Thursday, 17 November 2016

Friday Update November 18

Another fabulous week of learning. We celebrated another new 5 year old! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLORENCE!!!  We also celebrated Ms. Aidah’s birthday today—she says she is 4, or 17…the kiddos are not sure what to do with that information! We also had a very special visitor—Sadie, Olivia’s cat!!  What an amazing time (and the calmest cat I have ever seen!!) We learned so much!

This week some of our learning included…
*continuing to delve into the student’s interest and passion of animals, particularly cats and dogs (kittens, kitties, cats, doggies, dogs, puppies!)
*interviewing Ms. Jo about her cats –she brought pictures to show us and we had a lot of questions!
*drawing and writing about some of the things we now know about cats and dogs.
*really looking closely at pictures and videos of real dogs and cats and drawing and labeling.
*beginning a very interesting conversation about housing for cats and dogs..we will continue with that one next week.
*talking about what “being thankful” means, and brainstorming some ideas about what we are thankful for (we have so much!)
*checking on our pumpkin plants. We have been watering them and talking to them—they are growing rapidly! And the weeds are amazing!  They will come home next week for the students to continue to observe.
*exploring shapes and pattern blocks. Several of the students made some very cool designs, and were talking using all of the names of the shapes.
*a visit from Ms. Sarah—she talked to us about FEELINGS-I have included her write up on our lesson at the bottom of this.
*practicing our letters and numbers, and really looking at how to make our names neat when we write
*patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, measurement activities
*..and much, much more! 

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*Wed, November 23rd: Thanksgiving Celebration-12:15-1:15.  We look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday in our courtyard-please let me know if you plan to just take your child home with you after our meal or if they are going on their normal bus.
*November 24th and 25th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday
*Thursday, December 15th: HOLIDAY PARTY and Sing A Long 8:00-9:15- Our wonderful room parents will be organizing the party part (similar to Halloween) and then we will end with a cuddly Sing-A-Long.
*December 17th to January 8th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK
*January 9th: Late Start—10:00am start for school


From Ms. Farris-Our Pre K Counselor
Ms. Sarah and Carl the Counseling Cat had so much fun visiting each of the pre-kindergarten classes. We reviewed allergies and three ways to keep our friends safe (wash our hands for “foody fingers,” do not share food, and tell an adult if our friends aren’t feeling well). During our last lesson, we played “Just Like Me.” This lesson we tried a new game called “Catch My Beat.” Ms. Sarah said, “Here’s my rhythm, now catch my beat,” and then made a beat with her hands and/or feet.  The boys and girls then copied the beat.  We repeated this several times. This is a great way to practice listening, memory, being part of a group, and following a simple pattern. You can try this at home and have your child come up with their own beat! After the game, Ms. Sarah told the boys and girls that she noticed smiling with her eyes, and laughter with her ears. How were the boys and girls feeling if there was lots of smiling and laughter?  Happy! Ms. Sarah then showed the boys and girls a poster of 12 different feeling faces (angry, disgusted, scared, etc.) and the boys and girls practiced making each feeling face. Often boys and girls at this age often refer to their feelings in three ways: sad, bad, happy. Please model how you are feeling and name the feeling. It’s important for boys and girls to be aware of their feelings and, by helping your child name their feelings, you are using empathy and teaching them how to use their words and not bottle up their feelings. Ms. Sarah then read the book The Way I Feel by Janan Cain.  This is a fun book and a great way to talk about feelings with your child.  This book is available in our Elementary School library. Ms. Sarah will be back in the ELC in December to talk about problem-solving.





Week 14 November 14 to 18

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