Monday is our visit to the Pete Murray Corn Farm's pumpkin patch in Chase and Team Awesome is very excited. We will be leaving on the bus as close to 8:45am as possible. The weather in the mornings has been damp and chilly and the corn maze can get muddy so appropriate footwear, as well as a heavier coat (with a tissue in the pocket), hat and mittens are suggested. We can all choose one small pumpkin to bring back to school where we will use them for some scientific observations. The children must be able to carry their own pumpkin, either in a labelled bag or their pack, and we will mark names on them before loading them up. We will explore the pumpkin patch and corn maze, walk to the river and have a snack from our lunch kit before returning to BEST. We will eat our lunch upon return to the school. If you are joining us please make sure you have prearranged it and your smaller children have a sitter. There is a cost of $5.00 for each parent joining us.
*Please consider carpooling as we have a large amount of adults attending and a limited number of seats on the bus.

​Pete Murray Corn Farm rules: 
Pumpkin Patch Rules
Do not kick or throw pumpkins
Do not sit on pumpkins
No running in the pumpkin patch
No rough-play in the pumpkin patch 
No smoking in the pumpkin patch
Do not roll pumpkins to your destination. Our pumpkins might look tough, but they are easily bruised and are no good once damaged!
Sorry, no dogs permitted on the property with the exception of service dogs.

Corn Maze Rules
Stay on the trails! No cutting through corn.
Do not touch, pick, or throw corn
No running in the maze
No smoking in the maze
Call for help if you get lost, someone will come lead you out.
Be courteous to others. Rude and disrespectful behaviour to our customers and/or staff will not be tolerated.
Sorry, no dogs permitted on the property with the exception of service dogs

Team Awesome had the school all to ourselves while the other students went to the Adams River salmon run last week. So we took full advantage of an empty school and not only did we enjoy the intermediate playground during our outside times (Yay!) but we also took a peek into all of the other classrooms and noticed what they were working on and things we could look forward to when we were a bit older. We had the run of the school and took full advantage!

​“I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools – friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty – and said ‘do the best you can with these, they will have to do’. And mostly, against all odds, they do.” -Anne Lamott

• Due to the fire drill before lunch and spending the whole afternoon down at the beach, we did not have time to do zipper bags today. Look for them on Monday.
• Please return library books in their special bag by next Monday for exchange.​
• Return the Sharing activity for October- a pumpkin- when it is finished please.
• Tuesday, Oct. 18 we will participate in a bus safety presentation at the school, complete with a real bus!
• Wednesday, Oct. 19 will be an early 12:41 dismissal day for progress reports. Check out the previous post for what those will look like.
• Wednesday, Oct. 19 is our whole class photo day and retakes for individual pictures.  Please inform us if retakes will be necessary.
• Thursday Oct. 20 BEST will participate in an earthquake drill. This is the day millions of people worldwide will practice how to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills.
  
• Friday, Oct. 21 is a Pro D Day and Team Awesome will be home while we learn to be better teachers.
• Monday, Oct. 24 is our visit to the pumpkin patch. The permission form is due back by Friday, Oct. 21. The cost per child is $12 and $5 for adults joining us. Payment may be made online. Our return time is approximately 12:45 NOT 2:45.
• November lunch orders are due to the office by Wednesday, Oct. 26.
  
• PAC pizza day orders are due back by Monday, Oct. 31 with lunch on Friday, Nov. 4.
  
• Monday, Oct. 31 is Halloween and we will participate in various activities. A post with more info will come closer to the date.
• Your child brought home an easy read book of their choice in a ziplock bag with their name on it this week as part of our Home Reading program. When they are finished reading the book with you, send it back for exchange. Enjoy!
• The sight words we are learning right now: a, I, like, the, no, you, Mom, Dad. Please feel free to practice at home.
• Scholastic flyers are available online monthly. October's is available here. All Scholastic orders will be done online whenever you like and orders sent directly to your home. Our class code is RC210022.
• Newsletters are paperless and can be found on the BEST website at best.sd73.bc.ca.
• If your child is exhibiting illness symptoms of any kind they must be kept home. Thank you. A box of tissues for our learning space would be appreciated.​

