Good Morning,
I hope everyone has had a nice long weekend full of sunshine! Lets hope the sunshine continues! Have you seen the skies in the morning? They are such beautiful blues, pinks and purples and at night the colours as the sun is setting is also rich with the orange and red and dark blue colours. It has been a lovely way to end our November month! With these blue skies and no clouds, it has been very cold outside. Please make sure your child ha
s a warm jacket to put on to go outside in. We encourage as much outside play and fresh air as possible. If it's not raining we want them outside. Also important to note is to make sure you send your child with a healthy snack for recess. Some children are telling me that they do not have a snack and that they are hungry. On hot lunch days it is still important to send a little snack that you have put into their back packs. Sometimes they do forget that you have tucked it in, maybe show them a pouch that you regularly put their snack in, so that they know where to look. Thank you for that!

This last week:
On Monday Sarah came in again. We have been using the library space to do our drama exercises and activities. The children listened to Sarah read "Stellaluna" and then they made faces and expressions as the story was read. They then played some drama games. They played one very fun game where one child was the moth and one child was the bat and all the children in the circle were trees. The bat would make a noise and the moth would respond with a noise...as though the noise vibrations were bouncing off of it...echolocation. The children have been working on listening and responding to directions while doing movements and actions. They will continue to do drama and dramatical games with Sarah on Mondays throughout December.

On Wednesday we met Nikoo. Nikoo is from Spec (Society Promoting Environmental Conservation). We have worked with Spec for many years and with Nikoo for the last couple of years. Today Nikoo came in and talked about the importance of mulching. She brought in some different kinds of mulches (ask your child what mulching is for and what kinds she brought in) then with Jen's help (Ayana's mom) they collected some mulch and went to our garden and mulched. Meanwhile the children in the classroom worked on their mulching activity. We learned a lot today about the importance of mulching.

On Thursday we talked about how a bat fits the criteria of being a mammal. We talked about what makes a mammal a mammal. We looked at a bunch of pictures of animals and tried to sort them into yes, they are a mammal or no they are not a mammal by following the criteria. Ask your child if they can remember the five things that makes a mammal a mammal. In the afternoon on Thursday we also divided our group in half. Half  the group went to the library and started their bat research with her. This group is all the grade twos and a few grade ones. They will be using the ipads to research a bat.The group inside the classroom also did a bat project...we began learning about the Vampire Bat and started a little project on them.

As you can see our three days were very full!

Important items:
1) We are collecting love items and gifts for our Family hamper. Our family consists of a mom, a 14 year old boy, a seven year old girl and a five year old boy. We have a short window of time to contribute to this Hamper. On Friday the box will be taken from our classroom to be delivered to the family. I am hoping that we will be able to give from our hearts to make another families Christmas very special. If you would like to wrap your gifts, that is great. I have a clipboard by the boxes if you want to write down what you have purchased so that we can avoid repeats (but it doesnt matter that much either). Also if you have a gift card that you are contributing, please give it to me and I will hold on to it as sometimes they go "missing".
Thank you in advance for your generosity!

2) On Wednesday Kins/Cobbs is coming in to do a nutrition workshop. During this workshop there will be a sample of a very healthy bread. The bread is baked in a bakery where there are nuts, however there are no nuts in the bread itself. If your child has a nut sensitivity or allergy let me know if you would rather your child not try a sample of the bread.

3) For next year we are looking for a lunch parent for Wednesdays. Jo (Casper's mom) has been volunteering as the lunch mom  and will do so till the end of December but can no longer in January. If you would love to (or can) help out we would appreciate that help. The children definitely eat their food when they eat it in the quiet environment of the classroom rather than in the full, loud lunchroom. First come first serve..hahhaha..

With that,
I hope you have a great day and a great week.
Teri

Sarah and the children "making faces".

We are the trees.

Oliver is the bat and Eli is the moth in the echolocation game.

Ben holds our stick bug as I clean the cage.

Lara bravely holds the stick bug as well.

A close up of our winged stick bug!

Nikoo talks about Mulching.

Our mulchers.

Our Nocturnal/ Diurnal activity.

Good morning everyone,
What another beautiful day today! The sky couldn't get any bluer. I hope everyone gets out and plays while the weather is so amazing!
We have had a very busy and wonderful week. The children worked excellently this week. They came into class each morning quietly, respectfully and immediately began to do their calendars and the work on their desk. They have quickly remembered their morning routine. Thank you for making sure your child arrives on time as this is definitely a great time for them to do their jobs and complete any unfinished work. Thank you also for remembering to send them with indoor shoes, especially if they have come to school in their boots. Our carpet has been much cleaner!

