We're back!

Dear Parents,

Even though nothing quite lives up to the excitement that surrounded George, our beloved caterpillar (whom we believe to be currently wintering in Mexico), students in 202 have shown a strong interest in animals and nature this fall.

We've been lucky enough to have two birds' nests at our science centre which come from different types of birds--one of which we're pretty sure is a robin's.

When we looked at different birds though, it was owls that fascinated students. Many of the SKs remembered the barn owl from the Earth Rangers presentation last spring. Henry remembered that they fly silently to swoop down on their prey and Milo talked about their keen sense of sight. We read both fiction and non-fiction books with owls. Students got involved in drawing pictures of owls, writing out facts for a classroom display, and there was some playground swooping as well (though not as silent).

We also have a number of students fascinated by construction and machines. When we went to Baird Park last week, these guys spent all their time in the sandbox, eventually building a tunnel under one side.

We originally went on a shape walk, so Ms. Moniz is asking about the different shapes they notice on the machines. 

We see students building with many different materials and students often add teddy bears to help them tell stories about the structures they create.

A rocketship with its crew

This tower is a circus. You can see a sailboat in the background.

We've also added Lincoln Logs to our sandtable to help feed the construction interest. 

Another key area we've seen construction happening is at the water table. Students built waterfalls and cascades using different levels of cups and experimented to see what happened when you sped it up or slowed it down. When new materials were added, experiments continued.  For instance, when we checked to see whether pumpkins floated or sank, students were fascinated by displacement.

"What happens if we blow through the tube?"

 When students pushed the pumpkin down in the water, they were fascinated to see that water came out of holes higher up in the tub.

When interest in waterfalls waned, we placed some aquatic animals in our water table and this has sparked further interest. So, at student request, our drama centre is becoming a submarine/ocean.  I'll write more about this development next week as I'm able to take pictures. 

Other current classroom obsessions include mapping:

This is a neighbourhood map puzzle. Students are decoding some of the labels on buildings. 

This student is pointing to The Netherlands, which he found on his own 

 Mapping has led to students labelling different areas of our classroom and using our big map book to add to their general store of information. For example, students are very interested in the specific varieties of animals living in different areas. I'm seeing them put together this information in really cool ways, like looking up Brazil after reading about the rainforest and telling me about the animals you can find that map. Or telling me about animals that come from places they have family backgrounds. I definitely need to pick up a new copy of this book as it has been all but destroyed through several months of daily love.

 Surveys are also huge right now. Students have been using them as opportunities to write and count.

As it's continued, students are beginning to write out different types of questions and answers. They often talk about the results in our daily circle at the end of the day. It turns out most students like pizza and ice cream. They are more divided on vampires and owls. 

Many students are also really engaged in our book centre this year and when I read a book they really like, I know I'll see them reenacting it somewhere. For instance: 

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Jon Klassen was a huge hit. His books have a sly sense of humour and play with narrative tension by showing things in the pictures that the characters don't yet know. Students got really excited about the poor decisions Sam and Dave made (They nearly hit the diamonds so many times! It was crazy)

This book lends itself to open-ended discussion. What really happened at the end? Check out the link for a cute video and some fun theories to discuss with your child: http://100scopenotes.com/2014/10/02/6-theories-on-the-ending-of-sam-dave-dig-a-hole/

Creepy Carrots was also a big hit. Students built the moat and fence to contain the carrots in the sandtable and used orange bears as carrots. At the playdough station, many built their own creepy carrots out of playdough as well.

She loved rolling the dough in a cone

Showing me the creepy eyes.

These students tried to make their characters as accurate to the book as possible. 

In general, I'm seeing a lot more storytelling in students' play this year and students seem keen to explain their machines or stories to me when asked. This is a great trend in our classroom because I can see the sequencing and problem solving skills developing.

Even though this must feel like an exhaustive post to you, it's shown me that I need to be more diligent in taking photos to document all the steps of an interest. I look forward to giving you more insights into the classroom.

Looking forward there are a couple of things we could use parent help with:

1. Baking helpers the first week in December
2. People who would be willing to make a batch of play dough to send in every month or couple of weeks (Thank you to William's mom, who's been doing this since the beginning of the year!)
3. Details are being finalized for the Kindergarten Winter Concert right now. I was away Friday, but should know definitive dates very soon. Watch this space.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan