Our Measuring Continued!

After our four boys showed the class how they figured out who was taller, the learning continued!

 Sebastian wanted to know how tall he was using non-standard units!

Ryan counted out cubes. He counted and found out that he is 51 cubes tall!

Others quickly joined in and soon we were writing all of our heights all on the white board to see who was the tallest and who was the shortest!

But our journey didn't end there! We read the book Equal Shmequal, and talked about more/less, equal amounts, and fairness!

Stone Soup

The weather is turning cold and there's no better way to warm up than with a bowl of soup.  We read a wonderful book last week called "Stone Soup" by; Jon J. Muth.

  

This book depicts a village that has been torn apart by war and trust issues.  When three strangers enter the town walls their reception is less than welcomed.  It took a curious child to open the eyes of all the villagers.  Soon the community was working together to make this warm meal.

Room 7 is going to make Stone Soup tomorrow!!!  With a little bit of team work I'm sure it will be delicious and nutritious.  Feel free to send your little one to school with a vegetable for our soup.  We will keep you posted on how it turns out :)  

What is that white stuff?

" I like snow castles!" Sam

"I like snowmen!" Adi

"The snow melts when it hits concrete. The rock doesn't have any snow on it

 because it is blocked by the tree. "  Ryan 

 

"The snow melts into rain. The snow doesn't melt over there because the grass is colder." Stefan

 

What do you know about snow?

"It comes from up there!" Isla

"The season of winter makes snow." Olivia

"Snow comes from clouds" Adi

"My mom says that rain turns into snow, when it rains alot." Devon

Mrs. Madsen, whose taller?

I think your the same height. Are you sure? they ask.....

 Then I opened it up to speculation. How else can you measure your height?

(double check)

Take a picture of us against the wall!   I think i'm as tall as this line!

 What about us? And the line grew longer!

How many bricks tall are you?

 

Calling All Parents!!!

We are almost done our apple challenge!  We only have two more apples to sample, the Crispin and the Red Prince.  If you are able to find these apples please send them in.  We have looked EVERYWHERE!!!

Tis the season for APPLES!

 

After our exciting trip to Brantowood Farms we discovered that there was a newspaper article sharing all the different varieties of Ontario apples.



Apple Challenge Accepted!!

During the previous week we took part in a apple tasting activity.  The kids discussed colours, taste, smells, size and texture.  We had brought in three different types of apples for everyone to try.  First we sampled Golden Delicious (Mrs. Crape's favourite!!), then came Red Delicious, followed
 by Granny Smith.

Some things we were curious about were...

Do all apples have the same amount of seeds inside them?
Will they all taste the same?
How many different kinds of apples are there?

After reading the article the kids initiated a new challenge.  How many apples could we sample off the list?  To date we have also tried Empire, MacIntosh, Jonagold, Royal Gala and Honey Crisp.

But what else could we do with apples?  So naturally the kids made a list.

-Apple cider

-Apple juice

-Apple pie

-Apple crisp

-Apple smoothie

-Apple sauce

Lucky for us we like to cook!!  So a food dehydrator was brought in and we made apple chips.  And if that wasn't enough we then made our own apple sauce.  Everyone knows you need to begin with a recipe.

Then came the baking...

Mmmm

Mmmm

Good!

   

Bringing Outside In!

What happened to the leaves?

- the sun burnt them

- the tools from the construction workers burnt them

- a catepillar did it when he was eating

- it grew like that on the tree

 

 

Why are the pine cones different?

- the little one fell off  the tree when it was growing during a storm

- you picked it sooner

Exploring in our own backyard!

What an amazing walk we went on yesterday.  Take a look at what we found in our own backyard!!

We used many of our senses as we walked through the Laurentian Wetlands yesterday.

Touching all the different plant life, smelling the wild flowers, hearing the geese call out and seeing the beautiful world around us change colours as fall begins to set in.





Here are some of the beautiful flowers we got to see.

Can you identify these plants on the left and the right?  How about doing some research with our eager learners!

Look left, can you spot the spotty, dotty ladybug? 

I Spy a Blue Heron

The Great Egret taking flight.

Greetings to all of our families!!  Just a reminder that tomorrow (Thursday September 19th) night is Meet the Teacher night.  We can't wait to see all of you there.

5:30 there will be a BBQ so come and join us for a yummy meal.

6:15 we will be having a Guest Speaker and the Grand Opening of the new Kindergarten wing!!

6:30-7:30 We welcome you to visit our classroom and see what we have been getting ourselves into.

Our Mystery Box has been opened!!!

Well they have finally arrived.  We are the proud owners of two Dwarf African FROGS!

Can't get enough?  Have more questions?  Want to learn more about our new pet.  Visit this website...

www.WildCreations.com

Clue # 4

It Swims!!

Stay tuned, our mystery box will be opened tomorrow!!

 

Hooray for clue #3

It moves fast!!

Thank-you for all of your comments!  The kindergartens LOVED them :)

Here is clue #2

It makes noise!!

What an amazing first week! We made it! Congratulations to all of our brave JK parents who saw their children off on their first day of school and welcome back to our SK parents!

Our First Discovery...
Imagine the things this bin could hold! Could it be a a glass of milk, books, a doll? Who knows. Our students have started  to uncover clues hidden in the balloons. Clue# 1 was popped this morning.

It's wet!

Any ideas? Our students made guesses. All guesses welcome. We will share them with our class in the morning!

The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program

"Play is a means to early learning that capitalizes on children's natural curiosity and exuberance".

Play is a vehicle for learning and lies at the core of innovation and creativity.
It provides opportunities for learning in a context in which children are at their
most receptive. Play and academic work are not distinct categories for young
children, and learning and doing are also inextricably linked for them.
It has long been acknowledged that there is a strong link between play and
learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem solving, language
acquisition, literacy, numeracy, and social, physical, and emotional skills. Young
children actively explore their environment and the world around them through
a process of learning-based play. When children are manipulating objects, acting
out roles, or experimenting with various materials, they are engaged in learning
through play.

Here is the link to the Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf

Room 7 in the Making...

Here it is, WT Townshend under construction! The brick is being added to the exterior walls and it looks like we still need windows. It's hard to believe that in two weeks we will have a brand new classroom ready for students!