Oct 19-22

 

The students of room 150 had a great week working both inside and outside.  We continued our work on a number of concepts and began working on some new things too.  Here is what we have been up to:

We began our “Student of the Week” activities as part of our Social Studies work.  Each student will have an opportunity to be the student of the week and do some special activities.  As a class, we interview the student of the week to find out all about our friend.  This helps us to learn more about how we are the same and how we are unique and to appreciate how all of us can work together to make a strong classroom community.  Each member of the class then creates a page of writing about our student of the week and we make a book that the chosen student gets to take home.  It will take us until April to get to everyone in the class, but each child will have a turn to be appreciated and celebrated by the class.


Our Math continues to build on our understanding of numbers and patterns.  This week we used a large floor grid to work collaboratively to arrange the numbers in order from 0 to 100 and turn it into a 100’s chart.  It was so interesting to see students work out how to place the mixed up numbers on the correct spot on the grid.  Students were working to recognize how the patterns of 10’s and 1’s show up in this activity. We followed this up with some more practice in writing the numbers.  Students were able to choose their own most appropriate level for number work.  They could choose an activity with some missing numbers, many missing numbers, or they could choose a blank chart and fill in all the numbers.  It is great to see so many students being confident in their Math work.



We spent the day on Thursday focusing on fall trees.  Each student wrote an acrostic poem using the letters of the word Leaves for their work.  This was a challenging activity that allowed students to brainstorm ideas together and then work to choose their words in order to express their unique view about Autumn trees and leaves.  We also used our painted leaf prints that we made previously to create some colourful leaf art to go with our poetry.  Thanks to our lovely weather, we were also able to get outside and look closely at some of the trees in our outdoor classroom.  We sketched, labeled, and made observations about the trees in fall and what changes we noticed.





We are looking forward to some exciting events next week.  On Monday morning, October 25th, we will be visiting Twelve Mile Coulee.  This outing will be focussed around appreciating and noticing the seasonal changes and about connecting with our Elder, Saa’Kokoto, to learn more about the traditional stories and language of the Blackfoot people.  We will also meet an artist who will help us explore using natural materials to create art pieces to represent some aspect of the story that we heard.


On Friday, October 29th, we will have our school celebration of Halloween.  We will again have our Pumpkin Patch design challenge.  Students and their families are invited to design, carve, and decorate a pumpkin at home.  They can bring them to school on the morning of the 29th and look for our classroom spot in the pumpkin patch schoolyard.  We will have scheduled times for all of the classes to come out to the schoolyard to tour around and see all of the amazing pumpkin creations.  Students and families will take their pumpkins home at the end of the day (12:40) so that they can have them displayed for Halloween.  Students are also encouraged to wear a costume to school on Friday.  Please remember that costumes should not depict violence or have any weapons and that students still need to wear their regular masks and costume masks do not replace them.


As we have been learning about the importance of healthy food to build our bodies and make us strong, I would ask that parents not send in candy and treats as a school snack even after trick-or-treating.  We are looking to have student snacks focus on fruits and vegetables, protein and grains as this gives your child a good mid-morning boost.  If you choose to send in a small treat, please put it in your child’s lunch box and we will talk about eating all of the healthy food first, before having a little treat.  Helping students learn to make healthy choices is a part of the learning that we do at school and I appreciate your help and support in this important area.


Upcoming Events


Monday Oct 25          - Morning Coulee Trip with Saa’kokoto

                                  - Home Reading exchange

Tuesday Oct 26         - Pumpkin math (which includes scooping out the seeds - dress for mess!)

Wednesday Oct 27    - Library Exchange

Thursday Oct 21       - Home Reading exchange 

Friday Oct 22            - Pumpkin Fest

                                   - Costume Day!

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