Animals and Action-Painting!

After completing our Needs of Living Things Unit, we spent lots of time last week researching an animal of the students' choosing. 

The children worked on their reports in partners, searching through National Geographic Kids  online as well as many non-fiction books. Teamwork made the process so much smoother! Working in pairs allowed children to troubleshoot issues that popped up on the computers, gather information from challenging text, and collaborate to write strong sentences. 

Students completed a simple report template by (1) drawing and labeling their animal and (2) writing about and illustrating three facts. 

We also glued on a colour picture of our chosen animal on the back, and as the finishing touch, had our reports laminated! The children were so proud! They read their animal reports to classmates today, and hope to read to the Kindergarten students tomorrow. 

This project was rich in learning. Students were asked to gather information from different sources, put ideas into their own words, write complete sentences, illustrate with detail, and collaborate with a peer. What accomplished kids!

Please check your child's agenda for this animal report. Review it and then complete the yellow Star and a Wish page. The star is for you to write what you feel they did well, and the wish is for something you wish they would work on next time. Please return the animal report and the Star and a Wish form by Monday. 

We had a ball this afternoon learning about American painter Jackson Pollock and his unique style of painting. Rather than paint a landscape or portrait, he painted action! Pollock would drip, pour, and splatter the paint! 

Can you believe we are out of wet wipes now?

We tried action painting today, too! The artwork is still drying and will need mounting, so watch for an action-packed Pollock-inspired bulletin board display soon!

Never a dull moment in Grade 1!

Horses Love Reading, too!

The children have learned many lessons and new skills this year, but perhaps the learning they take the most pride in is reading. They began the year able to identify sounds and read just a few short words. Now they are able to read stories, magazines, websites, comics, and so much more! What a tremendous accomplishment!

After practicing our reading daily since September, the children were ready and we were off! We spent a morning celebrating and sharing our reading talents with none other than a few gentle Arabian horses. 

The students moved through different centers, reading to the horses after completing the activities at each centre. The activities were fun and included labeling the parts of a horse with sticky labels, grooming the horses (and their hooves!), running silly relay races dressed as cow boys and cow girls, writing special messages on posters to the horses, trying out the feel of a saddle (complete with parent-generated bumps) and making paint-stamped bandanas. 

Reading was easily the highlight! There were so many magical moments as the horses leaned in to see the pictures and hear the students read. The children read with confidence and tremendous pride, and the morning is one we will fondly remember. 

Keep reading, boys and girls!

Thank you, Mr. Millar for motivating 
us to read all year long!

Busy little bees!

The kids returned to school rested and ready to learn! Today we were busy as bees as we continued to explore our Science Unit, Needs of Living Things!

ANIMALS

After experiencing chicks and worms, we have almost completed our focus on the needs of animals. Today the children began researching an animal of their choosing in partners. Students explored National Geographic Kids. Partners chose an animal that interested them, and throughout the week will continue to research, using both print and electronic sources. Stay tuned!

PLANTS

Last week we examined seeds, cutting open fruits and vegetables and graphing our findings:

Examining and graphing the seeds of an orange, snap peas,
cherry tomatoes and a peach.

This week we have many ongoing experiments and activities that will deepen our knowledge about the needs of plants. 

How important is light to a plant? We have taken two plants, and have placed one in a dark cabinet and one on our sunny windowsill. We keep everything else the same, such as how often we water them and how much water they receive. Which plant do you think will do better?

Our two plants before beginning our LIGHT experiment.
One student predicted "I think it will blum (bloom) in the light."

How important is soil to a plant? We have collected 4 different samples to grow grass seeds in: rice, sand, soil, and cotton. We are placing these on the sill too, and are watering them all at the same time. Will we be needing lawnmowers for all of the grass we may grow?

How important is water to a plant? We have two plants. One will receive water, the other will not. Which do you think will do better?

Our two plants, prior to beginning our WATER experiment.

We have also been exploring the roots of a plant and how they transport water and nutrients. We have placed some celery and carnations in coloured water, and are watching carefully to see what will happen. Any predictions?

The celery was just placed in the coloured water. One student predicted,"I think that the one in the red will tern red and the one blue tern blue."

The white flowers that were just placed in coloured water. What will happen?

Finally, we took some time to plant our own bean seeds in clear cups. It is only day one, so there are no changes yet, but the clever eyes in our class are keeping a close watch! In the meantime, we will ensure they get a few squirts of water each day. 

