Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful Spring weather!
A lot is going on in Room 166, most especially about backyard bugs! We learned, read and wrote about the habitat, features and diet of stick insects, grasshoppers, beetles, fleas, fireflies and ladybugs. We took our magnifying glasses and bug catchers outside and saw bees collecting pollen, ants coming out of their nests in the ground, and wasps buzzing around. In the classroom, a centipede scurried by and we caught it and it's now in the Science Centre. It was a real-life opportunity for the children to remember that centipedes are not insects because they have (a lot!) more than 6 legs. We also saw a spider in the bathroom and remembered that spiders are not insects either since they have 8 legs. Jack brought in a caterpillar (thank you Jack!) which will turn into an insect when it is an adult. Izzie brought in a spider and a ladybug. Dima brought in binuculars and we discussed how we would use them compared to a miscroscope, a telescope and a magnifying glass. I set up my husband's microscope from when he was a child and the children took turns looking at a bee wing through it.
The children played a numeracy game called "Ants in your Pants" and a sight word game called "There's a Fly in my Soup." They looked at their friends' faces through a "bug's eye viewer" which was like seeing like insects see, through compound lensess, and they drew a picture of what they saw. They also wrote and illustrated "It really bugs me when..." and watched a grasshopper jump in slow motion on the Smartboard. We also saw hundreds of beautiful and colourful beetles on the Smartboard, and learned that they come in all colours and patterns, "just like jewels." Izzie also brought in a butterfly chart. Thank you! The children are also making firefly art and finished making their caterpillars and dragonflies. Look for a buggy bulletin board next week!
In numeracy we also continued our inquiry on Measurement. The children had fun when I drew a line around their little feet with which we'll measure things around the school. The children also used measuring tape, measuring cups and rulers to measure items around the classroom.
The new Popcorn Words are HAS and WANT. We played a "Find Your Word Friend" game in which the children had to find the other children in their group that had letters that made their sight word, i.e. one child had T, another had H, another had E and they had to find each other to spell THE.
On May 6 in the morning, and May 8 in the afternoon, the children will be participating in a special event called "Aussie Rules Football."
Next week we'll learn about more insects and will finish our book "Dragonfly, Dragonfly, What Do You See?" as well as our "I Know Insect Facts" book in which the JKs will pick two insects to write about and the SKs will pick four. We'll also continue measuring and recording what we measure! Thank you so much to the children who brought in insects to share in the science centre. I think the kids are learning a lot and are enjoying this inquiry!
That's the news for this week. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Week of April 27-May 1
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather this weekend.
This week we continued our science inquiry on Insects and the children looked for "backyard bugs" in the playground. A big Thank You to my former student Angelina who donated a giant paper wasp nest. The children passed it around, learned how the wasps made it, and saw a science video on paper wasps. The nest is in our science centre now along with an ant farm and butterflies. They are also exploring the features of insects in our Insect centre, filled with life-like plastic insects. We watched a science video about dragonflies which the children found very interesting. We are also going to be learning, reading and writing about stick bugs, grasshoppers, fireflies, fleas, beetles, house flies, praying mantis, lady bugs, ants and, last but not least, butterflies. Our butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive May 19!
This week we also read the lovely Eric Carle books The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Busy Spider. Next week we will read more fiction and non-fiction books by Eric Carle such as The Very Lonely Firefly, and we'll save The Very Hungry Caterpillar and lots of learning opportunities for the week the larvae arrive.
This week was also Earth Day and the children did a colour-by-number Earth, and wrote "I care for the Earth when..." and "I love our Earth because..." and drew lovely accompanying pictures. Their ideas are posted in the hallway. Thinking about the Earth through the eyes of a child really makes you remember how precious it is.
In Numeracy, we discussed and reviewed Order Irrelevance, i.e. that no matter which order you count something in, the total remains the same. We also reviewed the fact that larger objects and small objects are counted the same (i.e. 3 giraffes is not more than 3 ants).
The Popcorn words this week are COME and LOOK. We practiced our A-P-R-I-L song and made daffodil art to go with the poem.
We completed the April calendar, numbers 1-30, and the children wrote about "This is me in April." They did a lovely job and their work is on display in the hallway. I am so pleased with how far they have all come reading and writing. They are definitely ready for next year!!
