60% of how we express ourselves is through the body, 30% is the tone of voice, and only the last 10% is what you say says Mark Hill, a physical theatre artist and a famous visiting educator at International Schools around the world.
In Drama, students have recently presented their mirror image skits which involved expressing themselves through movement. They have done a lot of preparing, practicing, and planning with their partners. Each partnership created the context for their performance, whether that be waking up in the morning, going to a pool, or going to a movie theatre. Ideas were very diverse! It was a lot of fun to watch the performances and witness the synchronicity and calculated movements the partnerships made. Awesome!
Recently, we made a Christmas ornament using a cinnamon stick and some holiday fabric cut into strips. It looks like an old fashioned type of ornament that perhaps would have been made decades ago.
We first learned a little bit about cinnamon and where it comes from. Some students guessed that cinnamon came from the ground and we dig it up. Others thought it came from apples somehow. A few thought it was a plant. But, we all agreed that we enjoy the taste of cinnamon in things like:
cinnamon rolls
on top of pies, cakes, muffins
on top of hot chocolate
on apples
When we watched the short video below, we learned where it really comes from…the bark of cinnamon trees!
Did you know that 90% of the world’s cinnamon comes from Sri Lanka? The cinnamon sticks we used actually came from Indonesia.
The ornaments were finished with a button that each student got to pick out and then we added some twine to hang our ornaments on a tree. They turned out so lovely!
Tonight, our school gym was filled with the sound of music as our annual Christmas concert took center stage. Students have been rehearsing for quite some time and now was show time!
While there may have been some nerves, all students did a wonderful job singing the songs they know so well while having fun onstage.
Each and every one of us is unique–that’s what makes us special! We are like snowflakes–no two are alike. Isn’t that what makes the world so great? We all have different tastes, likes, challenges, strengths, gifts.
Today, we all worked together to build snowflakes. We watched a video showing us how it works. Our snowflakes have 6 points. With a little patience and a positive attitude, we worked as a team to build 5 snowflakes to hang in our classroom.
Great job, Grade 3s! I can’t wait to string them up this weekend. See you on Monday!
There’s never a dull moment in our class! We’ve been so engaged in all aspects of our day–French, Math, Science and more. We enjoy working in different teams, sharing our strengths and gifts, nibbling on treats, learning about all sorts of things. Check us out!
On Tuesday, the Grade 3s made the visit to Museum London. We split into 2 groups and toured the various galleries, learning about local artists such as Merle “Ting” Tingley as well as other Canadian artists.
Merle Tingley “Ting”
We talked about ideas such as the elements of design, mood, inspiration, symmetry, movement, and much more.
After our tour, we enjoyed creating a piece of mixed media art. It was a Fall scene involving the changing colours of leaves on trees. We used a variety of media including paper, paint, string. Using cool colours–a blue and green wash, we created the sky and ground. Trees were created using torn pages from a book and the leaves were painted on using warm colours.
Have a look at the process and our finished pieces!
mind·ful (adjective) To be conscious or aware of something, paying attention on purpose.
With busy schedules, always places to go, always in transition, bombardment of information and images from screens, it is not easy to be quiet, be still, be present. Today, our class launched a simple idea: Mindfulness Mondays. This is where we practice 3 simple things:
On Friday, our school welcomed a Metis artist named Brenda Collins. Brenda’s mother is of the Odawa Nation and her father is French.
Classes gathered in the library to help put together a Medicine Wheel Mosaic. It is also called The Four Directions or a Healing Circle. It is intergenerational. That means that each of the 4 colours of the Healing Circle represent either the child, youth, adult, or elders.The tiles in the centre are mirror tiles and that allows us to look at ourselves and reflect on our inner feelings and thoughts.
The green tiles at the bottom of the piece represent Mother Earth and blue tiles at the top represent Father Sky. The brown tiles around the border represent the 4 sacred smudging medicines: tobacco, sweetgrass, sage, and cedar.
The finished mosaic uses more than 6500 glass square pieces that are glued down. Each staff member and student helped to make the Medicine Wheel on Friday. Brenda will take it home and add any finishing touches.
This is what the finished product will look like:
As of June of 2018, there are 72 Medicine Wheels across the region. The one that we made as a school will proudly hang in our front hallway of our school.
A big thank you to Brenda for teaching us about the Medicine Wheel!
What an awesome day spent together, learning, laughing, engaging. I was so proud of our students who represented our school so well. Way to go!
We started off our day visiting the local Apple Store in the mall. Upon arrival, we became Apple Ambassadors and got to wear a special Apple magnetic pin that we wore for the rest of the day…and got to keep!
The staff were so welcoming and once we split into teams, they advised, and coached in how to use the app called Clips. It’s free in the app store.
The task was to take a poem they’d been given, and to bring it to life using the app Clips. Students spent about an hour exploring the app, working with the Advisor in putting together their project, andthen finally added the fun effects such as filters, emojis, stickers, music, and so on. All groups had brought in some props to help tell the story of the poem. Most importantly of all, the students had fun!
We concluded our visit at Apple by watching all of the groups’ projects on a big screen. Students were given a USB wrist bracelet with their project on it to take home.
Our next mission was to enjoy a picnic-style lunch outside beside Masonville Library. It was a gorgeous day so we took advantage. Afterwards, we went into the library and met the librarian named Linda. She taught us how books areorganized in a library, what a Call Number is, read us a book called Library Lion and invited us to write a short book of our own.
Next, it was time for a library tour. Finally, students were invited to explore the library and sign out a book with their library cards and take them home to enjoy.
Thank you to all of our parent volunteers: Mrs. Franze, Mrs. Paterson, Mrs. deRond, Mrs. Cifelli, and Mrs. Pinto. We appreciated your time and energy today and it made our trip extra special to have you there.
Here are the completed student projects. Fantastic job, everyone!
