Blog 7:October 12-16

Our class had a great week this week as we prepared to set off for our week-long break. Thank you to all who brought items for charity day! It was a great success, and I enjoyed seeing some of you and your children at the fair. This week our class is busy learning about and preparing for Halloween. Please note that your child is encouraged to come in on Friday, October 30 in costume.

The week before half-term holiday we finished our book, The Three Little Pigs and began to discuss some basic opposites with our Opposites book featuring the Gruffalo! We are developing vocabulary such as, fast and slow, high and low, short and long, clean and dirty. You can help at home by reviewing this vocabulary and helping your child identify examples of opposites as you see them around the house and about in the world.

Our class also did a few tactile activities that allowed is to start talking about different textures like, smooth, soft, wet, and rough.Our class was also crazy for puzzles this week! Here are some photo highlights of the week:

Forty working on an alphabet puzzle, also identifying  different pictures that and practicing letter sounds

Cooper helping Forty work on his puzzle

The class making "soup" around the water tray

Making birthday cakes and burying feet in the sand

I-Aun playing in the sand

Angie playing in the sand

Forty filling his bucket with sand

Cooper filling his bowl with sand

Taj playing in the sand

Peach is practicing using a shovel

Nine filling up his bucket

Forty helps clean off the table after a paint activity

Peach cleaning the table

Angie and I-Aun cleaning off the table

NB boys having fun in the book corner

Nine's favorite book from the book corner

Blog Six: October 6-12

Dear Parents,

Please be reminded that this Friday is ASCOT's charity day. If you are interested in visiting the fair with your child you are welcome to take them after pick up at 2pm. Any donations of play dough or toys will be received until Thursday morning. Additionally, the week of October 17-15 is half term holiday and we will resume school on Monday, October 26.

We had a great week and did different activities with animals and with our book of the week, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Here are some highlights for the week:

• This week we worked on our tracing skills and practiced stamping in different ways. You can help at home by encouraging tracing activities with toys and simple shapes

• We got our hands wet and practiced our animal names and noises vocabulary by playing, "What is hiding in the ice?"

• Our book of the week was, The Three Little Pigs, and we did construction and expressive art and design activities around the three types of houses in the book: straw, wood and brick! We also made pig and wolf masks for role playing the story in the classroom.

Blog 5: September 29-October 2

Before the weekly blog update and pictures, I want to notify you of some events and dates that are fast approaching before the end of the term:

1. Parent/Teacher conferences will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, October 13 and 14 from 2-4 pm. This is an important opportunity to discuss your child's adjustment and progress this term, as well as to answer any questions that you have. Sign up sheets are outside the main office
2. ASCOT Charity event will be held Friday, October 16 after school. You are invited to take your child to visit the booths and events at 2 pm. Please also consider donating face paint, toys or play dough to the Early Years booths as we raise money for an important cause!

This week our class continued to talk about the language of size, and began talking about our All About Me unit, which is centered around getting to know and share things about ourselves, our feelings, our likes and dislikes, and our families. We did role playing with characters from Goldilocks and the Three Bears as we tried out different sized beds, chairs, and bowls. You can help at home by continuing to discuss size as being "big, medium or small", and providing opportunities to notice or sort objects based on size. Here are some photos of our size activities in the classroom:

• Character puppet role play on big, medium and small beds

•  Practicing fine motor skills by  tracing big and small shapes

•  Having a bear family tea party

As part of our, All About Me discussion, we made skeleton versions of ourselves as we discussed the basic parts of our bodies. We completed the activity by illustrating the way we were feeling at the moment.

Finally, our class completed a What is hiding in the grass? Activity that helped students practice their cutting skills. You can help at home by providing opportunities to continue cutting with child-safe scissors. Don't forget that we can cut more than just paper! Different textures and materials, such as play dough and food make for great practice with scissors.