Month: May 2017

  

What a day!  Today we participated in the annual Louis Riel School Division event, dancing in the park. This morning was grey and gloomy when we left the school.  Despite some showers and getting a little wet, we had a blast.  The skies cleared and it turned into a warm day.  We were on the first bus to arrive at the park, so we quickly set up our tarp and supplies.  Then we headed to the duck pond, at St. Vital park, for some exploring.

There were so many geese with their baby goslings and ducks. The Super Kids noticed that when the goslings got bigger their feathers changed colour.  One Super Kid noticed the footprints left behind by a goose that got out of the pond and followed us.  Why do they look like that?  Why are their feet webbed?  The kids even noticed some holes at the bottom of a tree with acorns in them.  What animal would call the hole home?  There is nothing like a little science chat on a walk!

 

 

We found a lovely garden near by and noticed that some flowers were already blooming.

   

After our nature walk we headed back to our spot to start dancing! Click on the link below to see a few seconds our us dancing.  I didn’t record very many dances because I was dancing too.

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Last week we created our solar ovens using our designs as guides.  Thank you to the two parent volunteers who came in to help.  All we need is a hot day with little wind to test them out and make some s’mores!

Can you guess that we have started a camping theme in our classroom?  The s’more making probably gave it away. 🙂 We’re calling our classroom camp “Camp Learn A lot”  We have brainstormed what animals you might see when camping and began researching all about them.  Bears, deer, mosquitoes beavers, and fish are just a few of the animals picked.  We even have a campfire in our classroom.  We sit around it for morning meeting and story time. We used my cell phone’s flashlight to light up the tissue paper. 🙂

One of the Super Kids presented a video he put on his YouTube channel sharing his science lab at home for genius hour.  The class loved seeing it and we even watched a few more videos he made reviewing product.

Have a great day.

It’s May long weekend in Canada!  As part of our morning meeting on Friday, we shared what we were looking forward to doing with our families.  One Super Kid mentioned making s’mores on the campfire.  This is one of my favourite things to do too!  S’mores took over the morning!  Have you ever had one? What do you need to make them?  What are the steps to making one? Can everyone in our classroom have one with cultural dietary restrictions or allergies?  It turns out the answer is yes with some creative solutions.  I then challenged the kids, right there on the spot, with our next design project.  Thats right…the plans for the rest of the morning went out the window and we ran with the idea!  It’s my favourite kind of day.

Design a way that we could make a s’more without a fire or an oven.  

What do we know we need?  Right away, the class realized that the sun was going to have to be the source of heat.  We learned about the sun during our inquiry into the solar system earlier in the school year.  Next they talked about materials that they would need that would attract heat.  With some prompting questions the class decided that they need tin foil and black construction paper because they attract heat.  One student said, “When I wear a black shirt outside for recess I get hotter then when I wear a white one”.  As a class we decided that I would ask a local pizza restaurant for a bunch a personal size pizza boxes to make our solar ovens. Cross your fingers, because I’m asking this week!  Student can work individually or in groups as long as everyone is working together and contributing.  The next thing I knew the students became engineers creating their own design plans!

Some thought that a magnifying glass would help direct the light to the s’mores and have them melt faster.  The lessons we had earlier in the school year on objects and materials gave the Super Kids prior knowledge about the characteristics of the objects they were picking.  If you have any materials at home that you think would help us, please send them in.  We hope to design our ovens later next week and modify them as we go.  All we’ll need a hot sunny day to test them.

The morning challenge inspired me to challenge the class in the afternoon with pattern blocks.  I told the class that they had 20 minutes to create anything they wanted out of the pattern blocks, but it had to have symmetry and related to something we have learned about together.  Many made several things and they could all explain why. Some of my students have been with me for two years and picked lessons we did last year.

A monkey from our book about different kids of animals in the jungle.

A flower with roots, birds, a sun and soil to help it grow.

A pizza delivery car.  Wheels and an axel included from our last year study on position and motion.

A sea monster in the ocean being rained on with an astroid failing from the sky.

Sea monster – Genius hour project

Rain – Water cycle lessons

Astroid – Solar system study

 A Science Experiement

Boats on the ocean with sea life below. Water and air science unit from last year when we made our own boats.

This week we read the book “The Imaginary Garden” by Andrew Larsen.

It inspired us to create our own imaginary garden’s by using our fingerprints and a paintbrush for the grass and stems. Sharpie marker was used at the end of the lesson for the details on the bugs.

  

    

We started this activity on a wet and rainy day.  We talked about how important rain is to plants, animals, flowers, and trees.  We discussed the water cycle and even acted it out during morning meeting!  A few videos helped us remember the cycle.

Our genius hour projects continue to grow.  Many Super Kids are sharing with us thing that they are excited about, take lessons in, or a skill that they are proud of.  Hockey, sea monsters, science experiments, saying the alphabet backwards, speaking another language, making a craft, are just a few ideas the kids have come up with.  Some are making a video at school or at home to show them doing a skill, making something, or sharing their hobby.

  

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend with their families.  I’ll see all my Super Kids on Tuesday. 🙂

I can’t believe it’s already May!  The year has flown by with lots of great experiences and learning taking place.  We have an exciting last couple of months still to go.   We welcomed a new friend from Vietnam on Wednesday to the Super Kids classroom.  As soon as I get permission to use her picture on the blog I will introduce you to our new friend.  The class was excited to welcome her.  They made a sign, decorated her locker, and made sure she felt like our classroom was a happy place to be.  We have had several friends join our class, from other countries, over the past two years.  I marvel at the way these families jump in with both feet, how my new students adapt to their new surroundings, and how welcoming my amazing class is to new friends.

The weather has definitely changed for the better here in Winnipeg!  This week we had to take advantage of it. When it was time for our 1/2 friends from Mrs. Haines’ class to join us for buddy time, we headed outside.  Who doesn’t like to read in the sunshine?

 

WARNING….IF YOU ARE A MOM OF ONE OF THE SUPER KIDS STOP SCROLLING NOW!! MOTHER’S DAY GIFT INFORMATION BELOW  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

The Super Kids started our Mother’s Day art project this week.  We looked at Van Gogh’s famous flower paintings especially “Sunflowers” for inspiration.

We looked at his paintings closely and examined the vases, how he painted his flowers, and the different types of flowers he painted.  We also read “Vincent and the Sunflowers” for inspiration.

Take a closer look as the cover of the book.  Do you notice something familiar?  The Super Kids did!  The tree in the background is the same tree from Van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night”.  Many student’s hands shot up when I introduced the book.  They noticed the connection right away.  🙂

We used pastel as our media instead of paint.  Tulips and daisies at the table to inspire the kids to use different types of flowers in their art pieces. Each student took their time and created their special gift for mom.  Some aren’t finished but I’ve put a few pictures of the process below.

     

I can’t wait to see them all finished and in their frames.  The kids are so proud of their gifts for those special ladies in their lives.