What a beautiful day for a walk! We went to our outdoor play area to look for specific nature items (a pinecone, different coloured leaves, a twig, rabbit, squirrel, and a flower). When the children completed their hunt, we began collecting 'nature treasures' in our paper bags. Tomorrow we will create fall collages and then send the nature items home.
 Last week we read the story Setting the Turkeys Free, by W. Nikola-Lisa. It is about a little boy who paints his hand and presses it on paper to make a turkey. He then decorates his turkeys and tells a story about a fox coming to eat them. In order to save the turkeys, he opens the gate (on the fence he has made) so his turkeys can run free. The children love retelling this story using the turkeys, hens, and foxes you can see in this photo! This story inspired the children to create their own turkeys. On Tuesday we painted their hands to make the turkey print; on Wednesday the children added eyes, jewels, feathers, bits of paper, and the wattle; and finally on Thursday they added the legs. I then asked each child to tell me about their turkeys, and recorded what they had to say. Their descriptions can be found below their turkey art. I hope you enjoy looking through the photos of their beautiful artwork! Thank you to Renata, Tommy's mom, for washing our dress-up clothes over the weekend!
I have had some requests to post videos from music time so that families can sing the songs at home. I hope you enjoy the following three videos. Happy singing!
Over the past week we have been talking about the word 'thankful'. This began with reading the book The Way I Feel, By Janan Cain, as the book identifies different feelings individuals can have. The children and I all felt thankful that we had special guests coming to read to us throughout the week. At the end of each day, we created thank you cards to give to our readers. On Thursday we read a poem about being thankful and then thought of the things we are thankful for. During our community circle, we passed around a turkey (named Gobbles) and each shared what we are thankful for in our lives.   Here is what the children in the morning class had to say:
Here is what the children in the afternoon class had to say:
        Our class was invited to visit the HT Coutts library for Read In Week! We went down to the basement where the children's books are kept and had the librarians read us stories. The children really enjoyed their visit!
The morning class read the following stories:
The afternoon class read the following stories:
All of these books will be available in the classroom for you to read with your child prior to our first meeting.      We had a lovely day of reading on Wednesday! Dr. Kathy Smith, the Director of the Child Study Centre, came to read to both the morning and afternoon classes. First she sang the song-based picture book This Old Man. The children were able to sing along with her as Diane has been singing this song with them during music time. Next she sang the song based picture book The Seals on the Bus, by Lenny Hort. The children really enjoyed this song and were easily able to sing with Dr. Kathy. When we discussed this book later, the children wondered how these animals got on the bus! Lastly, Dr. Kathy read us Drumheller Dinosaur Dance, by Robert Heidbreder. This book has fantastic illustrations of the hoodoos and a magical quality as the fossils come alive to play instruments. The beat of the dinosaurs' drums creates a musical element to this book as well! Families are able to sign out all three of the books Dr. Kathy read to us as we have them in our classroom collection.  In our afternoon class, Aroh's mother, Sabrina, read us the book Chopsticks, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The theme of this story is trying new things, and the author uses puns that will have the adult reader laughing (the humour is above the children, but I found this book hilarious)! We will have this book available to read with your child in the classroom.
      Dr. Amanda Montgomery, Professor of Music Education, came to read to our morning class on Tuesday. Her first story was The Cow Who Clucked, by Denise Fleming. The children enjoyed helping her make the animal sounds! Her second story was the song-based picture book Cows in the Kitchen. Students had a blast helping helping her sing this song and throughly enjoyed the illustrations!
Dr. Joe da Costa, Vice-Dean of Education, read to our afternoon class. The students loved the book Look Out, He's Behind You!, by Tony Bradman, so much that they asked Dr. Joe to read it them twice! By the second reading some of them were reading along and they were very entertained with finding the wolf behind the 'life-the-flaps'! Dr. Joe also read Dogzilla, by Dav Pilkey. Some of the children found this book scary at first, but laughed when the mice defeat the giant dog by giving him a bath. It was an excellent day of reading! These books will be on display in our room so please feel free to read them with your child when you arrive in the morning.     Dr. Fern Snart, Dean of Education, was our guest reader Monday morning. This was a great way to start our Read In Week! First, she read Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, by Eric Litwin and then Knuffle Bunny, by Mo Willems. The children enjoyed both of these selections and they especially enjoyed telling her what they planned to dress up as for Halloween!
To hear the author read/sing each of the Pete the Cat books click here. The afternoon class had the privilege of being read to by Dr. Marg Iveson, Professor of Language Arts. She chose The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter. Dr. Marg decided to read this story to us because she liked the language the author used and planned to give this story to her grandson. |
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