This week in FLK-3 We made a Seussical Prayer:

"The snow would not stop. It was too cold to play. So we sat in our class on that cold snowy day. We sat there with our teachers. We played there - to activities glued! And Miss M asked, "How many are in a good mood?" Too snowy to go out and too cold to play Angry Birds. So we worked in the class. We did phonics - made words! So all we could do was to work! work! work! work! And we LOVED it! Didn't mind it, not one little bit! And then Mrs. Hickey said, "Prayers". We stopped, then all of us raced for our chairs! We prayed! Then we felt Him, alive in our hearts. How lucky we are to this class be a part! Amen!"

We wish you all a well deserved rest! Happy March Break! See you just in time for St. Patricks Day!!!!
In Language: We had a Seussical Week to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. We rhymed and read and rhymed some more!!! On Monday, we worked in heterogeneous groups of 3 or 4 and rotated through 6 Seuss related centres. We made Cat in the Hat hats, balanced at the balancing centre just like the Cat in the Hat, fished like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, measured ourselves in feet like The Foot Book, made Seussical characters out of plasticine and named them and colored pictures from various Seuss books. For phonics, we worked in smaller homogeneous groups again. Some learned the oo sounds, some worked on motor skills, some read, blended words and practiced letter formation and some continued to learn the letter names and sounds. We blended words and practiced decoding words. We read several Dr. Seuss books and rhymed a whole lot! To tie in with Miss Ms work on friendships, we wrote Friendship is..The ideas expressed were very interesting! Our Star Students this week were Ayla and Sophie. Each gal brought in a secret object for which she wrote 3 describing clues. We used these to guess what they brought. Ayla brought a pink unicorn and Sophie brought her Pegasues, FlutterShy. Excellent jobs by both of our Leaders!

We met with our Buddies to watch our Lip Sync-Off video. Gym: We had our final Gymnastics class. A video to celebrate will be on the class website by this weekend. The children continued working in groups and making routines using balances, rolls, dismounts and working together. In Religion: We celebrated Shrove Tuesday in filling style with our pancake lunch!!! It was truly a joyous celebration as MANY pancakes disappeared in a timely manner! Your children demonstrated their excellent manners and there were NO complaints of any kind!! Truly awesome! We discussed Shrove Tuesday as the celebration to begin the Season of Lent. We discussed Lent as being 40 Days to get ready for Easter. At Easter, the Easter Bunny helps us celebrate Jesus rising up to Heaven. On Wednesday, we received ashes at our school Paraliturgy. We discussed Ash Wednesday as being a day to remind us of the human Jesus. We discussed that Lent ends in the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. To rise though, we discussed that He first had to die. The ashes remind of us this sad day.

On Wednesday, we also began our Lenten program, Our Hearts are Full of Love. For 40 days, we will do a Good Deed a day (at least!) to fill our hearts with love. Day 1, we concentrated on Saying Please and Thank You. For today, Day 2, we concentrated on Thanking Miss Mason for being such an excellent Librarian! Already being Bucket Fillers, we know that if we do a good deed for someone, it fills their heart with love as well as our own! To this end, we ask that you jot us a quick note if you see your child doing Good Deeds at home. We will read these aloud each morning and place them in the heart folder on the front board (picture above). There is no limit to the number of notes you write! In fact, the more you reinforce these Good Deeds, the more Good Deeds you will see! I will tell you that, in past years, one parent was so enthused by the changes seen in their child, their summary comment was, Whoo-hoo for Lent! We brainstormed Good Deeds and decided that over the March Break, we will concentrate on :

Friday 7th, Saturday 8th: complimenting your brother or sister or another family member about something they do well Sunday 9th, Monday 10th: give a hug and say I love you to your parents and family members Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 12th: do as you are asked IMMEDIATELY today Thursday 13th, Friday 14th: do not argue with any family member today..walk away! Saturday 15th, Sunday, 16th: thank your parents for something today and tell them how lucky you are

Science: In conjunction with The Butter Battle Book, we made butter from whipping cream..and then used it on our pancakes!! In Fine Motor Development: Mrs. Hennessey continues to work with several children in small groups to increase fine motor strength and dexterity as well as gross motor strength. Improvements are DEFINITELY being seen in our printing and in our motor skills!!! In Art: We had no formal Art this week though Miss M put pastel colored paints in the paint centre and we noticed a huge SURGE of activity there! There was also a lot of plasticine work during activities as the children worked away with Miss M making rabbits, baby chicks, and other creations! In Music, Drama and Dance: The children continued to request Frozen, "What does the Fox say?" and "Who let the Dogs out?" While these songs played the children joined in singing and dancing. Costumes are still a popular choice throughout their play time, they are continuing to share the costume pieces so that everyone has a turn in at least one costume. In Mathematics: We created graphsincluding a title (or a question), column titles and pictures.using Green Eggs and Ham and shapes. We reviewed the names of 12 shapes : the circle, oval, diamond, star, square, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid,

triangle, pentagon, hexagon and the octagon and created pictures using these shapes. Individual assessments will be finished after the Break. In Personal and Social Development: We have been continuing getting to know the children in our class, we have been talking a lot about what one another like, dislike, and why we like our friends. We have been discussing that qualities we find in some friends can be found in others if given a chance. We have also been trying to identify our own qualities and gifts which make us a loving friend. As well as how we should talk, play, and interact with the rest of the class, even if our strong feelings are controlling our actions. We have been working hard on talking with another about our disagreements, and looking at body language to remind us of how our friends feel if we are been bossy, or rude. In Inquiry/Directed Play: We have had a lot of interest this week in modeling clay creations. Everyone has seemed to have something unique to create to take with them home, as well as make characters to play with at the table. Some of us have been using the magnetic letters to create our own Dr.Seuss words which have been a good laugh when trying to read them. We have also seen a lot of interest in build structures this past week, from houses, to ships, to schools. We have also taken on character roles to enrich our play situations with those structures.

Upcoming Events:
Friday March 7 PD Day no school for children Monday March 10-Friday March 14 March Break no school Monday March 17 St. Patricks Day!! Wednesday March 26 9:00 a.m. rescheduled trip to Kinsmen Sugar Bush in Fanshawe Park Thursday March 27/Friday March 28 Dental Screening by the Public Health Unit.info to follow