It’s been a lovely post-Hallowe’en week, kind of like the week after Christmas when the Big Day is done and now we’re just basking in the glow of having all the hard work behind us but we can still enjoy the decorations and eat the remaining cookies.

We’re settling into a beautiful autumn season and we thought we’d share with you some of our favourite things.

We officially wrapped up Hallowe’en with a couple of class big books we wrote this week.  “On Hallowe’en Night,” is about our costumes and trick-or-treating, and the other is based on the counting book, Little Beasties by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley.  The children loved the geometric detail of the beasties, and were quite calm as one of the beasties ate the other nine.  For our class book, the children each created a beastie page with black and white construction paper with a little added colour detail.  Another great activity to improve the fine motor skills of cutting and pasting for small hands.

With the return of wet and rainy weather, our children are bringing their boots and raincoats.  We just love these cute little boots!  And we love watching our children plod their way through the puddles as we walk towards the playground.

Last week the children were playing and investigating the puddles
forming at the bottom of the swings.  We had some very wet and muddy faces-just adorable!

We’re enjoying some beautiful fall colour right now.  Nothing as gorgeous as the east coast, but in our own little spot here in West Vancouver we still get to see some brilliant colour.

Have you heard this amazing album? “Autumn” is one of four albums recorded by George Winston (among others) which focus on the seasons, including “Winter into Spring,” “Summer” and “December” (our personal favourite).  Each album is a collection of piano solos.  This is the music we listen to everyday after recess (depending upon the season, of course) for a few minutes, just to relax our bodies.  We turn off all the lights in the classroom (except for the fairy lights) and just sit peacefully listening to the music.  Afterwards, we do the core practice from the Mind-Up Curriculum.  It’s a lovely 7-8 minutes of pure calm and exceptional musicianship.

Our favourite autumn book is In November by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Jill Kastner. The paintings and text are sublime.  

“In November, the earth is growing quiet.

It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers

and small creatures.  The bed is white

and silent, and much life can hide beneath

its blankets.”

This Week in Our Room: November 2-6, 2015

We’re back in our alphabet groove as we completed the letter “F” this week.  We will send home the children’s alphabet craft and their printing practise page next week.

We’re beginning to discuss our rights, roles and responsibilities as Canadian citizens, from a child’s perspective. We read aloud some beautiful books by Per-Henrik Gurth and Kim Bellefontaine, ABC of Canada, Canada in Colours and Canada 123 to start our thinking. It seemed timely to revisit, with appreciation, all that living in Canada signifies, as we approach Remembrance Day.  We’ll be talking about the peace and freedom we have today, how it was achieved and what peace means to each of us as individuals, next week.

We got to see our Grade 7 Buddies this week to make our peace doves to hang in our classroom.  Being with our buddies is certainly one of the highlights in our Kindergarten day.

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Card Project follow-up:  Our card samples arrived and we sent them home today! For more information, visit http://www.TheCardProject.ca. Please note that your orders must be placed by November 13.

Our children will attend the Remembrance Day Assembly on Tuesday morning next week.  It’s a serious assembly, different from our Hallowe’en festivities, as there will be no talking or clapping by the audience.  We will review our school’s expectations for this assembly in Sunday’s post.

Remembrance Day is Wednesday, November 11, and school will not be in session.