Tuesday 27 May 2014
Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
We made a great big list of all the things we can do to help fill people's buckets.
The kids used PicCollage on the iPads to make a poster about what they can do to fill someone's bucket.
Here are the PicCollages the students made.
Have you filled someone's bucket today?
Saturday 17 May 2014
Walking Wednesday Part 2
This week we went for our second Walking Wednesday.
Just like last week, before we went on our journey we looked on a map to see if there were any geocaches nearby.
We saw that there were two but they were "nano" caches. I explained to the children that these types of caches are very very tiny and there would be no treasures inside. As I suspected they were still very excited about searching for them.
Unfortunately, Wednesday was a very cold day and not all of the students were dressed for the weather. By the time we got to our first destination it was snowing and many of the student were pretty cold.
Even though the children were cold they played and searched for the geocache and we eventually found it. The students were shocked at how tiny it was and that there was a tiny roll of paper inside, just big enough for us to sign our names on.
We decided to skip our second search and head to a park close by to have our snack before heading back to the school. We were happy that the sun even came out for a little while!
Just like last week, before we went on our journey we looked on a map to see if there were any geocaches nearby.
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| The smiley faces are caches we've found. |
Unfortunately, Wednesday was a very cold day and not all of the students were dressed for the weather. By the time we got to our first destination it was snowing and many of the student were pretty cold.
Even though the children were cold they played and searched for the geocache and we eventually found it. The students were shocked at how tiny it was and that there was a tiny roll of paper inside, just big enough for us to sign our names on.
We decided to skip our second search and head to a park close by to have our snack before heading back to the school. We were happy that the sun even came out for a little while!
Thursday 8 May 2014
Mystery Number Skypes
For the last couple of weeks our class has been playing the "Mystery Number" game. One person picks a number between 1-20. The number is a secret and everyone else tries to guess it by asking "juicy questions."
Our list of "juicy questions" includes:
Does your number have one digit?
Does your number have two digits?
Is your number odd?
Is your number even?
Is your number more than __?
Is your number less than ___?
We are getting better and better at solving the mystery quickly!
Today we played this game with Mrs. Mac's class in North Carolina. We have done other projects with them before but today was the first time we actually got to meet them.
It was really funny when we discovered that we are both Room 8 and we had both chosen 20 as our mystery number.
In the afternoon we played with Mrs. Wood from her house. She is at home on maternity leave. It was nice to see her because we miss her a lot!
Our list of "juicy questions" includes:
Does your number have one digit?
Does your number have two digits?
Is your number odd?
Is your number even?
Is your number more than __?
Is your number less than ___?
We are getting better and better at solving the mystery quickly!
Today we played this game with Mrs. Mac's class in North Carolina. We have done other projects with them before but today was the first time we actually got to meet them.
It was really funny when we discovered that we are both Room 8 and we had both chosen 20 as our mystery number.
In the afternoon we played with Mrs. Wood from her house. She is at home on maternity leave. It was nice to see her because we miss her a lot!
Walking Wednesday
For the month of May we will be going for walks around our community. Today was our first Walking Wednesday. Even though the weather didn't look great, the students were very excited.
Before we left we looked at a map of our community. We also checked a special map for geocaches. If you haven't heard of geocaching, I'm sure you soon will. Geocaching is a treasure hunt that is happening all over the world, right now! People can use global positioning systems (GPS) to hide and find treasures.
If you don't have a GPS device, you can easily put the geocaching app on your smartphone. This is the one I use. It costs around $10 but can provide hours of fun and adventure for you and your family.
We decided on three caches to search for. They were all fairly close to our school and also a park that we wanted to play at. We also selected a number of items that we could trade for treasure that we found in the caches (the rule is you can only take something out if you leave something of equal value behind). It's also important to bring a writing tool so that you can sign the log book.
Before we left we looked at a map of our community. We also checked a special map for geocaches. If you haven't heard of geocaching, I'm sure you soon will. Geocaching is a treasure hunt that is happening all over the world, right now! People can use global positioning systems (GPS) to hide and find treasures.
If you don't have a GPS device, you can easily put the geocaching app on your smartphone. This is the one I use. It costs around $10 but can provide hours of fun and adventure for you and your family.
 |
| http://www.geocaching.com/mobile/default.aspx |
We decided on three caches to search for. They were all fairly close to our school and also a park that we wanted to play at. We also selected a number of items that we could trade for treasure that we found in the caches (the rule is you can only take something out if you leave something of equal value behind). It's also important to bring a writing tool so that you can sign the log book.
Please ask your child about our adventures today!
Friday 2 May 2014
Music Monday
On Monday, May 5th, the students of Stevenson school will be meeting to celebrate the 10th annual Music Monday. We will be gathering at 8:50 AM, on the hard top, behind the school for our mini-concert (we will meet in the gym if it is raining).
