Pumpkins and Halloween!

Today, we decorated our egg carton pumpkins and learned some new pumpkin vocabulary. We also predicted and carried out an experiment to see if our pumpkin would float or not!

We also counted our pumpkin seeds by practicing counting by 5s and matched the total with our  predictions from last week! 425 is a lot of seeds!

We are continuing our work with estimating and using familiar objects and rulers to measure.

Forecast Friday

Please review the fundraising work that has been sent home and return the catalogues if you will not be using them. Please also note the flyer about the Cambrian Heights community Halloween activity.


Next week, we will be working on estimating height using ruler lengths and familiar objects around the classroom.

We will be continuing with our Read Aloud of Tuck Everlasting, guided reading with leveled books, and Word Work activities.

We will be counting all the pumpkin seeds that we estimated were in our pumpkin, thinking about whether something bigger is always heavier and whether a pumpkin can float or not.


Students are welcome to dress up, as long as costumes are school appropriate and don't include masks, violence, weapons, or face paint. We will have a school parade and a little fun in the gym as a school before carrying out our own class activities.

Pumpkin Fun

Yesterday, we were talking in class about the things we do each day to take care of our bodies. Today, we looked at a checklist of things that people often do to take care of their bodies.  Please encourage your child to keep track of their daily hygiene habits for the next week.

Today we arranged ourselves by height and were estimating whether things were taller or heavier and why.

We also made estimates about the number of ridges on a pumpkin and the number of seeds in it. We will be counting the pumpkin seeds and roasting them next week.

We have done really well with connecting the parts of a pumpkin with the parts of a tree and other plants that we have already been learning about.

We also started playing Hedbanz as a class and had a lot of fun trying to figure out who we were!

New library books have been sent home and we will be switching home reading books again soon too!

Tuesday

 Yesterday,  we were estimating what was longer and shorter between two sticks of blocks and estimating how many blocks could fit in a trick or treat bag. Today, we made sticks of ten to help us count all the blocks that were in the bag. We had a few close estimates!

Today, we were thinking about what we knew about pumpkins and what we thought they looked like.

We had fun doing auditions today in music class for Press Start!

We have started reading Tuck Everlasting during Read Aloud and drawing about what we are reading. Ask your child what they have learned about so far in the book and what they are drawing!

Our guided reading continues as well, as we make predictions, consider setting, characters, what we liked/didn't like, what we would and why.

Please let me know if your child has activities throughout the week to make the days of the week more personal to them.

We made little ghost crafts today that we will enjoy in the classroom and send home soon!

We have put up our parts of the flower in the classroom and we will be sending home a sample of our homemade paper this week as well- both from our Scientists in Schools presentation on plants!

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Forecast Friday

 Today, we had a blast at our second Community Activity Day!

















We enjoyed being outside for our fresh air break and catch some of the sunshine today as well!

Our trees and plants stories are coming along and we will be putting the final touches on them next week.

Next week, we will be looking at place value and estimating
in math.

We will continue working in literacy groups with read aloud, word work and guided reading!

Just a reminder that field trip fees are due and that you are able to pay online or in school. Thank you.

Scientists in Schools: Plants!

Ask your child what they learned today about plants, including flowers, fruit and vegetables!

Tuesday

We were very proud to see our tree pictures on display on the library!

We are excited for our Scientists in Schools plants visit tomorrow to build on what we already know!

We changed the seating arrangements today and  now we have table groups! Students were asked to come up with their table group name!

We have been reading books on consideration and playground manners as a class!

We had a great day of guided reading today!

Ask your child if they can count by 2's, 5's and 10's!

Monday

Today, we had the opportunity to play basketball again with the 5/6 class. A few of us also sat in on biography presentations as well!


We started working on our stories about trees and animals today. Some great ideas so far!

We talked about how we talk to ourselves and turning our inner critic thoughts into inner coach thoughts.

We have started our guided reading groups and were making predictions today about books based on their book covers. Ask your student what they think will happen in a show, or a book to get them practicing predictive thinking!

A reminder was sent out today about paying fees please! :)

Thank you!

Friday Forecast

 Another successful Friday of compost collection!  Today, we also reviewed unexpected and expected behaviour and read a book together called "What if Everyone Did That?" reflecting on how unexpected behaviour affects other people around us.

