Bring your library book

Library is rescheduled to Monday because of the Halloween Hop.

Halloween Hop tomorrow!!!!!

Please label all costume parts (especially if you plan to be a character from Frozen).
Wear your costume.  Bring a change of clothes or wear clothes underneath.
No weapons please (e.g., swords, axes).
Bring a bag to carry your costume home in.
Children will be taking their costume off before morning snack.

We will do our Halloween Hop at 8:45 and have special activities planned from 10:45-12:25.
Please bring your Halloween Hop pledge forms.

Forest Tea Party

The MacWands took the Scodouley's for a beautiful forest walk to celebrate Take Your Kids Outside day.  We each had a cup with some water and a stir stick (twig).  The task was to find things on the forest floor to create a flavoured tea and have a tea party.  Students found birch bark, acorns, leaves, moss and rocks.  Ask your child to tell you what they put in their tea and what fancy name they gave it.  My tea was called Birch Bark Bonanza.

This is a picture of our leaf storm on the way to the forest valley.

Everyone was dressed appropriately which makes it easy to enjoy being outdoors.   We had a blast!

Food Drive

Highview continues to collect non perishable food items for our Fall Food Drive.  If you wish to contribute, please send your items in or drop them off in the front foyer.  In Kindergarten, the students are learning to demonstrate and understanding of the diversity of families and schools in the wider community.

Halloween Hop

Please send in your pledge forms.  Have your child wear their Halloween costume to school.  We will dance from 8:45-9:20.  We will take costumes off by recess.  The MacWand's and the Scodouley's have special activities planned for after recess.  We are loving listening to the song Witches Brew and the story Big Pumpkin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3foTIHscfzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHkuZKAW7bs

Cackle and Professor visit

Cackle and Professor met our scarecrow, Ghost this past weekend and then showed up in our classroom this morning.  Cackle is the scarecrow witch from next door and she has a special owl friend, Professor.

Library

Bring your book in by Friday.  Please ensure you keep your library book in a safe place so little brothers and sisters don't use it as a colouring book.

Check out the new book nook!  We need a name for our bear.

2 Queens Visited Today

Today is Early Childhood Educator appreciation day.  We celebrated Mrs. Mah-Doucette and Mrs. Crossley with tiaras and the children have been addressing them as "Your Highness" or "Your Majesty".  These two ladies are outstanding and VERY MUCH APPRECIATED everyday.  The students and I are very lucky.

For more information please see:  http://www.childcareontario.org/

To Do List

Halloween Hop pledges due.

Fall food drive is ongoing.  See the Highview newsletter.  http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/highview.ps/NewsEvents/Pages/Newsletters.aspx

Greek Pitas tomorrow.  

Tomorrow is 'Take your kids outside' day.    takemeoutside.ca

We will we spending part of tomorrow in the forest and at the playground.  Please dress appropriately. 

To Do List

Halloween Hop pledge money is due this week. 

Waste free lunch this week too.  Pull out the Tupperware!  We are weighing garbage (please no juice boxes, koolaid aid jammers or cups-pudding, fruit, yogurt etc. ).  

Fall Time Fun with Sticks

Trucks, buckets, shovels and leaves galore!

Ahhh.  The beauty of living in Canada.

Searching for sticks

These are Ms. Wand's amazing words on sticks:

We spent the entire afternoon on a mission in the forest to find the perfect stick.  Sticks are magical.  Everybody needs a stick (just like everyone needs a rock..but that will come).  Too often we regard sticks as dangerous and dismiss them quickly.  Stick are an important tool for explovery (exploration & discovery).  As with any new tool we need to learn how to safely use our stick.  Sticks are not weapons but tools for explovery and they need to be treated with care by the owner and those around. 
Yesterday we talked about what makes a perfect stick.  Here are some criteria:

• armpit length is ideal
• it shouldn't extend past your chin (in reality, for adults, you don't want to past the top of your head)
• you should be able to stand up straight and hold your stick to the ground without bending down
• you should be able to wrap your hand around it and have your fingers touch
• it should be sturdy enough to dig vigourously and tap on things without snapping off
• it should feel just right in your hand
• try it both ways until one end feels best as the handle

We'll be back in the forest again for another searching session as some of our friends were absent or weren't able to find the perfect stick.  We plan to personalize our sticks with paint, ribbon, beads, etc.  They are a work in progress.  Our sticks will accompany us on many of our outdoor adventures.

