Snuggly Snow!

 

Experiment!

That word alone can get a room full of Grade One students absolutely, positively giddy! And that's how our day began, with excited kids ready to learn! 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?

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 cracker box.  (Honorable mention to the Beliveau family for eating so many crackers for the sake of Science).

Off we went to set up the experiment! Students watched from indoors as Mrs. Beliveau tromped out to bury one box/thermometer UNDER and set the other ON the snow. 

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

Today we were introduced to the parts of a story! We made our own story retell bracelets to help cue us:

After last recess, we hustled back to check on our experiment:

Mrs. Beliveau checked the box sitting on top of the snow .....

The thermometer read -1 degrees C. 

Then Mrs. Beliveau dug out the buried box ...

The thermometer read 3 degrees C.

What?!?! 

It was warmer under the snow!

We hurried back to class, and working with a giant interactive thermometer, spent time exploring what this meant. 

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!

Story retelling anchor chart and bracelets inspired by Kindergarten Chaos

Fabulous Fall Photo Hunt

Since school began, we have been exploring the seasonal changes in Fall! 

We've been hard at work discovering what animals are up to, how trees change, what plants are doing (think gardens!), and how we change our activities, clothing, and often what we eat in the Fall. 

This week we did a quick check-in, grabbing sticky notes and jotting down a picture and/or word describing what we have learned so far about Fall:

Let's share some signs of Fall around us over the next few days! Here is how our photo hunt challenge works:

We have a "virtual wall" below where we can all contribute our signs of Fall. 

First, ask your child to take a picture showing a sign of Fall.

Then, to share your child's photo / comment:

(a) Click on the pink plus sign on our "Fall in Love with Fall" virtual wall below. 

(b) Type in a comment and upload a picture. Ta da!

(c) Be dazzled with all the signs of Fall we have discovered!

Thank you for not mentioning first or last names on our blog. If you run into any hiccups, feel free to email your photos and captions and I'll happily post them for you. (Hot tip: Adding photos tends to work better from a computer, rather than a phone). 

What signs of Fall can we find?

Fabulous Fall Photo Hunt

Since school began, we have been exploring the seasonal changes in Fall! It hasn't been easy, as we've had every kind of weather, from snow, to rain, to warm sunshine!

We've been hard at work discovering what animals are up to, how trees change, what plants are doing (think gardens!), and how we change our activities, clothing, and often what we eat in the Fall. 

Yesterday we did a quick check-in, grabbing sticky notes and jotting down a picture and/or word describing what we have learned so far about Fall:

Let's share some signs of Fall around us over the next few days! Here is how our photo hunt challenge works:

We have a "virtual wall" where we can all contribute our signs of Fall. First, ask your child to take a picture showing a sign of Fall.

Then, to share your child's photo / comment:

(a) Double-click on our "Fall in Love with Fall" virtual wall below. 

(b) A box will appear with a place for a comment and a picture! Type in a comment and upload a picture. Ta da!

(c) Be dazzled with all the signs of Fall we have discovered! 

Thank you for not mentioning first or last names on our blog. If you run into any hiccups, feel free to email your photos and captions and I'll happily post them. 

What signs of Fall can we find?

Fantastic Fall Photo Hunt!

We are loving Fall! We've been hard at work discovering what animals are up to, how trees change, what plants are doing (think gardens!), and how we change our activities, clothing, and often what we eat in the Fall. 

Let's share some signs of Fall we've found!

Here is how the photo hunt works:

First, give your child a camera (a phone is perfect) and have him or her take some pictures showing signs of Fall!

Then, to share your photos and/or comments on the wall below:

(a) Click the pink circle with a + sign.

(b) A box will appear. Type in a comment. Upload a picture. Ta da!

(c) Be dazzled and amazed at the signs of Fall found by our hard-working students!

Created with Padlet

Thank you for not mentioning first or last names on our blog. If you run into any hiccups, feel free to email your photos and captions and I'll happily post them. 

What signs of Fall can we find?

goodbye summer, hello fall

Mornings are crisper. Evenings are darker. We're wearing sweaters, mittens, and socks. Hello, Fall!

