We had SNOW much fun today during gym class. We gathered in groups of 4 and had a friendly competition to see which group could build the biggest snow mound. We had a time limit and then the students had to judge the winner but couldn’t vote for themselves. What fantastic packing snow! It was rolling up just like a carpet revealing the bright green grass beneath.
We went from this last Friday…
To this today…
Get outside, no matter the weather!
Who knew growing beans would cause such excitement and interest in our class?
As part of our plants and soil unit, we decided to plant some bean seeds! We planted 3 bean seeds each and have kept them by our classroom window. Mrs. Sullivan has been keeping the paper towel damp using a spray bottle. We did not use any soil.
Check out this video so you can try it at home, too!
We have been looking at our plants with a scientist’s eye by recording our observations on a regular basis. We are so excited when we can see the beans growing taller each day! We are nearing the end of taking care of our plants at school. They will be coming home soon where students will chat with their parents about whether they will plant them in soil or not.
Our next steps? We’ll combine science with math and will be measuring our plants. We will answer questions such as:
Students have recently began presenting their AMAZING plant research projects. They researched quite a variety of plants. Here’s a few…
If you could have your very own garden,
what plant would definitely be in there and why?
In early November each year, students will learn about the importance of Remembrance Day, what it means and its significance.
Also at this time of year, we learn about peace and the difference between a peacemaker and peacebreaker. Today, each student wrote a paragraph about an instance when he or she was a peacemaker themselves. Some students shared that they helped put dishes away without being asked. Another student shared that they helped friends come to a resolution, thus avoiding an argument. There were many wonderful examples!
We also watched the video below and stopped at various points to discuss what was happening and understand how the man’s acts of kindness had a ripple effect on those around him.
Kindness is contagious!
How does it make you feel to do an act of kindness for someone else?
What does it mean “Kindness is contagious”?
What is peace?
The Peace Book by Todd Parr was an inspiration for us to write about what we thought peace means. In the same style of author Todd Parr, we each wrote a sentence and drew a picture that illustrates how we see peace. We are putting together our book to display in our class library.
Have a listen to what our classmates thought about what peace is.
We came back to school today in a different month and with an extra hour of sleep under out belts.
Something else was different today…we had snow on the ground!
Needless to say, we had a lot of fun playing outside today.
It doesn’t seem like the white stuff is going to last as temperatures are expected to rise later this week.
What are you looking forward to this winter?
This year, The Day of the Dead is celebrated on Monday Nov. 2nd. We learned about this cultural celebration and how it is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and elsewhere associated with the Catholic celebrations of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
We learned that the festivities are colourful and joyful and celebrate the life of loved ones who have already passed away. Many Mexican families will place candles, photos, food offerings, and more at the grave sites of their loved ones. Many people dress up as skeletons, attend parades, gather in prayer, and enjoy plenty of music and dancing.
Last week, we created our own versions of the Calavera which means “skull.” We used a paper plate, markers, colourful stickers and flowers. Check out our artwork!
Feliz Día de los Muertos!
On Tuesday, our class was delighted to welcome Alyson into our room for a Skype session all the way from the USA! We Skyped for a period of about 45 minutes which seemed to fly by because she was so informative and engaging.
Alyson gave us some clues about where she was skyping from including:
Yes, Alyson was talking to us from Texas!
Alyson is a bat biologist. She is a PhD candidate and studies wildlife. In her introduction, she showed us pictures of places around the world where she’s traveled and the different animals she’s worked with. She told us that her love of wildlife started at a very young age.
The students had many wonderful questions and were able to come up to the laptop and directly ask Alyson.
Here’s some of the things we learned:
Alyson was asked what was her favourite species of bat and she said it was the wrinkle-faced bat:
Today, one of my students said that bats are his new favourite animal. Who knows…we may just have a future bat scientist in our classroom right now!
Thank you, Alyson for inspiring us and spending your time with us!
How do we become better readers? READ, of course! Students were asked to reflect on what they love the most about reading, where they like to read, and what types of books they like best. We made a bulletin board of our responses and here’s a few of those responses…
Where’s YOUR favourite place to read?