Good Morning Lyonsgate Families,
Last week was a busy one with the Casa and Toddler trip to Puddicombe Farm and the Elementary students’ trip to the Brott Education Concert.
We have a quiet week this week. Next week sees a PD day on Friday, November 17. Both Lyonsgate campuses will be closed but Elementary will be hosting LRS conferences with Kim.
- Elementary Families: please check the Elementary section for details of the LRS conferences; the sign-up link is in the email version of this update.
Hello Toddler Families,
This week in our community, we continued to explore the large pumpkin in our classroom. We must thank Mrs. Findlay for this because she had so many great ideas about how to use our pumpkin. After painting it, washing it, and hammering golf tees into it, we brought it outside to be pushed around by the toddlers. The pumpkin was heavy and awkward to manoeuvre and we witnessed two children working together to roll it back to the shed.
Maria Montessori observed that young children are naturally drawn to activities that require great strength: “Nature seems to be telling him, ‘You have agility and skill and now you must become strong.’” form <em>The Absorbent Mind</em>.
This phenomenon is called “maximum effort.” Young children are drawn to carry and push heavy objects to build their strength and coordination, and to test the limits of their capabilities. There is a great need to climb and defy gravity, balance, and walk with objects in their arms. It is a period of great stamina and independence. It is our responsibility to offer opportunities for these experiments to happen and to honour these natural tendencies to build strength and coordination.
Ms. Gervais.
Good Morning, Casa Families!
What an eventful few days we had last week! Tuesday in particular was quite busy, starting with our field trip to Puddicombe Farms and ending with Halloween. It was a cold day but we were lucky to have the sun shining for our visit. We had the pleasure of riding around the orchards on a sixty year old train and a wagon pulled by a tractor (which was temporarily stuck on the tracks for Casa South!), there were animals to see, and we learned about how pumpkins grow. Each class was able to choose a large pumpkin to bring back to the classroom before we took a snack break. Then we all piled on the bus and rumbled back to school for lunch and a low key afternoon. On Wednesday, we were regaled with stories of spooky decorations, favorite costumes, and reminiscing about the field trip. Funnily enough, most children said that their favorite part was riding the big yellow bus.
After such a busy week, we hope you’ve all taken the weekend to get some much deserved rest.
The Casa Teams.
LRS Conferences — Friday, November 17
Our next P.D. Day is Friday, November 17. Our learning resource specialist, Kim Fiocca, will be available for conferences with parents. If your child regularly works with Kim, please use the link in your update email to sign-up for a conference time. Child care is available for students whose parents are in conference.
November Scholastic Order
Your child recently brought home a Scholastic book flyer, offering discounts on books for families and encouraging a love of reading. If you would like to be included in our November shipment, please place your family’s online Scholastic order by Thursday, November 9th. Orders placed from the November flyer after that date will be included in our December shipment. Please let us know if there are any surprise or gift items in your order you would like to be kept hidden from your child and we’ll set it aside for you to pick up discreetly. Happy reading!
from the Classroom Historians
Halloween
Last week for Halloween we carved pumpkins and did a scavenger hunt that was exciting. We made paper pumpkins and painted pictures of pumpkins. At the orchestra there was music and a lot of noise. I liked the singing.
Josh.
