This week was WONDERFALL - Beauti-fall, Plenti-fall, and Colour-fall!
In Michael hall's book, WonderFALL we celebrated the wonder of fall! We created beautiful artwork using bundled q-tips to paint leaves falling from the branches of our trees!
We read Apples and Pumpkins about a family who visit a farm to pick apples from the trees and find the best pumpkin in the patch. When they get home, they carve a funny jack-'o-lantern face and set it out as a decoration at their front door...and in the end they visited grandma's house. We practiced retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the story using pictures to help us remember what happened next. You can practice this skill with your child by having them retell some of their favorite stories from home.
SCIENCE - SINK or FLOAT?
We were challenged to think about pumpkins that come in different sizes and the seeds they have inside. We learned from the story, that the amount of seeds doesn't always match the size.
We made predictions about how many seeds might be inside our pumpkins and whether or not our pumpkin would sink or float.
After we made our prediction (best guess), we recorded our observations in our Journals.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Sutherland also opened up our pumpkins to carve. We observed like scientists with 3 of our senses- seeing, touch and smelling.
SCIENCE - PARTS of a PUMPKIN, PUMPKIN LIFE CYCLE
When Pumpkin Jack begins to decompose, Tim puts it outside and watches it transform from pumpkin - to seed - to pumpkin again. We created a diagram about the parts of a pumpkin and Mrs. Oster will help us follow the life cycle of our own classroom pumpkin this year! See if your child can remember the life cycle of the apple from last week and then make a connection to the life cycle of a pumpkin.
We introduced the students to our new member of the classroom....Pumpkin Jack! This little friend will likely be the quietest member of the class, but we are excited to watch him grow and change over the upcoming months!
We learned about the parts of a pumpkin and we learned to label all the parts like a scientist! We also saw a very tiny pumpkin that will follow the same cycle that the pumpkin in the story did. We will keep it in our classroom to observe for a long time! Stay tuned.
Library Day is on Monday! Thank you for helping your child to remember their library book AND plastic protector BAG each Monday!!
PUMPKINELLA!
Just a friendly reminder that we will be having a Pumpkinella event on Monday, October 28. Information was sent out via school messenger from Mrs. Shari Pierce. Families are welcome to carve and decorate a pumpkin and bring it to school. Pumpkins will be put on display for all students to view the creative designs.
Get your family together and join in the fun for Simons Valley School’s Pumpkinella!
Design, carve or dress up a pumpkin to bring for display in one of the following categories: animals, cartoons, original creations, book characters, or scenes.
Bring your pumpkin to the gym on the morning of October 28th. We’ll be open to drop-offs between 8:10 and 9:10 am. The pumpkins may have a safer journey if they are brought to us by mom or dad!
Please do not send candles or lights! The school will provide the lights for the pumpkins.
Classes will tour the gym display throughout the day to enjoy your efforts. Please be ready to pick up your pumpkin right after school so that you can use it as a Halloween decoration on Halloween night. We will compost any remaining pumpkins after the event.
Also, Thursday, October 31 is Halloween. Students are welcome to wear an age-appropriate, friendly costume, or the colours orange and black if they would like (no weapons or masks that affect vision). NO BLOOD or scary costumes!!
Ensure kiddos can manage the washroom (on their own) in their costume!
We ask that you do not send any sort of shared food treats since we have students with some food allergies. Thank you!
NEW!! Our classroom now has an account within the Scholastic Reading Club!
We have no expectation for families to place orders, but wanted to share our class code just in case, as we can earn points toward book purchases for our classroom when families place orders!
Our classroom code is: RC210876
Our next class order is going in on October 25, 2024
Important Kindergarten Dates...
Monday, Oct.28- Library Day - Return books in their plastic bag
Monday, Oct. 28 is also Pumpkinella
Thursday, Oct. 31, Halloween Fun
Friday, Nov. 1 - PM Kindergarten attends
Mrs. Oster: rdoster@cbe.ab.ca
Mrs. Sutherland: klsutherland@cbe.ab.ca
Mrs. Wiskar: mjwiskar@cbe.ab.ca
