Hello families,
Sorry for the late blog. The computer was fussing!!
But we are fine now.
Just a quick review of our week next week. Can you believe it.....first term is almost over?
Matt and I just were talking about how time flies when you are having fun! And that we are!!

Next week:
Monday to Friday:
Every morning we will have an off to a singing start. The children will put their backpacks upstairs and then join us downstairs in the gym, assembly style seating and do some karaoki singing.

Monday afternoon: 130-230 Dress Rehearsal for our dance show, Just for the Glow of it. The children will be in full dress and present to the rest of the school.

Tuesday: Ms. Craig's last day. She is retiring, so come in and say good bye and good luck!

Wednesday: 130-230 Dance performance for the families. Start time approximately 130.

Thursday: Pajama and Pancake Breakfast Day, as well as a visit from Santa.
The children are asked to contribute 3$ for the pancake breakfast. All funds will go directly to the Covenant House to support the transitional living program for the homeless youth.

This Thursday will also be my last day before the holidays. I have an appointment on Friday that I couldnt change so there will be a TOC in on Friday. Thus, I will be sending home the report cards with the children on this day so check the back packs.

I just want to say, how much I have enjoyed this first term. The children were amazing. Their thirst for knowledge and learning is sooo exciting for me. They have kept me hopping and on my toes.
Thank you for such a wonderful group of children. Thank you to all the parents who have helped out in the class and to all those who help out on a daily basis just by doing all the little things that are necessary for their children's growth. Loving their children! You can see that in their kind and loving ways at school. Enjoy the following pictures of the children and their gingerbread houses. What fun we had this last Friday. It was rather surreal with the snowflakes falling down and the music playing and the children all calmly decorating. It was quite the day!
Take care and I will see you all tomorrow.
Teri

Good Morning families,
Well, will it snow??? Mr. T said it might snow early on this week...maybe Monday or Tuesday. Who has their fingers crossed that it will? Im sure all the children do!! The thought of snow in Vancouver is such an exciting event for children (not so much for all of us having to drive in a car to get anywhere). But equally exciting is the Play Day that we will be having this coming up Wednesday. I have sent home a notification already about it. The children are very excited and as a group we talked about things that we are hoping not to hear...phrases like..."Im bored"...."I have nothing to do". This is their opportunity to engage in play and in make believe....just like the character Jillian Jiggs (from our Phoebe Gilman author study). The children will have the opportunity to go and play in other classrooms as well as our own. We will have them enjoy some outdoor play as well. If it works as positively as we hope it does, we will participate in the "international day of play" which is sometime in February. Perhaps talk to your child about this day. 

One of my favourite activities during the Winter Holidays is making gingerbread houses with the children. This year the class will make and decorate their gingerbread houses in the afternoon of Friday, December 9th.
For the activity each child needs to bring a rinsed out and dried 250 ml carton. If you have any extra cartons, please send it along, just in case we do not have enough. The cartons need to be sent in by Wednesday as I will need to do some assembling before our big day.

The children are also asked to bring some candy in that they can share with the other children for decorating. Some candies that work well are red, green jujubes, jelly beans, jellies, life savers, smarties, kisses, mini marshmellows, chocolate chips, shreddies (for roof tops). But do not send any CANDY CANES. My mom bought thousands and I will be supplying that along with the graham crackers and the icing (that Michelle will be making for us).

This is always a lot of fun and an activity that the children enjoy very very much!

Just a reminder, we are still collecting new and unwrapped toys to donate to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. Thank you to the families who have already brought some gifts in as a donation. This is just another opportunity for you to help your child to "help make the world a better place".
Thank you so much.

Our dance is coming along wonderfully! Lisa has requested that all outfits be brought in by next Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. We will be having our dress rehearsal during our practice time and will be putting on our clothing and dancing with the glow light on to get a feel of what it will be like during our first performance which will be for the school  Monday December 12th and for the parents the Wednesday, December 14th. We hope everyone will be able to make it for the performance! The children have worked sooo hard on remembering a very difficult dance routine!!

Just a reminder that there is a Professional Day tomorrow. I will be going to a workshop to learn about Traditional Plant Knowledge of the Aboriginal People as well as Telling stories through Arts and Collaboration. I am so excited about these workshops.

With that, have a great Sunday. Enjoy the pictures. Enjoy your extra day with your children!
teri

Maggie working on her gingerbread house painting.

Lara reading a gingerbread man story to the children.

Ben painting his Clay Pig

Jillians Pigs!

Surprise!! This is a few days early as I will not be in town on Sunday. I have a trip planned to the usa to visit friends for an american thanksgiving, so Ms. Craig will be with the children on Monday as well as Tuesday. Thus, I thought I would do the blog early. I have so many wonderful pictures that I just needed to send them to you!

We had a great week at school. Boy are we busy. If you ever feel like volunteering you would see the hustle, bustle and energy that goes on in the classroom. (Right Kelly, Michelle and Jo)???? These mamas make my Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays so much easier...so a shout out to you...thank you! As well as a shout out to my cooking mamas Haley and Itsuko...(and Michelle) thank you thankyou..

This week:
Nikoo (from Spec)  came in to teach about worms and other critters. She talked to us about composting and how these little critters help us keep our world clean. How is that??? Please ask your child..they are so knowledgeable. After the discussion, Nikoo put some compost onto their table and they were to identify the variety of critters that they might find in the compost bin. There was a lot of squealing as little critters went scuttling across the table. It was very cute...pictures to follow.

