Category: Science

Cherry Blossoms

As cherry trees are bursting with pink and white blooms all over the city, the kindergarten students created their own cherry blossom paintings.  To add a fluffy texture to our paintings, we used cotton balls, held by clothespins, to paint the cherry blossoms.

First, we painted our backgrounds and trees.

Then, we used cotton balls to add the cherry blossoms.  We used darker pink colors first, and then used the lighter pinks on top. Some students chose to add white cherry blossoms as well.

Come see our hallway bulletin board!

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Inquiry-Based Learning – Our Tree in October

Inquiry-based learning allows students to take ownership for their learning. My role is to guide them and encourage them to develop questions that will allow for further investigation. Students ask questions, give their ideas and opinions, and make observations about a topic they are interested in.

We are fortunate to have some beautiful trees on our school grounds. During discussions about the weather and seasonal changes, the students were intrigued and had many questions about the falling leaves and changing colours.

In October, we started our tree inquiry project. The students went outside and chose one of the trees in front of the school.

Let’s see what happens to our tree in December…

Jellyfish with our Big Buddies

Inspired by the origami jellyfish we saw at the Vancouver Aquarium, created by a local artist, we decided to create our own jellyfish. Thanks to our grade 4/5 big buddies from Mr. Boulanger’s class, as well as Ms. Mitchell, for helping us with this fun craft!

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The kindergarten students had many unique questions about jellyfish!  We learned that jellyfish or jellies live in all the oceans.  A jellyfish is an invertebrate made mostly of water.  It has no heart, brain or bones.  But it does have millions of stinging cells in their tentacles.  When the tentacles capture food, toxin is injected into the prey.  A jellyfish can sting you!

our jellyfish
 

Vancouver Aquarium

What a fun day it was!  The children arrived at the Aquarium with wonder and curiosity about the world of sea animals.  We saw sea lions, frogs, salamanders, turtles, jellyfish, and more.  We saw playful sea otters, jumping dolphins, and African penguins shorter than us.  At the Discover Rays pool, children were able to touch the stingrays who glided just beneath the water’s surface.  Some of the children were shocked by their moving chair and sprays of water during the 4D movie, Coastal Predators.

We are scientists who observed, questioned, analyzed, and discussed what we saw.  The children left the aquarium tired (and many of them napped on the ride home), but inspired to learn and care for our environment.  Over the next few weeks, we will continue to discuss our observations and study about animals that live under the sea.

 Thank you to all the parent volunteers for coming with us!
 
 
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 For more information, visit the Vancouver Aquarium. 

Hatching soon

We have been reading lots of stories about chickens and other oviparous animals.  We have been visiting Ms. Gourlay’s classroom every few days to observe the eggs in the incubator.  Sometimes Ms. Gourlay reads a story to both of our classes.  Today, she read a funny one titled, “Chicks and Salsa” – the chickens get tired of the same old chicken feed and decide to try some new foods!  Soon, all the animals decide to plan for a fiesta with chips and salsa!  After the story, we ALL got to try some chips and salsa!  Some kids were trying chips and salsa for the very first time.

“It was the best!” H.S.

“It was salty, but I still like it.” A.L.

“It was a little bit spicy, but I liked it!” K.S.

“I loved it!” E.Y.

“It was a tiny bit good…” A.O.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a link to the story on video –> Chicks and Salsa video

We look through a special scope that allows us to see inside the egg!  Then we draw and write about our observations in our booklets.  The eggs are due to hatch any day now…