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It is the end of October, how did that happen? We are moving right along in math, we have explored patterns and are beginning to look at sorting objects. We are continuing to look at numbers to 10. We have been having a lot of fun with Halloween stories like the '5 Little Pumpkins' and '10 Little Witches'. We used some gold tees in pumpkins this week, and then gave the little ones elastics to see what they would come up with. Many created some incredible shapes, including triangles, squares, rectangles, octagons, and even a decagon.
We have spent a lot of time on ten frames lately. These are very important for the kids to understand. It is one tool we use for the little ones to 'see' a number. The image to the right is what a set of ten frames look like for each number up to 10. We teach the children it is important to start in the first box and as they are counting to count across to the right first then go down to the bottom row. The same goes when filling a ten frame. We must fill the top line before we can move down to the bottom. You can help at home by talking about numbers to 10 and helping your little
one draw ten frames. These will come up over and over again in the
next few years.
In language we are exploring colour words and pattern texts. Our story of the week is Black Cat, Black Cat, What do you see?'. We are also working on Halloween vocabulary, some of the students are really interested in copying words and writing stories, so we have a Halloween word wall the kids can use as they please.
Our word wall words so far are I, A, am, like, this
The letters we have worked on so far are i, a, m, l, t
** We are working on a review this week for both letters and words and not introducing any new ones.***
In Science, we have been exploring how to ask a question and find answers. We are exploring the world around us and spending time talking about the changing seasons.
One of our favourite activities lately is to take survey's and to graph our findings. We have been having a whole lot of fun with pumpkin faces hidden around the class and the students have to find them and graph them.
In gym we have been working on cooperation and following directions. We have been playing games like cat and mouse and buildings and bulldozers. We have also been working on our balance by playing tag and following the lines on the gym floor.
In Art we are starting to explore colour mixing. The kids love mixing paint, water and soon shaving cream to make different colours. We have some incredible artists in the class. I love the creations they make each day.
Don't forget on Friday we will be having our Halloween celebration, we will be doing centers in the morning and then in the afternoon we will have a fun filled activities including a movie, extra gym time and outdoor play. The whole school is doing bingo for United Way and our school is collecting $2 to play. Instead of school wide bingo, we are going to do small group bingo as one of our centers in the morning. We will still be collecting for united way, however, our bingo will be in the morning. The students are invited to bring in a small treat for themselves to have in the afternoon. These treats are not to share with anyone else. Please make sure if you do send in a treat it is nut free.
House keeping -
It is getting colder outside, some of our little friends are coming to school in sweaters and no hats or mitts. We are outside for 30 minutes every morning and then another 30 minutes in the afternoon. Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather.
Also, please make sure you label their hats and mitts. WE BEG YOU, please put their name in both mitts/gloves. We have 31 kids in the class and 13 have small black gloves, and 12 have small pink ones, we do not know whose are whose. As I am sure you can imagine, our coat room looks like a bomb went off most mornings and there are mitts and hats scattered all over the place. Without names we can not help identify which item belongs to whom. So please, we beg you, please label their mitts and hats.
- Toys - Many of the little ones are bringing toys from home to play with at school. We welcome toys for show and share days, however, they are to stay in their school bag for the day and only come out for show and share. If it is not your child's show and share day, we ask that you help us by not letting them bring toys to school. The same goes for sticker books, Pokemon cards and Shopkins.
- Drop off - Just a reminder, when you drop off your little one in the morning, please use the side Kindergarten doors. You can leave your child with the teacher on duty and they will ensure he/she will get to our classroom. We have buddies set up just for this reason. Please do not bring them in through the front office or through any other door. Also, we ask that you do not accompany your child to class.
I hope everyone has an incredible week and a wonderful fun filled weekend. I look forward to all the excitement. I know the kids are really looking forward to the festivities.
Meghan