Spring Tulips- An invitation for Observation and Art

As we are all done with winter and ready for spring, Mrs. Walsh suggested to D.K and A.B that they draw pictures of tulips. They came into the classroom and asked Ms. Tompkins to help them find pictures on the computer to see what a tulip was. They chose a picture they wanted to draw. They shared a paper and got to work. 

Ms. Tompkins remembered that Ms. Durant had white tulips in her class, so she borrowed it to inspire the students by allowing them to see a real one. They used magnifying glasses to examine the flower. Here is the conversation that happened while the students were examining the flowers.

D.K- I see little pieces of fur

A.B- I see little, I felt slimy stuff

D.K- (touched the yellow part of the flower) it feels strange, like a blanket 

A.B- it’s going to die because some leaves are falling off

D.K- something is weird, when they are up (at this point a petal fell off of the tulip) Woah! Look at it!

A.B- it fell off!

D.K- Ms. Tompkins feel it, how soft it is! Feel this one and feel this one they are different. I think we should take this. This leaf is healthy.

Ms. Tompkins- why?

D.K- because it feels nice and strong and this one feels nice and soft. So I think this one is weak. It is not very healthy. Look at this one and this one, this one is healthy this one is not.

A.B- the stem feels really, really smooth, smooth like the leaves of the tulip and also the leaves feel funny

D.K- it’s time for them to fall and this investigation needs a bug to go inside it to hide for the winter, so it isn't cold for it’s family

A.B- the nectar is a little white if you look closely it’s white. The nectar feels soft.

A.M- the nectar when it turns, it goes in here when a bee comes and new nectar comes in and a new flower will come and the new nectar will come from another flower.

D.K- Lets feel the temperature of the soil. It feels cool, lets get a thermometer. Ms. Tompkins where are they? 

He began walking around looking for them, Mrs. Landolfi brought David two. He took one and stuck it into the soil in the tulip pot.

Ms. Tompkins- why did you put that in the soil?

D.K- to tell the temperature. We didn’t know the temperature. If it was super cold how would we know if it was sick?

As this happened at the end of the day, many other students became curious and wanted to participate. So Ms. Tompkins went to the store and got some more tulips for the classroom. We set up a provocation (an invitation for learning) to allow the students to sketch what they saw and then painted their sketches.

We are hoping that this burst of spring in our classroom will encourage spring to come outside!

Money Bunny

We have been talking and learning about the Canadian coins. The coins are in our movie theatre so the students use them everyday.

To help the students learn all the coins and their values, we have introduced a song created by Ms. Babalis. Here is the link to the song:

Hop's Money Song

(I apologize in advance as it is very catchy and you will probably find yourself singing it often!)

Movie Theatre

The students have decided to turn our pizza store dramatic centre into a movie theatre. The students brainstormed everything they would need to include in order to make the theatre successful. Here are some pictures of the movie theatre set up.

Students have also been creating movie posters to show which movies are at the theatre.

The students will be creating movies using shadows, so we are looking forward to the movies and conversations that will happen in the next couple weeks! As well, we will be beginning to talk about money as the students will be 'paying' to enter the theatre.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We thought we would bring a little green into the classroom! 

We are also hoping it will encourage spring 

to come quickly!

Happy March Break!

Happy March Break!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful break and I look forward to hearing about your adventures when we are back.

 I'll leave you with a beautiful creation made today.

Reptilia Came In

(As you all know, Reptilia visited our classes today. The students were excited so we thought we would have them help write our blog post for today. Even the title is child created!)

A.B- Today we saw a tarantula with 8 eyes

M.W- We saw and touched reptiles

A.B- Reptilia is where you see reptiles and animals

K.B- when we feeled the alligator I said it feeled like it's tail felt like a toy alligator

M.W- the snake felt like bumpy

A.B- I wonder why they call the lizard Blueberry, I think it's because he has a blue tongue and he likes to eat blueberries.

Ms Tompkins- which reptiles did we meet today?

