It never ceases to amaze us when we see great collaboration and ingenuity brewing in our classroom! We continue to discover and build upon concepts of creating strong and stable structures. With our Science Buddies we expanded our knowledge by creating bridges that can support a load, as well as structures we can build outside in the forest. We can see the knowledge that our students have gained when they bring this information back and begin to build and create during their Discovery Learning period. Some of the children were engaged in creating and recreating "Great Wolf Lodge", which took over our classroom for more than a week. With Mme Richardson, the children learned about fairy tales and further developed their understand of 3-D forms as they created tours for Rapunzel to let down her long hair.
Mme Richardson also allowed the children to discover the structure of volcano, as the children created their own in small groups of two or three. They then talked about chemical reactions using the following ingredients: baking soda, dish soap, food colouring, and vinegar, so they could make their volcanos erupt!
With our Learning Buddies in M. Devenny's class, we continue to create imaginative (fiction) stories. The pairs of students were given a storyboard, where they developed characters, a setting, a problem, a beginning, middle and end, as well as a solution, in order to get their thoughts together. After the break, they will concentrate on writing out their story as well as creating illustrations.
We read another fictitious story, "Tu as un oiseau sur la tête !" and then played a fun game practicing the sentence, "Est-ce que j'ai (un train, un avion, un dinosaur) sur la tête ?" Studies have shown that learning through play is a much better way for children to learn new concepts.
Our French speaking skills continue to flourish as demonstrated by the combined Pizza and Ice Cream party. Each time the children use French in a meaningful way, they fill up a vase with little jewels. They filled it up twice, so we combined two parties into one. The mini pizzas they made were a great success and the ice cream was a great finishing touch!
Not only did we fill up our French speaking vase, we also filled up our Acts of Kindness basket! Wow, what an accomplishment! So on Friday, we enjoyed another mini celebration, sporting our pj's we watched, "Autobus Magique", where we learned about the anatomy of a bean plant, as well as the components needed in order for it grow (water, soil, nutrients, and sun).
Thank you for ordering books from Scholastics! Did you know that when you order these books, you are providing resources for your child's classroom? Each order gives teachers a small amount of money that we use to purchase educational books and games for our classroom. Merci !
Have a wonderful March Break!
Important Dates:
Thursday, March 21st - Trip to The Museum
Monday, March 25th - DanceEd - a team of experienced dancer with choreograph a dance for the children to learn and present during a two week period.
Friday, April 5th - PD day - no school
Friday, April 19th until Monday, April 22nd - Easter Holiday (no school)
In May, we will be inviting Nanci Pounder, a local artist who will teach the children about pottery, colour, and painting concepts. The fee for this activity is under $10. Please note that this activity is optional, therefore, if you are not interested, please let us know and we will have an alternative activity available for your child. Merci !