Wednesday June 28, 2023

180 'school days' ago, we started our journey in Grade One together...and now it all wraps up tomorrow with our last day of school!

We have had many adventures and lots of fun together.  I have seen incredible growth from each student!  We spent some time reminiscing today about our best memories in Grade One.  Ducklings, swimming lessons, outdoor recess, story workshop and special holiday celebrations were all at the top of everyone's lists.  Off to Grade Two, with lots of literacy and numeracy skills in our tool boxes!

Tomorrow is Sports Day, so be sure to send a water bottle and hat for your child, and sunscreen them up in the morning.  Regular dismissal time stands at 3:15.

Happy Summer to you all and I look forward to getting lots of smiles and waves from this gang of kiddos when I see them back at school in the fall.  Thank you for all your support!

Tuesday June 27, 2023

We had a ton of fun building sailboats in Room 4 today!  Using corks, rubber bands, toothpicks and foam, we experimented with different raft designs and sail positions to watch our boats glide (or tip!) in our tubs of water. We learned about ballast, keels and how sails act different lot when they’re tall or short. So much hands on learning!

Tomorrow is our last “regular” day of school, as Thursday is Sports Day in the afternoon. Please be sure to send your student to school with a hat and water bottle on Thursday, as we will be outside, weather permitting. 

Monday June 26, 2023

It's our last week of school and we are filling our final days with lots of math games, STEM activities, stories and workshop time.  Today's STEM challenge was writing numbers and math sentences on sticky notes and assembling them on a number line.  We are getting close the end of Stuart Little, which has been an interesting change for the Grade Ones as they don't have big colourful illustrations to follow along with.  They ask for it every day!  

Reminder that the last day of school is Thursday June 29th, and it's a full day with dismissal at 3:15.

Thursday June 22, 2023

We sent our Grade 6s off with a farewell assembly this afternoon.  Parents worked hard to set up a fun send-off for our oldest students.  Set-up for the Carnival is underway and it looks like it will be a great time!

Ask your child about today's STEM challenge...towers built with plasticine, popsicle sticks and a time limit!  So fun to watch the engineers at work.

Wednesday June 21, 2023

It was National Indigenous Peoples' Day today, which we marked by examining the new flags gifted to our school recently by the Indigenous Learning Team.  The three flags represent the Treaty 7, Metis and Inuit nations and sparked interesting discussion of symbols, colours, history and culture around our Indigenous community.  

Today's STEM challenge was a paper airplane flight contest.  First, we watched a video that led us through the steps to make a paper airplane.  We then experimented in the classroom with different throwing techniques to see how they soared.  Near the end of the day we took them outside to see whose aircraft flew the farthest...and also tried throwing them into the wind to see how that affected their flight.  Ask your child how their paper airplane made out!

Remember to return any levelled readers your child may have brought home in their RED folders in the past few months.  Thank you!

Tuesday June 20, 2023

Our STEM challenge today was to build a bridge using blocks and popsicle sticks, with no glue or tape allowed!  The students worked individually or in pairs and did a lot of problem solving to create their best bridge that was judged on length, height and strength.  It was so interesting to observe and listen to the learning that was happening through trial and error.  We talked about how we learn so much from making mistakes...the more mistakes, the better the learning!

We will wrap up our home reading program at the end of the week.  Please be sure to return all books to school by Friday.  The kids have grown so much in their reading ability, thanks to all the hard work put in at home.  Also, I'd like to thank Mrs. Van der Merwe for coming in every Tuesday morning to read one-to-one with the kids.  This effort made a huge difference in everyone's reading development this year!

Monday June 19, 2023

Two more weeks to go!  

Today our class completed a simple STEM challenge to test their problem-solving skills.  Everyone was given one sheet of paper with the goal of making the longest paper chain.  We discovered a few things interesting things along the way!  Ask your child what they learned through this challenge, and if they would do things differently next time.

See message below regarding the Family Carnival on Thursday:

Just a reminder the Woodlands school carnival is this week and you are all invited. 