We also started our inquiry into Measurement. The children had fun as I drew a line around their foot. They cut the "foot print" out and will use it next week to measure different things around the classroom and the school. They will also use different lengths of yarn to explore measurement in the classroom and out in the yard. We will also learn what we use to measure things.
Thanks you Iris and Chloe for bringing in books about bugs. Thank you Chloe's dad for being Mystery Reader. Thank you Aaden's mom for helping with the Computer Lab. Thank you to Martel's mom and Megan's mom for helping with Pizza Lunch.
A reminder that April's Scholastic Order is due next week.
That's our classroom news. Have a great week!
I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather this weekend.
This week we continued our science inquiry on Insects and the children looked for "backyard bugs" in the playground. A big Thank You to my former student Angelina who donated a giant paper wasp nest. The children passed it around, learned how the wasps made it, and saw a science video on paper wasps. The nest is in our science centre now along with an ant farm and butterflies. They are also exploring the features of insects in our Insect centre, filled with life-like plastic insects. We watched a science video about dragonflies which the children found very interesting. We are also going to be learning, reading and writing about stick bugs, grasshoppers, fireflies, fleas, beetles, house flies, praying mantis, lady bugs, ants and, last but not least, butterflies. Our butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive May 19!
This week we also read the lovely Eric Carle books The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Busy Spider. Next week we will read more fiction and non-fiction books by Eric Carle such as The Very Lonely Firefly, and we'll save The Very Hungry Caterpillar and lots of learning opportunities for the week the larvae arrive.
This week was also Earth Day and the children did a colour-by-number Earth, and wrote "I care for the Earth when..." and "I love our Earth because..." and drew lovely accompanying pictures. Their ideas are posted in the hallway. Thinking about the Earth through the eyes of a child really makes you remember how precious it is.
In Numeracy, we discussed and reviewed Order Irrelevance, i.e. that no matter which order you count something in, the total remains the same. We also reviewed the fact that larger objects and small objects are counted the same (i.e. 3 giraffes is not more than 3 ants).
The Popcorn words this week are COME and LOOK. We practiced our A-P-R-I-L song and made daffodil art to go with the poem.
We completed the April calendar, numbers 1-30, and the children wrote about "This is me in April." They did a lovely job and their work is on display in the hallway. I am so pleased with how far they have all come reading and writing. They are definitely ready for next year!!
We also started our inquiry into Measurement. The children had fun as I drew a line around their foot. They cut the "foot print" out and will use it next week to measure different things around the classroom and the school. They will also use different lengths of yarn to explore measurement in the classroom and out in the yard. We will also learn what we use to measure things.
Thanks you Iris and Chloe for bringing in books about bugs. Thank you Chloe's dad for being Mystery Reader. Thank you Aaden's mom for helping with the Computer Lab. Thank you to Martel's mom and Megan's mom for helping with Pizza Lunch.
A reminder that April's Scholastic Order is due next week.
That's our classroom news. Have a great week!
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Week of April 20-25
Dear families,
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Spring weather! Well, we've said, "Bye-bye Birdies" to our Inquiry and I think the children learned a lot about birds' habitats, their diets, their young, and fun facts. We saw a video of an Ostrich running (and even chasing a jeep!), hummingbirds in flight, and watched as the baby bald eagles have grown and are starting to stand up in their nests. We learned about the life cycle of a chicken, all about the size, shape and colour of eggs, and put our "Ducks in a Row" by putting words in the correct order to make a sentence, then writing the sentence down. We wrote about eggs in some egg art that is displayed in the hall. The children found it interesting that eggs come in so many different colours, from white to blue to brownish colours with spots, and all the way to black (Emu). We also did "Home Tweet Home" math by helping a bird go home by adding up numbers, and learned how to read and sort our Bird Facts/Not Bird Facts folder. We also completed the booklet "All About Birds", which has all the fun facts about the birds we learned about. We wrote about our favourite birds, why we like birds, and drew our favourite bird. Blue Jays, Owls, Hummingbirds, Penguins, Flamingos and Ostriches were favourites (Go Jays!). The kids also had fun sorting the birds we learned about in groups of "Angry" birds and "Scaredy" birds. All the children's wonderful work went home in Friday's white bag. I hope you have fun listening to your children tell you all about birds!
As a follow up to last week's rain, we wrote about why we like/don't like rain. This work is on display in the classroom.
This week's Popcorn Words are HE and SHE. Last week's words were BIG and RUN. The homework for this weekend is to do the mini books for those words.
