We read the story “Pumpkin Faces” and then took a vote which face we would like to carve in our pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. The choices were jolly, sad, silly or mad. The jolly face won. Check out our pumpkin fun and the jolly face.

Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights. Wherever Diwali is celebrated you will see decorations of small oil lamps (diyas)placed on window sills and outside buildings. You will also see Rangoli patterns, beautifully made decorations drawn on floors and even pavements usually with rice flour and water or coloured sand. After seeing the rangoli pattern made from coloured rice in our school foyer, we decided to try and make our own in the classroom. We coloured salt with food colouring and let it sit overnight. We made blue, purple and red salt. A few of us tried to glue our coloured salt on a pattern and others coloured rangoli patterns with markers. Diwali is here! Diwali is here!

We have been working on identifying, extending and creating patterns. A pattern is a sequence of items that repeats over again, for instance, a square, a circle, a square, a circle; or stripes that are red, blue, green, red, blue, green. Extending and recording patterns strengthen children’s ability to predict and form the basis of problem solving. On pattern day, we saw many patterns on shirts, pants, hats and gloves. We also found many patterns in our classroom such as lunch bags, curtains in our puppet centre and our carpet to name a few. Look for patterns around your home or when you are out together. You will find patterns on fabric, wallpaper, floor tiles, clothing and so on. Encourage your child to say out loud the patterns he or she sees.

Last week we made homemade applesauce in class. We peeled and cored and diced the apples and placed them in a crockpot. We added maple syrup, brown sugar and lots of cinnamon. The room smelled amazing. We all had a taste and a few asked for seconds. Mr. Dunkley, Ms. Booth and Mrs. Walke even came from the office to have a taste.