Month: October 2020

This past Wednesday our class participated in “Take Me Outside Day”.  Winnipeg got it’s first snowfall the night before so it was a perfect setting for some fun!  The kids came to school dressed for the weather and very excited about the snow.  We started our day outside at our school’s outdoor classroom.  The kindergarten class was kind enough to open their door so we could hear Oh Canada and the morning announcements.  We phoned in our attendance and the kids loved being on speaker phone with the secretaries.  They asked about our plans and told us that they wish they could join us.   Our backpacks went on a tarp and we got started with our morning meeting.

Our morning message, sharing time, turn and talk, and activity all happened outside.  The class wrote their names in the snow, made snow angels, and even had a few minutes before music to play together in the fresh snow.

Then off we went to see Mrs. Styles for our outdoor music class.

We headed inside after music for our snack time and bathroom breaks before heading back outside for recess.  The class meet me at the outdoor classroom where we read a story and played animal adaption charades.  Each student pulled a card from the bucket with a Manitoba animal on it.  The challenge was to act out the animal for the class to guess.  If a friend guessed the animal then they had to tell how they adapt to seasonal changes.  This was a fun way to show our science learning with each each.

We wrapped up our outdoor morning with some buddy reading.

In the afternoon we played guess my number for math at the outdoor classroom stumps, created bird feeders with wow butter and bird seed, went on a place value hunt , had some play structure time, and ended the day with Phys. Ed.  There were some pretty tired Super Kids when they went home!  It was a great day of learning and community building!

On Thursday we had a virtual field trip to the Manitoba Museum.  Since we can’t go on field trips this year due to restrictions, we’re trying to find the best learning options for our students using virtual trips.  We were excited to explore the museum with our guide and talk about Manitoba animal adaptions.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend with their families.  Stay tuned for more Super Kid adventures!

 

 

 

Is it just me or is October flying by?  The Super Kids have been busy learning outside with our Phys. Ed and music teachers, building relationships with new friends, learning about how animals adapt to their surroundings, and diving into reader’s and math workshop.

Thanksgiving was last weekend and many of the Super Kids celebrate with their families.  We talked about what we’re grateful for.  Students shared that they are thankful for being back at school, their families, friends, pets, and of course their toys. 🙂 We dove a bit deeper into sharing that everyone has certain traditions and how traditions can be as simple as game night Fridays, sleeping over at our grandparents, or as elaborate as Chinese New Year.  We read the book “Balloons Over Broadway” by Melissa Sweet.  It tells the story of the puppeteer who invented the famous balloons in the Macy’s Annual Parade.  Did you know that Macy’s began the annual tradition because they had so many immigrant workers at the time that were new to USA and they wanted to show that they cared about them.  They wanted to have a tradition that reminded them of street fairs and parades from back home.

 

Each student created their own parade route and balloon float.  After learning about magnets and experimenting with what is magnetic and what isn’t, each student took their balloon down their parade route.  They were so excited to show each other.

Students were then invited to create their very on turkey marionette.  It was quickly determined that two popsicle sticks were needed and a lot of patience.

turkey marionette video

The next day the Super Kids became scientist.  What do we really know about turkeys?  With the help of some QR code videos and our favourite kids science research website we became turkey experts!

 

Next the Super Kids made our very own turkey art using watercolours.  We decided to make them a bit more abstract and colourful!  🙂

Daily routines such as binder work, word sorts, reader’s and math workshop help the class develop their skills.  Below are a few pictures of the Super Kids working on their binder work, completing word sorts, and participating in reader’s and math workshop. Movement breaks in between activities is important to keep us going!

     

How animals adapt to their changing environment has been a focus in science this month.  The Super Kids have learned about hibernation, migration, camouflage, and adaptions.  Can you see the animal?

We started our focus on owl adaptions on Friday. With the story “Little Owls Night”.  The book focuses on an owl and his nocturnal friends that are awake at night.  We spent our Friday created our own little owls! We first did a direct drawing lesson on our white boards before tackling our lesson on watercolour paper.

   

Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

I’m just sitting in my sunroom at the lake reflecting on the past month. I’m thinking about all that has happened in our school and with education in general as we start our school year together.

How is it already October? The month of September flew by as we navigated the beginning of school with our new procedures.  School looks a lot different this year, but the kids are so resilient!  They are eager to learn, explore, and share.  This new way of teaching is strange, but I am so glad that I have the amazing group of kids I have this year.  I’m so thankful that I get to come to work everyday and spend the day with your kids. 🙂 After a storm there is usually a rainbow and your kids are differently my rainbow.  I was reminded of that this week when we had this beautiful view out our classroom window to start our day.  The Super Kids were so excited and of course the morning plan went out the window and we had to explore what causes a rainbow!

Our guiding question for our inquiry this year is… How does our Earth adapt to change? Through these strange times our lives have had to adapt.  The way we see family, go to school, and so much more.  We have adapted.  How does the Earth and it’s living things adapt to seasons and environmental changes.  We started this inquiry by looking at trees and how they adapt to changes in weather and the seasons.  Why do leaves change colour?  What happens to the tree in the winter?  How does it stay alive? What is a tree’s life cycle?

We explored leaves that we brought from home close up and noticed that they seemed to have veins in them like we have in our body. The Super Kids noticed that the leaves were many different colours.  We conducted an experiment to show that leaves actually have many colours in them using coffee filters and rubbing alcohol.  Unfortunately, I didn’t’ take a picture of our experiment, but it did show that green leaves have other pigments in them too.  Check out the link below that shares a video that helped us understand the process.

We then explored how fall is harvest time for many farms and orchards in Canada. We shared if we had family members that live on farms and what kind of farms they have.  I shared that many of my family members have farms and that I grew up serval small town throughout Manitoba were farming was very important.  The harvest is important to our food cycle to make food for us to buy.  We then shifted to apple trees and how they get to the grocery store for use to buy.  Apples are a healthy snack that many Super Kids bring to school so we learned all about apple trees.

We spend a whole day doing apple science, math, and art! We made core patterns with apple cores. 🙂

The Super Kids have been busy establishing routines such as morning meeting, reader’s workshop, and math workshop. I took apart my classroom library organization system and created book bins for each student filled with fiction and non-fiction books.  Each week they get a new bin of books!  They were so excited and even cheered. 🙂

Book Bins video

 

September 30th was orange shirt day.  A day that we recognize the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the effects of residential schools.  We read the book “When We Were Alone” by David Robinson and talked about how being unique and having traditions make each of us special.

The Super Kids painted rocks orange.  We then brainstormed words that came to mind when we think of treating everyone kindly and celebrating their uniqueness.  We placed them in our school’s reconciliation garden in the front of the school.

Movement breaks are very important in our classroom.  We love to get moving to GoNoddle video.  We get our wiggles out by dancing together and calm our bodies with many of the calming videos too.  Rainbow breathe and melting are our favourite calming videos.

Center time is a bit different this year.  Each student has a bin each week that they can explore.  Check out some of their projects below.

Have a great weekend!