Thanks Ms. Wand for the criteria.

Mrs. Scott's comments:

I'm happy to say that no one used their stick as a weapon!!  We had a fantastic afternoon.

To Do List

• Pizza lunch tomorrow
• Litterless lunch all next week (no school Monday)
• Return Halloween Hop forms
• Finalize Halloween costume for next Friday
• Hit the final Aurora Farmers market Saturday morning

More Brooks Farm

Gobble gobble

Counting chickens before they hatch

Off to the Pirate Ship

Outstanding chicken show

Zip a dee da!!

Zip a dee yea!

Climbing the hatstacks

3 Sleeping Bunnies

Waste Reduction Week

Waste Reduction Week

Hello Families,

Next week we will be participating in Waste Reduction Week.  In an effort to increase our awareness and reduce the amount of waste produced daily at our school, our school EcoTeam is asking that all students bring in Waste Free lunches for the week.  It's a shortened week next week because of the PA Day so the campaign will begin on Tuesday and end on Friday.  Many of our students are bringing lunches with little to no waste already and it is great to see!  We encourage you to think 'outside of the (juice) box' next week and limit the amount of packaging and waste in the lunches you are packing.  Reusable containers are a great start!  Learning the lesson of less waste is important for our young students as they will be the ones who inherit our earth. Thanks for your consideration - every little bit counts!

Pita Pit lunch is tomorrow

Spirit Day

Highview is divided into 4 different houses and the students compete against each other in a variety of fun activities (e.g., sideline soccer, crazy hair day and pyjama day).

Please wear your 'house' colours tomorrow to support our Spirit Day.

Green
C.B., E.F., K.G., M.J., C.J., J.M.,

Blue
A.B., I.G-B., J.H., A.R., E.W., M.Y., I.Y.

Red
S.B., S.A., R.C., J.D., D.G., O.M.,

Yellow
D.B., N.D., E.D., G.K., S.L., G.S., E.S., D.W.

Brooks Farm

We had so much fun at the farm.  The parent volunteers were troopers, they carried on like it was a warm and sunny day.  Thank you for coming out, we appreciate your help!

We got lots of positive feedback from the Brooks Farm staff.  They said the children were very well behaved and had a positive attitude, they didn't let the weather slow them down.  

The students are watching the turkeys strut their stuff.

The students are checking out the difference between the ducks and the geese at pond.

Farmer Ann told us about the lifecycle of the pumpkin and how the bees help pollinate the flowers.  She told us that brown chickens lay brown eggs and white chickens lay white eggs.

We had a great time jumping on haystacks, digging in the sandbox and watching the best Chicken Show ever!

More photos to follow.

To Do List

Please collect and return the Halloween Hop pledge forms.  Any amount will help the students but just imagine, if every student collected $50, the school would have $16 000 to spend on new equipment, technology, buses for field trips and special programs for the students (e.g., Scientists in School, musicians, performances).  100% of the monies raised goes towards the students here.  It is our only fundraiser of the year.

October Events

http://www.brooksfarms.com/index.html

Dress for the weather:  shoes, rubber boots, winter boots, jacket, hat, mittens.

We will be outside all day.

Bring a lunch with an extra snack or two.  Fresh air makes kids hungry.

Make sure there is a change of clothing in the backpack.

Thank you to our parent volunteers that are coming.


Please collect pledge forms for the  Halloween Hop which will be held on October 31st.

Big Oops!!!!

No hummus please.  It's made of sesame paste.

Allergies

We appreciate you sending delicious lunches with lots of variety.  We have seen everything from pancakes to pasta. My favourite is the veggie and hummus snacks. 

Please keep in mind that we do have peanut and sesame allergies in the classroom. 
Check snack and lunch ingredients carefully, including the tops of bagels.  

