Foods of the Rainbow

Dear Parents,

This afternoon, we were lucky enough to have Linnaea's dad Michael come in and show us some of the interesting and exotic fruits and vegetables he comes into contact with in his work at the local organic grocery store, The Sweet Potato.

We saw sweet potatoes, beets, sunchokes, eggplants and several types of mushrooms.

We taste tested some dinosaur (or Tuscan) kale, blood oranges, papaya, red pears, a pink lady apple, a golden delicious apple, three colours of carrots and something called a lemon banana, which was actually my favourite.

Students enjoyed sampling a variety of new to them flavours. While some were more adventurous than others (and the allergy list was triple checked), it was by far the favourite thing at our afternoon circle.

Many thanks are due to Michael. We love bringing the community into the classroom and students only benefit from these sorts of experiences.

(Please look forward to a picture heavy post later in the week to make up for the camera's absence today.)

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Dear Parents,

I didn't want to spoil any Mother's Day surprises, but I'm so happy about how our craft turned out. Each flower pot has 3 flowers which are coupons for things your child thought you'd appreciate. We brainstormed as a class and sat with each student to help them sound out and write their messages.

Have a great Mother's Day and a great weekend!

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

May Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Your May Newsletter is here.

You'll find it chock full of new content about our work as writers and artists, as well as pictures not seen on the blog. Our theme for Show and Share in May is Music, so I hope we'll all have lots of fun with that.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Difficult Conversations

Dear Parents, 

One of the focuses of the TDSB in recent years has been on children’s mental health. Strong relationships with parents and other caring adults can help children weather many storms, but sometimes we are challenged too.

When having a difficult conversation, here are some things to keep in mind:

1.      Check in with yourself to make sure you’re calm and ready

2.      Keep it simple and work at their level.

3.      Follow up by asking questions

4.      Identify emotions (theirs and yours)

5.      End by framing the big idea for them and telling them you’re there for more questions.

Above all, children want to know they are safe and loved, no matter what else is going on. 

Here are two sites for more help: 

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/talking-to-children.aspx

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Arts in the classroom

Dear Parents,

Earth Day and DJ Trevor took over the school on Friday. Many students were enthusiastic about helping to clean up the neighbourhood and having a dance party. You will see these interests continuing in upcoming poems about growing and planting seeds, which we'll be doing in our classroom. Our show and share theme for May will ask students to bring in a favourite song--last year that meant daily dance parties, but we'll see how we go this year.

We also began work on the mural that will be going up in the kindergarten stairwell. These are the pictures that I have to share with you this week:

The mural began with magazine collage

Students brainstormed pictures that showed what children deserved

Happy face, ice cream. 

Fruits (like pears, left), Sunshine and castles (middle), Hugs and tacos (right)

Animals, houses and hearts at this group

Hearts, hospitals, houses (hidden, a boat and pretty clothes)

Then we traced each others' bodies to make interesting outlines

Everyone took turns

I stayed with my group and tried to suggest interesting poses

Look for our newsletter coming out at the end of the week.

Until then, 

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

P.S. If you're wondering about where your child's library books are, we had a computer issue on Friday that made it impossible for them to check books out. We'll try to get in for an exchange sometime early this week.

Arts and building

Dear Parents,

Primary students at IRC are going to be collaborating on a mural for the kindergarten stairwell based on the idea of the U.N. Rights of the Child. We'll be beginning to work on that through the end of the month. So, yesterday we read For Every Child, which introduces the idea of what children need.

We brainstormed a list of things we felt every child deserved that we might want to incorporate into our parts of the mural. In their own words:

Every Child Deserves:

1. Food
--Fruit (apples, oranges)
--Vegetables
--Not Chips
--Milk
--Energy

2. Water
--Clean
--No Garbage
--Fresh

3. Safety
--Don't be hurt
--Families to take care of them (hugging and kissing)
--Doctors and hospitals to fix them if they get sick
--A nice bed to sleep
--Somewhere to keep their toys

4. Environment
--Clean air
--No garbage
--Nature (animals, trees, and the beach)

5. Toys.

6. School
--Learning to read and do math
--Learn to play sports
--Learn to share (be nice, don't be rude, be kind)

We're also continuing to see amazing things in the play dough centre:

The original eyeball monster

They're aliens!

An alien family

Planet Mars and an eyeball monster

More dinosaur

Insects and eyeballs

Using books as sources

Using The Party by Barbara Reid as a source

Construction is also really big in the classroom right now.

This designer home has custom block furnishing

Working together to create energy smart homes of the future. The gear is "solar powered"

So, we've added tools to our drama centre and students have gotten down to work



Finally, a portrait of me, inspired by Henry's interest in Picasso.

3 types of investigations in the classroom this week.

Dear Parents,

Last Friday, I sent home a number of crystal experiments we had made using alum. Students shaped pipe cleaners into hosts for the crystals and we created a super saturated solution (I explained this concept using the metaphor of hot water over a tea bag vs. cold water over a tea bag).


Using the left over solution, we have left a couple more brewing, which we've added food colouring to, so we'll see if those are as effective. Pictures of those results are yet to come. This investigation is very teacher directed: I have the information and I mostly manage the materials, but the results are interesting for students.

One really big crystal

Lots of smaller crystals

A triangle and a heart shaped ornament

More little crystals

A lollipop spiral

We also ended the week by making a neighbourhood map on the hallway wall. Students have continued to add different pieces to this map through the week. In addition to the artistic sensibilities involved in each segment's creation, we like to build things together as a class community.  Cutting out the shapes and paper has also been a good exercise in building scissor skills for students with weaker fine motor abilities. Using a variety of materials also gives students more flexible problem solving skills.

This investigation is teacher supported. I suggest the topic and help students brainstorm, but the followthrough and ideas are their own.

Our map has houses and trees and lots of stop signs

Cutting and consulting

Every good map needs the sun

A close up of a road section

Kids at work

For instance, I think our map has made student approach our play dough station a little differently. First, we used the book Bug Life as an inspiration because it uses clay to make its illustrations.

This is an investigation of materials provided as provocations to learning: the topic and the execution are student directed.

We've put out some new craft materials

Students are adapting materials to their needs

But over the past week, other investigations have been incorporated. These students were making specific dinosaurs they'd looked up in a reference book. Once one started, it was a going concern.

A Spinosaurus

Very detailed teeth and claws

The attention to detail in some of these was amazing!

Look at this guy's little claws

So many teeth in this T. Rex

Even brachiosauruses need families

Pteradon

"The long neck helps it eat leaves"

Pleiosaur or swimming dinosaur

 Today, they used the same materials in a completely different way. The lids helped to create the circular faces.