November
15
November
1
Día de los Muertos
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!
October
12
Who’s Under Those Masks?
Wearing a mask all day isn’t easy, but students in our class have risen to the challenge and are doing such a great job of keeping themselves and everyone around them safer.
Earlier in the school year, students created an art piece that involved drawing themselves wearing and not wearing a mask. We followed a tutorial step by step and I think they turned out beautifully!
We’d love to share our work with you!
March
26
Maps of the Island
If you have your finished map of the island, email it to me and I’ll add it to this blog post. Thanks in advance for sharing your drawings!
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- island map by Peter
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- island map by Mason
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- island map by Daya
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- island map by Logan
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- island map by Izzy
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- island map by Paul
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- island map by Harry
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- island drawn by Lola
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- island map by Nicole
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- island map by Manuela
February
27
Welcome Ventriloquist Tim Holland!
Last week, our school welcomed a very talented bilingual ventriloquist, Tim Holland. We didn’t quite know what to expect, but he certainly didn’t disappoint!
Tim was very engaging and did a super job of audience engagement. He spoke to us in both French and English. He said he’s been doing ventriloquism for over 20 years!
He first introduced us to a puppet named Crackers who had quite the personality and was very funny! He shared his amazing juggling skills, and even performed on a unicycle! Check out some of the pictures and a video from his visit.
What was your most memorable moment of Tim’s visit?
December
13
Christmas Concert
December
10
Reporting Live From…
Our students have recently traveled as reporters to various habitats around the world! Some traveled to very humid destinations and some even traveled to the bitterly cold Arctic!
They researched, prepared, and presented to tell you a little bit about the Desert, Arctic, Rainforest, Forest, Mountain, Ocean, and Grassland habitats.
Check it out!
November
12
Digital Art–Remembrance Day
As we remember our fallen heroes and honour those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom, we must understand what peace is. It is easy to get caught up in the negativity that we may see in social media, on the news, and around us. But, we must celebrate the good, and remind ourselves how we can be peacemakers in our world, in our school, in our families.
We read a beautiful book called What is Peace by Wallace Edwards and had some terrific discussion around the thought-provoking pictures in the book and the great questions posed on each page.
Next, we designed our own peace posters with the theme of remembrance and peace. We recorded ourselves against a green screen sharing what we think peace is. Our posters are proudly hanging in our school.
Have a look at a few examples!
What is peace to YOU?
November
1
Green Screen Fun
Today, we only just scratched the surface of our latest addition to our classroom…a green screen! Check out some neat things we tried out today.
Today, this student experienced snow for the first time!
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is Nov. 2nd.
The Wicked Witch of the West came to visit
Caught in the spider web
Day of the Dead masks
Here are our carved pumpkins
June
20
Buzzing About Bees!
Turkey Jay, Mrs. Sullivan’s husband, is a bee-keeper ‘on the side’. He just loves bees and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. There’s always so much to learn about bees. They truly are an incredible insect and are not to be feared.
He couldn’t visit with us today, so he sent me with some of his bee-keeping tools and gadgets to share with my students.
We watched some cool videos, learning a little bit about bees, including their waggle dance!
Students loved painting their designs on the bee boxes and Turkey Jay can’t wait to use these homes for the bees this summer! The bees will be happy and are thankful for beautifying their homes!
Here are 10 Fun Facts about Bees that
maybe you didn’t know:
1. There are 3 categories of honey bees: the males (drones), the females are the worker bees, and the queen
2. The only purpose of the male bees is to mate with the queen
3. In the Fall, the female bees kick out the drones from the hive because they are not needed over the winter time.
4. Drone bees do not have stinger
5. The queen bee has a bigger abdomen than the other bees
6. The queen lays 1500 eggs each day. It takes 21 days for the eggs to hatch.
7. When the queen lays an egg, she chooses to fertilize it or not. A non-fertilized egg turns into a drone (male bee). A fertilized egg turns into a worker bee (female).
8. The honey bee is the only insect in the world that makes food that we eat
9. Honey bees produce many things including propolys which is like a glue that bees use to seal cracks and secures things. If a mouse dies in the hive, the bees cannot drag it out, so they entomb the mouse in propolys so the dead body does not contaminate the hive. Smart!
10. Bees don’t sleep. Ever! They are not dormant in the winter. Their wings beat together and they produce heat this way.