This last week our volunteer Sarah, began our drama unit. Sarah is a university student who is volunteering at Bayview to gain some working experience and to practice teaching a group of children prior to getting her own practicum. Sarah has a lot of experience with the theatre, it is one of her passions. So we are very lucky to have her practice her skills with us. Sarah began her drama workshop with some listening games, some echoing games and some moving games. The children were very excited and behaved very well. She also helped the children make their own little bat finger puppets to use in their drama activities. Sarah will be coming in on Monday to do another lesson. We will be participating in these drama activities into December. Lucky us!

On Wednesday we also had guests from the UBC Nurses department. Two student nurses and their teacher came in to do a Handwashing workshop. The children learned that is is very important to use soap and warm water to wash their hands and to lather up for about 20 seconds. They also learned that handwashing should happen before eating and after going to the washroom. The children practiced their handwashing skills with the nurses. They also talked about how important it was not to continue putting your fingers in your mouth and nose.
We are hoping that with this workshop that the children will stay healthy as the cold and flu season approaches.

This last week in our study of bats we learned about the variety of animals that were nocturnal and those that were diurnal. Ask your child what nocturnal means???? What special adaptations does an animal have to make to help it be a nighttime animal??? We wrote, we drew and we sorted animals into their correct groups. In fact during our art we made some nocturnal wind socks. They will be fluttering in our classroom on Monday!

Looking ahead:
1) In December we will making our Gingerbread Houses. We will be needing mini milk cartons...the 250ml size. Please start collecting them. If you can rinse them out and making sure they are dry before you send them in that would be great. I haven't firmed up a date yet but will let you know as we approach that time, as we will also need a few volunteers for that fun time!
2) Remember that this coming up Friday is a professional day. 

With that, 
enjoy the pictures and have a great day!!
teri

Sarah shows them some hand actions.

This is Sarah and she is like the conductor. When she says go louder, you go louder!

Maggie working on her bat puppet.

Sadie and Joana working on their bat puppets.

Oliver's finished bat puppet.

You can see the children all listening to Sarah for instructions ready to fly with their bat puppets.

The nursing students talk about germs on your hands.

Our Echolocation art.

Can you see the little bugs in the center of the waves???

Good Morning 
Being an early bird, I'm up and ready to start my day! I thought I would talk about the weather. Isnt that what people do when they are up so early?
Well we have officially entered our rainy season. The rains have been quite heavy, with moments of very beautiful blue skies. The chances of more rain than sun are quite common in Vancouver, thus we need to be prepared. The children are encouraged to get out and play, and run off some of their excess energy at recess and at lunch but only if they have the correct clothing. So, it is important for your child to have the appropriate outer wear for this muchly needed and encouraged play time. They need a rain type jacket with a hood or a separate hat. They need good boots to run through the puddles. Then they need to have shoes to change into when they come into the classroom. The children need to have indoor shoes if they are wearing boots to school. They are welcome to leave their shoes here, in their cubbies so they can change into them easily. But I really do not want them to have their boots on on the carpet as that is where they sit to meet and listen to instructions. Mud and water are easily tracked in when they are wearing boots. Thank you for your support.

This week we switched up our desks. I spent one morning pushing all the desks into a new group formation. I generally do this around 6 times a year. It gives the children an opportunity to work with and establish different relationships with the children around them. They were very excited about the moves. Sometimes, they still go to their old areas and sit down. We are all getting used to it!

This week we started our bat unit. The children wrote what they already knew about bats and wrote one thing that they wondered about bats. On Friday we did an echolocation bat art. We will be reading and writing about bats, doing poetry and plays on bats, looking at nocturnal and diurnal bats, the parts of the bats, the lifecycle of the bat and so much more. If you have books, stories, pictures that you would like to share with the class, I would love it. There doesnt seem to be a lot of fiction on bats out there, so anything you have will certainly add to our collection. Thank you.

With that, I hope everyone has a great Sunday and I will see you all on Monday!
Teri

Vibodh and his mom Kalyani do a presentation about Diwali.

We learned that Diwali is a festival of lights and colour.

Our beautiful chalk poppies and our writing.

So beautiful.

Wreathe done with our buddy class.

Eli creates a structure out of our math manipulatives.

Meanwhile Rio and Lara have fun with the blocks...look at those faces!!

Happy Sunday!
I hope everyone had a wet but wonderful weekend??? It doesnt matter if it rains or shines as long as one had the opportunity to spend some time snuggling and reading with their loved ones. As well as getting out and walking in the rain!! What fun. Thats what weekends are made for, family, friends and fun!!