​Go forth and Use those rusty bent old Tools!​ 

Mondays will be our library day and the children were very excited for our first visit. They met Ms. Kipp, our librarian, and her assistant Mrs. Bisong, and had a look around the library. Ms Kipp showed us how to use our Spot Cards to mark our place when we remove a book from the shelf, she read us Mr. Wiggle's Book, which reminded us how to take care of books and then we chose a book and signed it out on the computer with Mrs. Kipp. We will be bringing a new book home every week as long as we have returned the book we borrowed the previous week. If the book becomes lost or damaged, it will have to be paid for before another book can be signed out. We put our books in our backpacks to keep them neat and clean for the trip back and forth between school and home. Returned library books will be taken out of our packs and put in the Library bin to keep them safe until next visit. We love going to the library!

As you know, BEST participated in Orange Shirt Day the last week of September. Orange Shirt Day was designed to educate people and promote awareness in Canada about the Indian residential school system. Prior to the day, we read and discussed a version of Phyllis Webstad's story called "Phyllis's Orange Shirt" which presents a complicated issue in a simplified way for younger students. We wanted them to understand why we were preparing to wear orange. On the actual day, we read the book "You Hold Me Up" by Monique Gray Smith which was written to prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with their friends, classmates and families. It fit well with our ongoing encouragement to show love and support for each other and to consider each other's well-being in their everyday actions in our learning spaces. Following the book we shared how others held us up. We wish you could have been there to hear the wonderful things the children had to say about their families and the things that made them feel loved. Simple things like hugs, putting band-aids on booboos and reading bedtime stories together. It was heart-meltingly sweet and a lovely way to wrap up the lesson. ​

• Please return library books in their bag by next Monday (Tuesday) for exchange.
• Monday, Oct. 10 is Thanksgiving and therefore a long weekend. Yum!
• Friday, Oct. 14 is our second fire drill. We did very well on our first one.​​​
• Return the Sharing activity for October- a pumpkin- when it is finished please or by Friday, Oct. 14. 
• Our first Fresh Air Friday will be Friday, Oct. 14. Please dress your child for the weather. It is often chillier down by the river. We will be dirty and tired!
• Tuesday, Oct. 18 we will participate in a bus safety presentation at the school, complete with a real bus!
• Wednesday, Oct. 19 is an early dismissal day for informal reports and parent/ teacher meetings if need be. We'll let you know what those will look like closer to the date.
• Wednesday, Oct. 19 is our whole class photo day and retakes for individual pictures. Please send us a note if you need your child to have their photos retaken.
• Friday, Oct. 21 is a Pro D Day and Team Awesome will be home while we learn to be better teachers.
• Monday, Oct. 24 is our visit to the pumpkin patch. The permission form went home this week and is due back by Friday, Oct. 21. The cost per child is $12 and $5 for adults joining us. Payment may be made online. Our return time is approximately 12:45 NOT 2:45.
• Monday, Oct. 31 is Halloween and we will participate in various activities. A post will more info will come closer to the date.
• Please return your child's Take Home zipper bag to school with them each morning. Any items that need to be sent to the office can be returned in the bag.​
• If your child is exhibiting illness symptoms of any kind they must be kept home. Thank you. A box of tissues for our learning space would be appreciated.

Go forth and Enjoy!​   ​

​Actually, we're not sure if its Rivers Day, River's Day or Rivers' Day so we'll leave that discussion for another time. Rivers Day will consist of a number of stations to take place by the river, hosted by presenters, and each class has signed up to visit four stations. The whole of BEST will be making its way down to the beach off Schubert Dr. for a 10:15 welcome presentation on Friday, Oct. 7. Team Awesome will have had their snack and used the bathroom (although there will be a porti-potty available) before we leave for the beach and will attend two stations before lunch. We will eat our lunches back at the school and have our usual outside recess before eating, although it might be a bit earlier than normal. After attending the last of our two afternoon stations at the beach we will make our way back to the school for the end of the day. Because we will spend the day at the river, please make sure to send a water bottle and dress your child appropriately. We can always take sweaters/ hats/ mitts off if needed. Field trips seem to increase the children's appetites with all of the activity so another sandwich or extra snacks in lunches is never a bad idea. If you would like to join us for the day, or part of the day, you are more than welcome. We are aiming to leave the school at approximately 10:00 or you can meet us at the beach. Looking forward to an awesome day!