Next week, we will be looking at the concept of each person having an inner coach and inner critic and how we talk to ourselves, and extending that to how we talk to ourselves may affect how we talk to and treat others as well.

We also continued discussing animals that we can find in the forest.

Next week, we will be working in our guided reading groups and also starting to create our own stories using the trees, forests, and animals that we have discussed as a class.

In math, we are looking at tallies and counting by 2's, 5's and 10's.

Next Wednesday, we are excited to have Scientists in School come into our classroom and teach us more about plants that we have been learning are in the forest.

Next Friday is also our school's second CAD day. It will be exciting to reconnect with our CAD groups and learn what the next fun activity is in our chosen focus!

Thank you for sending in indoor shoes! Please continue to return communication books each day.

Handwashing and Drumming!

Today, we kept our hands busy with a visit from the nurse reminding us why and demonstrating how we should be washing our hands to keep all the messes and germs away. Ask your student how the black light helped them know where they missed when they washed their hands and what songs they can sing to make sure they are washing their hands for long enough!

Today, we also had our last drumming music class and really enjoyed our drumming sharing time with the whole school. Great job everyone!

We have worked on creating tallies in math to assist us with counting! Ask your student to count different items using a tally!

Students picked up new library books today and we are continuing to learn about our guided reading tasks to help us explore the books that we will be reading.

One World Drumming Sharing

October 10^th, 2018

Our residency with One World Drumming has been fantastic!  Mr. David Kovatch has taught us so much about how to make different sounds and play various rhythms.  We are excited to share with you what we have learned.  Please join us in the Gymnasium on Thursday, October 11^that 1:30PM to hear what we have learned. AM Kindergarten is welcome to come back in the afternoon and play with the PM Kindergarten class.

We look forward to seeing you Thursday afternoon at 1:30 PM!

Heather Andrews

Music Specialist

Cambrian Heights School

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Photo Highlights from the Last Week

 Drumming

 What we are grateful for

 Snow Fun

Working Together To Put Numbers in Order

 Even/Odd

Compost Collection

Friday Forecast

We were very excited to have two drumming last week in music! We will be having three more this week as well!

We have been building on our zones and expected behaviour by learning about the size of the problem and the size of our reaction.

Please ask your child what size of the problem means and what situations match small and big problems.

An explanation from Social Thinking about the levels of problems is below:

"The Size of a Problem

Problems are not created equal. For children they can be as commonplace as a paper cut or as complicated as having to cope with a family tragedy. When working with our socially-challenged kids we talk about problems in three sizes: small problems, medium problems, and big problems. Regardless of scale, the hidden rule in problem solving with preschool and elementary school age children is that we are expected to react to problems in a manner that matches (or is smaller than) the size of the problem. This is where social problem solving can get tricky. A problem that is perceived by one person as being small could cause a person with social learning challenges to have big feelings about it and then have a big reaction, which would be unexpected. Not only does this mismatch create more anxiety in the individual, it can also limit the effectiveness of solving the current problem while at the same time creating a new problem.

Figuring out the size of the problem is the first step in being able to match our emotional reaction accordingly. "

This week we will be continuing with our study of trees by reviewing what the difference is between plants and trees, reviewing leaves, and thinking about what lives in trees, and what a forest is and who lives in a forest including plants and animals. We will be working towards writing a story about what we have learned about trees and forests.

We will be looking at even and odd numbers and transferring the knowledge to look at the pattern of even and odd when counting, as well as understanding what one more of a number is and what one less of a number is.

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     We look forward to our hand washing lesson to help us keep our hands clean when eating and keep germs away and from spreading. 

Changing Weather and Photos

Please ensure that photo orders are returned to the school or ordered online by Thursday, October 4th, 2018.

Please all ensure that your student has indoor shoes to wear as the weather changes to become more wet and white!

Today we reviewed classroom rules and expected behaviour. We examined our leaves and looked at their shape, texture, colour and what trees they came from.

We also used our bodies to create groups of two to review even/odd.

We enjoyed basketball with the 5/6s!

We read books in groups about sharing, problem solving and bullying and determined who the characters are, what the story was and what we can learn from the story.

We also took time to think about what we wanted to be when we grew up and why we would be good at it.