Math in the Fall was all about exploring with numbers and making patterns using different materials. These mathematicians were busy counting, comparing, building and writing numbers!
We had an exciting field trip to the Vancouver Aquarium! The weather was sunny and the air was cool and crisp. We saw many amazing sea animals, including sea otters, a 9 metre long Green Anaconda snake, stingrays, sharks, glowing jellyfish, and even Scuba Claus in the water!
Vancouver Aquarium
After the trip, we took a few days to discuss and reflect on our experiences. Students had opportunities to share some of their favorite memories. We drew pictures and wrote in our journals, and created a web of favorite moments. The web became our brainstorm for the upcoming school-wide write.
Here are a few favourite memories that came up during discussions:
“the sea otters playing with us and floating around”
“watching the seals eating”
“the little baby sharks”
“the jellyfish was glowing”
“some stingrays”
“I touch the starfish”
“a monkey in the rainforest”
“tiny poisonous frogs”
“a giant enormous snake”
“the hot chocolate smell from the Polar Express” (this was part of the 4D experience theatre!)
“the ride on the bus”
“Scuba Clause was in the water!”
When asked if the children would visit the aquarium again, they all said, “Yes!”
spotted garden eel
matamata (turtle)
green iguana
inside the rainforest
Xingu river ray
green anaconda 9 metres in length
Baron's green racer 2 metres length
sea otters
the 4D experience
the 4D experience
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It was wonderful to see the children connect with marine life, and continue to develop a growing appreciation for animals and our environment. Please continue to ask your children questions about what they have discovered.
Finally, a huge shoutout to parents who joined us and helped to supervise the children – thank you!
Diwali is also known as the Festival of Lights! We learned Diwali is India’s biggest holiday of the year! Diwali is a 5 day celebration. People decorate their homes and meals are shared with families and friends. They also celebrate with fireworks and gifts are given to children.
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Diyas are small type of lamp or candle holders lit on Diwali.
In class we talked about the importance of Remembrance Day.
It is a day to honour soldiers, veterans and families who have
sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
Each class made a wreath for the wreath laying ceremony at the assembly.
We talk about why the poppy became a symbol for Remembrance Day and we made our own representations of poppies. Here is an invitation to create poppies with loose parts:
We painted poppies on our hands
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We also read “The Peace Book” by Todd Parr and talked about what gives us peace.
Division 12 had an eventful Halloween! We had princesses, superheroes, video game characters, scary witches, vampires, black cats, a giraffe and even a Starbucks mocha frappuccino, enter our classroom!
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We created some fabulous art, including these friendly zooming ghosts!
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Every year, we look forward to the creative and humorous jack-o-lanterns that are created by students and their families. They were on display outside the front entrance of the school. During our afternoon parade, we had a chance to walk by and view them.
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We read a funny book called, Room on the Broom. We then watched the Knowledge Kids’ movie with Ms. Gourlay’s class. We noticed and compared the similarities and differences between the book and the movie, and noticed many interesting elements that were added to the film-version.
The school-wide parade was fun and exciting! We ended in the gym for a dance and sing-a-long. It was a fa-BOO-lous and spooky day with many treats!
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Making connections; ask your child:
What was a favorite costume that you saw and liked?
Our class has been learning about apples this term! Here are some highlights from our apple exploration.
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We used our sense of smell, sight, touch and hearing to explore the apple trees in our park.
“The bug is eating the apple!”
“Ew! The apple smells bad!”
“This one is rotten.”
“The tree is bumpy.”
“I hear something inside!”
“I hear nothing.”
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We used our sense of taste to find out which apple is our favourite – red, yellow or green.
“The red one is crunchy and hard.”
“The Green one is very sour!”
“The yellow is really good!”
We found out most people like the red apple! It’s a tie for the green apple and the yellow apple.
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We did an experiment to see if the apple will sink or float. The predictions were 10 for it will sink and 5 for it will float! We were pretty excited to see it float!
On Orange Shirt Day, we learned it is a day to honour children that have survived residential schools, and to remember the lives that were lost. Our class read a story called “I Hope”, which captures the adults’ hope for children. After the story, we brainstormed “words of hope” that will make all children feel safe and respected in our school community. We then created stitched hearts to honour the hearts of all children, especially the Indigenous children and families.