McNugget Men

Check out the cute McNugget Men (and princess) Mrs. Mah-Doucette has brought in. They will be putting on shows daily at 9 and 11 in our Spooky Kitchen.

Meet our Scarecrow

The students voted on a name: Boo, Ghost, Elsa and Ironman. 

Ghost is taking questions and will write back.   We wondered what a scarecrow might eat.  See what your child thinks would be a good snack for him.  If he/she thinks of any questions for Ghost, send them in for discussion.  

Important Dates

Picture Day tomorrow

Greek Pitas tomorrow

Library Thursday 

Happy Long Weekend

Enjoy the long weekend.  See you all on Tuesday.

Brooks Farm Volunteers

We appreciate the overwhelming interest for volunteering on this trip.  Unfortunately, we can only take 3 helpers.  So, J.H., M.Y. and G.K. parents, we will see you on the 20th at 8:30.  We will have other special events throughout the year and will require more volunteers then.  Thank you again for the amazing response for coming along.

Say Cheese

Picture day is next Wednesday October 15.

Metamorphosis has begun

A big thank you to our guest speaker the other day, Ms. Wand.

She found an

Elm Sphinx Caterpillar and brought it into the classroom

It had pupated!  

Ms. Wand thought it needed some privacy over the weekend to get the job done (from caterpillar to pupa).   She (not me!) picked him up and showed the class how it is still very alive (it's segmented ends moves when touched!) and she showed how some wing, head and leg parts are delineated on the shell of the pupa - super cool.

Now we wait....ever so patiently....until Spring....

This is the one in our classroom.  If you look to the left of the pupa, you can see where it has left the skin it pulled out as it pupated. 

Pizza Day

If you ordered pizza through the school, it is the first pizza day tomorrow. Pizza slices will be delivered to our classroom and handed out by the helpers.

Funny Book

Mrs. Crossley read a funny story today.  See if your child is able to retell some of it. 

The Market

We have a farmer's market here in the classroom that is giving the Aurora market a run for its money.  The students are making grocery lists, shopping and putting apple pies in the oven.  Yummy!

Reading Buddies

We started reading buddies with Mrs.  Durno's class today.  They will visit once a week and read with a kindergarten friend. It is a good way to build literacy skills and a love of reading. 

Library is Tomorrow

Bring your books back.  

The Terry Fox Run

This is a photo of most of our runners for Terry Fox (some were still running with their siblings-how cute is that?).  In the background are the crazy grade 8 house captains.   When your child enters Highview they are placed in a 'colour house'.  Throughout the year, red, yellow, blue and green house compete against each other in various challenges: crazy hair day, litterless lunches, pajama day and the Terry Fox run to name a few.  The points get up into the 1000's.  It's crazy fun! We ran representing our house colour and scored points for every lap we completed.  We watched a short video clip on the life of Terry Fox and his legacy of courage and hope.  Thank you to all those who donated to this worthy cause. 

Highview's goal was $800. The students raised $950.  Thank you for your donations.  I know many of the kids (and myself) had family members they were 'running for'.  

Brooks Farm

Please return permission forms and money for this trip as soon as possible.
All volunteers must have the appropriate paperwork (police checks) in at the office.

Pizza Orders Due

Please complete pizza orders today.
Send in a cash or cheque made payable to Highview PS.

Meet the Creature Night

It was wonderful to see so many parents last night.  Mrs. Mah-Doucette, Mrs. Crossley and myself enjoyed meeting and chatting with you. 

There will be a formal interview later in the term.  

Pita Pit Orders

Orders are due tomorrow.  

Toonies for Terry

Be dressed for running tomorrow and bring your water bottle.  

Please bring in a donation for Terry Fox or you can donate online.  

Bus Safety

A bus transportation company came in yesterday and talked to the students about bus safety.  This is perfect timing as we have our trip to Brooks Farm later this month.  

Meet The Staff

Come and meet the Kindergarten Team on Thursday October 2 from 6:30-7:30pm.  Everyone is welcome.  Kids love to come to school at night and it is your child's opportunity to show you around the classroom.