In Science, the boys and girls are exploring seasonal changes, and this bulletin board is guiding our learning:

As we examine changes in Fall, these "I can" statements focus us:

We've read books, watched a few YouTube clips, and have headed outdoors to examine the seasonal changes in Fall! The children have learned so much already! Today we grabbed sticky notes and jotted down a picture and/or word describing what we have learned about Fall:

Combines, pumpkins, and falling leaves!

As a class, we put key words into Tagxedo, a fun and fancy word cloud generator! We worked together to choose appropriate font colors and a fitting shape:

There are so many signs of Fall all around us! Let's share them together! Here is how our photo hunt challenge works:

We have a "virtual wall" where we can all contribute our signs of Fall. First, give your child a camera (it's as easy as handing over your phone). Take a picture

showing a sign of Fall!

Then, to share your photo / comment on our wall:

(a) Double-click on our Signs of Fall wall below. 

(b) A box will appear with a place for a written comment, picture, or audio clip! Type in a comment. Record an audio description. Upload a picture. Ta da!

(c) Be dazzled with all the signs of Fall we have learned about! 

Created with Padlet

Thank you for not mentioning first or last names on the blog, as well as any other sensitive / identifying information. 

Signs of Fall are all around! What can you and your child find?

Join Our Spring Photo Hunt

I think it's finally safe to say that Spring has arrived, and she is here to stay!

Our Science mini-unit on Seasonal Changes in Spring has kept us busy the last few days. We've been reading books, examining YouTube clips, and taking our learning outdoors to explore nature! 

Look at the data we have collected so far:

There are so many signs of Spring all around us! Let's share them together! 

Here is how our photo hunt project works:

We have a "virtual wall" where we can all contribute our signs of Spring.

First, give your child a camera (it's as easy as handing over your phone!). Have your child take a picture showing a sign of Spring!

Then, to share your photo and/or comment on our wall:

(a) Double-click on the "Signs of Spring" wall below. 

(b) A box will appear with a place for a comment and even a picture! Type in a comment. Upload a picture. Ta da!

(c) Be dazzled with all of the signs of Spring our students have found!

Created with Padlet

Thank you for not mentioning first or last names on our blog, as well as any other identifying / sensitive information. 

Signs of Spring are all around! What can you and your child find?

Fabulous Fall!

Since school began, we have been exploring the seasonal changes in Fall! It hasn't been easy, as we've had every kind of weather, from snow, to rain, to almost 30 degree weather!

Yoo hoo . . . Fall . . . where are you?

Here are the statements that guided our learning:

Today we worked in pairs to brainstorm all we have learned about Fall. 

Then as a class, we put our key Fall words into tagxedo, a "fancy" word cloud generator. Together we had to select an appropriate shape for our Fall-themed word cloud (we voted on a leaf, a tree, a squirrel, an apple, and a pumpkin) as well as a fitting colour scheme. 

Look at what we learned about seasonal changes in Fall!

Let's not start our unit on Winter yet, agreed?

Happy Fall!

Spring into Spring!

Yoo hoo . . . Spring?

Spring? 

Where are you?

Spring peeked out at us a few times over the last week or so, but the recent pile of snow over the weekend had hidden it away. Regardless, we have been learning about signs of spring and have been eagerly looking for these signs outside our window!

In Science, we examine all four seasons. We look at what people do, what animals do, what trees and plants do, and what the weather typically does during that season. 

We spent last week learning about spring and compiled a list of words describing spring. Then,  students made their own personal mini-list of the spring words to turn into word art. Their list needed at least one word from each category: People, Trees/Plants, Animals, and Weather. Using wordle.net, students worked in partners to help one another enter in eachother's spring word list. Then students picked the font and arrangement of the spring words before proudly hitting "print". 

With some teamwork, patience, and creativity, this is what the boys and girls created:

Picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

The spring word art is posted in our hall and looks beautiful! It makes us feel like spring is just around the corner!

Wordle is an excellent web-based tool that is a simple way for the children to interact with text. It would be a fun way to practice spelling words, especially if you have a colour printer!