The students were excited to get elbows deep in our pumpkins from the moment they walked in today! After editing our morning message, we found the rhyming pairs and colour coded the punctuation in our pumpkin poems. We had so much fun acting out 'Five Little Pumpkins' -- we took turns being each of the 5 speaking pumpkins! After watching a short video to help us understand warm and cool colours, we finished our absolutely beautiful still life pumpkins with a contrasting background to make the 'warm' pumpkins really pop! When we did our gel bag printing (we have learned all of the groups of letters, so now we get to mix it up when we practice!), a reporter and photographer came in from Metro News to see how we use sign language and body movement to help us learn. After French in the afternoon, we read "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?" to help us make our seed estimates. Then we got to delightfully messy work, scooping out guts and separating the seeds! Our incredibly helpful and fabulous volunteers cleaned the seeds up for us during snack and a story, then we began to use grouping to count them.
Sight Words (We are working with these in our weekly poems)
all out little my there said
Mail Pockets
- No new mail went home, so mail pockets remained at school
- Home Reading was exchanged -- please return in the backpack every day.
Please and Thank You
- A huge and goopy thank you to our pumpkin scooping/ seed washing volunteers this afternoon! We could not have enjoyed this messy math without you!
- THANK YOU for so many lovely pumpkins in all shapes and sizes! This allowed us to work in small groups with lots of hands-on time!
- If you are interested in sorting and stapling together next month's Scholastic flyers, please let me know (can be sent home). Thank you!
Metro News Visit
Today we were visited by a reporter from the Metro who had heard from a parent that we incorporate some sign language in our class. She was in our classroom to gather some information about how we use sign language to help us learn to read. We all have our 3rd party media releases signed. She took pictures that may be used as part of her story. I will post a link when they publish it!
Home Reading/Sight Word Volunteers
Students have begun taking out Home Reading books this week. We would love to invite morning home reading and sight word volunteers! Home reading volunteers are invited to come read with students one-on-one from 8:30 - 9:00 Monday through Thursday. If you can commit to a weekly time, great, but drop-ins are certainly welcome, too! Please email myself or Melissa if you would be interested in supporting our literacy program in this way. Thank you!
Winter Clothing Drive
Dear Students and family members of Prince of Wales school,
Mrs. McKay’s POWer hour is all about giving back and helping other. The first group of people that we have chosen to help live right in our city. We will be collecting winter coats, boots, hats, scarves, mitts, and snow pants that are gently used. These items will be for Syrian Refugees from Keeler school in Calgary, where Ms. Georg is now teaching. The refugees have left their homes with nothing but themselves. (Think about it if you did not have a warm winter coat walking out into the snow). Please bring in sizes for age 4 and up. Please help out! Donations can be brought to Mrs. McKay’s classroom,
Please have all donations here by November 4 2016
-The members of the Give power hour
Halloween
Our school will be celebrating Halloween the afternoon of Monday, October 31st. Students are invited to come to school dressed in their costumes. The morning will be a typical daily schedule. Our class celebration will be in the afternoon, including a Halloween sing-along with Paulo, snacks, and fun activities! Thank you for using your best judgement with costumes (no weapons at school).
Upcoming Dates
October 27-Halloween Dance (evening)
October 28-Pumpkin Carving!
October 31-Halloween Party (PM)
November 8 - Photo Retakes
November 9 - PAC Meeting
- Opa Fun Lunch
November 10 - Remembrance Day Assembly
November 11 - Remembrance Day (no school)
November 23 - Sandwich Foundation volunteering (in-school) - 5 volunteers needed
November 25 - PD Day, no school for students
November 30 - Extreme Pita Fun Lunch
Daily Challenge
When we read "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin," we learned that most pumpkins, big or small, have over 300 seeds. We learned that the number of vertical lines is connected to how many seeds, as well as how dark the orange colour is.
How many seeds did you estimate? What strategy are you using to count?