Symmetrical Snowflakes

This week we were inspired by two of our favourite blogs!  On Tuesday we read this blog. We loved the designs they made and we left a comment on their blog. On Wednesday,  Mrs. Lowe gave us our own pattern blocks to build with during music listening time. We made all sorts of designs including sunflowers, robots, people and even a bunny!

On Thursday we checked out this blog. Mrs. Lowe read us a story about a snowflake and showed us how to make snowflakes with six symmetrical sides. We each got a white paper and built our own snowflakes.

We are so glad to follow such great blogs to follow and amazing classrooms to inspire us!

My heart is melting!

Today I received the most precious gift from my students. 

A special thanks to Mrs. Jenkinson for helping my students create this beautiful work of art. It's comforting to know that my students are being well taken care of while I am away.

I feel so lucky to get to spend my days with such awesome little people. They make my heart melt every day.

Source: Pinterest

THANK YOU!

I love you guys!

Transforming Pedagogical Practices

Hello Readers,

It's Mrs. Lowe writing today. Last weekend I was fortunate to attend a conference in Burlington Ontario.  The conference was titled, Transforming Pedagogical Practices: Making Connections Across Ontario.  The conference was hosted by The Canadian Association for Young Children and the Ontario Reggio Association.

The day started with a key note address by Jim Grieve. He was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of the Early Learning Division for the Ontario Ministry of Education in 2009. He was responsible for the implementation of full day learning for 4 and 5 year old children in all Ontario Schools.

His address was titled "How Toddlers Will Save the World." He talked about the value of our investment as a society when we invest in children.

He told us that...

Education needs to be modernized ...which is about "putting away your October box of pumpkins" and instead focus on...

 

INTERACTION
talking and listening to the children's interest and questions
getting down, eye to eye
provoking children to challenge thinking

He told us about some researchers in China who were working with Panda cubs who had been born into captivity. In order to prepare them for the world, the researchers dressed up as Pandas whenever they were working with the cubs. Jim encouraged us to "suit up" when we are working with our students. As teachers, we should get down on the floor with students, get our hands dirty and become participants in their play. 

Following the keynote address I attended 3 amazing workshops. 

The first one was hosted by Joanne Babalis. I was really excited to meet her after following her blog since early this summer. It was her classroom transformation that inspired the changes in my own classroom.  You can check out her blog here:

http://myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.ca/

She showed us some beautiful examples of inquiry-based learning and how to 

document the learning that is taking place.  

In the afternoon I went to a session titled "Magic Happens." We got to hear the experiences of a team of teachers who are beginning to move from traditional teaching to a more inquiry-based approach. During their presentation they showed slides with direct quotes from the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum. 

"The Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program reflects the belief that 4 and 5 year olds are capable and active learners, full of potential and ready to take ownership of their learning..."

"The FDELKP consists of a balance of exploration or investigation, guided instruction and explicit instruction...learning experiences will be thoughtfully planned and guided by team members..."

These quotes really capture what it's all about.

I had a great weekend and can't wait to start sharing my learning with my students and their families!

Vincent van Gogh

A few days ago Mrs. Lowe opened a new painting centre. We have been painting lots and lots of pictures. Mrs. Lowe suggested we should add titles to our paintings like Vincent van Gogh did. She showed us some of his paintings.

Sunflowers

Starry Starry Night

We also read a book about van Gogh. We learned that when he was alive nobody really liked his paintings and he felt really sad. One time he even cut off his own ear. People thought he was a weirdo.

He died when he was only 37 but he painted over 1500 paintings before then.

After he died he got very popular and people started to love his paintings and now they are in museums.

Today we painted our own sunflowers. We are going to add them to a background. We can't wait to show you the finished product during conferences!

Here is our finished product!

I like his painting of sunflowers - Mercedez
I love his pictures - Abigail
I like his picture of Starry Starry Night - Krystal
If I saw Vincent I would ask him "Why did you cut off your ear?" - Kyran
I thought it was a little funny and sad that he cut off his ear - Oliver
I thought his picture of Starry Starry Night was pretty - Piper

Why?

Today Mr. Miller came to visit our class. He showed us a picture of his Grandpa who fought in the war. Then we read a story together. The story was called "Why?"by Nikolai Popov. It didn't have any words but we could read it by looking at the pictures.

In the story the mouse and the frog were fighting over a rock. The mouse jumped on the frog and they started fighting. The frog and the mouse brought their friends and soon there was a war. In the end the frog and the mouse were sad. Nothing was left, not even the rock. (retold by the students of room 8)

In the end we were asking "Why?"

