News for November 1

 

 

News for November 1

 

Halloween week is a busy week at school. Early in the week the students made little spiders. On Wednesday, we carved a "Domo pumpkin" for sale at the Fall Family night. On Thursday, we made caramel apples! First the students unwrapped caramel candies and melted them in a pot with a bit of cream until smooth. Next each student pressed a popsicle stick into an apple. Then the apples were dipped into the caramel. Finally, each child added sprinkles to his/her caramel apple and put it on a non-stick mat to harden. The students participated in our school's annual Halloween Parade around the neighbourhood. It was wonderful to see all the children's costumes. After recess, the students settled in to enjoy their Halloween treats (and watch some Pink Panther cartoons).

The students finished writing, drawing and inking their comic strips. These are now on display in the classroom along with their rough copy to show the process of planning to final good copy.

Our pillow project was finally finished this week. The students stuffed and hand-sewed their pillows and are now using them to make themselves comfortable in their chairs when they sit at their desks. The children then learned about "procedural writing" and how it is used to write instructions on how to do something.

Using the key words, first, next, then, finally, each child wrote about the steps to create a pillow. This project used the full writer's process of planning, rough copy, editing and good copy stages. This writing was turned into a group of "How to make a pillow" books which are now on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.

The children learned how to play a cooperative writing game called "Dice Stories". The students work with partners and take turns rolling a die and writing only that number of words. The stories can get very silly!

In math, the students learned about decreasing or shrinking patterns and how to recognize them and figure out the pattern rule. After reviewing the three types of patterns (repeating, growing (increasing) and shrinking (decreasing), the class completed the final assessment.

Our class planted a flower bulb called an Amaryllis. We are measuring and graphing it's growth over the next several weeks.

On Friday, we started to talk about Remembrance Day and the symbols of peace in our world. The children painted red poppies on large pieces of paper. The class also learned a Remembrance Day song and the American Sign Language signs that go with the words. 

Books read aloud this week:

Scary Poems for Rotten Kids by Sean Ohuigin

Halloween by Molly Aloian

Domo Unplugged by Holly Kowitt

Happy Haunting Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish

Squirrelly Gray by James Kochalka