We will be singing Is Somebody Singing (I.S.S.) by Commander Chris Hadfield and Ed Robertson. Families are welcome to join us!
Check our the live webcast at 11:00 AM with performances across the country and a nation wide sing-a-long at 11:52. Visit www.musicmonday.ca for the link.
 |
| Source |
Check our the live webcast at 11:00 AM with performances across the country and a nation wide sing-a-long at 11:52. Visit www.musicmonday.ca for the link.
Thursday 1 May 2014
Our class will be participating in a fun project for the month of May. It's a photo challenge using Instagram!
Every day the students are given a word and then our class will work together to represent that word in a photo and share it on Instagram. The fun part is that lots of other classes will be doing the same project so we will all be able to compare photos.
Mrs. Lowe's class participated in the same project last year and it was a bunch of fun. You can still see some of the photos on our Instagram account.
We were also inspired by Ms. Clark from http://200awesomedays.blogspot.ca to follow some "rules" for our posts on Instagram.
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| http://eduphotoaday.blogspot.ca |
We were also inspired by Ms. Clark from http://200awesomedays.blogspot.ca to follow some "rules" for our posts on Instagram.
Want to see our photos?
Follow us on Instagram: Our username is MrsLowesClass. Please send me an email at clowe@sjsd.net with your username so that I can approve you and make sure you're not a stranger. Also, we will only follow other classes so that I can make sure our feed is safe and appropriate for student eyes.
Check our Twitter feed on the blog: We will also post our photos to Twitter so they will show up on the blog.
Follow the #: If you are on Instagram, you can search the #eduphotoadaymay to see some of the other photos. (Ours won't show up unless you follow us because our account is private, all followers must be approved)
Africa
Today was a very exciting day in our room! We got a call on Skype from Mrs. Lowe's Mom and Dad. Right now they are in Swaziland, Africa. They are doing some work there and were happy to answer our questions.
(This call was unexpected and I did not prompt my students or talk to them at all about Africa before we got the call. I was AMAZED at their questions!)
What does it look like there?
Very dry, and it's starting to get cool. It is fall here. When we were driving today we was goats, chickens, dogs and cows. There are also palm trees and banana trees here.
Do they have houses?
Yes but they look very different than our houses. They are built from mud and tin. They have cement walls around them to keep wild animals out.
Do they have food there?
Yes but not enough. The children that we are working with may only get two meals each day. Many of them have to walk for over an hour to get to the care-point where they can get food.
Do they have a school?
Yes. People have to pay to send their children to school. The children have to wear a clean uniform everyday. If they do not behave or they do not have a uniform, they are not allowed to attend the school.
Do they have water?
They have some water but not enough. It is very dry and some people have to drink water from dirty streams and it makes them very sick.
The students were shocked about this last one. After we said goodbye we talked about what they had learned from the call. The students talked a lot about how they wanted to help the children their. They also talked about skin colour (not sure where this came from as we only saw my mom and dad on Skype). The students concluded that people have different colours of skin because our families come from different places.
I have sent my parents an email asking about ways that our class can help and I will keep you posted.
My heart was warmed today by the empathy my students showed. I can't wait to help support them in finding ways to help others.
-Mrs. Lowe
(This call was unexpected and I did not prompt my students or talk to them at all about Africa before we got the call. I was AMAZED at their questions!)
What does it look like there?
Very dry, and it's starting to get cool. It is fall here. When we were driving today we was goats, chickens, dogs and cows. There are also palm trees and banana trees here.
Do they have houses?
Yes but they look very different than our houses. They are built from mud and tin. They have cement walls around them to keep wild animals out.
Do they have food there?
Yes but not enough. The children that we are working with may only get two meals each day. Many of them have to walk for over an hour to get to the care-point where they can get food.
Do they have a school?
Yes. People have to pay to send their children to school. The children have to wear a clean uniform everyday. If they do not behave or they do not have a uniform, they are not allowed to attend the school.
Do they have water?
They have some water but not enough. It is very dry and some people have to drink water from dirty streams and it makes them very sick.
The students were shocked about this last one. After we said goodbye we talked about what they had learned from the call. The students talked a lot about how they wanted to help the children their. They also talked about skin colour (not sure where this came from as we only saw my mom and dad on Skype). The students concluded that people have different colours of skin because our families come from different places.
I have sent my parents an email asking about ways that our class can help and I will keep you posted.
My heart was warmed today by the empathy my students showed. I can't wait to help support them in finding ways to help others.
-Mrs. Lowe
Play Plans
In our classroom we value PLAY! We call it "Thinking and Learning" time because that is what we're doing while we play.
