HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Here is our class Halloween photo! 

And a couple of examples of our costumes: 

And another great Jack O' Lantern carved by our very own classmate. 

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!! 

-- Ms. Brown 

Toilet Paper Roll Bats

Thank-you to Michelle's 'Crafty Morning' blog for the great toilet paper roll bat idea! ( http://www.craftymorning.com/toilet-paper-roll-bat-craft-kids/ ) 

Make a fun toilet paper roll bat for a Halloween craft this year! It’s pretty simple to make and you can hang them up for some Halloween decorations.

Materials Needed:

• Toilet paper roll
• Black paint/ paintbrush
• 2 Googly eyes
• Black paper
• Glue/tape

Start by folding the ends in on the empty toilet paper roll.

Draw and cut out some bat wings with black paper.

Tape or glue the toilet roll to the wings in the middle and paint it black. Once that dries, stick on two green googly eyes! We got them at Michael’s and used two different sizes.

Here is our class photo with our own bats! 

Go BC Lions Go!

As last weekend the BC Lions football team made it to the finals, we are celebrating the sport in anticipation of watching our own Province (hopefully) compete for the Grey Cup on Sunday, November 30th on our home field in Vancouver: BC Place. 

Today we were fortunate to have our very own Principal coach us through some basic skills of playing football. For the next couple of weeks we will practice our skills during Gym class and hopefully be able to teach our family and friends a little bit of our tricks.

GO LIONS GO !! 

Rotting Pumpkins

Today we learned about rotting pumpkins. After our carved pumpkin sat out all week (and long weeknd) we discovered a few new things this morning. 

First, that bluey-grey fuzzy stuff is called MOLD. 

Second, when the pumpkin rots, the texture is different: soft 

Third, pumpkins go in the compost, not the garbage! 

Here is our poor pumpkin today:

How do we prevent this? 

* Don't carve your pumpkin too early! 

* Sterilize the pumpkin's carved surfaces 

* Seal the surfaces to prevent drying

If you have any other recommendations we would love to hear them. We don't want to make the same mistake next year! 

-- Division 16 

Happy Diwali!!

Yesterday we learned about Diwali-- The Celebration of Lights. We discussed entertainment, food, and clothing. As well, we made divas to hold tea light candles and discussed the art of Henna. 

Here is a great picture of 3 of our students that dressed up in traditional outfits for the day: 

Happy Diwali! 

Peduncle!

I know we already spoke of Peduncles but I wanted to share a great photo of the children educating our Vice Principal. They all came back excited after the pumpkin patch and threw new knowledge his way! He was blown away and had to be sure the children were telling him the truth. What better way to find out the truth than using technology to search definitions and vocabulary!? 

Thank-you parents for sending over some great photos of our field trip AND the outcome of the children's chosen pumpkins. 

To those that are carving this weekend:

HAPPY CARVING  

Pumpkin Seeds

Yesterday, we cut open our pumpkin, composted the 'guts' or 'pulp' and sorted the pumpkin seeds. Ms. Brown washed the seeds and dried them over night.

Today, we got to prepare our pumpkin seeds for roasting. First, we laid the seeds out on a pan. Then, we drizzled olive oil over them. Next, we shook salt. Lastly, we put the pumpkin seeds in the oven at 325 degrees for 13 minutes. After they cooled, we each got to try them (some for the first time ever!).

The children couldn't believe how tasty pumpkin seeds were! They are so simple to make and taste like 'popcorn'!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch Success!

What a perfect Pumpkin Patch day we had! The weather showed us a typical Autumn day in the lower mainland: rain, chill, and a little mud. But we all came prepared in our rain boots and jackets. Nothing was going to stop us! 

We learned a lot-- from Pink Pumpkins to Ghost Pumpkins to Baby Boos and Peduncles... 

If you captured any great photos while you were there, please send them my way. I'd love to share them here if we could! 

Here is just a couple of moments I captured: 

Please stay tuned for more photos! 

In the mean time...

Monday is 'Pumpkin Day'. Please wear orange (or any other pumpkin colour: pink, red, yellow, green, white, blue, grey). We will take another updated class photo and share with you all on Monday! 

We will also take our class pumpkin and make predictions of how many seeds are in it, count the seeds (seeds in groups of 2's, 5's and 10's), and have a fun-filled day of pumpkin learning! 

Here is a picture of our class pumpkin being adopted... (Stay tuned for the changes of our pumpkin next week!) 

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all in pumpkin colours Monday! :) 

--Ms Brown 

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM TODD PARR

1. On the weekend I shared a couple of examples of the children's painted work from Todd Parr's book, "The THANKFUL Book", through the social media source: Twitter. Shortly after, I received a message back from the author himself! Here is his message! 

   
   

   
   

   Ms. Brown ‏@MsBABrown  Oct 12

   We are thankful for @toddparr because he inspires us to learn, be creative, and silly! #thankful #thethankfulbook

    View photo

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2. Todd Parr ‏@toddparr  Oct 13

   @MsBABrown Beautiful! Very talented artists and readers you have. Thanks for being a teacher. Love, Todd

   
   

   
   

   The children were so excited and it was such a great opportunity to discuss how easy it is to network with people all over the world!

Spelling Words for This Week (October 14th-17th)

 1.                Mac

 2.                bag

 3.                dog

 4.                tag

 5.                got

 ** We start our Spelling tests with words from "BOB Books". In order to introduce routine and good habits, we start with a lower level and work our way up. Also, it builds the children's confidence levels, as they are able to read a 'whole book by themselves!' Thank-you for helping them practice these words at home! 

We are thankful for many things...

Last week we discussed the many different things we are thankful for. Some were serious and others were silly. Inspired by Todd Parr's book, 'The THANKFUL Book', we attempted to make our class book look just like his amazing work! 

What am I thankful for?

"I am thankful for my students because they make me smile." -- Ms. Brown 

This is just an example of WHY they make me SMILE. :) 

Have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Go Canucks Go!!

Tonight is the Canuck's first game of the season. We are so excited for our favourite team!!

GO CANUCKS GO!! 

-- Division 16

Spelling Words

Here are the spelling words for this (and last) week. As long as we all have our Home Reading books going back and forth each day with our planners you should all see updates in their Duotangs. Please look out for the same spelling list and a 'Dolch Word List' as well. 

Spelling Words This Week 

  

 1.    mat

 2.                sat

 3.                bat

 4.                cat

 5.                Sam

 6.                dot

 7.                hat

 8.                dog

 9.                sad

 10.        rag