with Ms. Lai & Ms. Loungsay
We had a wonderful start to the school year! September was full of school events. In our classroom, we read stories and played games. We are learning how to write our names “the kindergarten way,” starting with an upper case letter followed by lower case letters. We are learning routines and school procedures, and most importantly, we are having fun!
Division 11 had so much fun thinking, creating and solving problems with one another! The Applied design, skills and technologies (ADST) curriculum encourages children to think, design and build. We explored with simple tools and technologies that can help us with our ideas and extend our capabilities. We were able to develop our skills through play and teamwork.
Bee Bots – program the little robot to move in many directions (a pre-cursor to coding)
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Weaving – choose a tool and material, and make a product (wall art) through the modelling of others
Keva Blocks – create a structure by stacking wood planks using no glue or connectors
Dominoes – build a domino race track and watch them go tumbling down
Snap Circuits – build a variety of circuits that do something like turn on a light or run a fan
Boxitects – create extraordinary things out of ordinary cardboard
Coding Safari – learn the fundamentals of coding through this animal themed logic game
It was a hot and fun Sports Day at Parkcrest! The teams did so well working together and cheering each other on! A special thank you to the Grade 7s for organizing all the stations.
Our class learned animals make behavioural and physical changes to survive in the winter. Some animals sleep through the winter by finding a cozy place to hibernate; some animals migrate to warm places; and some animals adapt to the climate by growing thicker fur and changing colours.
We created a class diorama.
Animal Research Project
Each table group chose their animal (bears, snakes, monarch butterflies, arctic wolves, and beavers) and we looked at books to help us find information about our animal. We then shared the information to the class. Please ask your child to share some information about their animal with you.
Arctic Animals Art
We went on a nature walk to look for holes animals could live in. Here are some of our predictions:
“A hole! I think a spider lives here. I see spider webs. “
“I think an owl lives in that hole.”
“A squirrel’s home.”
“A bird is in the hole.”
“Maybe this hole goes to that hole. Animals can go out there.”
“A worm! I see a worm!”
Our Fall inquiry started with many wonders. We wonder:
“Why do they (leaves) change from green?”
“Do leaves change every season?”
“Why do the leaves fall down?”
“Why do the leaves change colour?”
“How does it get colder?”
“Why are the leaves red?”
On our nature walk we explored around Parkcrest Park and looked for different kinds of leaves. We sorted them into Fall colours (brown, yellow, red, orange) and green and then tried rubbing leaves on paper to see if they leave a colour. We were pretty amazed to see nature colours on our paper!
We worked as a team and sorted leaves into different sizes- small, medium, big, biggest.
As scientists, we investigated why leaves change colours in the fall. First, we made some guesses.
“The weather is cold.”
“We have less sun.”
“It rains a lot.”
Then, we sorted the fall leaves by colour, ripped the leaves into bits and covered it with rubbing alcohol. We put coffee filters into the leaf and rubbing alcohol mixture and allowed it to sit long enough to absorb the liquid. As the liquid travels up the coffee filter it separates all the colors that were inside the leaf.
We learned that during fall, the days get shorter so the leaves don’t get enough sunlight and the green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the green fades away, we begin to see yellow, orange, red and/or brown colours. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along!
Symmetrical drawings of our leaves
Parts of a Leaf
Our Leaf People
The Leaf Man goes where the wind blows…
Our Leaf People flew to a lot of places and saw many things. Some flew to a pumpkin patch, some went to a forest, one went to a big city, a couple went to a farm and a few flew home. Please ask your child to tell you their Leaf Man story 🙂
Story workshop allows learners to explore, create and connect their ideas through play. A variety of materials like loose parts, paint, playdough or blocks can be used to help children develop their ideas.
This week, we used loose parts to retell our pumpkin patch field trip with a friend. Look at the story with your child and ask them to tell you more about it! Enjoy their pumpkin patch stories!
In early May, our grade 6 & 7 leadership students led a variety of Jump Rope activities.
We had a lot of fun trying out different types of jumps and tricks with our skipping ropes during our division Jump Event date. For many kindergartners, this was their first time attempting to jump rope. We set small goals for ourselves, and when the skipping was too difficult, it was okay to do some simple jumps. We also set our team goal of having fun, safe exercise, and jumping for healthy hearts!
The goal was to fundraise for Jump Rope for Heart, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Thank you to parents and the community for your donations! We have met our school goal and we will soon get a double recess!
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