Igloo Visit

 

The blue group was able to go down to Mrs. Hammond's classroom to visit their igloo today! The whole group was able to fit inside, and we had fun making up a song about how much we love the igloo!

A big thank you to Mrs. Hammond and the grade 3's for letting us interrupt their Quiet Reading to check out their amazing creation!

Exploring Rocks at Garden View Village

The blue group had an amazing time at Garden View Village today! Our group was joined by Ms. Scott's grade 2/3 class, which was a lot of fun. We also had two new senior friends join us for our activities upstairs. We first listened to the story, "If You Find A Rock", where we learned about various types of rocks. Ask your child about the types of rocks they remember from the story!

 

We then went to the tables, where we were able to explore a variety of rocks. With the help of the grade 2/3's, we brainstormed words that came to mind when feeling and looking at our rocks. Some of the types of rocks they came up with were: candy rock, water rock, pigeon nose rock, miny rock, smiley rock, lava rock, caramel rock, watermelon rock, moon rock, cow rock, jewel rock, mystery rock, sock rock, and inuksuk.

 

 

After spending time examining our rocks, we chose a really special one to bring downstairs to share with our senior friends. We talked to them about our rocks, the words we chose to describe the rocks, and the types of rocks in the story. We asked our senior friends if they had played with rocks when they were younger, and many of them shared stories about special collections they had. We realized that rocks really brought us all together! The buzz of sharing and laughing filled the air around the coffee table.

 

As we were leaving the table, we overheard one of our senior friends say that she really enjoys seeing the kids and hearing their excitement downstairs.

 

We finished off with reading, "Everybody Needs a Rock", where we learned about the rules for choosing rocks. Ask your child about a rule they remember.

 

When we were about to head back upstairs, one of our senior friends stopped me and told me that he really enjoyed the smiles from the kids because he had had 6 kids himself. He said that he and his wife had decided to have many children because they found that where there was lots of children, there was a lot of happiness. I couldn't agree more!

Our Tree

As part of the David Suzuki's 30x30 Nature Challenge, we were asked to choose a tree to write a story about. This was a very easy choice for us, as our favourite tree for so many activities is the large tree in the front field. The blue group ventured out there today to brainstorm thoughts about the tree:

Our tree has been living for a long time. This tree has lots of other friends in the field. If this tree came to life, it would probably be friends with us in Kindergarten. If we had a friend that was a tree, he would probably hug us back. This tree has lots of leaves on it. This tree is growing so much because we are taking care of it. This tree is so old so we are taking care of it, and it is taking care of us too. We love the tree. We are thankful for the tree helping us breathe. The tree is awesome! The tree is a senior friend. The tree is so special to us because we can do lots of special activities with it. The tree really likes us.

We then used our creative story telling skills to write a story about our tree:

Once upon a time, in a schoolyard in BC, there lived a beautiful tree. The Kindergarteners loved this tree. The tree was the bestest tree. Everyone loved the tree so much that they all wanted it at their house. The kids took such good care of the tree, and the tree took such good care of the kids. The tree gave everyone air to breathe, but it wanted to do even more. It wanted to walk with the animals! One day, it wished on a star and his dream came true. He turned into a Humbug* and all of a sudden, he could walk with the animals. He loved eating nuts with the chipmunks in their tree. He loved to watch the breeze and look up at the clouds. He especially loved to fly! But the thing he wanted most was to go into the school. He wanted to see all the beautiful people he had never seen. He waited until it was dark and then he used Mrs. Keiver’s key to get into the school. Once he was in the school, he ice skated down the hallway! When the kids came back to school in the morning, they were so surprised to see a Humbug inside their classroom. Until the end of the school year, the tree went everywhere with the Kindergarteners. The tree was very happy, but the Kindergarteners missed their favourite tree. They looked and they looked but they couldn’t figure out where their tree had gone. One day, the kids wished upon a star for their tree back. The next day, they looked outside and there was the tree! They ran outside into the schoolyard and gave their tree a BIG hug. They lived happily ever after. The end.

 

*Humbug: We just learned about humbugs today! These are beautiful butterfly girls and dragonfly boys that are half human and half bug. Their mission is to help protect our wonderful earth. We have a few stuffed ones in the classroom to play and learn with! To learn more about these creatures, go to: http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/donate/spotlights/little-humbugs

Bike Safety Day

Our students were VERY excited about bike safety day! We were amazed at how well they did on their bikes, and how quickly they caught onto the route and directions being given.

Singing at Garden View Village

We took all of our students to Garden View Village this past week to sing a few songs while they were fresh in our heads! Our senior friends loved our singing, and were very impressed that we could remember the words to so many songs!

Music Monday!

Thank you Mrs. Hammond and the grade 3 Roving Reporters for creating this great video! You'll see our own Kate, Lachlan, Griffin, and Emily as the K's interviewed for this video at the beginning!

Thanks to Ms. Sharpe for creating this video!

The blue group kicked off Music Monday with making instruments and then taking them on tour!

All of the local musicians that came to celebrate this day were fantastic!

Our crew did an amazing job with both songs! We are very proud of their efforts in learning two challenging songs!

Music exploration

The red group had a special musical guest today! Mrs. Burgess' uncle, Don, came to the school to show the kids a few instruments. He taught us that we have a few built in instruments (our hands and mouths) and that we can make simple instruments from found objects like spoons! We enjoyed listening to, and playing with, the autoharp. We learned that pressing different buttons changes the sound when strumming the strings. 

We enjoyed listening to a few songs on guitar as well, and even got to help sing "I'm a little teapot" with our outside voices! We sang our Music Monday song for Don and he was very impressed with the kids' ability to memorize all of those words! There was discussion afterwards about musical instruments, and we will continue this exploration next week!