 2 more sleeps to the Big Day! Although we have not been talking about Halloween in class, the children spontaneously began counting down sleeps yesterday at calendar time. Tomorrow we will have a brief discussion about what they can expect on Friday and I better share the details with you before you get a 5 year old's version (which I am sure would include tons of treats in their lunch and a new puppy each). Traditionally Halloween has been Orange and Black Day at BEST but this year we have added the opportunity to dress up in Halloween costumes as well. The children are welcome to wear their costumes throughout the day but no weapons, masks or gore are allowed. Please note that if your child wears their costume all day it probably will not come home in the same shape it came to school in. Please label all costume pieces with names and refrain from sending little bits and pieces/ accessories as they are difficult to keep track of.
We began our pumpkin unit this week and it will probably continue into the next when we will be completing activities and scientific investigations of our warty little class pumpkin. Various Halloween activities will take place throughout Friday, including a Halloween safety review discussion (Cst. Lisa will be giving us the 'official' one on Thursday) and rotating stations in mixed K-2 groups between recess and lunch. Fun fun fun!! Please refrain from sending more than 1 Halloween treat to school each day with your child in November.  Housekeeping a day early. Wahoo! Does that make up for the ones that are late? Actually, I am writing this Tuesday night as I will be leaving immediately after school Thursday for a conference at the coast and will set it to publish on Thursday, which is a new feature offered by the blog site and one which I have not used before so this will be a test run. Enjoy the extra day at home with Team Awesome- with all the excitement this week and more to come at the end of next week they can use some R&R time.
 We had the pleasure of enjoying the antics of the group Hoja this morning. They not only had a great anti-bullying message, complete with personal stories and mini-vignettes acted out with students, but they sang top ten tunes and silly renditions of Beyonce and Lady GaGa that had us in stitches-- all without instruments because they are an acappella group. The members of the group change but the great be-bopping and message remain the same-It’s important to not be mean. It’s even better to actually BE KIND to someone. Everyone needs someone to be kind to them. Hoja has a website (of course!) that you can download 2 free songs from. The 'Believer' song in the video below is one of them. Enjoy! You are awesome! We have had parents volunteer to accompany us to the Adams River salmon run on Wednesday! Thank you thank you thank you!
Parents will need to provide their own transportation as there is limited space on the bus. The bus should be leaving BEST before 9:00 (hopefully closer to 8:45 but with 2 classes using the bathrooms it's hard to rush these things). If you would like to have your child travel with you in your vehicle, either to or from the site, let me know beforehand as I will need to do multiple head counts to keep track of all the little bodies. We are hoping to be at Roderick Haig-Brown Park before 10:30. Unfortunately parents will need to pay a $5.00 fee to park onsite for the day. We will need to take our packs etc with us off the bus and will immediately use the porta-potties and have a snack before setting out to explore and see the salmon. The only porta-potties are by the parking lot (there are none in the park), which will make bathroom breaks later complicated. There are a number of vendors at the park but we will not have time to purchase items so please do not send money with your child. The plan right now is to stay together as a group but to assign a small number of children to each adult so that if they are engaged in an activity and the larger group moves on, the adult can supervise and then catch up. There will be other schools as well as visitors in the park so Team Awesome will need to have a supervisor with them at all times. I had thought that we would make our way towards the lake (leftish from the parking lot) via the beach along the river and enjoy the smells and sights (maybe poke a dead salmon or two with a stick). There are a large number of barriers along the trails that the children will need to be reminded to respect. When we get to the end of the trail it might be a nice spot to sit and have our lunch (and it should be time to make an emergency trip to the porta-potties). We will make our way back towards the parking lot along the top trail of the loop and if we have time we will continue just past the parking lot to the viewing platform above the spawning grounds. If time is short we will skip the spawning grounds platform and once again use the bathrooms before getting back on the bus for the long trip back to school. As we will be outside all day please dress your child for the weather. The children tend to eat more during field trips as we are very active so send lots to eat as well as a water bottle. Keep in mind that we will be wearing our packs for most of the day. We are counting down the sleeps (2 more)! Some sites you might be interested in: http://paulstravelpics.blogspot.ca/2006/11/adams-river-salmon-run-mini-guide.html http://www.salmonsociety.com/ http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/roderick/rhaigbrown_brochure.pdf *This brochure has a trails map that can be zoomed  How come short weeks sometimes feel the longest? It seems like we were very busy this week but I suspect it wasn't any crazier than usual. The weather has cooled off, especially at morning recess so please remember to dress your child accordingly. Remember to label all items that come to school so if something becomes lost it is easy to identify. There are a few packs and lunch kits without names on them as well and it would be helpful if they were labelled too.
Team Awesome and I have an ongoing game in our classroom. It's called the You/Me Game, 'You' being Team Awesome and 'Me' being me. If the children can tidy up whatever we have been working on and be ready at carpet with their whole body listening before the timer goes off they earn a point on the board (we're learning how to make tally marks- 1,2,3,4, close the gate makes 5). If they don't all make it in time, I get a point. If Team Awesome makes 15 points before I do, we get to cook and start all over but if I win we don't cook and still begin again. Because we transition from activities to the carpet area several times a day, they have plenty of opportunities to earn points. I don't think in all the years I have been playing this with a group of children that I have won a game. Funny how that happens. Yesterday morning Team Awesome made their last point needed to win and in anticipation, I brought all the supplies to make popcorn turkeys. While groups of children were helping make a batch of popcorn the others were colouring and cutting out turkey parts while commenting on how yummy the popcorn smelled. The kids were so cute pouring in the popcorn and talking about how its the seed from corn (learned at Tranquille Farms), feeling the hot air coming out of the machine and trying to catch the stray, overzealous popped corn flying out of the popper. When there were enough bags for everyone, the turkey parts were glued onto the bags and saved to devour at home. I am sure it won't be long before Team Awesome is cooking again! On Wednesday we joined Mrs. Farber's class and Constable Lisa Mackenzie for a pedestrian safety presentation. We learned where the best places to cross the street are and to wait, look and listen before we cross the road. Cst. Lisa told us to ride our bikes on the sidewalk because we are still too small to ride on the road and to always wear a helmet. She told us to always look for a cross walk and to not run across. Cst. Lisa told us a story about her dog and we asked her some questions. We really liked her and hope she comes back to our classroom again. |
