Weekly News October 5th
Monday we went for our first foray into the alley. We noticed signs of fall and found our stop-spots for future walks. Students practiced listening for and responding to the whistle so that we can build our skills for longer, more adventurous walks in the future. In the section of alley we spend the most time in there is a concrete retaining wall that many students like to climb. The rule at school is that I do not help with getting up or down so you need to be sure you can get where you want to go yourself. (That said, if a child is truly stuck I will guide them to help them free themselves. I promise not to leave anyone behind!) We are building core strength, coordination, and a personal awareness of levels of risk through our adventure walks. We couldn't find any good puddles for jumping in at first so we ventured to the next section of alley. There we found some good puddles and those with boots did lots of splashing! Some students later learned that the natural consequences of over-splashing is wet feet! Fortunately we all powered through and got through the day wet or dry. We started our self portraits during work time. These are a window into the way that children view themselves and grow and mature over the course of the school year. When they are all finished they will be up in the classroom for the rest of the year. We will analyze them together and the students will reflect on their work. When the electronic portfolios are up these will be one of the first entries on it - you are always welcome to drop in and see them in person though! The afternoon was a little wonky because it was our Metis lesson in the gym. Mrs. Chow told us about some history of the Metis people and showed us her Metis sash with all the colours. She taught us the names of the colours in Michif - the language of the Metis. We made a bracelet using those colours. She also taught us how to say hello (tawnshi) and that there is no word for goodbye. We will see her again in the spring for another lesson.
We have Fine Arts first thing every Tuesday. Ms. Wood is very kind and everyone comes out with a smile. She will be varying the in focus of her fine arts instruction between drama, music, and visual arts. After Fine Arts we had some centres time and many of the students dug into our sunflowers with pincers. They don't realize that they are building their fine motor skills when they are picking out the seeds - they just know that its fun! During work time we did some more with the self portrait. Those who were ready with their outline picked a skin tone marker that they felt best represented them to colour all of the skin areas of the picture. It is a learning process to colour well, leaving no white space. I had to send several students back to keep colouring. In the afternoon we went to the library where Miss Julie gave us our new library bag! She read a story called Bears Don't Read and everyone got to pick a new book. We will pick a new book every Tuesday but if your child forgets their book at home we will hold the new book for exchange when the new book comes back.
Wednesday we did our jobs and then had choices. It wasn't raining yet so we went outside for a play time before snack. Mr. Seymour is our Hul'qumi'num support person and he will be with us every Wednesday in October. He told us a story about the wind blowing the trees and pushing raven toward the sun. The pictures he showed us with the story are very detailed and he drew them himself! He taught us how to say good morning ('uy' netulh) and friends (sii ye ye) and then we sang the good morning song. We learned the gesture and words to say thank you (huy ch q'u) and you're welcome (namut kwu). We will consolidate these words over the next four weeks and then learn some new ones when Mr. Seymour comes back in the new year. Before lunch recess we got back to our self portraits and used oil pastels to colour all of the parts that are not skin. Again, it is challenging for some students to see the white spaces that need to be filled in and they find it frustrating to be sent back to keep working again and again! During centres in the afternoon we started the backgrounds for our self portraits. We used special water colour paper and some liquid watercolours to make a wash of colour for mounting the self portrait. They are going to be spectacular!
Thursday morning after snack we met with all of the kindergarten students and did a tour of the boundaries on the lower playground. We played for a little while in the "out of bounds" zone (where we can only go when the teacher is with us) and then we got some time on the big playground before going back to our upper playground for lunchtime play. We are planning for the kindergarten students to start going down with the big kids at lunchtime next week. They will be easily identified by their yellow pinnies and they have met many of the adult support people who will be out with them. We think they are ready!
Friday morning we Fine Arts with Miss Wood and then we had our photos taken. There were a few people who were a little nervous about it but the photographer was funny and she managed to find everyone's smiles! There will be re-takes in a couple of weeks for anyone who was away on Friday. Ms. Vargas came in to be the guest teacher at the last minute as I was really not feeling well and needed to go home to bed. I heard there were a few others not feeling their best either but people powered through!
I would like to remind everyone that your children are just beginning to learn about "I messages" (see Classroom Policies under the Routines and Structures tab for more information about "I messages") and how to appropriately communicate their feelings and challenges. Inevitably there will be issues that spill over from school to home, often it isn't until that quiet moment before bed when a child is reviewing their day that things get talked about. This is why I provide you with my phone number and the Class Messenger app - please please please let me know if there are unresolved issues. It is unlikely that I will fill you in on every hurt feeling or social misstep that involves your child. The ones that seem bigger or more impactful I will let you know about, but there are times when I don't know about something that feels big to your child. I want to honour and help resolve their feelings so that everyone feels safe at school. Please help me by letting me know when something of concern is brought to your attention.
If you haven't paid for school supplies yet, or sent in a box of Kleenex and a water bottle for the classroom please do so asap... all three things are important to our learning! (The kind of water bottle with a straw that pops up are very good because they don't spill as much when they are inevitably knocked over!)
NEXT WEEK - October 8th - 12th
Monday - Thanksgiving day - no school
Tuesday - Library day - please help your child remember their book
Wednesday - possible walk day? Please be prepared with appropriate outer wear
Thursday - possible walk day? Please be prepared with appropriate outer wear
Friday - there will be a guest teacher as I will be away
- HOT LUNCH - PIZZA!