Our First Letter Collage For Our ABC Wall

Recent Math Activities

Introducing....Our Toad!

  I purchased a new screen for the top of the tank today so we are ready for all kinds of insects and spiders.  Feel free to hunt at home and send them in! The children will be happy to hunt at recess. I also bought some crickets to feed the toad on Monday. That will provide for some excitement!

Sorting Our Shoes On Shoe Day

On Tuesday September 30th, the children were encouraged to bring in their favourite pair of shoes.  Shoes had turned into a popular topic in our classroom!  It all started with Pete The Cat and his books , "I Love My White Shoes" and "Rocking In My School Shoes".  This interest in shoes inspired the creation of our "Kids Shoe Store" in our Dramatic Play Area.  It is full of boxes of children's shoes, labelled by size and ready for purchase for $1 per pair.  The children are having a ball measuring their customer's feet and helping their customers select the perfect pair of shoes from the selection of sports, dance, casual and dressy shoes.

We started Shoe Day off by sorting our shoes.  The children came up with excellent "sorting rules".  Each photo below shoes a new way that we sorted our shoes!

Sorting Rule: How does your shoe get done up? (velcro, slip-on, buckle, laces, zipper)

Sorting Rule: Colour

Sorting Rule: Sparkly/Non-Sparkly

Sorting Rule: Type of shoe (slippers, dressy, sandals, running shoes)

Another highlight of the day was our session with our Big Buddies.  We made a class book about our shoes based on the wording of Pete The Cat's "I Love My White Shoes" book.  This class book will travel to each student's home for your enjoyment.  We also measured our shoes and the shoes belonging to our big buddies' with snap cubes.

Terry Fox Fundraiser - A Huge Success!

Our Terry Fox Walk was held on a beautiful day.  The children enjoyed walking with their buddies on the path around part of Mudd Creek.  We are so very pleased to announce that our class collected donations in the amount of $397.00! Thanks so much for your support of this worthy cause.  

Jewel Jar Update

The jewel jar was getting close to being full at the end of September.  We had not discussed what we trying to earn.  The children offered some incredible ideas:
1. Stuffed Animal Day: We already a Stuffed Animal Day in September!  Apparently it was a big hit the first time!
2. Building Day: The idea was to have a day of designing and constructing.
3. P. J. Day: This sounded like a comfy way to spend a day.
4. Friends Day: This was an idea we had never heard before.  The idea was we would invite another class or groups of children from other classes to our classroom for a "playdate".  What an excellent idea!

You can see how the vote turned out!  Stay tuned for the date of Stuffed Animal Day #2.  The jewel jar is almost full!

A Gift For Rainbow Our Betta Fish

I purchased a "hammock" for our beta fish named Rainbow some time ago.  "Rainbow Day" seemed like the perfect day to add it to his tank.  Our Happy Helper opened the gift and we added the green plastic leaf with its suction cup to the tank right away. The children were very curious about this leaf and they made fabulous predictions and drawings about the function of the leaf (e.g., it would be a bed, it would be a surf board). 

Our Rainbow Experiment

We put out paper towels, cups, water, and 3 colours of food dye (red, yellow, and blue) and posed the question above.  We made the basic design with the children and talked about what happens when colours mix.  The students were very familiar with colour mixing as they had lots of experience with this during our colour days.  There was lots of chatter about the topic of "absorption" as this science experiment continued.  It was impressive to watch the liquid travel and mix to form our "Rainbow"!

Thanks for the Rainbow Shirts!

Two SK boys made tie-dye shirts in preparation for Rainbow Day. 

Rainbows of Fun On Rainbow Day!

Here is a sampling of some of the activities we did as we celebrated Rainbow Day on Friday, September 26th.

Sunflowers!

The Colour Boards Inspired Us To Have Colour Days!

Pete The Cat And All Of His Books Arrived on Blue Day!

A beautiful sunflower provided the inspiration for a classroom full of artists on yellow day! Their "real life" paintings are amazing! The children really enjoyed using "dainty brushes" to create lots of detail in their "dainty paintings".

Sorting Experts!

Mrs. Beselaere and I soon noticed that our new students and returning SKs had a keen interest in sorting in our beginning play experiences in September. They were particularly interested in sorting items by colour. This picture was taken on our very first day of school!

It didn't take long before Mrs. Beselaere and I decided to undertake a special project we called "Colourful Stuff". The children were given the special assignment to find colourful items at home. The children were thrilled to empty their paper bags and sort their colourful things. Thanks to everyone for sending in so many colourful odds and ends!

They knew their items were going to be used to make beautiful colour boards in our classroom. We spent a couple days putting these boards together and they turned out so well!

1000 Views! What A Great Way To Kick Off The 2014-2015 School Year!

 We are so excited about hitting 1000 views after beginning this blog in April! We hope you will visit the blog to stay up to date on classroom activities, check out important dates, and get a look at what is happening in Room 106. The Remind texting/email service will be used to notify you of new blog posts. Thanks for your support!
Mrs. Garrow and Mrs. Beselaere

A Yummy Jewel Jar Reward!

The children are always very creative when it comes to coming up with ideas for their next jewel jar reward! "Cotton Candy Day" was one we hadn't heard before! We were fortunate enough to have a wonderful guest show the children how cotton candy is made.  The children were amazed!

The Little Red Hen

Our class was introduced to "The Little Red Hen" when we were learning about the "en" word family.  Jack And The Beanstalk was such a hit in our classroom recently. It seemed pretty likely that the students would love this classic story too!  We read many different versions of this story.  The children got a real kick out of comparing the different animals in each book.  We made clothespin animals to represent the characters and the students enjoyed retelling the story with them.

In each version of the story, the Little Red Hen bakes something (most often bread).  The children had the opportunity to make bread dough and bake it.  They loved eating it too!  Most of the children asked for extra slices!

We made salt dough again! The students had a ball forming their buns, tortillas, pretzels, cookies, pancakes, etc. They look realistic but they are as hard as can be! Now these "baked goodies" are a wonderful addition to our house centre!

Thank You Miss Donna!

We enjoyed another wonderful story time session with Miss Donna from the CK Library on Thursday. Miss Donna has been visiting our classroom every month this year and we feel so fortunate! Miss Donna always has the best books, songs, and finger plays! Miss Donna is also ready and willing to round up books for our classroom every time we start a new inquiry! Please consider visiting the Children's Room in the library this summer! Miss Donna would love to see you!

Dandelions

Our school yard was full of dandelions in the middle of May and we decided to check them out!  It didn't seem to take long before the dandelions were changing! We decided to go for another walk through the yard and we had a ball running though the fields of dandelions and making wishes and bouquets with these fluffy wonders. We took pictures of the children blowing the dandelion seeds and making wishes.  We were learning about word families so it seemed like the perfect time to investigate the "ish" family! The next time you are in the school drop by to see the photographs, art and writing...all about their wishes! 

Fun With Scooters On "Wheel Day"

Our latest jewel jar reward was very enjoyable! The children lined their scooters up in their "parking spots" in the hallway this morning. The forecast was calling for rain most of the day so we took our bikes and the childrens' scooters out in the morning. They rode them in a big loop around the primary playground equipment.  In the afternoon, the rain still hadn't started so we went back outside with the scooters for extra laps!  

Jack And The Beanstalk - Part 2

The children worked very hard making a beanstalk and the Giant's castle. They castle was constructed out of styrofoam pieces (thank you Mrs. Pillon!). When it was built they painted it and added the finishing touches.  They did a wonderful job!