This week got away from me.

It's ironic after last week's whirlwind, but this week was the one that finally got away.

Jeff comes to our class every Day 3 to sing with the students.

The classroom is always busy: the doctor's office was getting a bit stale, so we've turned it into a Santa's Workshop at the students' request. It's a bit much for just a week or so, but I'm hopeful that we'll continue to use our beautiful fireplace and a few of the other bits going into January. Students seem very into using tools to pretend to hammer and drill and a few are excited about making a machine to create toys.

Sponge printing bricks

Tissue paper flames

Some students have also been very focused on making amusement park rides: there have been some Ferris Wheels and this week, a number of students collaborated on making a carousel. Of course, the next job was to figure out how to make it turn. There was some jerryrigging to attach it to a motor and battery.

Horses for the Carousel

It turns!

And then that has led to some interest in magnets and batteries. Some other students then spent an afternoon finding all the magnetic objects in our classroom and we read a book about how magnets work. I've placed an old fashioned flashlight with big D cell batteries in it that students can pull apart and reattach to figure out positive and negative poles at the science centre, along with some other things to play with.

We've also reviewed some basic safety precautions when dealing with electricity: touch only the plastic covered parts of any wires, don't put things in your mouth, and keep away from water and wet hands. In January, we've got a Scientist in Schools workshop based on magnets so this interest is timely.

We also have the Kinder concert and the Holiday Sing-a-long next week. As always, we do our best to be inclusive of everyone's celebrations: there are songs about Eid, Hannukah and Christmas, as well as more general Winter themed songs and poems. We've been busily rehearsing for our concert this Tuesday and students have been singing at the drop of a hat: mention pancakes and we're singing the Hannukah songs.

Making lanterns to decorate the gym for the concert.

In other festive news, I've just finished making a quadruple batch of dough at home that we'll supplement to make gingerbread cookies on Wednesday morning. I think I have two parents confirmed, but please let me know if you're available to help roll out dough and make gingerbread people. I'd like to have maybe one more? Thursday is decorating, and I have another parent who's able to help with that. Thank you for all your support in the classroom! It really does help us when we decide to do something more involved.

A final note about books:

Unfortunately, the circulation computer is still out of commission, so new books and information about overdue books has been delayed until that gets fixed. The Librarian is working to fix the problem, but it seems likely new books will be delayed until after the holiday.

I hope to see many of you next week at the concert, but am not certain whether I'll have time again to blog until January. Have a lovely holiday in the break and I'll be back fresh for the new year.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Awesome week of special events

It's been an awesome week to be in Room 202:

First, we had Milo's dad come in and introduce us to a variety of new instruments last Friday. Students were especially riveted when they got to play pieces of songs from Star Wars with them.

Next, we had our belated November cooking session on Tuesday. I'm trying to alternate between savoury and sweet. Last month, we made Apple Crumble. This time, we made pizza. 

First we kneaded the dough.

Then we rolled it out, and grated cheese.

Some students helped shred kale, slice peppers and cut fresh basil

We spread olive oil and tomato sauce

Added some cheese

And all the fresh veggies. 

Eating together as a group.

I was surprised at how many students ate all the veggies on the finished pizza, perhaps because they'd put so much work into it. My camera was having issues this day, but all the students participated and enjoyed their hard work.

Thanks go out to Olivia and Cheryl and especially Diane, who organized it all, brought in all the ingredients, AND picked out two pizza themed books. Pete's a Pizza is a newfound favourite! (The parents decide to turn their child into a pizza in order to cheer him up! So perfect for this age where everything is about the power of the imagination.)

And then, today, we had a Radiologist (Julia's grandmother) come in to talk about Bones. She brought some actual human bones, a light box and many sample X-rays to share. Students were fascinated:

Looking at all the bones in the foot

Leg bones

Noticing the spongy structures where blood used to flow.

Hipbone connects to the leg bone: ball and socket joints

Some students continued to ask questions: 
Others reflected in their own ways: 

Drawing skeletons

Making a leg bone

Measuring was a favourite activity. Students compared the weights of different bones and also measured their length or compared them to their own bodies.

The Radiologist visit was especially relevant because we've been thinking about the human body for so long and many students are still interested in this inquiry. The Grade 5's are also looking at the Human Body right now, we were able to share the Radiologist and hope to visit their classroom in order to learn more about different systems in the body. 

The only challenge with all of this awesomeness is maintaining a sense of routine for the students. Several of them have complained that they didn't get enough time to play, or they haven't finished their journals yet this week. 

Here's what's going on between times: 

Building using triangles, the strongest shape.

Mixing colours

Shared writing

And lots of silly fun. 

Tomorrow is Library. There has been recent issues with the circulation computer, so if books are not sent home tomorrow, the library may still be working to resolve this issue.

Yours in learning,

Ms. Goegan

December Newsletter: Hot off the Press

Dear Parents,

Your December Newsletter is ready. Our monthly theme for show and share is Celebrations and I'm looking forward to celebrating with you at our Winter Concert on December 16.

Please let me know if there's any accidental oversights or typos, particularly with students' special days.

 Last week's early snow fall jump started our winter inquiries and we've been inspired:

Students connect animals to their tracks

Using different tools, including their fingers, students recreate different animal prints

Animals have been leaving prints in the sandbox too

Here's the step by step to make a snow star.

 

Our fall bulletin board has been replaced by snowpeople.

We also focused in on some geometry and patterning:

 The best way to build fine motor skills is to practice them. Operation has been very popular in our classroom this past week and I've noticed that many students who were initially frustrated have improved their skills.

 

Here, students use tweezers to count and separate the pom-pom pills from the doctor's prescriptions.

Placeholder Post

So, library is tomorrow, but Wednesday nights are busy for me and the fluctuation of days 1-5 takes pity on no one.

Expect a longer post with pictures to appear in this space much later on this evening and your December calendar should be along shortly as well.

Yours in learning,

Lisa

Interview Reflections

There were a couple of threads that ran through the interviews last week, both positive and negative.

First, I heard a lot of anxiety about reversals in writing (totally normal at this stage) and some frustration about tantrums happening in the evenings (adjusting to a full day at school can be hard). As parents, I think it's good to know that everyone else is going through the same things you are, even if it's just to be able to commiserate. 

On the other hand, I heard from a lot of parents that they're definitely seeing learning at home: students are playing with letters, trying to read, and talking about some of our discussions. I was able to clarify that the requests for diapers from your children were about a science experiment we hope to do and, yes, we really did talk about why farts make that noise in class on Friday. 

I also heard many positive comments about this blog and I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying sharing in our classroom's learning. Here are some snapshots from the past week:

They're weighing her foot.

Practicing adding to tens with ten frames

How many buttons?

Students practice sequencing in puzzles

Crossing streams

Even rice can be sorted, grain by grain.

Dissecting a snowball

This parent is helping students build structures with straws.

It seemed too cold for water this week, so there's rice.

Cottonball snowpeople

Because of the long weekend, Library will be on Thursday this week.

Cheers,

Ms. Goegan