November 22nd Newsletter

Dear Families,
As our Kindness Inquiry continues the children have been learning about themselves and each other. We have been exploring our five senses, our different feelings and activities that we enjoy. Naturally the children are interested in family similarities and differences. 
Miss Minty and I have found the perfect tree branch to display our family photos. Please email me at  lmccaw@sd68.bc.ca a family photo which I will print and display in the classroom. If the photo is of your family outdoors even better but not a requirement of course.

Using this beautiful book, 123 I Can Make Prints! as inspiration the children have begun a study of print beginning with fruit like apples and oranges and then experimenting with different materials like cardboard, bubblewrap and loose parts.

We will be continuing with our water colour and clay activities which have been added to our morning Story Play. Recently we included paint pens, stamps and a variety of colourful sharpies to our art resources for the children.

As the children's stamina has increased so has the time spent on our Frameworks. For example, the children have progressed to 30 minutes for Story Play. On Monday I will video what Story Play looks like in Kindergarten through FreshGrade. Please notice how the children use art and loose parts to create stories. These open ended materials encourage the children to use their imagination and oral language to capture their ideas as they co-create their stories. This natural ability in children is a rich experience which contributes to writing as they mature.

Please note that we have extended our Thursday mornings at DB Seashore to include writing and this week brought our nature journals with us in the Wonder Wagon.

Our Pattern study is continuing with the children exploring patterns throughout the day, in art, movement, language and with loose parts. The new Grapat mandala pieces have arrived just in time for our pattern work. These resources were purchased through a Teacher Inquiry Grant as part of my Reggio Inspired Learning Co-hort. The children were immediately drawn to these colourful and smooth wooden resources during both math and story play this past week.
As part of my professional learning plan I have created a Instagram account to showcase the learning. If you are interested in viewing the photos the link is below.
Instagram Account

Thank you,  Miss Minty, Mrs. Hilland and Mrs. McCaw