We got together with our buddy class on a blustery spring day.  Hail, rain and wind didn’t stop us from making rangoli and mandala chalk drawings in the undercover area.  Our hands were cold but our creative spirit was warm with wishes for the spring harvest.  The Mandala is a round form that holds a story.  Each shape, colour, form and pattern is significant in the journey.  Here are some photos of our journey:

Mrs. Wilson treated Division 10 to a buddy ice cream party.  Summer feelings crept in as we ate ice cream cones and popsicles outside in the outdoor classroom.  Students then got to have playtime and reminisce of Kindergarten days at Center Time.  Thanks Dorothy for being a great detective and leading us into this awesome opportunity.

Mrs. Hossack read a beautiful story about cherry blossom time in Japan.  “When The Sakura Bloom” by Narisa Togo encouraged us to observe our own Clinton community cherry blossom trees.  Division 10 has been doing some data collection through sketches as we see the transformation from bud to bloom with our Clinton School cherry blossom trees at the front of the building.  Students also went on an amazing blossom walk and felt the umbrella of blossoms cascade over them.

We are looking forward to all that Spring has to offer now that we have moved into April!

We have made it to Spring Break and we are springing ahead 1 hour this evening.  Division 10 continued to work hard and share love and light in the first few weeks of March.

Best Duo work from February led to comparing and contrasting through Venn Diagrams.  Students compared and contrasted characters from stories which led to comparing and contrasting one another as a buddy activity. This same/different approach will continue into third term.

Unrest in Ukraine and the need for sharing positive energy came shining through with the Room 15 bulletin board of blue and yellow and the sunflower power window.  The individual and creative flower designs, with intentions of sharing a message of peace, has lit up our classroom window.  The message has also been shared on the Clinton Website.  Check it out!

Spring Poems have also been added to the window display in anticipation of the spring equinox, March 21.  Students are looking forward to equal hours of day light and night darkness, moving toward longer days and the summer solstice (longest day of daylight).

International Women’s Day also reminded students to reflect on the amazing women in their lives as well as those that have paved the way for Women’s Rights.  “Girl Power” was stamped into our doorway sign we created.  It was great to see the strength and passion released as the girls pressed their energy and bright colour onto the paper. The trestle tree left the building but Division 10 persevered and created their own physical challenges and experiences.  The students were able to responsibly and independently set up and take down their own apparatus circuit quickly and efficiently.  Taking ownership of their learning gave them more interest in reaching their fullest potential.  The gym space was full of joy and accomplishments.

Thanks to the PAC for ending the term off with a Spirit Day and Pancake Breakfast.  Mmm Mmm Good was the feeling that morning!

Joy also was shared with the daily riddles/jokes.  It became such a popular experience that students began to bring in jokes to share.  That led to a week of Open Mic in Room 15.  Students came up to the front of the room and shared their jokes using a classroom microphone system.

I will leave you now with a joke that speaks to me. Thanks for this one, Hope!

“Why did the teacher wear sunglasses over Spring Break?”…

“None of her bright students were around!”

So true!!!!

Have a bright and rejuvenating Spring Break!

This is what 100 looks like to us:

   What does 100 look like to you?

There are so many ways to visualize math.  Books like 100 Hungry Ants and 100th Day Worries open our hearts and minds to math but also to important social values such as respect and love!

We enjoyed considering an ending to 100 Hungry Ants that would support the “littlest ant” in his quest to help his colony.  We looked at it from a growth mindset perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMQ78Krw8Pg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E44k7rcUynk

With Family Day still in our minds as well as the importance of sharing kindness, care and love, the above math themed book stretched our thinking in so many ways!

Check them out!

Our Pink Shirt display shares words of affirmation and kindness.  We took time during our daily Word Work to check out non-fiction reading material and find words that would help us highlight our feelings about being kind, empowering others and accepting diversity.

We were so very proud to have our Change Sings (Amanda Gorman) presentation shared in the library for all classes to view.  It was our invitation to join a movement of change so that forgiveness, acceptance, love, kindness, hope and inclusion could unite us all and give space for the dreams we have for ourselves and each other.  Lucas shared that we worked on our project for a few weeks, acknowledging that it took time for us to consider such powerful words.  Taj shared that we just didn’t do the project to say we did it but that it came from our heart.  Kai shared that our message is to forgive and accept as we want to be the change we want to see.

“We all hear change strumming; won’t you sing along!“

https://sd41-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/e13432_burnabyschools_ca/EamB_p83LrFPsS8GgQ8jygsBsHRVTXsfoJTLv9qBYb76Hg?e=knrUIF

Share a spot of kindness today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTsQKccuyY

What an exciting, once in a lifetime, moment we have experienced today! 22/02/2022 is the date today and no matter which way you spin it around, it comes out the same.  We won’t see this date ever again! And to think it landed on a Tuesday, what we have called Twosday! Our Double It Up, Twins Day has been so much fun.  We discussed Dynamic Duos, Listened to and reflected on Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg (author of the Polar Express) and participated in all things “2” twoday!

Check out our twinning!

Our mushroom planting also decided to twin up today!  We have new Oyster Mushroom growth from our dismantled shroom garden.

We will post again tomorrow when we share about Pink Shirt Day and our Change Sings presentation.

We have been exploring measurement!  We completed our measurement of time unit and got right into measuring capacity.  With our recent Recipe experiences, we thought we would learn how to measure dry and liquid goods with our teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and measuring containers.  Though a bit messy, we enjoyed the experimenting and comparison activity.

The Trestle Tree has brought many smiles to our faces.  Students have been beaming with pride as they maneuvered through all of the apparatus pieces.  Just a few of our Trestle Tree antics below.

