Butterflies!

We have had an exciting two days! Yesterday the children discovered that all but two of the chrysalis opened over the weekend. The children delighted in watching and listening to the butterflies fly around in the netting.  Today we went outdoors and we released the butterflies. Some of the butterflies went on childrens’ fingers and flew from there. A few flew directly out of the container. Comments such as “it tickles,” “so soft” and “look,how fast they fly” could be heard in our circle.  This has truly been an incredible experience for our learners.

 

We are working on editing some other footage. If we can get some footage of the release without faces, we will post more here.

Tonight, ask your chick about the butterfly release.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am Yoga

One way our students have learned to calm their bodies after a busy lunch recess is to engage in Yoga poses. Each day, we read the story called,  I am Yoga and do the actions in the story. The story is a bit hit with the class. This week, one student wrote her own Yoga book at home and brought it in. She led the class in yoga and the students were silent and serious during her session. This sparked a lot of creating in the room. Students began making their own Yoga posters, books and signs. Each one eager to demonstrate and lead a class. We are so happy to see students engage and lead the session in class.

 

Chrysalis

The children were delighted to see the changes in the Caterpillars.  Shock, delight and puzzling looks were on some of the faces of our youngest learners. We are looking forward to the next change.

 

 

Jump Rope for Heart

We had a glorious day for our school Jump Rope for Heart event. There was a lovely breeze blowing through the yard as the sun shone down. The students were very active and did a great job participating in the event. Thank you for helping gather pledges for this event. http://jumpropeforheart.ca/jumphomepage

 

Observing a life cycle

Our class is continuing to learn about various life cycles. We now have some live larvae in our classroom.  Our students have made predictions and are adjusting their predictions as they observe the changes that occur. We are drawing upon our knowledge of insect  life cycles and discussing the changes we see. We are in week one and the larvae are busy eating and growing.

Buds

We are venturing outdoors for our 30 x 30 challenge each day. Today we took our gym time outside and worked on our skipping and soccer skills. In the afternoon, we did Yoga on the grass and the looked closely at our trees by our outdoor classroom.

We noticed new buds and beautiful blossoms on the trees.  We are wondering what will happen after the blossoms are gone. We also wonder why some trees have buds and other trees are still bare. We look forward to watching the changes in the trees over the next few weeks.

The Very Ugly Bug

Today we learned the word hideous. We read a story titled The Very Ugly Bug. In the end the bug was happy he looked the way he did because the bird avoided eating him. It was a fun story that generated a lot of conversation with the children. This afternoon we created our own ugly bugs out of plasticine. The students were delighted with their work.

Bring Back the Bees

We are continuing our learning about lifecycles and are currently discussing the Bring Back the Bees campaign.

https://bringbackthebees.ca

We are learning about the lifecycle of the bee and the role the bee has in our world. We have watched the video, compared it to other Cheerios Commercials and have discussed the missing bees on the Honey Nut Cheerio boxes.

Our students are realizing that they can make a difference in the world. They have planted some wild flowers seeds. They are hopeful their flowers will grow and be ready to transplant at home. Please continue to talk with your child about various lifecycles and the impact of insects in our world.

Pocket Money

The students have created a restaurant in our house corner. We provided a cash register with some play money. They are creating menus, orders and bills for customers. The dramatic play has been incredible to observe as the students take on the many roles of wait staff, cashier, chief and dishwasher.

We are also learning the names of the coins and developing an awareness of the value of some of the coins. We have discussed why the penny is not used any more and how we need to understand what one cent is in order to understand the value of the other coins.

This is a song we sing each day.

You may wish to sing the song with your child. At home you can play a money in my pocket game. Pull out a pocket of change and ask your child to sort it, name the coins, create patterns with the coins or discuss the value of the coins. Some of the senior students have discussed ways to combine coins to make 10 cents or 25 cents.

Your support at home is always appreciated.