This is a friendly reminder that our library day is every Tuesday. We have a number of students who are forgetting their library books, which makes it difficult for Ms. Duncan during her library time with the kids. We’ve discussed with the students that it is their responsibility (not their parents!) to keep their library book safe, and to bring it back on or before Tuesday so they can get a new book and a sticker! 

Ms. Duncan has not received her protective library bags for the kids yet, but we have chatted about the importance of keeping books safe in backpacks (especially on rainy days).

That being said, if your child forgets their library book on Tuesday, they can bring it in the next day. We usually have time to send them down on Wednesday to quickly exchange books, in order to make sure they have new reading material for the week.

Thank you!

🙂 Ms. Corwin

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As you know, we have a student teacher from UBC in our classroom, Ms. Gostelow. On October 28th, Ms. Gostelow will begin her two week practicum. She will practice collaborating and co-teaching with myself, and will continue to observe and work with your children. Attached to this post is a lovely introduction letter Caitlin has written to say hello! Please take a moment to read her letter to get to know her. She will be saying hello and dismissing the kids, so feel free to introduce yourself!

Click on the following link to read her letter: Meet Our Student Teacher

Thank you!

Ms. Corwin

Since September, we often take our learning to our outdoor “classroom”, the forest just outside our school parking lot. The space we have called out classroom invites us to explore the materials, shapes, colours, and smells around us. We usually go outside four or more times a week for educational activities, including:

• Math lessons: Finding patterns, categorizing materials in nature, sorting and subitizing, adding 
• Science: Observing and recording seasonal changes
• Nature Walks: Shapes Walks, sound walks, texture walks
• “Risky Play”: With Ms. Corwin & Ms. Shannon’s assistance, we practice balancing across logs, or climbing over rocks
• Environmental Responsibility: What do we notice about the animals or insects around us? 
  • Today students noticed a lot of crows on our playground, and questioned why this was! Some pointed out that they were after all the garbage left on the playground, so this led us to a garbage clean up!
• Art: We have collected pieces of nature for art projects like our leaf buddy art and our word art! We also love taking out drawing books outside on a sunny day to sketch what we observe.

Sometimes we will go outside looking to answer a question: What are you grateful for today? What surrounding you makes you happy? What does _____ remind you of? We always walk outside with an intention. 

We have been working hard in math every day. Check out our math page in the drop down menu for our current learning goals and some pictures!

We have done some pencil to paper work when practicing number formation, but for the majority, math in our classroom is mostly done through hands-on and critical thinking strategies. We are practicing math fluency in a number of ways, including:

• Whole group number talks 
• Subitizing at the carpet, as a class
• Learning, playing, and teaching math games, using tools like play-dough, manipulatives, dice, dry-erase sleeves, and whiteboard pens 
• Working collaboratively, often in partners, with the responsibility to take turns, use kind and encouraging words, and check each other’s work
• Challenging ourselves (for example, adding an extra dice in our math games to get higher numbers)
• Using tools in the classroom to help solve problems or assist us in our learning (using our number line, counting strategies, or manipulatives when needed)
• Being in control of our own learning

Participating in whole-group number talks

Practicing recognition, order, and formation of numbers

We are exploring fall/autumn in many subjects. We are spending a lot of time in out “outdoor classroom”, the “forest” space next to our school. We are noticing so many things about fall, including:

• The leaves are falling off the trees!
• The leaves are changing colours (we see a lot of warm colours)
• There are lots of pinecones on the ground
• The temperature is getting cooler….and it’s raining more!
• It is getting darker earlier.
• There are no more butterflies (or other insects). 
• There are mushrooms growing next to trees!

We have gone on nature walks, collected nature to use for math (and returned those pieces of nature back to their homes), made and recorded observations (as outdoor scientists), gone on a colour hunt, and searched for leaves to do a leaf art project with our big buddies! Take a look!

Last week, we had a nurse visit our classroom. We focused on germs. We learned:

• Germs are contagious! You can catch them very easily.
• There are lots of ways you can be germ safe:
  • Wash your hands
    • You should wash your hands for a LOT longer than we thought (Sing Happy Birthday x2!), scrubbing all over your hands. 
  • Use hand sanitizer (washing hands works better, though)
  • Cough into a tissue or your arm pocket (not your hands)
  • Don’t eat food off the floor!
  • Stay home from school when you’re really sick so you don’t get your friends sick!

We even got to use a special flashlight to see the germs on our hands, and watch them disappear once we washed our hands really well!

This is a friendly reminder that tomorrow (Wednesday, September 18th) is individual photo day! Students will have their photos taken in the morning. 

Dear families, 

Armstrong participates in a “West Coast Recess”. This means that rain or shine, students will be outside for recess and lunch. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for our changing weather, and make sure your child has an extra bag of clothes and inside shoes to be kept in the classroom. 

Thank you for your understanding!

Ms. Corwin 🙂