Weekly Update April 10 to 13

Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow! We will see the students back at school on Monday.

We are at a point in the year where I watch and listen to the students and am just so incredibly proud of their learning journey and where they are right now! Ms. Sarah was in our classroom for a counselling lesson on kindness, and one of our kiddos piped up, “We already know about kindness Ms. Sarah! It is the most important thing in our classroom! We try and show it to each other every day!” Now if that doesn’t make your heart sing…

Some of our learning explorations this week included:

*continuing with our “Loose Parts” project (manipulating and changing materials) From beads, to rice, to shaving foam, to moon sand…

*continuing their passion for animals, they were studying a book on animals and how their bones are structured to support them. We found some animal x-rays, and there was some interesting discussions! This led into dramatic play of a vet’s office and doctor’s office.

*discussion about Easter and Spring. Many of the students came in talking about Easter and some of their traditions. I showed them some of my grandma’s Ukrainian Easter eggs, that are made in a very special way with wax and a utensil called a kistka. We read Rechanka’s Eggs, a story by Patricia Palacco which highlights these beautiful eggs, and then we decided to make our own special eggs with pastels and colored dye. They turned out beautiful! There was also an investigation and some predicting with an BIG egg on display. The students eventually found out that it was an ostrich egg. They treated it very gently! Before they found out there was some interesting questioning and discussion about what kind of egg it was! “I think it is a dinosaur egg!” “No a cheetah egg!” “It’s an alligator egg!” “No a giraffe egg!” It started a fun discussion on mammals and reptiles and birds…

*we visited Pre School because we heard that they had some huge snails and some snail EGGS!

*today we had the opportunity to go up to the high school and be read to by 9^th graders! Marcus’ mom invited us up, and I think it could have kept going for hours!  It is always nice to meet some new high school buddies!

And much, much, more…

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES/THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday

*We are very low on fruit and granola bars etc—if you have time, feel free to send in some of these things for our very hungry students in the morning!

*April 14^th: Good Friday-No School

*May 1^st: Labor Day-No School

*May 5^th: Celebration of Learning—8:00-9:15am in our classroom-please see previous notes for details

*May 10^th: Vesak Day-No School

*June 1^st: Last Day for Students—normal 1:30 dismissal

*SUMMER BIRTHDAYS: if your child's birthday is in the summer and you'd like to celebrate it at school before the year is over, please send a note and we will celebrate!  J  We don’t want to miss anyone! Let me know what day works for you.

*IF you are leaving early, withdrawing from SAS or will be missing certain days over the next few weeks, send me a note. This will help me manage those last-minute details regarding report cards, work sent home, portfolios etc.

Week 31 April 10 to 13

108 new photos · Album by Lynsey Howitt