormed earlier in the week! We had a quick snack after fine arts and headed for the woods. On our way we passed the grade two students planting some bulbs along the front fence line. Some of them told us they are daffodils and showed us the parts of the bulb and how they would grow in the spring. We had a good time exploring and playing in the woods. Some cooperation and negotiation skills were built and I saw amazing evidence of physics being explored as students shook a tree a little bit at the bottom and saw big motion at the top! We found mushrooms, and hidey-holes and drains that lead to fish! We even took a few minutes to play in the alley on the way back. It was such a glorious and warm afternoon that we had centres outside.
Please remember that the PAC fundraiser Vendor Splendour is Saturday November 3rd. They would welcome your support either as a customer (one stop shopping for Christmas gifts!) or in the set-up (9:45ish) and take down (3ish??).
I noticed that some people have signed into the FreshGrade portfolios - and some have even commented on their child's learning. Please take a moment to try logging in if you haven't already. This is the primary mode of communication about your child's learning this year. If you are having difficulty accessing your child's portfolio please connect with me and I'll be happy to help! There are a few teachers who will be welcoming parents to pop in and touch base after school on Tuesday November 13th. This is a great time to get some support with FreshGrade if you're having trouble. You can bring your device or log in through one of the ones at school.
Getting outside is a big priority for me and we will be walking in all kinds of weather - please help your child remember to wear (or bring) appropriate clothing and footwear!
NEXT WEEK - November 5th - 9th
Monday - walk day?
Tuesday - Library Day - please help your child remember their book
- Remembrance Day assembly 10am. You are welcome to join us for this formal assembly
Wednesday - possible walk day
Thursday - walk day - please be sure students are appropriately dressed for the weather
- Scholastic Book Fair in the library
Friday - Scholastic Book Fair in the library
- Hot Lunch - Mac & Cheese
Tuesday morning we started the day with fine arts. Ms. Wood did some rhythm exercises with the students and they brainstormed things they wonder about. Thanks so much to all those who sent in red and black bits. We sorted them as they came into school - always a great math activity! At calendar time I re-introduced some of the choices for playtime - including the fort-building kit. It quickly became the most popular choice of the week and students explored all kinds of different places and ways to build their forts. Work time on Tuesday was spent trying to help me figure out what to be for Halloween! There were lots of great suggestions! In the afternoon we went to the library to exchange our books and Miss Julie read us a book by Kevin Henkes called Waiting. We enjoyed it a lot! When we go to library everyone gets to pick a new book. If your child has forgotten their library book at home they can still pick a new book and I will hold it in the classroom until the old book is returned. I created a new tag that will come home if your child has forgotten their book that day.
Wednesday was a very exciting day. We tried to keep things as low-key as possible but the excitement of Halloween was spilling out all over! Mr. Seymour came for his final visit for this term. He sang with us and told us the Hulquminum names for several animals. He will be back with us for five weeks starting in January. Just before lunch recess we did some explorations of the pumpkins and worked on a small group challenge to build a bridge over a "river" that would hold the weight of the pumpkin. Students could choose any building materials and they were instructed to work together to come up with a design and a structure. Working with the pumpkins we found that one of them had some soft spots and smelled funny so I opened it up after lunch and we looked at it and smelled it. We decided it smelled like dirt and compost!
On Thursday we were a very small class... only 9 students made it to school! It stopped raining in time for us to get outside for a play under the trees before the Family Group time. We are still sticking with just the rest of the kindergarten students for family group time but in December we hope to split off into the multi aged groupings with everyone else. During our family group time we discussed the upcoming Remembrance Day assembly and used the red and black things you sent from home to build a poppy which we will present at the assembly. Everyone had an opportunity to glue 10 things on the red and 5 things on the black. It was a great chance to see who has 1:1 correspondence for items to numbers and who can trust their count. I will be doing a FreshGrade post in the next few weeks looking at counting with objects. The scholastic book order came in and I got some new number and letter puzzles that some of the students enjoyed getting into!
Friday was also a small class day - still only 9 students. Clearly there is some bug making its way through the school as other classes were missing lots of students too. We started the day in Fine Arts with Ms. Wood. She showed us our school of fish that the students made last week. She also did an "I wonder" page with the students which was sent home. It was particularly interesting to see how many of them mirrored the wonders we had brainstormed earlier in the week! We had a quick snack after fine arts and headed for the woods. On our way we passed the grade two students planting some bulbs along the front fence line. Some of them told us they are daffodils and showed us the parts of the bulb and how they would grow in the spring. We had a good time exploring and playing in the woods. Some cooperation and negotiation skills were built and I saw amazing evidence of physics being explored as students shook a tree a little bit at the bottom and saw big motion at the top! We found mushrooms, and hidey-holes and drains that lead to fish! We even took a few minutes to play in the alley on the way back. It was such a glorious and warm afternoon that we had centres outside.
Please remember that the PAC fundraiser Vendor Splendour is Saturday November 3rd. They would welcome your support either as a customer (one stop shopping for Christmas gifts!) or in the set-up (9:45ish) and take down (3ish??).
I noticed that some people have signed into the FreshGrade portfolios - and some have even commented on their child's learning. Please take a moment to try logging in if you haven't already. This is the primary mode of communication about your child's learning this year. If you are having difficulty accessing your child's portfolio please connect with me and I'll be happy to help! There are a few teachers who will be welcoming parents to pop in and touch base after school on Tuesday November 13th. This is a great time to get some support with FreshGrade if you're having trouble. You can bring your device or log in through one of the ones at school.
Getting outside is a big priority for me and we will be walking in all kinds of weather - please help your child remember to wear (or bring) appropriate clothing and footwear!
NEXT WEEK - November 5th - 9th
Monday - walk day?
Tuesday - Library Day - please help your child remember their book
- Remembrance Day assembly 10am. You are welcome to join us for this formal assembly
Wednesday - possible walk day
Thursday - walk day - please be sure students are appropriately dressed for the weather
- Scholastic Book Fair in the library
Friday - Scholastic Book Fair in the library
- Hot Lunch - Mac & Cheese