Georgia O-Keeffe Flowers

Today we had a guest from Room 11.  She came to teach us how to draw flowers like Georgia O-Keeffe.

First we watched a video that showed some of Georgia O-Keeffe's paintings and it had beautiful music. You can watch it here.

She showed us how to make big flowers with petals going right off the page!

First we sketched our flowers lightly with pencils. Then we used chalk to go over the lines and a tissue to smear the colour around.

Here's a little peak of how they turned out.

Have you ever used coloured chalk on paper?

Kid Blogs

It's Mrs. Lowe writing today:

This week, several students in my class expressed interest in creating their own blogs. Luckily, I have seen several examples of safe and simple blogging for students on Ms. Cassidy and Ms. Malkoske's class blogs.

Their students have accounts on Kidblogs.org. This platform allows students to write their own blog posts and then submit them to me for approval. All of the blog posts and comments are routed for the teacher before they are published. I will check to make sure blog posts and comments are safe.

I feel like my students are ready for this independence because of the blogging we have been doing together since September. The students have learned about being safe by never including their names with their photos, never using their last names or details about where they live or where they will be at a  specific time.

The students are beginning to understand that their words will be read by many other people and they should only post work they are proud of.

I am so proud of my students and how their writing has progressed this year. I am also proud of the responsible digital citizens they are becoming.

You can see their blogs here.

Please feel free to read and comment on their blogs (using first names only please).

Experts on Bees and Trees!

Today our class met 2 experts! In the morning Chris from The Bee Project came to talk to us about bees and making honey.

He brought a dead bee so that we could get a very close look at it. He told us we have to be careful because even dead bees can sting.

He also showed us a smoker and explained how it makes the bees sleepy and calm so that the bee-keeper can do their work.

He showed us the honeycomb and explained all about the queen bee and how the drones take care of her. We all got to try on the special hat that protects the bee-keeper from getting stung.

Chris brought us some honey and we all got to try some. We really loved his visit, and the honey! If you would like to order some delicious honey, check their website! Chris said he can even deliver it right to the school!

In the afternoon, Mary from the Green Action Centre came to teach us all about trees and paper. She reminded us that most of the paper we use is made from trees. But did you know that paper can also be made from other things? She showed us paper made from wheat, flower petals, banana leaves and even old jeans!

She encouraged us to reduce the amount of paper we use by using both sides. When we are finished with paper we should recycle it to make new paper!

How can you help our environment and be a friend to the earth?