We danced and danced with Lisa. Boy do we have a complicated dance. And yet, you should see the children dance!! They are doing sooo well. I hope everyone will be able to come to this spectacular show! Please send the "whites" and I will hold onto it for you.

Deanna (our Aboriginal Enhancement worker) came in to share some legends with us. She talked about how in the past how the elders would tell stories over and over and over again until everyone knew them by heart. She told us how when the elders told the stories, they never used books, they just used their expressive words to paint a picture in everyone's minds. So she told us a story about the Rabbit and the Moon Man...then the children drew their own pictures. The display is outside the classroom. You will be very amazed at their imaginations. The story is there too. What would you have drawn???

Today the UBC nurses came in to talk to the children about the importance of hand washing. We learned about when it was important to wash our hands. Before some activities and after some activities....see if your child can remember some of the times.

As we have been reading the stories of Phoebe Gilman....Jillian Jillian Jillian Jiggs, your room looks like it has been lived in by pigs!!!!!
Today was pig afternoon...we made clay pigs (thank you Jo)
and we painted adorable pink pigs...thank you Lucy for making my sign...they are already on display!!

Now for something new...
a request...
this year we were not able to secure families to fill hampers for...so our class (along with Mr. A's class) is sponsoring a present drive...we are asking everyone in the school to bring an unwrapped present and put it in the wrapped box (that I will have wrapped on Wednesday). We are hoping everyone will bring a present, but understand if you cannot. We will be delivering these gifts to the Xmas Bureau where they will be handing out the gifts to those in need. A big box will also be placed at the Bayview Christmas Market...so if you want to bring your gift there instead of the classroom, then that is possible as well.

Thats all I have for now...have a great weekend.
I will see you on Wednesday!
Enjoy the pictures.
teri

Deanna telling the story of Rabbit and the Moon

jo helps the children make pigs

DEAR...drop everything and read

With our buddies we talked and wrote about 12 acts of Christmas Kindness

Good Morning,
I hope everyone got outside on Saturday as it was actually quite warm. There was this breeze that reminded me of a tropical breeze. In between writing report cards I went for a walk on the West Vancouver seawall and I couldn't believe my eyes when i saw some azalea shrubs bursting into bloom. Yellow flowers and pink flowers thinking it is spring already???? The weather is confused! Will the snow still be coming? I heard the hills are collecting snow??? Let me know if you see some!

We have been busy little beavers in the classroom this week. It was odd to actually have a full week at school. The kids were awesome!
We had two spelling tests this week, one on Monday (testing the week priors words) and one on Friday.They all did a great job. Keep reviewing the words from previous weeks, reading them and writing them so they become words that they just know (sight words).

I introduced two new units this week as well. The first was our unit of matter. We talked about what matter was? Where is matter? What can you do with matter? What things around our classroom were matter? Was a dream matter? a thought? So we discovered some simple rules to identify matter....ask your child if they know what those simple things are? The next day we talked about the three states of matter (solid, liquid and ice) and what some of their properties are. Their job was to look at several pictures and sort them into their categories. Over the next few weeks we will be discussing atoms and what atoms in a solid, liquid, and gas look like and we will also be doing a few experiments using solids, liquids and gas. The children are enjoying this unit.

We also started a new literacy unit. I started reading some books by Phoebe Gilman, an american born, but Canadian raised author. She is famous for many books but is especially known for her engaging, fun filled books about Jillian Jiggs, who is a little girl who loves to PLAY!! Jillian has a wonderful imagination and never says she is bored. She is such a delightful character that the children are loving to hear about. After I read a book the children are asked to summarize the story and then make a connection to what they have heard. Studies show that if children are able to make connections to what they have read or heard it will help them become a better reader themselves. They are doing a great job!

Wow, you should see our dance that Lisa is creating with the children! It is complicated and yet, the children are rising to the occasion. I have been so impressed by the children's ability and efforts that they have been putting in. I hope you are able to come to the show and have marked it in your calendar already. It is the Wednesday of the last week of school in the afternoon.That is December 14th. For this day we need our WHITE outfits. I understand that formal wear is difficult...and even white is difficult, but as it is a glow dance the white is critical. Today will be the last day I can take requests for the tights and then I will be giving the order to Kelly so that she can place the order so that we can get them in before the dance. Let me know if need a pair.

This week in art we talked about a famous Canadian singer who passed away, Leonard Cohen. He was 82 years old and the writer of many songs. They called him a poet, songwriter. He is known for his Shrek song...Hallelluah. He is also known for writing a song that I didn't know belonged to him, "Bird on a Wire".  The other day when I was driving to school there were all these crows, sitting on a wire, appearing to look at the rising sun, or the sinking super moon and it inspired me for the art lesson that will be up next week. The children listened to both singers sing "Bird on a Wire" and before the art project we talked about the differences. It was really interesting to hear their perspectives!

As you can see we are busy in the classroom reading, writing, learning, talking and discussing. This is just a little snapshot of what we do!
Have a great Sunday and I will see you on Monday!

We also planted daffodils on Monday with Kelly. The weather was just perfect for gardening!

The Daffodil lifecycles that we created.

Our Gardening center. Nikoo will be joining us once again this Thursday for more gardening!

Like Jillian Jiggs, the girls are playing!

The boys are playing too!

Making Xmas ornaments for a community tree.

Rio does a book talk on one of the non-fiction books that we have in the classroom.

The boys plant daffodils...picture was supposed to be at the top??????