A big Thank You to: Megan's family who collated the Scholastic order forms; Avery's dad and Adam's dad who were Mystery Readers; Izzie and Sophie for bringing in bird toys to talk about, and Martel's mom who helped with Computer Lab.
Next week we'll start two new Inquiries, on Measurement and Backyard Bugs.
I hope you have a terrific week!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Spring weather! Well, we've said, "Bye-bye Birdies" to our Inquiry and I think the children learned a lot about birds' habitats, their diets, their young, and fun facts. We saw a video of an Ostrich running (and even chasing a jeep!), hummingbirds in flight, and watched as the baby bald eagles have grown and are starting to stand up in their nests. We learned about the life cycle of a chicken, all about the size, shape and colour of eggs, and put our "Ducks in a Row" by putting words in the correct order to make a sentence, then writing the sentence down. We wrote about eggs in some egg art that is displayed in the hall. The children found it interesting that eggs come in so many different colours, from white to blue to brownish colours with spots, and all the way to black (Emu). We also did "Home Tweet Home" math by helping a bird go home by adding up numbers, and learned how to read and sort our Bird Facts/Not Bird Facts folder. We also completed the booklet "All About Birds", which has all the fun facts about the birds we learned about. We wrote about our favourite birds, why we like birds, and drew our favourite bird. Blue Jays, Owls, Hummingbirds, Penguins, Flamingos and Ostriches were favourites (Go Jays!). The kids also had fun sorting the birds we learned about in groups of "Angry" birds and "Scaredy" birds. All the children's wonderful work went home in Friday's white bag. I hope you have fun listening to your children tell you all about birds!
As a follow up to last week's rain, we wrote about why we like/don't like rain. This work is on display in the classroom.
This week's Popcorn Words are HE and SHE. Last week's words were BIG and RUN. The homework for this weekend is to do the mini books for those words.
A big Thank You to: Megan's family who collated the Scholastic order forms; Avery's dad and Adam's dad who were Mystery Readers; Izzie and Sophie for bringing in bird toys to talk about, and Martel's mom who helped with Computer Lab.
Next week we'll start two new Inquiries, on Measurement and Backyard Bugs.
I hope you have a terrific week!
Week of April 6-10
Dear families,
I would first like to say a big thank you to our Parent Volunteers who helped the children make their papier mache eggs at our Spring Craft Party: Elizabeth's mom, Christopher's mom, Olivia's dad, Stella's mom, Matthew H.'s mom, and Anderson's mom all gave their time and energy to making the party fun for the children. Thank you so much! The eggs look beautiful! I sent them home with the balloon still inside so they wouldn't break in transit and so you could put chocolates in them if you wish.
Thank you as well to Martel's mom who helped get the computers ready for the Computer Lab class, and thank you to Martel's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
This week we learned about eggs and the children had fun cracking the (empty) ones and looking inside. We learned that many other creatures aside from birds lay eggs: turtles, fish, some sharks, lizards, frogs, insects. Chloe brought in a tiny bird nest and Theo brought in a big bird nest and a photo of an owl they spotted on their street. Thank you for sharing those with your friends. We also learned about Feathers and about the three different kinds of feathers a bird has: down, to keep them warm, contour feathers in between the body and the outer feathers, and larger and strong wing feathers. We also talked about all the things we use feathers for.
We also learned more about our first two birds - the owl (a bit of review from first term), and the duck: their habitat, diet, what their young are like, and fun facts. The children are making Flip Books with words and pictures about those facts.
The children also enjoyed colouring their eggs with a "magic" crayon and dipping them in food colouring, then decorating them with gold or silver paint. They look beautiful! Anything the children do with their hands assists their manual dexterity and small motor skills which in turn assists their writing and drawing skills. They did a great job weaving ribbon in their Easter baskets as well!
The children also had fun gluing mini marshmallows on a bunny face and then they counted them and wrote the number.
It was an exciting week on our bald eagle's nest live cam, because over the weekend the eagle had caught a fairly large black furry creature (a bear cub?) and brought it to the nest along with several large fish. The parents are still sitting on their chicks to keep them warm but for the first time they left them alone for a short period of time since the weather was warmer. Lots to learn!
We also started practising our new April words and your child received a copy in this week's white bag. Our new Popcorn words will be BIG and RUN.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter/Spring weekend!
