EGG-citement in Grade 1!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

Today Mrs. Junck visited us. We compared the eggs and feathers of a turkey and a duck, learned how an egg forms inside a mama, and examined the development of ducklings inside the egg. 

Today marks day 14 in our incubation journey. We are halfway through incubating our duck eggs, and in two weeks our ducklings should be hatching. We were able to candle a few eggs and saw the growth of the ducklings inside. We could even see movement!

Eggs are a symbol of new life, which is why eggs are a symbol at Easter. We spent the afternoon making Pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity, and we did have lots of fun! We kept reminding each other that "everything new is hard at first". 

So much EGG-citement this past week! Have a blessed Easter!

Our EGG-citing Week!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

This week we began our hatching journey! To prepare, we listed what we already KNOW about chicks...

... and what we want to LEARN.

This week we carefully placed 22 beautiful eggs into a warm, humid incubator. We can't bring hens into the school, so the incubator acts as a mama hen, turning the eggs while keeping them warm and moist. Each day we monitor and record the temperature and humidity.

These eggs didn't come from the grocery store, they came from Mrs. Junck's family farm! Mrs. Junck is guiding our learning and hatching. Each week we are looking forward to a lesson from her. This week we learned about the air cell inside the egg. We were able to see it when we shone a bright light on an egg.

We noticed that the eggs in our incubator were many beautiful colours. They didn't all look the same. We cracked open a brown egg and a white egg, and noticed they looked the same inside, even though the outsides were different. Then we had a really powerful discussion about how WE all look different on the outside, but on the inside, we all have a heart and want to be loved.

Eggs are a symbol of new life, which is why eggs are a symbol at Easter! We spent an afternoon making Pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity, and we did have lots of fun! We kept reminding eachother that "everything new is hard at first". 

So much EGG-citement this past week! Have a blessed Easter!

EGG-cellent Learning!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

We spent an afternoon making pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity. It was wonderful to experience the beautiful Ukrainian culture.  Look at our hard work!

Good news travels fast! As I'm sure you've heard, we've begun our chick hatching journey. Each day we carefully monitor the incubator's temperature and humidity. Near the end of April, we hope it is full of sweet little chicks! 

We are so excited for day 21, also known as Hatch Day, to arrive! Until then, we will continue to pray for our little ones and marvel at the miracle of new life. God is so good!

So much EGG-citement this past week! 

Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!

Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Today we celebrated the risen Lord by making a special little treat together, Resurrection Rolls! 

First, we dipped marshmallows in melted butter and rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. 

Next, students wrapped their sticky sweet marshmallow in a crescent roll. They were careful not to leave any holes!

Then, the rolls were dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Off to the ovens!

While the rolls baked, we headed to the gym for some crazy 4-corner soccer! We all missed each other over the break and it was a blast to run and laugh together. Boy, we worked up an appetite! 

Look at how our rolls turned out:

Wait!! Did you notice the roll is empty? We sure did! 

Not only did the rolls taste warm and sweet, they had a deeper meaning. Can your child explain how the Resurrection Rolls retell the Easter story? 

To make these simple treats, follow the Empty Tomb Marshmallow Delights recipe. 

But our Easter fun didn't stop there! 

(by now, you should know it NEVER stops there) 

Today we introduced an engaging new little behaviour reward system to keep the kids motivated, now that most of them have a case of the "Spring Sillies" (disclaimer: not a medical diagnoses). 

Introducing, the Easter Egg Reward System!

The system is simple. Throughout the day, a student's name is pulled in secret. If that student is on-task, they are called up to choose an egg, which has a "non-tangible" reward inside (so rather than stickers or trinkets, an activity or special privilege is the prize). 

Here are the prizes...

Now, if by some itsy, bitsy slim chance the student whose name was pulled is off-task, their name is returned and is not revealed. 

We still have the behaviour clip chart, as well as a revised version of our Weekly Choices Journals. 

We already have students who demonstrated excellent behaviour! Tomorrow, three special students have earned Super Supplies, Computer Time, and Silly Student! Keep it up, boys and girls!

Our Easter Egg Reward System and Spring certificates are adapted from What the Teacher Wants. The eggs are filled with prizes adapted from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations and were designed on rainbow frames made by Ashley Hughes. 

Sticky Labels and Egg-cellent Behaviour!

Welcome back from Spring Break! 

To get everyone moving our first morning back yesterday, we started our day with a silly language activity. Each student was given a name tag with a word on it. The students' task was to go around to all of their classmates and write down everyone's words. The words the children were given to wear were Word Wall Words (Spelling Words) many still struggle to spell or read. Some of those "w", "wh" and "th" words are really challenging!

Here is some of the fun we had:

If you can believe it, we are now in the home stretch of Grade One! Very rarely do prizes or incentives enter our day, however to keep the students motivated, a simple incentive system has been implemented to accompany our clothespin behaviour board. We have a basket of eggs filled with fantastic rewards inside. Throughout the day, at any time, a name is drawn. If that student is on task, they can open a prize egg! If they are not on task, their name is discreetly returned to the basket (and that name is not revealed to the class). So far, the students are working hard, making smart choices and are crossing their fingers that their name is drawn! Way to go, kids! 

Our basket of prize eggs and certificates!

While I do not rely on tangible prizes to motivate students, such as stickers, candies, or trinkets, I do believe in positive experiences that are free and fun. Here is a glimpse of some of our rewards offered in the basket:

If your child's name is drawn, watch for a special certificate in his or her Kanga! One lucky duck's super behaviour earned him the opportunity to be Class Photographer tomorrow!

The word wall word game we played is adapted from a math task featured on I {Heart} Teaching. Our Easter egg reward system and certificates are  from What the Teacher Wants and the prize eggs are filled with rewards adapted from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations and were designed on rainbow frames by Ashley Hughes.