An Update on our Learning in November

We have been very busy! The students have become very comfortable with the program and have been showing so much improvement in their reading, writing and speaking.

We have been learning about different ways to do our 'daily writing'. We can label pictures, write and illustrate books, write a list, draw a picture and write a sentence about it or write our wonders. The quality of writing has improved since September, which in turn has helped the students with their reading! We have been so excited to see the incredible improvement in every student in the class!

E.M- My pumpkin seed is growing.
(In the picture it starts as a sprout on the right, then a yellow flower, then a green pumpkin and then an orange pumpkin!)

S.J writing about his creation

Writing about their building creations

Students have been asking a lot of questions about seeds (we are still growing pumpkin seeds), teeth (we had dental screening and a few students have begun to lose teeth), snow, water, and much more!

The students in Room 122 are very curious!

Wondering about the snow

Trying to make it stick together

Planting seeds in rocks

Wondering if the seeds will grow in rocks

Wondering about the colour of rain

Students are finding patterns everywhere! They have also been creating patterns during 'Thinking and Learning Time'.

Students have been creative during 'Thinking and Learning Time' creating many beautiful works of art. They have also been in Room 122 Library pretending to be teachers and librarians.

Naming the "man" (a toy that has appeared in our room) in our class 'Floppy'

November has been a great month of learning!

Patterns, Patterns, Everywhere!

We have been investigating patterns in class meetings and during Thinking and Learning Time. Students have been noticing patterns on their clothing and creating patterns using a variety of materials!

We set up a provocation for them to create patterns using natural materials.

Students began creating beautiful patterns on the light table and on mirrors.

During Thinking and Learning Time, students were creating patterns and then writing about them!

She cut out the paper and glued them together

P.D- "I see red purple, red purple, it is repeating itself"

 

A.M: "This is a animal patterns, it is AB pattern"

Patterns are found in building creations

We have learned about a lot of different types of patterns and using letters to describe and label them (i.e. the pattern above is blue, yellow, red, blue, yellow, red, etc. this would be an ABC pattern). 

What patterns can you find or make at home?

(Feel free to take a picture and send it in so your child can share their pattern with the class!)

We Remember

Remembrance Day is a very special day. To prepare, we had many discussions and read stories to help us understand peace and the poppy. At our school assembly, every class presents a wreath as a way to show we are remembering.

A variety of materials were put out on our craft table for students to create their own poppies. 

Many creative poppies were made to put on our wreath.

We played 'The Last Post' for the students to listen to and asked them what it made them think about. Here are some of their ideas:

D.K- made me think about the soldiers who fought so we don't have to

D.D- peace

C.C- peace

M.W- the poppies

S.P- a band

A.B- a trumpet

K.B- a piano

D.S- poppies

E.K- poppy

A.Bh- princesses coming

V.A- they not going to fight

A.A- stop fighting

E.M- celebrated because there is no more fighting

At our assembly today, there were many moving presentations from the choir, dance group and the band. K.B and D.R presented our wreath at the front of the school. 

We hope you took a moment today to thank those who have fought for our freedom.

Pumpkins!

The students have been very curious and fascinated with pumpkins! 
(I apologize in advance for how long this post is!)

Students shared some of their wonders about the pumpkin in our classroom.

A.L- why do pumpkins start with green?

A.B- I wonder what the white is

D.K- I wonder why when we open it up the seeds look yucky

A.A- I wonder the pumpkin is orange, will it turn to big?

K.B- Because the white on it is dirt on it, we got a rock and we got the dirt off 

D.D- why when we open it the inside isn’t so flat like the outside

M.W- I wonder why when you open it it feels so different 

Z.H- if you open it, I think I’ve felt a pumpkin

E.M- when we see the seeds in the pumpkin, the seeds inside has the same colour of the orange of the pumpkin

V.A- I wonder if it has a mommy

A.M- I wonder if the pumpkin seeds are orange 

Ms. Tompkins asked the students what we should do with the pumpkin.

S.J- carve it

D.K- open it up first and take out the seeds and then carve a face, like a happy face

D.Z- colour it

D.S- open it and colour it with different colours

M.W-scoop all the pumpkin out

A.A- how about the pumpkin was too big and lets see what the green on it

T.K- you can make eyes and a face

The students touched the outside of the pumpkin and described how it felt.

S.P- soft

A.B- hard

P.D- can we make pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup

M.W- smooth

A.L- stripes on it

D.K- it felt flat 

D.S- pumpkin, make pumpkin apple

A.M- it feel so soft and hard

Ms. Tompkins cut the pumpkin open and students had a turn to look inside and describe what they see.

A.L- seeds

Z.H- seeds

E.M- white seeds that are not stuck on the orange

V.A- I smell 

P.D- I see something and smell orange

S.P- I see slime

T.K- lots of seeds

K.B- there are seeds

E.K- I see pumpkin

A.B- I see lots of seeds

N.M- pumpkin

S.J- orange

M.P- seeds

C.C- seeds

A.K- I see it’s yucky and seeds

M.W- pumpkin

D.S- pumpkin pie

During Thinking and Learning Time, students had the opportunity to put their hands inside the pumpkin and feel it. Many students did not want to touch it. The students who did had a variety of reactions to the texture of the pumpkin!

Ms. Tompkins: What do you feel?

D.K- slimy

A.L- soft, seeds are hard

E.M- there are like a thousand seeds in here!

A.K- yucky

Students were excited to get their hands in and feel the flesh of the pumpkin.

A.M- I want to grow a pumpkin, we need to plant the seeds, we put dirt inside first then dump the seed, then water and sun and air

We asked the students if anyone else wanted to grow a pumpkin with A.M. Many students showed interest in planting seeds, so we quickly searched around to find the materials we needed. The next half hour was filled with dirt, laughs, excitement and learning about what plants need to grow.

P.D, M.W, and A.L- they are by the window because they need sun

We decided to put soil inside our pumpkin to see what would happen. The students had many theories about what might happen to our pumpkin.

A.B- maybe it will grow other pumpkins

E.M- a little bit of seeds in the pumpkin but if we put soil in our pumpkin with the seeds and put water in it it might grow

A.M- and sun

D.D- grow plants if you put soil in, just plants

A.A- pumpkins grow bigger

P.D- might get die

A.L- maybe it will broke this pumpkin

K.B- if you put too much in the pumpkin might explode

D.S- put water for pumpkin

The students helped by using a measuring cup to add soil to our pumpkin. 

P.D- I see lots of soil, it’s high

The students are keeping a close eye on their pumpkin seeds and the class pumpkin.

We have been keeping a close eye on our pumpkin and students began to notice that it was cracking. We realized it was beginning to rot and break!

 

Students described how the pumpkin felt:

• squishy
• soft 
• slimy

 We then decided to cut open the pumpkin to see what it looked like inside and to see if any of our seeds had begun to grow. K.B suggested we cut it open outside so that we didn’t make a mess in our class.

 We saw that some of our pumpkin seeds had begun to grow.

We put the seeds on the table. M.W said "we put the book beside because we needed to look which our pumpkin seeds were at"

M.W: Our seeds grew tall!

 M.W: they are growing with seeds on top of them

 M.W: my plant has lots of roots!

 M.W: I see the leaves with orange dots on it

 A.A is looking at her cup with the plant growing

 P.D. is looking at her own and ours (the class seeds are in the bowl).

We now have lots of growth in almost all the students pumpkin plants. We have been wondering why the class plants that were planted in the pumpkin grew so much faster than the ones planted in the cups. What do you think?

M.W: the roots feel cool and smooth. There are two leaves that are open 

(This blog post was written with the help of M.W!)