M.W- um, a snake Charlie who looked like a rattlesnake

A.B- we met Biscuit the turtle

K.B- um, we met the alligator Grumpy

M.W- um, we met a tarantula Rosie

A.B- and we also met Monty the snake

K.B- we met the lizard Blueberry

Charlie the Bull Snake

(He is a bull snake from the Canadian prairies and can grow up to 8 feet long!)

E.K- Charlie is moving 

A.A- Charlie is so cute and so soft

Ms. Tompkins- what kind of snake did he pretend to be to stay safe?

A.A- he pretended to be rattle snake, because he is soft and clean

A.A- E.K is holding Charlie

A.A- I am holding Charlie

Biscuit the Turtle
(Biscuit is 7 years old)

D.R- biscuit has a shell and he is a turtle and he can go underwater. He felt like bones because he is made out of bones. His shell is made out of bones.

A.L- he goes, his whole body goes in his shell because some of the animals eat turtles. So he hides in his shell. They hold a deep breath in the water.

S.J- he has a hard shell and he has a shell to protect him from animals that eat him

D.S- the turtles can move every time and they go in the water and hibernate when it's night time

A.L- I am touching the turtle 

D.R- I am touching it
S.J- I am holding a turtle and I touched his shell

N.M- I turtle touch, he was like crocodile

Grumpy the Alligator
(Grumpy is a teenaged alligator and will grow to about 14 feet when he is full grown and weigh about 800 lbs!)

A.Bh- if they smell something they go and grab a thing and then go back down and eat it in the water. He can hold his breath for 2 hours.

K.B- the alligator has lots of ruffles on it and it has lots of smooth parts on it and if you touch the middle of his face above the eye, it will blink.

E.M- alligators snap and they and he putted a black tape on his mouth because they don't want him to bite people. Crocodiles bite people and they snap

D.S- crocodiles move with their feet

P.D- I wonder why the crocodile have a big black thing on their mouth so they do not bite and cannot open

E.M- I am touching the crocodile again

K.B- I am touching an alligator

A.Bh- Me touching an aligator     

                                               

A.K- its leg is moving. I'm touching crocodile. It feeled like crocodile

Rosie the Tarantula 
(He is a Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula because of the rose coloured hair)

D.S- the spider are really scared, there webs have everything on the window

M.P- it's soft because he has hair

D.K- I learned about that most of the tarantulas have 8 eyes and 8 legs. I wonder if you touched it and how much fur you got on you, I wonder if it would infect your skin. I think the part on it's back could web it all the way from the roof all the way to the ground.

Blueberry the Blue Tongued Skink

(This type of lizard is found in Australia, he is an omnivore and loves snails)

T.K- I learned that it is real and the lizard can do a lot of things he can transform into a tree by camouflage. Why he camouflage all the day? Why is this not a snake? What does the lizard eat? What do lizards drink? What does the lizard have a mom or not? What is the lizards have a dad or not or a brother or not?

D.S- how they move with their feet. They shake the tail.

S.P- I wonder how Blueberry got a blue tongue. A lizards tail will come off because you pull on it. My mom has one too and it's a gecko and it will be super super long scream it's tail will come off

T.K- why is the lizard moving?

D.S- I'm touching a lizard 

P.D- the lizard is like, has a nice pretty tongue like it's blue and it looks like a blueberry
D.Z- I am looking at it and touching it 

V.A- I was going to touch the lizard and touching quietly because so the lizard don't scared

Monty the Ball Python

(When he gets scared he will roll into a tight ball with his head and neck in the centre to keep him safe)

Z.H- I am touching the snake. It was soft. It has a tail. It has a tongue just like the other snake friend, Karl

A.M- I wonder if the snake will bite or it's poisonous and i wonder if it can find the presenter's food and the crocodile comes to eat the snake and I wonder if it was the crocodile that ate the snake or the snake wrapped the crocodile. I wonder if it will go to the desert or it's a water snake. 

V.A- I only scared when it's turn off the lights and closed door, so I not scared of snakes, I only scared of King Cobra snakes

V.A and A.A are touching the snake 

S.C-S is touching the snake 

Z.H is touching the snake 

M.W- I had very fun at Reptilia!

We are excited to hear how the students wonders have changed after interacting with different snakes and reptiles! Let us know if you have had any wonders shared at home about our experience today!