We had a busy week at school. The main focus of what we did this week was talk about PEACE, about Remembrance Day, about how to make others feel safe, good things that we can do for each other to make other's happy. The children did some wonderful writing. One was specifically what PEACE is to them...as it was a form of poetry that we were doing, the children were encouraged to use their senses when they were describing peace....for example...peace tastes like a strawberry freshly picked from the vine. They then also brainstormed different ideas for the other senses. The writing that they did was so beautiful. You should come in and read their work one day!! Later on in the week we talked about what Remembrance Day was all about and that we should stop and think about what it meant to us now and how we can be a part of the solution of Peace forever. With our buddy class we read about the symbolism of a poppy and created a group wreath made of a poppy craft and some dove writing. It is outside the office down in the hallway. Some beautiful team work was done to create this wreath. For art we did some giant poppies in the style of Georgia O Keefe, as well as worked on some poppies using oil pastels and chalk pastels...this work will be exhibited  in the gym during our big Remembrance Day assembly.

On the topic of  Remembrance Day:
I would like to invite you to join our Assembly on Tuesday, Nov 10th at 11:00 in the gym. It will be a very special assembly wher we will have th eopportunity to express our thanks and show our respect to our veterans and those who are helping to keep peace around the world. Together with our friends in Division 11 we will be doing the "poppy procession". We will be teaching the children collaboratively with Ms. Jung on the morning of the assembly. I can assure you that it will be a very touching and moving ceremony. I do hope you will be able to attend.

For that day, I am asking all the children to come to school in clean and presentable clothing. Preferably white tops/shirts with black or dark bottoms...or anything red, black, white. Also can you please review with your child the expectations of this assembly--no clapping, no laughing, no being silly etc. I have told the children that this is the most important assembly of the year and I would like for them to take it seriously. On this day we will be handing out Poppies for the children to wear over their heart. They children are not required to pay anything for the poppies, but if you would like to donate a loonie or a toonie to the veteran fun, that would be very gracious of you!

A reminder that school will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 11th for Remembrance Day. Classes will resume Thursday, November 12th.

Thank you so much for sharing your children with me.
I have some wonderful pictures for you to take a look at!
teri

Peace is ..using all of our senses to write our poem!

The children work with Pierrot to create their Georgia O Keefe poppies.

Welcome to our classroom....our decorated door!

Casper, Joanna and Ariel work on their chalk pastel poppies.

Free play....with my sons old pokemon cards!

My stars of the week (Bev and Leah) loving to use the white board. Future teachers????

Happy November 1st to everyone!!
I hope everyone had a great Halloween, stayed safe, and tried not to eat tooooooooooo many treats!! We had a great Friday at school, starting with a Halloween assembly, a halloween parade, some Halloween buddy activities and then treats...treats from Maggie for her birthday, treats for Ayana and Joana to help start off the candy eating extravaganza. With that, is my segue into saying that I am asking that no treats such as candy, chips, chocolates (unless for the teacher...hahah), or pop  are brought to class for lunch or recess. They have had the weekend to consume their candy so I am asking that while at school they eat their healthy five food group options and then have their treats at home. Home baked cookies, granola bars, fruit leather, fruit snacks are just fine for recess and lunch. Thank you for supporting us in keeping our bodies healthy and thus allow us to learn in the classroom without candy stimulation. 

If you are wanting something to do with your excess candy and treats Division 12 (our class) is sponsoring a candy drive. Any surplus candy can be donated to the big box in the classroom, or the office and later this week I will take it to the Homeless shelter in North Vancouver. The residents there love and appreciate the candy and treats that we bring them. I will have the box there on Monday waiting for treats. My niece and nephew have contributed a bit to start the ball rolling.

This last week we looked at pumpkins, did pumpkin writing and pumpkin baking. We will continue to do a little bit more on pumpkins and then start on our Remembrance Day writing and thinking. I am looking forward to Jo (Casper's mom) who will come in next Thursday to do a presentation on Remembrance Day. She will show some pictures from when her dad's family as well as talk about what life was like for him back then. Starting in two weeks we will begin our mini unit on Bats. Our volunteer on Fridays (Sarah) will be starting a little drama unit with them which will be all about bats. This will be so much fun!

Also coming in to do a little presentation will be Vibodh's family. They celebrate Diwali and they would like to share it with our class. We are very lucky to have so many people who want to share their passion with our class. Feel free to let me know if you have something you would like to share with us as well!

With that, I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.
Enjoy the pictures.
teri

planting garlic

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Next spring we should see some sprouts

Ms. Jung and I , domino partners.

painting our pumpkins on halloween

Abstract pumpkins in the style of Kandinsky

The sun shines as we paint!

Look at the concentration!!

so pretty!