I would first like to say a big thank you to our Parent Volunteers who helped the children make their papier mache eggs at our Spring Craft Party: Elizabeth's mom, Christopher's mom, Olivia's dad, Stella's mom, Matthew H.'s mom, and Anderson's mom all gave their time and energy to making the party fun for the children. Thank you so much! The eggs look beautiful! I sent them home with the balloon still inside so they wouldn't break in transit and so you could put chocolates in them if you wish.
Thank you as well to Martel's mom who helped get the computers ready for the Computer Lab class, and thank you to Martel's dad who was our Mystery Reader this week!
This week we learned about eggs and the children had fun cracking the (empty) ones and looking inside. We learned that many other creatures aside from birds lay eggs: turtles, fish, some sharks, lizards, frogs, insects. Chloe brought in a tiny bird nest and Theo brought in a big bird nest and a photo of an owl they spotted on their street. Thank you for sharing those with your friends. We also learned about Feathers and about the three different kinds of feathers a bird has: down, to keep them warm, contour feathers in between the body and the outer feathers, and larger and strong wing feathers. We also talked about all the things we use feathers for.
We also learned more about our first two birds - the owl (a bit of review from first term), and the duck: their habitat, diet, what their young are like, and fun facts. The children are making Flip Books with words and pictures about those facts.
The children also enjoyed colouring their eggs with a "magic" crayon and dipping them in food colouring, then decorating them with gold or silver paint. They look beautiful! Anything the children do with their hands assists their manual dexterity and small motor skills which in turn assists their writing and drawing skills. They did a great job weaving ribbon in their Easter baskets as well!
The children also had fun gluing mini marshmallows on a bunny face and then they counted them and wrote the number.
It was an exciting week on our bald eagle's nest live cam, because over the weekend the eagle had caught a fairly large black furry creature (a bear cub?) and brought it to the nest along with several large fish. The parents are still sitting on their chicks to keep them warm but for the first time they left them alone for a short period of time since the weather was warmer. Lots to learn!
We also started practising our new April words and your child received a copy in this week's white bag. Our new Popcorn words will be BIG and RUN.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter/Spring weekend!
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Week of March 30-April 3
Dear families,
This week and next we are learning all about Birds and Spring! We are listening to real bird calls (Audobon Society), learning about what birds are, parts of birds, what they have, can do, eat, where they live, what they do, and how they make nests. We are continuing to watch live cam of a Bald Eagle Nest in Pennsylvania, and this week the eggs hatched and two little chicks emerged! The children were so excited! We are watching as the male and female take turns bringing fish to the nest and feeding the little ones. We are also writing about what we see happening in the nest.
The books we are reading about Spring and Birds are fiction and non-fiction (mostly non-fiction).
Speaking of nests, the children are making a nest themselves! Some of them are finished and have gone home already. They first put "mud" (brown paint) in their bowls, then put sticks and twigs around the sides and bottom. Then they placed softer items such as dried grass, soft leaves, pussy willow, and lint in the nest. Finally, they glued both halves of the egg shells they brought in "("Are they real?") and we put a little chick inside. A very special THANK YOU to Iris and her family who are sharing the Robin's nest they found with us. We are looking at it and eggs carefully in the Science Centre with magnifying glasses.
We will be focusing on 10 different types of birds in the next little while, in this order: owl, duck, flamingo, chicken, hummingbird, ostrich, penguin, blue jay (Go Jays!), peacock, and woodpecker. I picked up some beautiful feathers this weekend and will add them to our Science Centre. We'll learn what the different kinds of feathers are for and how birds fly. We will also be learning more about what eggs are and about the life cycle of a chicken.
We are talking a lot about the Signs of Spring and I have posted the children's ideas in the hall bulletin board. We also worked on our beginning and ending sounds of words starting and ending with the letters in S-P-R-I-N-G. The children drew a picture and completed the sentence "I know it is Spring because..." Te children also made a very cute card called "Happy Spring." The cards are drying and will go home next week. The All About Birds inquiry folder will go home when we are finished.
In our painting centre, I cut the large pieces of easel paper into large egg shapes and added a lot of white paint to each of our colours, making Easter/Spring colours. The children did a lovely job painting the eggs, and they are on display in our classroom and in the hall.
In our Building Centres we are doing something new: I found large photos of about 20 famous landmarks (such as the Tour Eiffel, the Taj Mahal, the Banff Springs Hotel, etc. and the idea is to be the builders - to copy those buildings using blocks, lego, Treo. They are doing a terrific job!