 

Thursday June 22nd from 5:30 to 7:30 pm (Rain or shine)

 

Entrance Tickets: $2 per child (Adults free)

 

Look forward to seeing you all there!!

Friday June 16, 2023

It was a bittersweet day as we said goodbye to our duckling friends!

With the help of some older students, our students built a 'duck town' for the ducks to explore in the movement room.  We had a duck school, a duck gym, duck houses, a duck hotel and a duck castle among other things.  It was fun watching Cabbage, Pickle and Pepper scoot around their town together!

We ended our day outside in the sunshine, watching the ducklings peck at the grass in their crate.  The hatching experience was a wonderful way for the kids to interact in a hands on way with nature.  They are all very nurturing, and they cared so much for our fluffy friends.

Thursday June 15, 2023

Our math lesson today had our Grade Ones estimating, counting by 2s, counting by 10s and talking about place value.

Students had to fill several 100s mats with loose parts, carefully counting and grouping as they went.  We gathered all our data and added it together (with a calculator).  We gathered a total of 1835 loose parts!  We also cleaned up 1835 loose parts afterwards, which was also a big accomplishment.

Tuesday June 13, 2023

Our class ducklings have become the talk of the school.  Other classes are popping in to view our little celebrities and we are pretty proud. 

Ask your child what kind of ducklings we have...we did a Google search today to compare the characteristics of our little ones to pictures on the internet.  We have Mallards!

If you have any small boxes (cereal, cracker boxes are perfect) we would love to use them for workshop time.  Thank you!

Monday June 12, 2023

There was much excitement in Room 4 as we introduced the students to their 3 little friends.  Cabbage, Pickle and Pepper put on a show, drinking their water and eating their food, and generally just being very cute.  Ask your child if they can tell you any details about the hatching...we watched it on video!

Please read the following message from Parent Council about the Year-End carnival:

One very popular game will be back at the school carnival. The Cake Walk!!!

This game is a different version of musical chairs - and the lucky winner takes home a cake. 

We are looking for cake/cupcake donations for this game. Please can all cake or cupcake donations be brought to school on the 22 June either in the morning with your child or in the afternoon at pickup. Thank you so much

Exciting News!

 Our first duckling hatched this morning!

Ms. Melbourn and I were lucky to witness the big event...and catch it on video!  I can't seem to figure out how to attach a video to the blog, but here are some pictures of our bundle of joy...

3 more eggs are pipping!  

Thursday June 8, 2023

We have eggs pipping!

Last night Ms Melbourn noticed the first sign of a crack in one egg.  We arrived this morning to find the crack had evolved into a chip out of the shell, and a pip in one other egg.  We all got up close to watch the action through the incubator, with the egg occasionally rocking and the dark little feathers showing through the small hole.  Babies are on their way!

As tomorrow is a professional day, I told our little duckling watchers in Room 4 that I will post a few pics of the developments tomorrow.  Be sure to check in!

Wednesday June 7, 2023

Day 27 of Duckling Watch and still no action!  We are on 'eggshells' so to speak, waiting for the first pipping.  We looked at the instructions around setting up our brooder to be prepared for the ducklings.  Ask your child how the brooder works and what they thought about the duck food.

Tomorrow is the last school day of the week, as we have a professional development day on Friday.

Monday June 5, 2023

Our duckling egg incubator is now on lockdown...ask your child if they can explain why we change the final few days of incubation, and why we can't lift the lid now until hatching starts!

We are excited to watch for pipping over the next few days!

Reminder that there is no school for students on Friday June 9th.  

Friday June 2, 2023

We invited our buddy class to come to Room 4 and observe us candling duck eggs today.  We explained how the incubator keeps the eggs warm and how we are on the countdown to ducklings!  Ask your child how the eggs looked different today...the embryos are taking up more space!  We ended our buddy time with some shared reading.

We have officially entered the last month of the school year!  June will be a busy month so be sure to stay on top of school emails and this blog for important info.  We will be heading outside as often as possible over the next few weeks, so be sure to have your child dress for the weather.

Happy weekend!