It was another beautiful week outside, especially with the beautiful colours of Autumn in full force!
In Science we explored the changes we are seeing in leaves right now and what we see throughout the seasons. This included talking about chlorophyll and the how leaves help plants produce food for themselves. To illustrate our understanding of these changes, we created our own timelines of a leaf. We also discussed why we did not include Spring (no buds this time of year, and wouldn't pick them because we always show respect to our environment) .
To celebrate harvest season we sketched some mini gourds and pumpkins. The goal was to make our sketches as realistic as possible by adding lots of detail. As artists, students practiced using light lines with their pencils to allow for easy erasing. Making mistakes and changing things is one of the most important parts of art (and all learning)! We will be adding water-colour pencil to our sketches next week.
Our word work this week consisted of sorting words using our phonetic knowledge of S, A, T, I and M, and well as looking at the letters G, R, and K. Grade 1s continued to practice their phonetic spelling, and Grade 2s moved into wordplay; creating rainbow letters. Take a look at the Alphablocks video we watched for letter "R".
Ask your child what Animated Literacy actions they know now! We are over half way done the alphabet!
In math we continued our place value learning, working on the curricular goals of:
"I can interpret and explain quantities to 100" (Grade 1)
"I can interpret and explain quantities to 1000" (Grade 2)
This included practicing representing numbers through base ten materials and pictures, as well as interpreting the materials to identify the correct number. We also spent a lot of time this week playing math games such as "The Biggest Number" and "Place Value Challenge".
We also looked at all the important days this month and students completed an October calendar to bring home.
As Thanksgiving approaches we discussed what gratitude means and the things we are thankful for in our lives. Students brainstormed and recorded their ideas through a "Thankful ABCs" activity.
Check out this amazing video from Kid President that we watched to get our ideas flowing and have some laughs.
As students begin to understand their emotions and develop problem solving skills, we have been taking part in lots social emotional learning. Here is a book we read that highlights big emotions in a very child friendly way.
As a class we discussed that big emotions are not always just "mad" or "sad", and many things can cause them. Most importantly, everyone (even adults!) have big emotions and it is okay to feel them. Sometimes they are great! How we act on our emotions towards ourselves and others is what is key.
Check out some responsible work choices students made this week!
Artist in Residence Volunteers
We are so lucky to have Artist in Residence Ms. Fortowsky joining us this year for some learning through the arts. Ms. Fortowsky will be spending time with our class for four 1-hours sessions over the next couple of weeks. We would love some help in the classroom if you have time to volunteer! Please note that volunteers need to have the annual volunteer form signed and on file as well as a valid police check through the office. If you are not sure if you are cleared to volunteer, please ask the office.
Here are the following dates for room 8 :
Thursday October 13th - 10:30 - 11:30
Monday October 17th - 10:30 - 11:30
Thursday October 20th- 1:40 -2:40
Tuesday October 25th - 10:30 - 11:30
If you are cleared to volunteer and would like to come in for a session please send me an email :)
Library Books
This week we had our first visit to the library! Each student can take out 2 library books for the duration of 2 weeks. I encourage students to leave one book at school and to take one home so they always have something to read that they are interested in. We have library time every Tuesday afternoon so if your child wants to exchange their books please ensure if they brought one home that it is sent back to school for library time.
Looking to shop for books online through Scholastic year round? I have set up a scholastic account for our class. By using our class code you can help our class earn points to put towards new books! I will be sending home Scholastic flyers each month. Happy reading!
Class Code: RC358893
Birthday Walk
Is your child's birthday coming up? At LBS we like to celebrate with the Montessori Birthday Walk Around the Sun. A Google Slide template has been created on my Google Classroom to share the story of your child. I will also email it out each month to those who have a child with a birthday that month. Please carefully review the instructions and let me know if you have any questions. Please make a copy and do not edit the template. When it is complete, please share it with me through email so I can share it with the class on your child's special day!
Absences If your child is going to be absent, please make sure to contact the office via phone or email. I would also appreciate being cc'd on the email so I am kept in the loop!
Physical Education This year, we will have indoor gym time every other day. On the days that we do not have time in the gym, we will be going outside for phys ed. Please make sure your child has appropriate shoes for both indoor and outdoor phys ed. At LBS, we love to go outside in all types of weather (unless it's colder than -20) so we will be going outside - rain, snow, or shine!
Art Cards
I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!
Ms. Greenhall
Upcoming Dates
October 10 Thanksgiving Day - No School
Thursday October 13th - First Artist in Residency Session: Room 8
October 28th - PD Day - No School
October 31st - Halloween (more school details to come)
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