Why did they fight over the rock? - Kyran
They could have done rock, paper, scissors to share the rock - Delilah
The mice and the frogs died, it made me feel sad - Ajaxx
It was a pretty sad story - Mercedez
It was silly that they fought over a rock when they could have just shared it - Jessica
The story was making me feel sad because all the frogs friends died - Kiara
This story reminded me of the soldiers who died - Annabelle
I was proud of my students for making connections! - Mrs. Lowe

Remembrance Day

Today we made a brainstorm of all the Remembrance Day words we know. Then we read a book and watched a video to find more words that make us think of Remembrance Day. The video we watched was made by Mr. Miller and some of his students at his old school. If you would like to watch the video you can check the link here.

Soldier Video

This book helped us to think of more Remembrance Day words.

This is what our brainstorm looked like on paper.

Then Mrs. Lowe and Mrs. Mackay helped us use Tagxedo to turn our brainstorm into word art.

Thank you Mrs. Mackay for helping us make a brainstorm. - Kyran

The poppies grow by the white crosses where the soldiers died. They help us remember. - Delilah

The soldiers fought to help us be safe. - Mercedez and Ajaxx

The soldiers fought to make our country free - Abigail

The soldiers are very brave. That's why they fought without being scared. p.s. I like poppies - Krystal

In the video, one soldier was crying because the other soldiers were dead. - Kiara

All around the world, soldiers work so they can keep Canada safe and free - Jessica

Poppies

Today we learned about Remembrance Day. We learned that it is a day to remember the soldiers who fought so that we could be free. We learned that poppies and white crosses help us to remember. 

We also learned a poem.

Little Poppy

Given to me

Help me keep Canada 

Safe and free

We made poppies for our bulletin board.

Decorating poppies at our craft centre.

There will be a Remembrance Day assembly at school on Friday, November 9th at 11:00-11:30 AM.

Parents and guests are welcome to attend.

Medicine Wheels

Today Ms. Alexander came for her final visit. She showed us how to make real Medicine Wheels. We were really excited to put all of the beads on ourselves. When we were all done we added a photo of ourselves in the middle. 

When we were all finished Ms. Alexander taught us that there is no Aboriginal word for goodbye so instead we said "Meegwetch"which means "Thank You!"

Polar Bears Part 2

Hello Readers, it's Mrs. Lowe again! I was really hoping to Skype with my students from Churchill but it just didn't work out so I thought I'd post a little recap here.

I arrived in Churchill on Friday morning. My good friends picked me up at the airport and we went for lunch. After lunch we went to "The Complex." Inside is their school (K-12), the library, the hospital, a swimming pool, curling rink, hockey rink and an enormous indoor playground.

On Saturday we toured around the town and saw the Hudson's Bay, the port, the train station, and a really neat museum.

Mrs. Lowe at Hudson's Bay

Inukshuk like the one in our Learning Circle

Sunday we finally got to go on a Tundra Buggy! It felt really cold to me but our guide told us it was actually pretty warm for the bears. We saw lots of bears, a mink, and a beautiful sunset!

The Polar Bears can reach right up to the windows!

Driving the Tundra Buggy

It was a fantastic trip and I learned so much. I really enjoyed showing some of the photos to my students and teaching them all of the new things I learned about Polar Bears and the Tundra.

Polar Bears Part 1

This week we have been learning a lot about the Polar Bears in Churchill.  Today we talked on Skype with BJ from Polar Bears International while he was on a Tundra Buggy!

He answered all of our questions about Polar Bears and even showed us what the Tundra Buggy looks like on the inside.

Mr. McKiel came to hang out too.  He's the guy who gave us the stick bugs. He's also a Coordinator of Curriculum for the St. James School Division.

Tomorrow Mrs. Lowe will be going to Churchill to see the polar bears. We are hoping to talk to her on Skype from our classroom. 

We found a tiny polar bear in our classroom!

Baby Violet's First Visit

Today was a very exciting day! Baby Violet and her Mom came to visit our class for the first time.
When she arrived we sang a welcome song and we got to tickle her toes.

We asked Violet's Mom about all of the things she can do. We learned that she can cry, drink milk, sleep and is almost able to roll over.

We measured to see how big she is. We predict that next month when we see her, she will be bigger than our doll.

Before she left, we sang a special goodbye song.