We’re shifting gears as we finished up our Alphabet Books and moved onto our big literary theme for the school year, Fairy Tales. We’ll be reading, discussing and comparing similar versions of several Fairy Tales for the next few weeks.  We are learning about the elements of a story (plot, character, theme, setting)and story structure (beginning, middle, end).  If you would like to read some of the stories ahead of us, we will be reading these stories for teaching purposes:

Little Red Riding Hood

The Three Little Pigs

Jack and the Beanstalk

Hansel and Gretel

Cinderella

Snow White

We’re already read so many stories from the wonderful books the children have brought in for Sharing. We’re reading everything from the traditional tales to the Disney version to fun riffs off of familiar stories (we read The Ninjabread Man and that brought the house down with hysterical fits of laughter which was fantastic).  It’s wonderful for the children to learn how writers play with language to create humour.

We started our next Math unit in Geometry.  We’ll be studying 2- and 3- dimensional figures in class, their properties and classifying familiar items in those shape categories.

The weather held up for our nature walk to look at Living and Non-Living things on our school grounds.  This was the first lesson for our unit on “Plants are Living Things.”  Everyone will have a chance to bring their favourite plant or flower to school for our next round of Sharing.  We will let you know when we are ready to begin.

We are well into our Home Reading Book Exchange routine.  The children know we are just going to exchange our books on three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  They love to look through the little books and we see growing independence in their remembering to bring in their book bag and choosing their new books.  We’ve seen the children enjoy sitting at the table reading through the little books and it’s a very special and joyful time for us to see their developing love of literature.

We saw our Big Buddies this week and finished the wrapping for our Mother’s Day gifts.  You’ve already had a bit of a preview at your Student-Led Conference but know that the children were very much thinking of their Moms as they created these special gifts from their hearts.

There’s a lot of excitement building around Mayfair, which takes place this Saturday, May 12, 11 am-3 pm.  Daily donations of books, used sporting goods, tombola bags and today’s cupcakes and cakes for the Cake Walk are coming in and will make for some fun stalls and activities.  There is going to be a lot of fun!  The sun is supposed to shine so purchase your tickets early, grab your hat and sunscreen and come and enjoy the day!  

Upcoming Events and Reminders

Library Book Exhange on Wednesday.  We only have three more weeks to exchange books from the library.  On June 1, Mrs Kennedy will be ending book exchange in preparation for her year end library organization.

Friday, May 18 is a Professional Development Day so school is not in session  Monday, May 21 school will also be closed for Victoria Day.

With the warm weather please make sure you child has a non-spill water bottle at school every day.