Dear Blossom Families,
Happy November! We hope you all had a safe and spooky Halloween. It was wonderful to see everyone at DD Ranch. As we start the new month, we’re excited to remind you that conferences are coming up soon. They will be held on November 11th. We look forward to meeting with you and discussing your Blossom. If you have any questions or concerns, or if there’s any way we can support you as parents in our classroom, we’re happy to talk about it during your conference time. It’s also a great chance for us to share all the fantastic work your child has been doing!
October was a wonder-filled month as we explored the world of fairy tales. We spent the first week learning what fairy tales are and where they originate. Using The Three Little Pigs as our guide, we built our own houses and even had a surprise visit from the Big Bad Wolf, who tried her hardest to blow them down! The second week focused on oral tradition, and we used Jack and the Beanstalk to explore the culture of storytelling, both familiar and new. We planted our magic beans and have already seen some sprout! Our third week focused on fairy-tale tropes as we traveled around the world, listening to different versions of Cinderella. We identified the similarities and differences among these variations. We even built fairy houses our favorite classroom project—and were excited to find that fairies had visited our classroom to see the amazing houses the Blossoms built. Then, we explored other unique fairy tales and folk tales from around the world, including stories from Africa, Japan, Hawaii, Russia, India, and more. Our final week focused on showing that we can create our own stories, too! Our class collaboratively wrote their very own fairy tale.
In November, we will switch gears and focus on our study of trees. We will discuss the life cycle of a tree, native tree species in Oregon, animals that live in or around trees, people whose jobs involve working with trees, and how we use trees in our daily lives. If you or someone close to you has experience in this field or artifacts you’d like to share, we would love for you to visit our classroom.
A project to keep your eyes on—in November, we will do our Field Guide project. With this, every child will have a chance to bring home our field guide and binoculars. They will get to fill out a page about the trees and wildlife they see in their neighborhood! The next day, they will be able to present their findings to the class.
Since we have limited days in the month, please return the field guide the following day so everyone has a turn. If you plan to go out of town or won’t be able to do the activity for a few days, please let us know so we can accommodate you! We want every child to have a turn.
- Reminders
- As the weather gets colder, please make sure your child has a warm jacket, 2 pairs of gloves or mittens, and a hat. We go outside every day, and we want everyone to stay warm and comfortable.
- Please bring your child’s blanket and loveys home each week for cleaning.
- Check your child’s art folder every week. It’s on the shelf in front as you enter the classroom.
- We look forward to seeing you all at conferences soon!
We truly appreciate you sharing your creative, kind, curious, clever, capable, and caring children with us this year!
All of the love,
Miss Madeline and Ms Stephanie
