January & February 2023

Welcome back! We have all been exploring our creativity lately! A key core word has been MAKE for all the great things students have made, including rain sticks, thank you cards for our Strathcona-Tweedsmuir high school student volunteers and Bow Valley practicum student Sarah, and holiday gifts for friends and family. We have enjoyed using a variety of paint brushes with adapted handles. The students have done such a great job using these tools with more independence! Our class also recently started Tac Pac set 5 every Friday which includes winter-themed sensory materials such as scarfs and wrapping paper. We continued to explore the Go Talk app to select new songs and a variety of holiday-themed music during circle time. Students have also answered holiday-themed "would you rather" questions and compared our answers with our whiteboard survey outside in the hallway. During calendar, students had fun counting down the days to winter holiday using our "Santa Countdown" and finding ornaments and chocolates in Santa's beard that we added to our classroom tree.

We learned that the month/moon of December in Cree is called pawâcakinisîsipisim (pah-wa-chug-inah-see-see-pee-sim), which means "Frost Exploding Tree Moon" for the sap that freezes and cracks trees! In January and February, we are excited to continue our music exploration by creating more instruments. We will also be exploring Indigenous storytelling through play/drama. 

November & December 2022

September and October have been busy and fun! We enjoyed a few walks to the inclusive playground at Sandy Beach while the weather was still warm, talked about Orange Shirt Day and participated regularly in drumming after lunch. We also enjoyed reading stories together using voice-output switches for students to participate and say parts of the story. Students are using the Go Talk app to make choices and comments. When asked what we are all thankful for, many students expressed "music therapy" and "friends". We learned that the month of October in Cree is called pinâskowipisim (pin-ask-oh-wee-pee-sim), which means "leaves falling moon". November is Iyikopiwipîsim (ee-oh-gee-pee-wee-pee-sim), which means “frost moon”. For our numeracy, we drew a class monster by having the kids tell the adults what to draw, picking from shapes and numbers! It was very funny!

We will be starting a daily question at circle time, and in November we hope to write cards to military veterans for Remembrance Day. We are continuing our “All About Me” unit and have enjoyed the book Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw. Families will be sent home some new homework about your house/community - stay tuned!