November 19, 2018

Hello Families,

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the sunshine this weekend! Here's some of our recent learning:

1. Community - We are working on a large interdisciplinary unit of study surrounding the idea of community. Currently, we are looking at various landforms, and using data collection to determine which landforms would be best to have in the community we are constructing. Landforms are important in communities because they impact quality of life! We are beginning to learn that landforms impact our access to food and water, our feelings of safety, and our hobbies and interests. We want landforms in our community that will provide us with the best possible quality of life!! Our next lessons will include the Montessori Land Form Materials, and soon we will begin the construction of the landforms within our communities. Eventually, we will connecting this social studies curriculum to science topics also.

2. Sorting and Growing Patterns - We used book creator on the iPads to create books about how we sort in the real world! Students were given the opportunity to explore different ways we sort in our school, and then match photos to voice recordings to share their understanding. This project was very well done, and students were able to identity that sorting helps us to organize our world. We are also beginning to look at growing patterns, and have identified different patterns that grow by 1's, 2's and 3's. Students are creating and extending these patterns, before recording them in their workbooks, using a variety of materials such as patterning blocks and Montessori beads.

3. Writing and Reading - We are working on identifying vowels and syllables right now. We started by building our own names with unifix cubes, making the vowels a different color. Then we talked about when Y is a vowel (when he makes the sound of a vowel, ie. E or I). This will eventually assist as a spelling strategy when writing. In small group work, some students are also working on identifying short and long vowels, and building reading strategies around the different vowel sounds.

I still have lots of open spaces for Parent Teacher Conferences this Thursday, November 22 from 4:00pm - 8:00pm and Friday, November 23 from 8:00am - 12:45pm. Please book if you have not already done so!

Take care,
Lindsay Brown