Thursday, 27 October 2016

Friday Update October 28



Happy Halloween and Happy Diwali!  Thank you to all of the parents who came to our Halloween party this morning. We appreciate your time, effort, and yummy (and VERY creative) treats!  We also celebrated a new 5 year old today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCUS!!!!!!!!!
Just a reminder that there is no school on Monday and Tuesday next week.  I will see the kiddos back on Wednesday November 2nd. We have have a new student named Sanaa joining us that day! She and her family are excited to be a part of our SAS community!

This week some of our learning included…
*making a Get Well book for Gan Poh Suan, one of our cleaning Aunties. She has been on medical leave, and the students made her something to feel better. It was beautiful listening to them talk about what she does in our school.
*painting pictures of pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, as well as water color painting our own real pumpkin. (The kiddos loved painting, then cleaning it off, then painting again. That pumpkin had a lot of different designs!)
*opening up and carving our pumpkin. When we opened up the top we estimated how many seeds the pumpkin had, then counted (155!) and cleaned the seeds and boted on which face to carve. The students decided on a kitty face, and then we added olive oil and salt to our seeds and baked them. Some of our cuties really enjoyed this tasty snack!  The other seeds we are saving to plant next week.
*..and much, much more!



REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*October 31st: NO SCHOOL (Deepavali)
*November 1st: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Faculty Inservice Day)
*November 24th and 25th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday
*December 17th to January 8th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK
*January 9th: Late Start—10:00am start for school

Week 11 October 24 to 28

Thursday, 20 October 2016

Friday Update October 21

There have been a lot of things going on this week!  It’s been very exciting! It was wonderful to hear about the fall break from your child.  I had an amazing time with my own guys, and am loving being back with your kiddos—the enthusiasm they had as they all came running in on Monday was infectious to anyone in the ELC!

This week some of our learning included…
*exploring a PUMPKIN!!!!!!  Thank you so much to Morgan for buying us a pumpkin! The students are enthralled! We have observed it, measured it (in various ways,) rolled it, carried it, painted renderings of it, used it as a prop for dramatic play, trick or treated with it…it is a well loved addition to our classroom!  If anyone else would like to send in a pumpkin, please feel free—discussions are centering around pumpkins, growing and Halloween right now!
*a lot of writing and making storybooks. We read the book A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen, and many were inspired that you don’t have know how to write all words to tell a story. (This is a great book to look up for beginning writers.)
*reading a lot of various books about pumpkins (fiction AND non-fiction) and of course Halloween.
*making our own playdoh and then playing with it!
*making patterns in the math area with various materials, and writing numbers with different materials as well.
*reading with high school students! We had a wonderful group of juniors from the high school spend some of their morning reading with us. I will say, our students could have gone on for hours! They looked up in astonishment when it was time for their new reading buddies to leave!!
*explored our new mud kitchen in the courtyard!
*learned the song “5 Little Pumpkins.” The students have wanted to sing it over and over (along with 1 Green Jelly Bean which I taught them before the break—both songs seem to stick in one’s head-sorry about that!)
*dramatic play included a lot of family themed play, as well as “kitties and doggies” going on walks and pretending to eat…we may explore these reoccurring ideas in the next little while.
*..and much, much more!


REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*Friday, October 28th:  HALLOWEEN PARTY: 8:00-9:00am
-Students will arrive to school in their costume (if they want to dress up, if not, they can just wear alternate dress.)
-Our wonderful class parents are organizing a fun time for our students with snacks (I know you have been contacted about this.)
-At 9:00 the students will change out of their costumes and into the change of clothes they brought (free dress.) If parents are school, they can take the costumes (and all of the little bits that may go with them J) home with them, if parents are not here, we will pack them into school bags.  Our kiddos will give parents who could join us a big hug and say goodbye, and then we will continue on with our day. J
*October 31st: NO SCHOOL (Deepavali)
*November 1st: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Faculty Inservice Day)
*November 24th and 25th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday
*December 17th to January 8th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK
*January 9th: Late Start—10:00am start for school

*Parents In the Classroom*

I sent a google doc yesterday that invites you into the classroom, and have already had many sign up!  Thank you in advance! J Yay! If you would like to come in, and someone is already signed up, just e-mail me—we will find a way for you to come too! (A different time that day, a different day that week—I am completely flexible on this, I just wanted a consistent time to start.  Having parents in the classroom is an amazing thing, and now that the kiddos are settled, we are good to go!)  I would also like to invite parents in if they want to share about a special holiday/celebration that is important for their family. (Examples, Divali, Christmas, Hannukah…). Please just contact me if there is ever a time that you would like to share something with our class, celebrate a certain holiday with us, or just spend some time doing some of the activities mentioned in the google doc. I am thinking about having a Thanksgiving potluck (with dishes from everyone’s home countries) with parents for our class lunch right before the Thanksgiving holiday—I will give you more information as we get closer to that, but if you mark November 23rd from 12:15 to 1:15 on your calendars that would be great!
Week 10 Oct 17 to 21









Thursday, 6 October 2016

Friday Update October 7



It has been wonderful sharing with you how amazing your children are these past two days. I am very proud of all of the students! They have great enthusiasm for school, know the routines, and work together in many different ways in their learning.

I wish you all a wonderful fall break, and I look forward to seeing all of my kiddos back on Monday, October 17th.

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*October 8th to October 16th: FALL BREAK-NO SCHOOL
*Friday, October 28th:  HALLOWEEN PARTY: 8:00-9:00am-Details to come.
*October 31st: NO SCHOOL (Deepavali)

*November 1st: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Faculty Inservice Day)
Week 9 October 3 to 5