Reminder for this week: (Oct. 31st)
Bring-A-Thing: Wear orange, like a pumpkin, and think of something that makes you feel safe (you can bring a picture, an item, or just tell about it). Also, if you have anything soft you can collect from nature that would be fun to bring (eg. Thistle down, cotton fluff, feathers, etc)
- Watercolour paints or pad
- An individual snack that is peanut free
- Water bottle (labelled)
- Collectorium folder.
- Running shoes that have good grips and support.
Community Day Focus (October 31st)
In Class Book: Mousekin’s Golden House by Edna Miller
Main Concepts:
- We will continue to explore how animals hibernate and natural materials they may use to keep warm.
- This week we will talk about predators and prey Words can ‘make sounds’.
- We will focus numbers up to ten with an introduction of some adding and subtracting vocabulary.
Tip of The Week: Printing letters in the air with a finger can help students’ letter formation and is a great way to reduce confusion with letters such as B and D. Also for sensory learning, have them print each letter they are currently practicing in sand, in rice, or salt on a cookie sheet.
Bible verse: When we trust in God, he will be with us and keep us safe.
“I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe. “ Psalm 4:8
Science: We will cut open a pumpkin and label the parts of it. We will count seeds and look at shapes. We will also talk further about materials from nature that an animal may use to keep warm during the cold winter months. We will build a cozy home for Mousekin in class!
New Letter(s): Review H (hibernate) and (E-SLEEP), new:, Pp- (pumpkin), Mm (mouse)
Song: We will do a stick tapping song called “Tap Your Sticks” by Hap Palmer (who has lots of great songs).
Poem: Review the Squirrel one from last week and the following two;
I’m a Little Pumpkin (To the tune of I am A Little Teapot)
I’m a little pumpkin short and round
I grow on a vine and on the ground.
I start as a seed and grow and grow.
Soon I’m ready to be carved and glow!
Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up 5 fingers).
The first one said, “Oh my, it is getting late!” (hands on cheeks).
The second one said, “There’s a chill in the air!” (arms around self).
The third one said, “But we don’t care!” (Swing pointer finger).
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
So whooooo went the wind (make a “whooo” sound).
And out went the lights (clap your hands once loudly).
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! (roll hands)
Gym: We will play some parachute games and do some “gathering” of items for a golden house. The kids will have to listen to directions.
Reminders for home:
- You can complete the pumpkin ten frame activity. In our story, Mousekin creates a hibernation home in an old jack-o-lantern pumpkin.
Ten frames are just rectangles with 10 empty squares in them that are filled in by dots to represent different numbers. THEY ARE EXCELLENT FOR GROWING A NUMBER SENSE UP to TEN EVEN WITHOUT REALIZING IT, because when they are filled with a certain number and then the brain sees a number of items missing as well. It helps kids get prepared for addition and subtraction by helping them see parts of a whole. Remember, knowing numbers up to ten really well will help your child be prepared for much of the math they will see as they grow older. This is such a key concept.
Have your child order the numbers and match them with the numerals and words if they can. See if they can get faster every day and create your own games to go along with it to challenge your children at their own level.
- There are some letter M activities in your handouts. Practice your P and M letters on your All About Reading print-outs as well (that we recommended at the beginning of the year).
- We included a pumpkin book that you can complete with your child and read and re-read it with them so they learn the repeated parts as well as the information. Use it as a book first, and then, if you like, you can stick it into your nature journal for keeping.
- Make a cozy home for Mousekin in your home (like a fort) and talk about what the pillows and blankets may represent in nature (pillow= thistle down)
- Go on a nature walk to collect things that are soft and warm.
Enrichment:
Do a scavenger hunt while reading. Show them quickly what they are looking for and have them search for that item on a page while you read, pointing it out as they see them. These ideas are from: https://abcsofliteracy.com/what-are-concepts-of-print/
- Where is the first word on the page?
- Where is the last word on the page?
- Can you find a capital or uppercase letter?
- Can you find a lowercase letter?
- Where is the first letter of a word?
- Where is the last letter of a word?
- Can you find a sentence?
- How many words are in the sentence?
- Where do I start reading?
- Which way do I go when I read the words?
- When I get to the end of a line, where do I read next?
- Can you point to the words as I read?
- Can you find a period?
- Can you find an exclamation mark?
- Can you find a comma?
- Can you find quotation marks?
- Do the pictures match the text/words?
Jolly Snow is another good book that connects to this week’s one and uses stuffed animals in it, which is cute.
Read Write Think beginning letter sound match game: https://interactives.readwritethink.org/picture-match
Wonderful Picture Books about winter: https://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/picture-books-for-winter/
Ten Frame | Worksheet : Education.comhttps://www.education.com/download/worksheet/174462/ten-frame.pdf
Great Free Resources from All About Learning:
https://resources.allaboutlearningpress.com/
For Next Week (November 7th) Bring:
Bring-a-thing: Bring something cold or a picture of something cold or something with a snowflake on it!
- Water colour pad of paper and watercolor set with brush.
- An individual snack that is peanut free
- Water bottle
- Running shoes that have good grips and support.
If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected]
