Pajama Day/Comfy Day

Our first school wide spirit day will be this Friday, January 30.  All students are invited to come in their pajamas, robes, slippers-maybe even carrying a stuffie!  Enjoy!

Rainbow Milk

Today, we were experimenting with rainbow milk. We use a small saucer of milk, add drops of food colouring in the primary colours. Then, we add a drop of dish detergent. The science behind the experiment is that the fat in the milk reacts with the soap, pushing the colours around in the milk. Often the colours blend together, making the secondary colours of purple, green or orange. Our experiment didn't work exactly as planned (I think we used the wrong kind of detergent), but the students had a great time hand mixing the colours together.

Measuring

We have been focussing on measuring this month. Mostly, we have been discussing non-standard measurement (using cubes, linking chains, shoes, etc), however, we have touched on standard measurement a bit as well. Today, we read a story called the "How Big is a Foot?". It is a great story about a king who uses his foot to measure how long his bed needs to be, but the carpenter has a much smaller foot, and thus, the bed ends up being much too small. We then took all our shoes off, compared them, and ordered them largest to smallest. 

Outdoor time

This week has been another remarkably cold one. Once we got weather warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, both classes went on a nature walk. As always, we were looking for animal tracks. Despite their best guesses, we did not see any beaver tracks (snowshoes) or winter snakes (mouse tracks)! They fully enjoy our forested areas, investigating and exploring, with imaginations on overdrive!

A beaver track ?

Camping anyone?

We have changed up our dramatic arts centre in our classroom.  With much student input, the students decided on a camping/ hiking theme. We have a tent, a pretend campfire, maps, flashlights and lanterns, and lots of animal tracks guides . The students have been having a lot of fun birdwatching, mapmaking and tracking.

Before and After

We have been talking about numbers that come before and after.  The students are given a number and must identify what number comes either before or after.  Thus far, we have only been working with numbers from 1-20.  This is a great skill that can easily be reinforced at home or in the car.  Ask your child "what number comes before 6?, what number comes after 17?" Thanks for your support.

The Mitten

Happy new year, it is great to be back, and into the swing of things once again!

Today we read the well loved, favourite Jan Brett book called "The Mitten". Many of the students created some artwork and activities based on the story. During our math time, we estimated and measured different sized mittens, using linking cubes as the non standard measurement tool. In the book, 8 different woodland animals squish themselves into a mitten seeking some warmth. In class, we counted how many blocks would fit inside a mitten. 

Figuring out all the footprints!

She proudly shows off how many blocks fit into her mitten!