We learned about the letter M! With each new letter, we learn an action to help us remember the sound each letter makes. Ask your child what our actions are for P and for M. We practiced printing Ms in our journals and drew pictures of things that begin with the /m/ sound. M was much trickier to print than the letter P.
Many students had a difficult time printing a lower case M. Ask your child to demonstrate their printing skills for you at home. Students demonstrated a lot of risk-taking in their writing this week, making their teacher very proud. Some of our students are now attempting to record words with beginning, middle and ending sounds. For example, MKE (monkey), MJK (magic) and MRZ (Mars). This is a GREAT first step in learning how to write. YIPPEE!!
We had an Occupational Therapist visit our classroom for a lesson on pencil grasp this week. Students loved her finger warm ups. She led students through a variety of finger strengthening exercises by having them pretend to be making lemonade. "First, squeeeeeeze the lemons as hard as you can. We need to get all the juice out!" The kids had so much fun with this and learned some great new skills along the way.
Students were introduced to the artist, Piet Mondrian. He's one of my personal faves. I was over the moon to see some of his work up-close this summer. Not only does his name fit perfectly with the letters we have learned so far, he also makes amazing art! We looked at a variety of his paintings and came up with criteria around what our pictures would need to ensure they look like a Mondrian. We used red, yellow, blue and white rectangles to make our own Mondrian-inspired art.
With Halloween around the corner, we spent our Early Dismissal Friday talking about what it means to be healthy. Students categorized healthy and unhealthy foods and activities.
Classroom Reminders:
1. Thank you so much to those of you who offered to be our classroom volunteer coordinator. I received a wonderful website suggestion that will allow parents to sign-up online for a volunteer time slot...GENIUS! If you have your approved security clearance and would like to come spend some time with us in class, please visit our sign-up site: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/4090B4CAAA82AAAF49-volunteers
If you are unsure of the status of your security clearance, please contact Ilona in the school office.
2. Halloween Hey Day is taking place on Friday, October 28th from 6:00-7:30pm. They are in need of volunteers! If you think you may be able to help out, please visit the following link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040a4ea9ab28a31-halloween1 They are also accepting new or recycled toys/prizes for the games that take place in the gym. There is a box outside of the office where you can place your donated items. While we are on the subject of Halloween, I wanted to let you know that our school policy requests that students not dress-up for Halloween at school. Come celebrate at the Hey Day instead! I hear it's quite an event!
3. We have Earth Rangers coming to do a presentation at our school on Thursday, October 27 from 9-10am. Students will get a chance to see some live animals and learn about why some of our favourites are becoming endangered. As this is a morning-only event, afternoon parents are welcome to bring their child to the morning performance time. You will need to stay with your child during the presentation. If you're interested in learning more about what the Earth Rangers are all about, check-out their website! www.earthrangers.com
Thanks for reading!
Miss Roberts