The Popcorn words for this week were HAVE and SAW. Please add the words to your child's home folder.
The children did a terrific job at the Sharing Assembly, singing the song M-A-R-C-H ( a copy of which will go home). Congratulations to Sabrina, Luca and Sophie who received awards for Honesty.
My students also enjoyed seeing a performance in the gym about Hansel and Gretel by the Shoestring Opera, and they wrote about why they enjoyed it so much.
Thank you so much to the Parent Volunteers this week: Lauren's mom was Mystery Reader and Martel's and Matthew C.'s moms helped out with Pizza Lunch. Thank you so much for your time and energy.
The March Scholastic Order is due on Tuesday. Thank you.
This Wednesday will be our Spring Craft party in the afternoon. Thank you in advance to the parents who are volunteering! It's going to be fun!
Just a quick note about scooters: For safety reasons please leave them in the area inside the MAIN FRONT school doors. Thank you.
I hope you are having a lovely weekend! It's supposed to be 11C on Thursday!
This week and next we are learning all about Birds and Spring! We are listening to real bird calls (Audobon Society), learning about what birds are, parts of birds, what they have, can do, eat, where they live, what they do, and how they make nests. We are continuing to watch live cam of a Bald Eagle Nest in Pennsylvania, and this week the eggs hatched and two little chicks emerged! The children were so excited! We are watching as the male and female take turns bringing fish to the nest and feeding the little ones. We are also writing about what we see happening in the nest.
The books we are reading about Spring and Birds are fiction and non-fiction (mostly non-fiction).
Speaking of nests, the children are making a nest themselves! Some of them are finished and have gone home already. They first put "mud" (brown paint) in their bowls, then put sticks and twigs around the sides and bottom. Then they placed softer items such as dried grass, soft leaves, pussy willow, and lint in the nest. Finally, they glued both halves of the egg shells they brought in "("Are they real?") and we put a little chick inside. A very special THANK YOU to Iris and her family who are sharing the Robin's nest they found with us. We are looking at it and eggs carefully in the Science Centre with magnifying glasses.
We will be focusing on 10 different types of birds in the next little while, in this order: owl, duck, flamingo, chicken, hummingbird, ostrich, penguin, blue jay (Go Jays!), peacock, and woodpecker. I picked up some beautiful feathers this weekend and will add them to our Science Centre. We'll learn what the different kinds of feathers are for and how birds fly. We will also be learning more about what eggs are and about the life cycle of a chicken.
We are talking a lot about the Signs of Spring and I have posted the children's ideas in the hall bulletin board. We also worked on our beginning and ending sounds of words starting and ending with the letters in S-P-R-I-N-G. The children drew a picture and completed the sentence "I know it is Spring because..." Te children also made a very cute card called "Happy Spring." The cards are drying and will go home next week. The All About Birds inquiry folder will go home when we are finished.
In our painting centre, I cut the large pieces of easel paper into large egg shapes and added a lot of white paint to each of our colours, making Easter/Spring colours. The children did a lovely job painting the eggs, and they are on display in our classroom and in the hall.
In our Building Centres we are doing something new: I found large photos of about 20 famous landmarks (such as the Tour Eiffel, the Taj Mahal, the Banff Springs Hotel, etc. and the idea is to be the builders - to copy those buildings using blocks, lego, Treo. They are doing a terrific job!
The Popcorn words for this week were HAVE and SAW. Please add the words to your child's home folder.
The children did a terrific job at the Sharing Assembly, singing the song M-A-R-C-H ( a copy of which will go home). Congratulations to Sabrina, Luca and Sophie who received awards for Honesty.
My students also enjoyed seeing a performance in the gym about Hansel and Gretel by the Shoestring Opera, and they wrote about why they enjoyed it so much.
Thank you so much to the Parent Volunteers this week: Lauren's mom was Mystery Reader and Martel's and Matthew C.'s moms helped out with Pizza Lunch. Thank you so much for your time and energy.
The March Scholastic Order is due on Tuesday. Thank you.
This Wednesday will be our Spring Craft party in the afternoon. Thank you in advance to the parents who are volunteering! It's going to be fun!
Just a quick note about scooters: For safety reasons please leave them in the area inside the MAIN FRONT school doors. Thank you.
I hope you are having a lovely weekend! It's supposed to be 11C on Thursday!
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