Beginning Our Lenten Journey

This past Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, a day of feasting and fun! On this day, we traditionally use up the rich foods in their fridge that are often not encouraged to be eaten during Lent, such as milk, eggs and butter. Add a little flour, and you have pancakes!

This was our prayer table earlier this week, before Lent began:

This is our prayer table, now that it is Lent:

Why the change? Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a time when we look at ourselves and try and see what can change and improve so that we can be more like Jesus. We take more time to pray, to ask forgiveness of our sins, and to share with others. For forty days we prepare for the new life of Easter.

 

Our Lenten wreath is brown and bare, symbolizing the desert where Jesus prayed for 40 days and also the crown of thorns. Can your child explain the symbols pictured on our wreath (purple ribbon, burlap cloth with a cross)? As we journey through Lent, we will add more symbols to help us better understand this liturgical season. 

We participated in Ash Wednesday mass with Father Jim at OLPH Church. We all received ashes on our foreheads to remind us of Jesus' sacrifice for us. 

Lent is a time of change; a change of mind and heart. May the 40 days of Lent help us prepare for the joy of Easter. 

100 Days Smarter!

100 days of school is a big deal in Grade 1!

A big part of our Math curriculum focuses on working with numbers to 100, so celebrating 100 is an opportunity to tie in several Math activities, as well as many Language Arts tasks and even the perfect Religion lesson.

We worked over several days to write 100 words:

We made fabulous runway-worthy party hats! There were 10 strips of paper, and we counted 10 polka dots on each. Boom, 100 dots!

The boys and girls practiced and read a 100 word poem to several classes:

We brought in collections of one hundred items:

Isn't it interesting how different 100 items can look? Some bags are so full, and others have much less. 

Hidden down the hall were many numbers. The students were challenged to find and colour them in on a 100's chart to find a secret message:

We challenged ourselves with many numeracy games!

We were SO EXCITED to meet our Grade 3/4 buddies in the library for a celebration with board and card games!

To bring our special day to a close, we settled ourselves and heard the story from the bible about the lost sheep. We looked at 100 cotton balls, thinking of them as 100 little sheep, and wondered "Would God worry if one little sheep went missing? Wouldn't having 99 sheep be enough?" No! If we stray from God, He worries and looks for us. He always welcomes the lost little sheep back. 

Happy 100 Day, boys and girls! Be proud of your hard work!

Warm in the Winter

Our current Science focus is on seasonal changes in Winter, and today we were exploring how some animals survive the cold. 

Do you think it is warmer under the snow or on top?

This generated an enormous amount of really thoughtful discussion and the students were asked to predict where it is warmer. 

The experiment was simple: bury one thermometer in a snowbank, and leave the other sitting on top of the snow. To protect the thermometers, each was encased in a cookie box.  (Honorable mention to the Beliveau family for eating so many cookies).

Off we went to set up the experiment! Students watched from indoors as Mrs. Beliveau buried one box/thermometer and set the other on the snow. 

We headed back to class and were very busy all morning!

After lunch, we hustled back to check on our experiment. 

Mrs. Beliveau checked the box sitting on top of the snow. The thermometer read -22 degrees C. Then Mrs. Beliveau dug out the buried box. The thermometer read -18 degrees C. It was warmer under the snow!

Many animals have a better chance of surviving the cold winter when there is a lot of snow. This snow acts like a blanket. It traps heat from the earth, as well as an animal's body heat when an animal burrows deep. Turns out that winters with little snow are harder for plants and animals to survive!