This week we’ve been busy getting ready for our Halloween Party! 👻 The children are very excited to dress up, play games, and get treats. We also learned a bit about the history and traditions behind Halloween.
Did you know why we dress up on Halloween?
Long ago, people believed that Halloween night was when the world of spirits and fairies came closest to ours. Mischievous fairies or spooky spirits might try to give you bad luck or even whisk you away to their world! 😱
So, people wore costumes and masks to confuse and trick the spirits — just like wearing a clever disguise!
The jack-o’-lantern is another old tradition. People carved scary faces into turnips (and later pumpkins!) and placed candles inside. The light helped scare away bad spirits and guide friendly ones home. 🕯️
This use of light to guide spirits is actually similar to Obon, and many festivals around the world use light to honor ancestors or chase away evil.
And what about trick-or-treating? 🍬
This custom comes from the idea of giving food to visitors who came to your door. On Halloween night, you never knew who might be knocking — it could be a fairy in disguise! By being kind and generous, people hoped to receive good luck instead of tricks. Some even left out a dish of milk for cats — who, according to old stories, might be fairies in disguise! 🐈⬛✨
I’ll update on the Halloween party next week!
🎥 Halloween Videos
- Phonics: Halloween Phonics Song
- Story: Pete the Cat: Trick or Pet
- Story: Winnie the Witch
- Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkC4o1AgVKA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp7JF7CJTtQ
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYDm4tX4GIY
🌟 Christmas Play Rehearsals
We’ve reached Scene 2 of our Christmas play! 🎭
In this scene, the princes and princesses must work together to cross a deep, wide river — luckily, they have magic lily pads to help them!
Scene 1 and 2 have been sent home, so please help your child practice their lines this week.
📖 Reading and Writing
We read “Sam and the Sap” and searched for the red word “the.” 👀
Finding and circling red words helps children recognize them quickly, making it easier to read sentences smoothly later.
Please reread the book at least three times at home this week!
We also started learning the “ch” sound and have been practicing reading both “sh” and “ch” words.
🔤 Phonics practice videos:
🔴 Red words: your, are, be, of, no
Watch: Set 1 Red Words Video
📚 Book Club
A Scholastic Book Catalogue will be coming home soon! I spotted some wonderful titles — classics like The Jolly Pocket Postman (and the Christmas version makes a great stocking filler 🎁), Funnybones, and the Winnie and Wilbur series, which are just the right amount of spooky!
There’s also a Funny Rhyming Reads pack with titles like “Poo at the Zoo.” I haven’t read these yet, but I do love a good rhyme! 😄
🏠 Homework Time! 🎃
Theme: Halloween 👻
This week’s homework is Say it, Join it, Write it with CVC words, and fill in the missing CVC word in the sentence. Remember, CVC words are short words made of a consonant–vowel–consonant pattern (like dog, web, sun).
💡 Tip: If your child is struggling to read a green word, sound out each letter/sound block slowly and give them the chance to blend the sounds and figure out the word for themselves! Oh course red words can’t be sounded out, so you may need to tell them those.
And as always — come and see me if you have any questions! 😊
