November Newsletter

November has been a month full of Dinosaur Discovery! We have been busy creating Dinosaurs, reading and learning about Dinosaurs and pretending to be Paleontologists.

 

 

Language

We are beginning to write more, at lease once a week in our journals as well as guided reading groups once a week. During Reading we are discussing concepts of print- direction we read, tracking (pointing to the words as we read), finding spaces, periods, etc. We do picture walks before reading to make predictions of what the book might be about and use the pictures as cues to figure out unknown words.

We have learned the letters Rr, Mm, Dd and Gg this month.

We are continuing to learn more popcorn words. The children are helping to write our morning messages- counting words, finding spaces, discussing punctuation and looking for popcorn words. The words we have been reviewing and remembering are is to and the.

We are also reading lots of stories, fiction and non-fiction; about Dinosaurs and learning about all the different types of dinosaurs.

With our Speech and Language Pathologist we have been working on compound words and using he and she properly.

 

Math

For Measurement we went outside to estimate the length of the longest dinosaur, the Brachiosaurus which was 110 feet. We measured and marked it out, and then half of us stood at the head and the others at the tail and waved to each other! It took up half the length of the school.

We used snap cubes to measure the height and length of different toy dinosaurs and put them in order from tallest to shortest or longest to shortest. We have been using many different measurement terms.

 

We also explored the scales to discuss weight- heavier and lighter. The heavier side goes down. When the scale was balanced, they had the right amount of rocks for the dinosaur's weight.

We will be measuring and mixing the ingredients to make the plaster for our dinosaur fossils.

For Number Sense we have been printing and reading numerals from 1-8. We are counting using 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd etc., and we are counting to 100 everyday!

They sequenced numbers to put back together dinosaur puzzle pieces.

They also estimated and counted the number of toy dinosaurs inside our estimating jar.

 

In Geometry they used triangles to Pattern the spikes on the back of their Stegosaurus. We also sorted and used toy dinosaurs to make patterns.

In Data Management we have graphed Plant Eater (Herbivore) verses Meat Eater (Carnivore) as well as our favourite Dinosaur.

Science

The children have been exploring Dinosaurs. We have pretended to be paleontologists and dig in our sand table to find Dinosaur bones, dust them off, match them up and record our findings.

We have been learning about fossils and the clues that they leave behind. We have discussed that the Dinosaurs are “extinct” and the difference between “herbivores” and “carnivores” and how to tell the difference by looking at different Dinosaurs.

 Art

Art has been a lot of fun creating many different dinosaurs.

The students created a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton using sticks and coffee grinds.

They made a Stegosaurus by using confetti for their scaly skin, painting it a mixture of green and brown to get the right shade, counting the letters in their name for the boney plates and patterning the spikes!

Personal and Social

With Remembrance Day we talked about bringing peace to the world, but for us it means to make our classroom, school and community a place where there is no fighting.