Festivals of Light, Celebrations of the Human Spirit We have begun our unit on Festivals of Light. We began with learning about why it is getting so dark outside so early. We will talk about the seasons and how the sun makes the seasons. Then we will learn about different celebrations around the world that use light at this time of year. Of course, there is a connection! If you have any books or decorations from your family's celebrations they are very welcome. The children can show the class what they bring in as a little informal Show and Tell. Please make sure their names are on everything that comes in so we can return them! Our unit will include Divali, Yalda, Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa as well as the native story of how Raven brought the light. It should be a special unit with lots of wonderful stories and some extra spiffy crafts.

Volunteers in the Classroom

We are now ready for parents to volunteer in the classroom. You can come in for any amount of time and any day that there is not another volunteer. Please use this link to sign up for a time and day that fits your schedule. We are looking forward to your visits! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084DAFAB2AAA8-volunteering Thank you to our class parent, Jill Nicolas (Gregory's mom) for setting up this Sign Up Genius page for us!!

Tomorrow is Crazy Hair Day AND Pattern Party

For a spirit day, the whole school is having a Crazy Hair Day tomorrow. We are having our celebration of Patterns with a Pattern Party. Don't forget to wear as many patterns as you can! Then in the evening we have parent-teacher interviews.

Helping Your Children Learn

Looking for tools and tips to help support your child's learning? Here are some excellent resources, found on the Ministry of Education Website: Read Every Day, Read Together, Make Reading Fun Back to School Tips Reading and Writing with Your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6 , A Parent Guide Doing Mathematics with your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6 ‚ A Parent Guide

Happy Divali!

We have been learning about the celebration of Divali at school. We made some patterns, or rangoli, from coloured sand and from sparkles. We danced with silk scarves to Divali music and read books to see pictures of children celebrating this holiday. We will be making little diyas or bowls from plasticine and beads and the children will be bringing them home. You can put a small tea light in them and light them together. Happy Divali!!

Sign Up for Parent Teacher Interviews!

November 14th in the evening and November 15th in the morning are the times set aside to meet with parents to discuss how your children are adapting to school. Please take a look at the sign up page in this link and choose a time that suits your family. If you can come during the day, please leave the evening spots for those who need them. Looking forward to meeting with you all soon! Click on or copy and paste the link to the sign up chart: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/508084DAFAB2AAA8-parent

Pattern Party!

Thursday, November 14th is our Pattern Party. The children can wear as many different patterns as they can put on. Mix and match the pattern on shirts, pants and socks; the more patterns the merrier. At school we will be wearing some lovely dot crowns and graphing the number of patterns we are wearing and generally celebrating all our work on patterns. Please remember that interviews begin Thursday and that Friday is a PD day.

We are having interviews soon to discuss how your child is adapting to Junior Kindergarten. There are no progress reports for Kindergarten so parents are given an interview time instead. Interviews will be held Thursday November 14th in the evening, and on Friday November 15th in the morning. Our room is 23. PLEASE NOTE: Friday is a PA Day, so there will be no school. I am creating a Sign Up Genius page soon to plan the schedule of interviews. If you have another child in the school and have an interview for him or her, we will try to coordinate interviews for families as much as possible. Thanks for your help!

The Day of the Dead

On Friday we talked about the festival The Day of the Dead and learned that many people celebrate this holiday. They have lots of marigolds everywhere to signify living forever, have candy skeletons, colourful decorations, and picnics at the graves of their family members. We made a tissue paper craft to celebrate here.