Month: June 2022

It’s the last day of school.  How did that happen?  In some ways it seems like a blur and in others it doesn’t.  We went from some pretty strict restrictions with distancing and masks to restrictions being lifted.  Configuring our classroom to the ever changing expectations was challenging, but the kids were so resilient.  Throughout the school year our class strived to create an inclusive classroom environment where kids could take risks, stumble, try again, and be supported by their classroom family through it all.  I have been told my many guest teachers and other adults in our school how kind our class is.  It has been a privilege to be part of their learning journey,  Every one of my Super Kids has grown so much as a learner this year.

June has been a very busy month with special events, 2 field trips, and so much more.  Check out or adventures below! 🙂

Father’s Day Gift: 

The class learned about the artist Jackson Pollock and explored his artwork that was called “art in motion”.  Each student create their own splatter paint canvas.  We also used our measuring skills to make homemade gluten free and vegan BBQ sauce!

Butterfly Investigation:

As part of our science unit “characteristics of living things”, we learned about life cycles by raising and releasing butterflies.  We observed the process of metamorphosis by becoming entomologists.  The class was fascinated with the process  and even got to witness the butterflies hatching! We showed our understanding of symmetry in our butterfly art projects and our knowledge by answering questions using our boom card challenges and our butterfly research project.

Chicken’s Life Cycle:

Mrs. G’s grade 1 class attempted to hatch chicks in their classroom.  Unfortunately, the eggs didn’t hatch due to a humid issue over a weekend, but they fostered a few chicks from a local farm and they shared the experience with us.

Zoo Field Trip:

Our class and the rest of our school wing (6 classes) went to our local zoo!  The class will thrilled!  When we arrived our zoo leader took us on a tour to learn about animal life cycles and animal classifications.  After lunch we explore the zoo and even got to see a special display of animatronic dinosaurs.  We learned that it was a cockatoo’s birthday and the class spontaneously starting to sing happy birthday to it.  The bird responded and just made us all laugh!

happy birthday singing video

Camping Theme:

How do you keep 6 and 7 year olds engaged in June?  You turn your classroom into a campground! Our theme included:

camping art projects

going on nature scavenger hunts

learning to use a compass

playing camping themed math centers

designing a STEM solar oven to make s’mores

using our knowledge of 3D shapes to build tents

campfire morning meeting and closing circles

science experiments fireflies and much more

 

Farm Field Trip:

A week after going to the zoo, we headed to Morning Sound Farm where we explored and saw so many farm animals.  Bunnies, puppies, chicks, kittens, goats, turkey’s, goats, sheep, pigs, cows to just name a few.  We even got to go for a pony ride and a hay ride. Thank you to our volunteers who came with us. My daughter Anna was done school so she volunteered too! It was a hot day and many kids took a nap on the way home.

Unlock Summer Fun Day:

This week our class walked in to the classroom with a summer challenge board on the projector.  Their task was to complete 7 challenges to unlock summer and get a special treat from Mrs. Didyk.  Activities included:

A balloon toss counting how many hits they could do before missing and telling me if it was an even or an odd number.

Popsicle math matching game

Flip flop addition game

Pool noodle structure building and measuring

Sandcastle art project

Palm tree hula hoop challenge

palm tree challenge video 1

palm tree challenge video 2

Sand pail name signing

 

Thank you again for all of your support this year.  I have loved being part of your child’s life.  Remember once a Super Kid always a Super Kid!  Have a wonderful summer. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Super Kids were learning about fairy tales throughout May.  What makes a story a fairy tale?  What are the parts of a fairy tale?  What is a fractured fairy tale?  This was the starting point to our dive into this form of literature. I have a bin of fractured fairy tales in our classroom library and I noticed that the kids were interested in the books, reading them to each other, and asking me to read them to the class.  I took the hint and our fairy tale unit began!

The book series by Bethan Wollvin was our starting point.  These books tell the classic fairy tales we all know with a bit of a twist and some inspiring art.

The class created their own “Little Red” painting using perspective to demonstrate near and far.

After reading Jack and the beanstalk, we wondered if beans really grow that fast.  What do beans need to grow? We planted some to find out.  First we put them in sprout houses and hung them in the window of our classroom.  The kids put the seeds inside a wet paper towel and watched the water cycle happen in front of their very eyes.  The class observed the germination of a seed. The roots began to grow and we knew it was time to put our sprout into some dirt. Before long we had tall bean plants!

   

The kids noticed that many fairy tales have royalty in them.  Several student took books out from the school library on castles and shared what they learned about them.  We then made our own castle art projects.

  

Fairy tale stories are part of our home reading and guided reading book collection.  After reading several during our book clubs we decided to perform our own plays!  The kids were so excited.  They got busy practicing, making lists of their props, designing costumes, and working on their voices for their characters.  The reader’s theatre play were:

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

 

3 Billy Goats Gruff

The 3 Little Pigs

The Paperbag Princess

We decided to invite several other classrooms to join us as our audience after practicing for weeks.  We held 2 performances were the kids presented to 4 classes, several teachers, educational assistants, our vice principal, and principal.  They were so proud!

Last Wednesday our class got to go on our first field trip!  This was the first time my class had been on a school bus. To say they were thrilled would be an understatement. I was too!  It was my first field trip with a class since the start of the pandemic and boy did it feel great. We headed to St. Vital Park with 444 students from our school to meet with students from many other schools in our division.  We danced, played, had a picnic, and just enjoyed the day.  Thank you to those parents who joined us.

dancing video 1

dancing video 2

In April, our class recognized Earth day by exploring how kids can make a difference.  We went on a virtual field trip to learn what how each small act can make a big impact if everyone does the same thing.  The class researched the 3 Rs and sorted items into these categories.  The class made Earth Day hats and recycling trucks to take home and share with their families.  The class even learned a new math game called “Recycle It”. 🙂

 

Dental health was another area of focus in health and science.  Why do we need to brush our teeth? What is floss?  What is a cavity?  How does the tooth fairy carry all that money? Parents…that one is for you. 🙂

We put hard boiled eggs into coke, fruit punch, and water for 2 days to observe what would happen.  We also put an uncooked egg into a cup of vinegar to observe.  The kids were completely shocked by the results!  Many wanted to go home right then and brush their teeth. We then created our own tooth ninja’s to remind ourselves how to take care of our teeth.

Mother’s day was in May and we wanted to give something special to a special lady in our lives.  Many picked their mom, while other students picked a grandma or an aunt.  We learned about the artist Claude Monet and examined many of his pieces of art.  We focussed on the art that he created in his garden called “Water Lilies”  We read the book Katie and the Waterlily Pond before creating own Monet inspired paintings for our gift.

 

I can’t believe it’s June already. Stay tuned to hear all about our June adventures.  Take care. 🙂