Category: Uncategorized

A big thank you to the Parkcrest PAC for organizing this joy-filled event.  We were super lucky to have wonderful weather as well.

                                                                          Reminder to sign up. Please check your email for instructions.

                                                                                               Wednesday, Sep 30, 2020 3:15 pm-6:00

                                                                                                      Thursday, Oct 1, 2020 3:15 pm-5:10

Welcome returning and new parents of Div. 5.  The bulletin board outside our room says it all.  The COVID-19 pandemic has provided endless challenges and changes, and I expect that more may yet come our way.  In this wave of change, protocols, and precautions, the students of Div. 5, 2020/2021 year have done a great job of modeling kindness, patience, and calm.  We are all in this together and with everyone’s cooperation and understanding, we will confront whatever comes our way as we navigate education and learning during these uncertain times. Please do not hesitate to call or email if you have questions or concerns.  As the weeks roll out, I will continue to post about our learning and some of the topics and directions we will be going in this year.

Under construction!

Double-pronged magic!

Magic Buttercup Power!

We even found and used these beautiful

tinted oak seed pods from the park.

Today, in class, we had a try at making our Magic Nature Wands.  Kids online, you will be assigned yours on Wednesday (Wink, Wink, you can start yours ahead of time).   I wasn’t sure they would work, but the experiment was a success! These wands are filled with the new flowers of spring and are just gorgeous!

They also have great power, duh, duh, duh!  Their special power will be announced, for everyone, at Wednesday’s Zoom class – 10:30. Their power is linked to a Knights of Boo’Gar writing assignment that will also come out on Wednesday.  Online kids, please take a photo of your wand and upload it to Teams.  I want to continue to display your work.

Although I was inspired by the wands below (from: minimadthings  https://minimadthings.com/blogs/news).  I love the freshness of our examples.  We didn’t even finish today and I actually put the wands in the upstairs fridge.  Here’s hoping they still look good tomorrow.  So, don’t wait to take that photo!

All learners have a story.  Story workshop supports inspiration through play with avariety of materials.  Within play and creation, students are encouraged to develop a story and detail, consider different perspectives and develop language.  It is our hope that this process will support the children in seeing themselves as storytellers and authors.

We had been lucky to experience Story Workshop twice before the Covid Crisis. Mrs. Field, in our library, had guided the students in their use of rich materials to develop stories.  Within our theme of Castles and Dragons, I saw an opportunity for students to continue this type of learning at home.

Div. 5 did a brilliant job of using what they had to build their stories.  One of the main principals of Story Workshop is the idea of “possibilities”.  Many of the objects we used are not what they seem.  A glue stick represents a guard.  Batteries are knights.  A salt and pepper shaker is a king and queen. A pinecone can be a bear.  It is the author who assigns a role to that item.

I am so excited to read the stories that will come from these builds.  Here are some examples of the student creations:

Click here to see the Shape of the Day

Click here for the Shape of the Day