We continue to be in awe of God's creations as we learn about the Needs of Living Things!

Marvelous MOMS!

We all have many wonderful people taking care of us, supporting us, and loving us. We are especially blessed to have our moms in our lives! The children have spent the past week preparing a few very special surprises for Mother's Day!

Last week we had a ball preparing some Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub to pamper our moms. Rub a dollop on your hands, scrub under warm water, and rinse. It would even be a special treat for tired feet, too! It smells good enough to eat, and some students couldn't resist a few licks of their stir sticks! Good thing the mixture contains all natural ingredients: olive oil, sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract. 

Because we obviously couldn't call upon our team of reliable mom helpers to assist with this top secret project, Mrs. Beliveau's mom and her good friend came in. Who knew Mrs. Beliveau had a mom?

We put together very special cards for our moms, too. Several pages of sweet and funny thoughts and pictures fill these little treasure books. Here are a few creative gems from the pages of the students' cards:

Happy Mother's Day to each and every mom! 

You are a gift in your child's life!

Image courtesy of Motherhood Matters

The Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub recipe was adapted from a post on By Stephanie Lynn.

Happy Arbor Day!

"He who plants a tree plants a hope." 

(Lucy Larcom)

Arbor Day was terrific! We attended a special event put on by Strathcona County for many Grade One classes, which complimented our Science curriculum perfectly. Our morning was bright and busy! 

Sometimes we plant a seed and sometimes we plant a tree! We had front row seats to see a giant tree being lowered into the ground:

Our hearts were pumping at the "Nature-cize" obstacle course:

We planted our very own seedling in biodegradable cups, so that the cup can be planted along with the tree. Remember to give your seedling lots of sun, water, nutrients, and of course, LOVE!

We spun the wheel to win prizes, but first Mrs. Beliveau was asked a skill-testing question: 
If you see a forest fire, what number do you call? 

Phone 310-FIRE (but 911 will also work). 

We all won bird feeders! Hooray!

We headed towards a treed area to build "fairy houses" with dead material (e.g. sticks on the ground, fallen pine cones). The students loved this activity!

All of this fun had us hungry, 

so a quick tree cookie hit the spot!

We were in awe of the arborists! We learned that they are "tree doctors". We saw several of their special tools, including the chain saws! We met two amazing arborists, Spiderman and Cat Woman, who raced each other up the trees! What was even more amazing how how they came down ... 
UPSIDE DOWN! 

We learned how the rings on a tree help us count how old the tree is. We even got to practice on our own little "tree cookie":

We each received fantastic lunch bags filled with juice boxes and bananas and we settled in for an interactive performance by environmental activist and Juno-award winning Canadian artist
 Peter Puffin!

Thank you to the moms, dads, several enthusiastic younger-siblings and even our former student-teacher, Ms. Gallinger, for joining us for the morning! Strathcona County put on another fabulous Arbor Day for us and we had so much fun learning about trees!

Living Rosary

We have been learning that there are many ways to pray. Prayer can be recited, such as when we say grace before a meal or gather for mass. Prayers can be sung. We have learned the sung version of the Our Father as well as many faith-based songs, and love joining Ms. Barnes when she accompanies us on the piano. Prayer can also be spontaneous and take place anywhere, even when we ride our bikes!

May is the month of Mary, so this afternoon we took time to honor Mary's selfless contribution to our faith by praying the rosary. Mary said "YES" to God, trusting in His plan for her and bringing the world the priceless gift of her son Jesus. 

We gathered as a school community around a large wooden rosary that spanned the gym. Students and staff took turns leading the different decades and prayers by standing and holding the large rosary beads. Each student in our school was also given a rosary, generously donated by one of the families in our class.  As the prayers were recited, students moved their fingers along their own rosary from bead to bead. 

Here is the large rosary we used today.
As I was organizing and leading  the afternoon with the other Primary Teachers, I was unfortunately unable to get any pictures of the children at the celebration. 

Joining our school community in prayer today were several parents and siblings, as well as one of our school trustees, Mr. Jean Boisvert. Thank you to all who made time in their busy day to join us in prayer and reflection. 

The behaviour of the students from Kindergarten through to Grade 9 was very prayerful and respectful. Many compliments were given after this special assembly recognizing the positive choices and participation of all students. 

Please find a blessed rosary as well as a prayer card in your child's Kanga Pouch. Consider praying the Hail Mary as a family throughout May.