I apologize I am sooo late with this post - lots of stuff going on!
First, we are missing several activity bags this week. Please return these tomorrow so that we can complete our exchange!
Second, there are a lot of important dates upcoming, some of which I failed to get on the November calendar. Please consult the TO-DO list, to the left (viewing on a computer screen) for the current and upcoming due dates and event dates. This week alone, picture orders are due (you can do it online), interview time forms are due and information verification sheets should be signed and returned, if you haven't already done so.
I have also sent home a note regarding our next walking trip to the College/Shaw library. It will be next Monday, the 12th. Please return the pink slip if you would like to volunteer. Thanks!
As I'm sure you know, Progress Reports (for us, "Initial Communication of Learning") are coming home next Tuesday. While I put a great deal of effort into writing all my reports, I think it's much more helpful to speak in person. We encourage all parents to sign up for an interview time on the following Thursday evening or Friday morning. On the green form, please select the date that best suits you, and write down a few times (e.g., 4:30, 5:00 or "anything after 6:00") that would work. If you list your other teachers, we will try to coordinate your times so that you don't overlap or have to wait around. I'll send a confirmation of your time home as soon as I receive all the forms - hopefully Friday.
Here are some bits and pieces from last week...
We had a fun Halloween day with our walk around through the school, a few rounds of Halloween charades, decorating our class with patterned garlands, learning the popular song "C'est l'Halloween" and making our own skeletons, counting out how many bones we wanted to use. Here we are in our costumes!
Our Halloween relay race had to wait until the next day when the rain slowed down. This involved keeping a ghost balloon up in the air, tossing some bean bags into the cauldron and then flying around a tree on a witch broom. It was a close race!
Our guided activity was to draw and write about our costume.
Throughout the week, we used our class pumpkin for a few activities. First, we predicted whether we thought it would sink or float in a bucket of water. Lots of us thought that it would sink, since pumpkins are heavy. Ask your scientist what ended up happening!
Another day, we each had a chance to reach in and pull out some gooey seeds. Each student made 2 piles of 10 seeds. We counted all the piles up, and it turned out there were 426 seeds in our pumpkin. Close to some of our medium guesses (which ranged from 15 to 3 million).
When we had counted them all up, I washed and roasted the seeds, and we got to try them at afternoon snack!
Here are some Halloween creatures we read about...
Un squelette
Un fantôme
Un monstre
Une citrouille
Une sorcière
Last Tuesday, we were lucky to participate in a movement edgeucation workshop, organized for our school by Ms. Kowal. We moved and danced to some amazing music, trying a variety of actions and movements, going in different directions.
Last Tuesday, we were lucky to participate in a movement edgeucation workshop, organized for our school by Ms. Kowal. We moved and danced to some amazing music, trying a variety of actions and movements, going in different directions.
Rock Star Pose
Stomping
Getting low and swinging arms!
The Lasso
Calm your body
Here are a few neat things that have happened during our indoor centre time...
Magnet families!
Independent writing practise by copying the morning message.
(Next time they are challenged to use lined paper!)
I met with some students who were regularly self-selecting activities that were too rowdy for indoors. They came up with a great, positive solution to this problem. If they are not selecting an appropriate activity, they would like me to give them a specific challenge. I tested it out by asking them to build a farm and then sort the animals into farm and wild. Not only did they work together to do this, but they ended up making different enclosures for each animal (cows, dogs...). They even cleaned up as soon as I asked them too. I was very pleased with this result. Let's hope this strategy keeps working!
More to come soon!