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 28^th:  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 31^st: NO SCHOOL (Deepavali)

*November 1^st: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS (Faculty Inservice Day)

*November 24^th and 25^th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday

*December 17^th to January 8^th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK

*January 9^th: 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 23^rd from 12:15 to 1:15 on your calendars that would be great!

Week 10 Oct 17 to 21