September 26th

Dear Parents and Guardians,

  We have had a very busy week of learning so far. On Monday morning, we started our day by writing in our journals. The students were challenged to write about one event from their weekend with lots of detail. They were also asked to create more than one sentence. Mrs. Witczak and I are VERY IMPRESSED with the progress we have seen in our student's journal writing over the past month.

Here are a few examples from September:

Here are some examples from this week:

Here are all of the sight words we have learned so far this year. At this point in time, your child should be able to quickly read and correctly spell each of the words. When working on the words at home, please ensure you practice them in a different order each day:)

                            1. the                  11. he                       21. at                      31. but

                            2. of                   12. was                     22. be                     32. not

                            3. and                 13. for                      23. this

                            4. a                     14. on                       24. have

                            5. to                    15. are                      25. from

                            6. in                    16. as                        26. or

                            7. is                     17. with                    27. one

                            8. you                  18. his                      28. had

                            9. that                  19. they                    29. by

                            10. it                    20. I                         30. words

During math we completed a patterning assessment. Please look for it in your child's purple folder today. After completing their assessment, the students were provided with time to create patterns using a variety of manipulatives. Here is an example of a V-E-R-Y long pattern that was created!

 We are now starting to focus on developing number sense in math. Today, we focussed on representing the numbers one and two in a variety of ways.

 We also started new literacy centres. Ask your child which centres they went to. Some children only went to one centre today, because they guided read with Mrs. Witczak or I during one of the rotations.

In science, we investigated and observed what happens to a pumpkin when it starts to decompose. We also discussed what can go into Calgary's green bins and learned what happens to the products in the bins once they are picked up from our house.

As we inquired further into our colour unit, we found out that sometimes colour can be extracted from one material and applied to another. Ask your child to tell you about the experiment they watched today!

We also practiced mixing colours to match a given colour. Your child can practice this at home on the following website: http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/en/kids/games/10/paint-splat/

Reminders

• Popcorn day tomorrow. The parent fundraising association will be selling bags of popcorn for $2 each.

Halloween 🎃

• If your child wishes to dress up for Halloween on Tuesday, they are asked to bring their costume to school. They will be provided with time to change into it after lunch. We request that they are able to put their costume on independently. Please ensure your child's costume does not include the following: masks (safety hazard), makeup (too complex for school), weapons, or violent/scary/inappropriate costumes.

• If you wish, you may send an extra snack that is healthy for your child to eat during the afternoon. Please DO NOT send snacks/treats for the whole class.

• You can choose to send a decorated/carved/painted pumpkin with your child to school on the 31st for them to display in our classroom during the costume parade. Please see the flyer that was sent via e-mail yesterday for more information.