Lately I have been noticing that the children in our class have been more unfocused during their play and there has been more and more conflict between students. Luckily, I have a great community of educators on Twitter and I was able to learn of some kindergarten teachers who are using "play plans" to help students become more thoughtful about their play.
Here's the link to the discussion:
https://mobile.twitter.com/mrazkristine/status/443476468371570689
The point of the play plans is for students to make a plan about what they would like to do/learn/build/create, where they would like to play, and who they would like to participate with them.
My hope is that my students will become more purposeful in their play, stay longer in each experience, and take responsibility for cleaning up their own materials.
When we started our plans, we began by sharing them orally. Now we are beginning to write or draw our plans independently. When students would like to move on to a new activity, they write a new play plan.
Already I have noticed that our room is more calm, students are more engaged in thinking and learning, there is less conflict, and the clean up time is faster. The students have been excited about writing their plans and then setting out to do what they have planned.
Another benefit of the play plans is that the students can bring them home and share them with you!
Here's what some of the students have to say about Play Plans:
Play plans help us to stay in one place so we don't go place to place. - Leah
 |
| Check out a fantastic blog post on play by Krissy Venosdale here |
Here's the link to the discussion:
https://mobile.twitter.com/mrazkristine/status/443476468371570689
The point of the play plans is for students to make a plan about what they would like to do/learn/build/create, where they would like to play, and who they would like to participate with them.
My hope is that my students will become more purposeful in their play, stay longer in each experience, and take responsibility for cleaning up their own materials.
When we started our plans, we began by sharing them orally. Now we are beginning to write or draw our plans independently. When students would like to move on to a new activity, they write a new play plan.
Already I have noticed that our room is more calm, students are more engaged in thinking and learning, there is less conflict, and the clean up time is faster. The students have been excited about writing their plans and then setting out to do what they have planned.
Another benefit of the play plans is that the students can bring them home and share them with you!
Here's what some of the students have to say about Play Plans:
Play plans help us to stay in one place so we don't go place to place. - Leah
Play plans help us to remember to clean up when we are done. - Gabriel
You have to sign up before you play. -Ken
More Photos from the Children's Museum
We are so lucky that Essence's Mom took lots of photos on our field trip. Here they are!
Copy of My Animoto Video
Copy of My Animoto Video
Play Plans
In our classroom we value PLAY! We call it "Thinking and Learning" time because that is what we're doing while we play.
Lately I have been noticing that the children in our class have been more unfocused during their play and there has been more and more conflict between students. Luckily, I have a great community of educators on Twitter and I was able to learn of some kindergarten teachers who are using "play plans" to help students become more thoughtful about their play.
Here's the link to the discussion:
https://mobile.twitter.com/mrazkristine/status/443476468371570689
The point of the play plans is for students to make a plan about what they would like to do/learn/build/create, where they would like to play, and who they would like to participate with them.
My hope is that my students will become more purposeful in their play, stay longer in each experience, and take responsibility for cleaning up their own materials.
When we started our plans, we began by sharing them orally. Now we are beginning to write or draw our plans independently. When students would like to move on to a new activity, they write a new play plan.
Already I have noticed that our room is more calm, students are more engaged in thinking and learning, there is less conflict, and the clean up time is faster. The students have been excited about writing their plans and then setting out to do what they have planned.
Another benefit of the play plans is that the students can bring them home and share them with you!
Here's what some of the students have to say about Play Plans:
Play plans help us to stay in one place so we don't go place to place. - Leah
|
| Check out a fantastic blog post on play by Krissy Venosdale here |
Here's the link to the discussion:
https://mobile.twitter.com/mrazkristine/status/443476468371570689
The point of the play plans is for students to make a plan about what they would like to do/learn/build/create, where they would like to play, and who they would like to participate with them.
My hope is that my students will become more purposeful in their play, stay longer in each experience, and take responsibility for cleaning up their own materials.
When we started our plans, we began by sharing them orally. Now we are beginning to write or draw our plans independently. When students would like to move on to a new activity, they write a new play plan.
Already I have noticed that our room is more calm, students are more engaged in thinking and learning, there is less conflict, and the clean up time is faster. The students have been excited about writing their plans and then setting out to do what they have planned.
Another benefit of the play plans is that the students can bring them home and share them with you!
Here's what some of the students have to say about Play Plans:
Play plans help us to stay in one place so we don't go place to place. - Leah
Play plans help us to remember to clean up when we are done. - Gabriel
You have to sign up before you play. -Ken
More Photos from the Children's Museum
We are so lucky that Essence's Mom took lots of photos on our field trip. Here they are!
Copy of My Animoto Video
Copy of My Animoto Video
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