Category: Class News

Sports Day

Friday, May 18th is Sports Day.  Here is some information about the day:

1.  Students may bring their bikes to ride in the Bike Parade.  The bikes will be held in the Music room before and after the parade.  Students may decorate their bikes in the colours of their house.  I will be making available some crepe paper in the house colours for those students in my class who want to decorate their bikes.  Note:  if your child brings his/her bike they must also wear a bike helmet.

2.  Students are asked to dress in their House colour.  Each student knows which house they are in.

3.  Students will be getting a frozen treat from the PAC at Recess.

4.  There will be pizza (and maybe some other food items) available for purchase at the end of Sports Day.  A blue paper went home on Friday which you should return back to school with your interest in purchasing pizza so we know how much to order.

We have been recently enjoying some nice weather.  Hopefully it will continue for our special day.

I hope to see many of you at our Sports Day to enjoy it with your children.

Experiments with Plants

The past two weeks have been busy, and fun-filled, with learning about plants.  We have done several experiments with existing plants to determine the use that plants have for their different parts.  We have also planted some seeds of our own which we are anxiously awaiting to sprout.

The first experiment we did was taking a small plant apart and looking at its various parts.  Students saw how the roots form a ‘ball’ in the soil and that when the soil is carefuly removed the roots are long and delicate.  We closely examined the stem and its many branches and saw buds forming amongst the leaves.  The students know that these buds develop into the plant’s flowers.  We then re-potted the plant.

For our second experiment we put celery in water with food colouring.  We had one water-glass coloured with blue and one with red.  We left some celery in a jar of water with no food colouring in it, as well.  We also put one white flower in a jar with green food colouring.  We left these to sit on the window ledge overnight.  The next day we saw this:

We cross-cut some parts off the bottom of the celery stems to see the straw-like tubes that form the stem of the celery.  Students discovered that plants have these tubes in their stems to draw up water from the ground to the other parts of the plant.  They could tell that the celery had drawn up the water as the leaves at the top had changed colour.

Our third experiment was focussed on the need a plant has for its root system.  We took two plants and transplanted one – in its entirety – into a new, larger pot.  With the second plant we cut it from its roots at the dirt level and then ‘planted’ it into a new pot filled with soil.  We recorded how they both initially looked (through drawings) and we will re-visit them next week to record any differences.  The next day we already noticed some changes in the ‘rootless’ plant.

Just to see what might happen, we also re-potted the root system that we cut off into a third pot.  All three of these pots are sitting in the window ledge and are being watered regularly.  We will be watching them each day to note any changes.

We have planted nasturtium seeds into clay pots that the students collaged with tissue paper and which were sealed with Mod Podge (similar to acrylic medium).  We are hoping to see some greenery sprouting this week.

We have also got two avocado pits suspended in water glasses – one with the pointy end down and the other with the rough end in the water.  Students made predictions as to which pit will sprout roots.  This will take a number of weeks so we will just have to be patient and wait.

We will be continuing our plant unit over the next few weeks and look forward to making more discoveries.

 

Our 3 Minutes of Fame on TV

If you didn’t get a chance to watch Breakfast TV yesterday morning to see our students ‘in action’ here is the link:

http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/1553838809001.000000/be-there-for-schoolsapril-09/

You need to highlight it and copy it onto your search engine (Google) in order to watch it.  I think that they did a very good (although short) job of showing some of our wonderful (performing) Fine Arts programme.

Enjoy!

Easter Craft Fun!

Students have been learning some valuable skills this week.  We began by learning weaving for our Easter baskets – and also braiding for pipe cleaner handles.  We used yellow tissue paper which we collaged over styrofoam eggs.  When we added the details they became these adorable little baby chicks.

We then took pipe cleaners, google eyes, and pom poms and created these cute little bunnies on another set of styrofoam eggs.

These will be placed amid a bed of ‘craft grass’ in their Easter baskets (maybe with a few chocolate treats).  Ask your child which craft was the hardest to do.  You may be surprised by their answer.

Happy Easter!!!!

Fun with Centres

Students have been working very hard this term on their academic subjects so I wanted to share some of the fun activities that they have been enjoying during their play-based times.  As I am sure you are aware, a great deal of important learning occurs when children interact with each other in socially co-operative ways.  Check out a few of our ‘centres’:

Cars racing around a well designed track,

some little friends dropped by to play,

and there was a verrrrry interesting dinosaur book!

Breakfast TV Date & Time

You should have received a pink half-sized notice today telling you of the date and time of the airing of our segment on Breakfast TV.  In case it went missing, the date is Monday, April 9th – approximately at 8:45 a.m.  Luckily Monday is a school holiday and we are home to see it.  I have already set my PVR!  I hope you get a chance to see it.

Tennis, Anyone?

This is a reminder that our tennis lessons are next week (Monday – Thursday).  This is a programme that our students have enjoyed for several years.  It is also quite a bargain to have professional tennis instruction at a low cost.  Please complete and return the signed permission slip with your cheques by Monday.