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 approaching. They will be held on November 11th. We look forward to meeting with you and discussing your little Blossom. If you have any questions, 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 an excellent 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 fairytales. We spent the first week learning what fairytales are and where they originate. Using The Three Little Pigs as our guide, we made 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 the Oral Tradition, and we used Jack and the Beanstalk to understand the culture of storytelling, both familiar and new. We planted our magic beans and have already seen some start to 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 visited our classroom to see the amazing houses the students made. 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 was dedicated to showing that we can create our own stories too! Our class collaboratively wrote its very own fairy tale.
For 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 present their findings to the class. Since we have limited days in the month, please bring the field guide back 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:
- With the weather getting colder, please make sure your child has a snowsuit, two pairs of mittens, boots, and a hat. We go outside every day and want everyone to stay warm and comfortable.
- Please bring home your child’s blanket and loveys 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 the 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
