A fluffy visitor and Bingo!

We had a fluffy surprise visitor today! Buddy, an 8 day old lamb, came trotting in for some petting and love today with his owner, Kelsey. 

The Blue group then headed off to Garden View Village, where we played a few games of Bingo. Our Senior friends were late joining us, but the ones that did join us had a great time! 

Music to our ears

I kicked off my day with a little detective work with these two curious girls. After our pinecone search outside, we came in and they helped me write their thoughts during the process on the board so that we could share them with their classmates: 

In the library, we read the book, "Music is for Everyone". This book fits right into our study of music, leading up to our Music Monday celebrations on May 4. Students were able to connect to the story, and were very interested in the instruments described in the story. Afterwards, Mrs. Yu asked the simple question, "What is music?" and here are some of the incredible answers:

• Music makes you happy- Dylan
• Music tries to tell a story- Isla
• Music is special because it's all around the world- Harlow
• Music is a lovely thing to have in your life and is a present to have- Erin
• You want to share it so everyone can hear it- Isla
• Music is for when people die or for dancing- Dylan
• Slow, sad music is for a funeral and fast, move-your-body music is for a dance party- Matthew
• Music is for marrying someone or for a ball- Katy

After recess, we headed outside. Since I try to follow student interest, we often do not have the same experiences outside with each group. With music on our brains, we immediately took the sticks we were collecting to the fence to see what sounds we could make:

We then took them to the leaves to see if the sounds might be different:

Then to the trees...

Then to the stumps, where we created a drumming band. We experimented with different beats, playing “Super Mario brothers theme song”, “Somewhere over the rainbow”, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” and “let’s get ridiculous” on the stumps. 

This led us to a huge discussion about different instruments we might be able to make ourselves, and the various beats we could create with them. We brainstormed a long list of instruments students are interested in making, and will now look for materials for our creations. Stay tuned to see what they come up with! 

Take a chance

We had another one of those beautiful, magical days outside today. 

We started off with a story by Mrs. Keiver about ways to recycle. We love having her share her knowledge and excitement about the environment with us, and we are really looking forward to all of the Earth Day events coming up over the next few weeks. We were also really excited to hear that we won the Green Games competition again for the second year in a row!

We then went on a search for things that we see in nature. With spring in full swing, we are finding new things every day to wonder about.

We found so many gopher holes all over the front yard, and these captured the hearts and minds of most students today.

We also rediscovered an amazing pile of leaves...

We spent time measuring the holes in different ways (against boots and with various size sticks)

Can you remember the last time you were this curious?

The leaf pile is calling...

Making great choices about what to learn about, who to learn with and how to figure new things out.

In this magical moment of absolute bliss, our jumper shouted gleefully, "take a chance, Mrs. Burgess!" I realized then that I had been standing back for a lot of their interactions with nature today, wanting to capture their wondering without intruding. Well, enough of that! The camera was put away (for a little while), and we all covered ourselves in leaves. The shrieks of joy and laughter are still ringing in my ears. 

Camera back in hand to capture the result of incredible teamwork. 

So many things are right about this.

After heading back inside, our students produced amazing writing based on their experiences outside today. They wrote about the gopher holes, the grass, the trees, the buds, the sky and their friends. 

Music Monday: May 4

We have started practising our school-wide song to sing for Music Monday, coming up on May 4. The kids absolutely love the song, and are already catching on to some of the words! 

Here is the link for this year’s song:

http://www.musicmonday.ca/anthem/

We welcome you to play it at home :) Parents will be welcome to attend this event, starting around 10:10 in our gym. If you would like to be involved in our celebration of music (playing an instrument, singing), please let Mrs. Hammond know (Josie.Hammond@sd6.bc.ca).

April Self Portraits

It is amazing to see how our students' fine motor skills have developed since September!

Egg-cited for Easter!

Wow! We loved seeing the kids after Spring Break, and really enjoyed hearing their stories from their time away from school. They were great this week, and have been so excited about Easter this weekend. What a fantastic start to April!

Both groups worked really hard on creating these beautiful stained glass egg window decorations.

We also did a "Fitness Egg Hunt", where students looked for plastic eggs hidden around the playground, and read the action word inside (i.e. hop, skip, jump, twirl). They then rolled a large dice to see how many reps were required. 

Happy Easter from all of these cute little bunnies!