Our cold and snowy weather this week has been a bit of a surprise, but we are nothing if not adaptable. In addition to getting outside for regular recess breaks, we have also been taking our learning outside. Here are some of the things we have worked on this week:
We started our week by finishing up our Kandinsky art from last week. When we put all of our pieces together, they look amazing. The colours make us feel calm, happy, and excited.
In Math, we continue to investigate the numbers and how to count groups of objects, large and small. This has included working on tallying, number writing, and a group counting collections outside.
In Language Arts, we continue our work on letter sounds and printing lower case letters. We have now reviewed more than half the alphabet and are using these letters to sound out short words and read and write them with accuracy. If you would like to see the letters we have covered to date and practice some printing and drawing with your child to reinforce these skills, please check out the google classroom. I am also thrilled with how excited the students are about learning their list words. These are the words that are glued into their show and share journals. They are the high frequency words that students need to be able to read by sight (without sounding out). Knowing these words are key to helping your child progress with their reading. Having your child practice reading them at home and look for them in their Home Reading books is a great way to support their reading development.
All of the students are excited by the number of snowshoe hares that are frequenting our school yard. They are in the process of changing colour and we have been observing them and noticing how they use their colour to hide. When they were brown, they blended in with the shrubs and grass. Now they are beginning to blend in with the snow. Students also observed that they keep very still so that they are harder to see. Observing our seasonal changes and the needs of animals to adapt to the environment is a part of our Science curriculum.
Students are excited about the upcoming holiday of Hallowe'en. I plan to capitalize on this with a number of Math, Language Arts, Science and Art activities next week. On Thursday, October 29th, students are encouraged to wear their costumes to school and we will be writing about the character we are pretending to be. If your child does not plan to wear a costume, please let me know and I will arrange an alternate writing activity for him/her.
Many students have fond memories of last year's Pumpkin Fest. Due to Covid restrictions, this year's Pumpkin Fest will be an outdoor event and it will be for students only. We are asking families to bring their carved Pumpkin to school on Thursday Morning and drop it off in our classroom area of the Pumpkin Patch. I will show the students the correct spot on Wednesday and we will have a sign indicating our class' area so that you will know where to display your pumpkin. Students will have the opportunity to go out during the day to view all of the creations and then will be able to take their pumpkins home at the end of the day.
We also began our discussions with students about Remembrance Day this week. We read the poem, "In Flanders Field" and made the poppies for our Remembrance Day wreath. In the first week of November, students will be working to prepare something for our virtual assembly. This will be something that the students in the entire school will view during November 10th. We are creating a brand new presentation of family members of our community that have served in the military. If you have a picture of a family member, past or present, who has served in the military, please send it in an email to kaglowacki@cbe.ab.ca with the following information: Name, relation to your student, when they served and where. (ex - Joe Smith, grandfather of Sandy Smith -Served in Canada in the 1970's).
Upcoming
Monday October 26 - Home Reading Exchange
Wednesday October 28 - Picture Retakes
Thursday October 29 - Home Reading Exchange - Pumpkin Fest and Hallowe’en Costume day
Friday October 30 - PD No school for students