As we move toward Family Day, you are encouraged to send in a family recipe for next week.  Attached is one of the Kids In The Kitchen recipes that you can also try together as a family.  Have a lovely long weekend.

https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/cooking-matters-kids-in-the-kitchen-episode-number-4-snack-recipe?sp=favorites&sn=favorites&st=video%20versions&sid=1218

Where has the time gone?  We did continue with our measurement of time but we did not expect it to already be mid-February!  Happy Valentines Day!  We are currently enjoying our Monday Friendship Funday.  So much appreciation and gratitude has been shared today.

Looking back a week, we can see that we have been immersed in non-fiction reading with recipe and cookbook searches on our to-do list.  We hope to create a classroom cookbook of our favourites.

We began February with an outdoor experiment that did not lead us to our hypothesis.  We predicted that the water in our red water containers would freeze with below zero temperatures.  Unfortunately, the temperature did not drop enough for our liquid to change to a solid.  So… we changed things up and brought the water inside.  This time we were considering how a liquid would change to a gas.  It took only a few days for the minimal amount of water to evaporate.  It took a week for 5/6 containers of water to be empty.  Even though we couldn’t see the transformation happening, our evidence tells us that evaporation has taken place.

We have also been experimenting with the creative process.  As we move through our art experiences, we consider all the pieces of our creative opportunities.  The Valentine and Powerful Pink decor on our door not only had us reuse paper we might normally recycle but it helped us think about a “beautiful oops” or a “happy accident!”

Our next blog post will share some Trestle Tree moments.  Currently, Yinan and Athena, with great cheering from their peers, have challenged themselves and climbed all the way to the top of the climbing rope that goes to the top of the gym ceiling. Wow!

Our first week of February began with the Lunar New Year.  We took time to consider the book, Friends Are Friends Forever, shared by Ms. Hossack in the library.  We created the red ice snowflakes as illustrated in the book.  We hung them in our school garden as a symbol of connection and kindness as a new lunar new year began. 

Our creative process for making the snowflakes began with adding colour to coffee filters, spraying with water and letting the colour bleed through.  We then used red tissue and cut out the snowflake patterns.  A laminate covering acted as our ice and we were able to hang the snowflakes outside despite the weather.

We also continued to celebrate the Year of the Water Tiger with the wearing of red and the symbolic lighting of our lanterns.  We replaced our red lanterns with Colours Of The New Year lanterns that now hang in our room as Rainbow Lanterns of Diversity.

We had so much fun going to Groundhog Weather School and hibernating before waking up on February 2 to see if we had a shadow.  We didn’t see our shadow which means we hope to have an early Spring!

Go Canada Go!  A look into the history of the Olympic Games and connecting with the meaning and purpose of the games led to our Olympic Torch Run and the lighting of our imaginary cauldron.  The experience ignited the ending of our first week of February.  Click on the link for live action footage!

IMG_5643[1]

Jack then connected his learnings from school and experienced the Vancouver Olympic cauldron that was lit for 4 hours at Jack Poole Plaza. It is always a pleasure to see classroom learnings experienced in the real world! 

Mrs. Jefferson also joined in with the February Fun and had students participate in a xylophone sound effect experience connected to a Lunar New Year story.  Check out the link to see and hear the Division 10 performance.

https://sd41-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/e13432_burnabyschools_ca/EXyG9BKro_VMg34wnRtr1mgB4Y5LVV7OuqrnxB5GYT59sA?e=uUtjdk

Thanks for checking out our Division 10 blog post!

Yoga in Motion: We have been improving on our Yoga practice with some of our class leaders taking a role in leading our yoga lessons in the gym.  We are getting very good at downward dog, eagle arms and table top.  We enjoy coming to the edge of our mat in Mountain Pose.

Coffee Breaks:  We have been sharing our learning and knowledge through coffee breaks where we have cafe conversations with one another.  Most recently, students shared their goals and intentions for 2022 over a pretend latte or cappuccino.

Virtual Fieldtrip:  We recently participated in a B.C. Hydro livestream event where we learned about extreme weather conditions and winter weather safety.  We learned about kinetic, electric and sound energy with the water dam being a source of electricity for B.C.  We learned about atmospheric rivers and our summer heat dome.  We also had some of our classroom questions answered during the session.  It was great to have Clinton School acknowledged during the event with guests from all over B.C. attending.  Students will be encouraging their families to make sure they have an Emergency Kit ready at home and in the car.

Family Literacy Day: Today, Thursday, January 27, is Family Literacy Day.  Check out the Clinton Website for some ideas. Return a postcard of your family adventures by February 3.

Shroom Garden:  We have mushrooms!  We have been learning about the importance fungi play in the role of biodiversity and the lives of trees in our forests.  We have been thrilled with the growth of our oyster mushrooms.  It is turning into an amazing science opportunity.

We also listened to the communication of mushrooms through a mushroom music experience. We watched our mushroom music on National Geographic Facebook Post but you can check out a simple sound from the link below or go to the Facebook post on your own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0tNEp4m5PY

Tornado Potatoes:  While reading about tornadoes as part of our extreme weather and non-fiction reading lessons, students became interested in some extreme recipes like the tornado potatoes.  Some wanted to make some tornadoes at home, so here is the link to that recipe.  https://tasty.co/recipe/tornado-potato

It’s great to know that recipe reading is part of a non-fiction reading experience.

February is upon us.  We look forward to beginning the Lunar New Year of the Water Tiger next week.  February is going to be a very busy month.  We are excited about all the adventures we will participate in.