Once upon a time, there was a boy who had a baby spider plant and he wanted to give it a name. He had three names that he liked but he couldn’t decide which one was his favourite. The names were: Sid, Barney, and Spivey. He decided to ask his classmates to vote for their favourite name during their class meeting on Friday. After the votes were counted at the class meeting, there were six votes for Sid, one vote for Barney, and six votes for Spivey. The vote was tied between Sid and Spivey. The students didn’t know what to do so Noah suggested that Ms. McKenna could send…

At  carpet time on Friday, Division 8 voted on the story elements for our class story. The main character will be a princess, the setting will be a castle, and the object will be a magic wand. Each student will write one page and make one illustration for the story before it is passed on to the next student. Stay tuned for more instructions. Today is a celebration for Star Wars fans because the date, May the Fourth, sounds like one of the movie’s famous lines “May the force be with you.” If you are a Star Wars fan you might enjoy this video. Look at how this artist uses…

Noah created a web for his Write and Tell about his plant and offered to share his web on the blog. He is hoping that Division 8 can help him to name his plant. We will talk about it in our class meeting today. Since Noah has us thinking about plants today, let’s watch a video about a very strange plant that grows in the southern part of Africa. For storytime today, you can listen to a story that is also about plants. It is called The Empty Pot and it is written and illustrated by Demi.

During Wednesday’s carpet time, you suggested ideas for our class story. We have 6 possibilities for a character, a setting, and an object. Usually, you would roll the dice to find out which one will be in your story but this time, we will vote. During Friday’s carpet time, remember to bring a piece of paper and something that you can use to write for our vote. If you will not be at our meeting on Friday, please send me an e-mail with your choice for each category. You will start taking turns writing and illustrating the story next week. Some of you already started to think of your own…

Today, you will start your write and tell. Your first task is to pick an object that is special or interesting. What would you like to show to your friends? Once you have picked your object, you are going to think of as many ideas as you can about your object. You could write them in a web or in a list. Sometimes, this is called a brainstorm because the ideas are storming out of your brain like thunder, lightning, and rain. Making a web or list of ideas before you start writing will make it much easier when it is time to write. What will you do for fun…

This is a house that Shallow built with her lego. It looks so great that I asked her if I can move in if I shrink down and become tiny. Imagine what it would be like to be that small. Today, you can write a story about what could happen if you woke up one morning and you were tiny enough to live in this house or maybe a lego house that you built. For fun, take a look at this tiny art gallery that a couple built for their pet gerbils. Do you have a shoe box or a box about that size at home? Try making your own…

I know that we have many Dog Man fans in our classroom so I was quite excited when I found these videos. The Dog Man, author and illustrator, Dave Pilkey has created some videos that show how to draw his characters.  Now you can practice drawing the characters at home: https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/books/dav-pilkey-at-home-videos/ In math today, I am giving you the answer and you need to decide what the question is. Please see this link for more information about the task and I will also be talking about this in our class meeting this morning. Monday is a professional development day for teachers so there will be no learning activities for that…

Your weekly schedule has been updated with a link for today’s dance lesson and a math game called Strike it Out (or Cross it Off).  If you were in my class last year, you might remember this game.  Usually, we would learn this together in the classroom before trying it at home so if you are not sure about the instructions send me an e-mail and I will see if I can help. Here is a link to the game: https://nrich.maths.org/6589 There is also a new online math game to help you practice filling in the 100 chart. You have done this kind of puzzle in the classroom on paper…

Happy Earth Day! Our learning activities today are based on the Earth Day theme. If we were in the classroom right now, we would be talking about how every day is Earth Day for us because we are always trying to do our best to take of the Earth. During centres today, you could celebrate Earth Day by using some of your recycling to make a creation. Can you turn your recycling into: something that you can use around the house a toy a piece of art This link to a Science World activity talks about how you can make a parachute using recycled items. Watch this video to see…

  You have been sending so many great pictures of your lego creations. Today’s picture was a creation made by Alexa. Can you decode Alexa’s message? If you enjoy decoding messages, here is a link to a game on the National Geographic website. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/games/action-and-adventure/crack-the-code/ During Nature School today, you are going to look for birds from your window, your yard, or maybe on a walk. Here is link to more information about today’s nature school activity. If you have time, take a look at the Cornell Bird Cameras to see some live video of birds in their nests. If you are looking for a storytime book for today, here is…