Winter on the West Coast
C'est l'hiver (It's winter)
As we return from the break, we began to talk about winter. We started reading books about fall and winter. Then, we drew what we knew about each season and glued them to the appropriate paper. If you are at the school, the large papers are posted in the hall. Feel free to come in, have a look at our work and ask your child to tell you about their favourite activity or weather in fall and/ or winter.
We began to talk about what animals do to prepare for winter. Over this week, we were talking about the kinds of adaptations that animals do to survive when weather gets colder. They brought home a worksheet with examples of animals that have different kinds of adaptations. Hopefully your child shared some of their learning with you.
We practiced the adaptation vocabulary over the week. On Friday we went to the classes that have pet rabbits. The students asked about the adaptations that these rabbits exhibit. We learned that their fur changes colour slightly and grows thicker in the winter. We also learned that the rabbits do not collect and stockpile food.
On Wednesday we read the Iroquois story "Rabbit's Snow Dance" where a rabbit wants it to snow in summer. We practiced making snow dances or snow songs on Wednesday and Thursday. We had a lot of fun and I did see some snow on the Malahat on Friday morning, so maybe their efforts were working!
Sorting items and making patterns
We spent some time playing with objects in class on Monday and Tuesday. We looked at different ways of sorting objects. We summarized that some of the ways objects can be sorted are by colour, size, type and shape.
We then began to explore making patterns using the criteria that we have for sorting objects. That is making a pattern based on colour or size or shape etc. In the next few weeks we will learn what the core of a pattern is, how we can have a pattern with more that 1 attribute such as size and colour to make the pattern. We will also practice extending a pattern that has already been started and correct mistakes in patterns.
Ed Inform and Report Cards
For the next couple of weeks I will be focused on writing the report cards for the children, so there will not be any new learning samples on Ed Inform.
This report card is meant to be a touchpoint, an additional communication with you of where they are so far and not a summary of all we have done to date. The information in the Report Card will be based on what you have already seen on Ed Inform.
What you can do at home:
- Keep reading to your child daily. Ask them about the text they see on the page. The early connections to books, pictures and text are important building blocks to help them establish reading strategies and a love of reading.
- Ask your child what they learned about animals or winter today. Or ask what did they find interesting about animals or winter today.
- Ask about worksheets that come home. You can ask how do you play this game, what can you tell me about the animals on this page or did you like this activity.
- Have your child make patterns at home with toys, objects or in a picture. You can ask: "Show me what patterns you can make. Show me the core of your pattern. Can you make one with more things in the core?"
