This week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day! It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about kindness and generosity. Many students brought treats and cards to share.
Many students dressed up for Formal Day and got their photos taken. At lunch, there was a school-wide dance party!
The day before, we baked cookies! We rolled out the cookie dough and cut out shapes using cookie cutters – hearts, circles, ovals, and lips! And baked them in the oven.
[metaslider id=927]
We baked over 50 cookies and shared them with the staff.
On Valentine’s Day, we decorated our cookies with icing and different coloured sprinkles.
In the afternoon, we had a hoot creating our owl treat bags!
These bags were full of treats by the end of the day.
Last week, our school had a torch relay run to celebrate the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Each class chose a torch bearer who led us on a run around the field. Thanks to the leadership students for organizing the event.
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.
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!
[metaslider id=822]
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!
While it is not always easy to talk about Canadian history and war with young children, Remembrance Day presents a good opportunity to recognize the courage of those who served for our country. In class, we talked about the significance of wearing a poppy and about peace – what peace looks like, sounds like, and feels like. We can give our children a reason to work towards a more peaceful world.
Here are some comments from the students:
“Peace is going to the playground.”
“Peace is sharing our toys.”
“Peace is feeling safe in school.”
*More comments will be available in students’ e-portfolios.
This is a great book for young children: The Peace Book by Todd Parr
The kindergarten and grade one students in Div. 8 & 9 did a wonderful job reciting this Remembrance Day poem at the school assembly. Thank you to parents for helping your child practice the lines at home.
Poppy Poppy
Poppy Poppy, what do you say?
Wear me on Remembrance Day.
Poppy Poppy, what do you tell?
Many soldiers in battle fell.
Poppy Poppy, what should we know?
That peace on Earth should grow, grow, grow.
Poppy, we are but children small,
We are too little to do it all.
Children, you may do your part.
Love each other is how you start.
Play without fighting.
Share your games and toys.
Be kind and thoughtful,
To all girls and boys.
3D poppies on our class wreath; each class created a wreath for the assembly
September 29th was our school’s Terry Fox Run, as well as Orange Shirt Day. Ms. Price, our Aboriginal Resource Teacher, visited our classroom to tell us the story about Phyllis’ experience at a residential school.
Having Orange Shirt Day on the same day as the Terry Fox Run was a good opportunity to talk about Terry Fox’s Métis ancestry. Thank you Parents for your donations to the Terry Fox Foundation. As a school, we surpassed our goal and raised…
At the beginning of the year when students are learning how to write their names, we always have fun reading the book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. All the letters climb up the coconut tree until the tree bends… “Will there be enough room?” No, because all the letters fall out! The book has a great rhythm and there’s even a song that goes with it. See YouTube video below.
Students made coconut trees and added the letters of their names. They learned how to use scissors and managed to cut out tree trunks (any size they wanted) and tree leaves!
The coconut trees are displayed on the hallway bulletin board outside our classroom! Please come and take a look.
