October was all about our home “Planet Earth”. 
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We started out with discovering "our place in space" beginning with the big picture; Solar system and moving on to earth, our continent, WA state and figured out where we are in all of this. We talked about why our home “earth” is special and how water and atmosphere and distance from Sun make it “just right” for us to live on earth. 

We went on to study the layers of the earth and we had very engaged and interactive group time lessons! Our special work on the shelf this month; Felt circles of different colors to represent the different layers of the earth, helped the children understand this abstract concept better. We briefly discussed the 4 major oceans, the biggest ocean and the smallest ocean. We also explored different landforms like mountains, valleys and plateaus through books and pictures. 

A big Thank You to our parent volunteers for bringing pumpkins for us! We carved our pumpkins together and the children decided on the shape of eyes, mouth and how many of those each of the pumpkins should have!! They also voted to come up with a name- Mr. Scary Pumpkin! We cut one of the pumpkins open during our circle lesson and looked at the different parts of a pumpkin. 

Our study about Rocks started with a walk to our Nature trail and collecting sedimentary and igneous rocks! We looked at books and pictures and discussed the features and origins of these rocks. 
This month, the children were thrilled when they got to opportunity to interact with Fire fighters from Redmond Fire Rescue team. The firefighters talked to them about their equipment and about what to do in case of fire. We also had our first earthquake drill this month! We talked about covering our heads and staying away from the windows during an earthquake. 

Ms. Michelle worked with the children on various art projects like stamping art and beautiful sunflower craft inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. 

Ms. Amy sang songs about fall and leaves changing color, Harvest time and also made music with Boom whackers discussing high notes and low notes and rhythm. Lila children also enjoyed their first Spanish lesson with Mr. Shawn! 

Next month we will begin our study about Weather and elements of Eco System. 
It was so nice to see you at the Harvest Festival, I hope you had a fun time! 
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Reminders: 
- Please email me and copy Ms. Julie at the office if your child is going to stay home, be late or needs to leave early. 
- Its getting rainy and cold so remind your child to bring a rain jacket to school.

​We welcomed new friends into our classroom and they are settling in well and the returning children are getting an opportunity to mentor and help the younger children.

In September, we reviewed grace and courtesy and safety. We talked about classroom rules and making friends. We learnt about " introducing ourselves". The children volunteered to participate in simple skits where they enacted an introduction scene:-)

The children also practiced how to move the chairs and tables in the classroom in a safe manner. We talked about putting things away in their spot and practiced how to walk safely in line.

We started a discussion about our feelings and we practiced conflict resolution through skits during circle. We got an introduction to the “zones of regulation” and talked about how we can assign a color to how we feel and different ways of expressing our feelings

On September 21st we sang “Sing Peace around the World” to celebrate International Day of Peace and we also talked about what peace means to them and I got some beautiful responses:-)

In Science, we talked about the changing season and autumn equinox. During circle I tried explaining the very abstract concept of how the earth goes around the sun and results in changing seasons.

The Kindergarteners had their first K-El crossover event and were super excited to meet their buddies.
In October, we will talk about our place on the map and begin our study of our planet Earth and talk about rocks.

A couple of reminders:
- Please email me or Ms. Julie at the office if your child is going to stay home, be late or needs to leave early.
- It's getting rainy and cold so remind your child to bring a rain jacket to school.

I look forward to meeting all of you during the conferences!