Wilderness Adventures: First Families & Snowshoeing

On Friday, we spent the day at the beautiful Strathcona Wilderness Centre! 

Our morning kicked off with the Indigenous First Families program, led by Nadine. We explored how families used to live a long time ago. We learned so much about the Inuit people of the Arctic, the Plains First Nations, and the Woodlands First Nations of Eastern Canada. 

Nadine began by explaining why the first families in Canada thrived. There were no stores like Costco, so these people were excellent hunters. They lived in community, supporting each other in many ways, such as sharing food and child care. The children had chores and responsibilities that helped their families survive, too. While they didn't attend school, children learned from elders how to hunt, make clothing, cook, and so much more. 


The Inuit

The Inuit lived in the north, often in igloos. Nadine shared many fascinating items with us from the Inuit people. We touched a ring seal fur. Fur from ring seals was used to make clothing and "kamiks", or shoes. One student tried on a cozy seal fur parka, which is very warm, as well as caribou kamiks! He gave snow goggles a try, too, which are wooden glasses with thin slits that protect the eyes from the sun's glare off the snow. 

The Plains First Nations

The people of the plains would follow the buffalo and hunt them. They often lived in tipis, which could be quickly and easily set up, taken down, and transported. 

Nadine shared that the Plains First Nations were known for their love of celebrations, or "powwows". She showed us an elaborate fan that the women would use, and when it waved it sounded as though birds were flapping overhead! She dressed up one of our students in some traditional celebratory clothing. She wore a bone and bead choker, beaded moose moccasins, a breast plate (often used as chest protection during battle), and a moose skin wrap. We saw a replica headdress. Traditionally it is made of eagle feathers (although this one was not), and each eagle feather on a headdress represents a brave or kind deed. 

The Woodland First Nations

The Woodland First Nations lived in the forests of eastern Canada around the Great Lakes. They were amazing hunters. Nadine shared a variety of beautiful furs with us. 

The Woodland First Nations lived near many lakes, and made canoes from the bark of birch trees so they could travel through the water. 

After hearing so many interesting facts and seeing the amazing collection of artifacts, it was time to touch them ourselves! The students most enjoyed feeling the silky furs and pelts!

Then the students were challenged to get creative! Using paper, feathers, and markers, the children got to work designing their own fans. They were encouraged to draw scenes from nature, and many drew rainbows, flowers, animals and more!

Perhaps the highlight of the morning was learning several of the games the children would have played. While they were simple, with few rules or game pieces, they were challenging and fun for everyone!  

After a quick lunch, we jumped into snowshoeing! We learned that Snowshoe Hares have wide feet that snowshoes are designed after. 

Then we snapped up our own snow shoes and headed out! We played relays, tag games, and Simon Says, and then headed out on a walk in search of signs of animals. 

It was a beautiful day of learning!

Kids in Winter!

Our Winter unit in Science has been lots of fun!

We got our creative juices flowing when Mrs. Beliveau read Snow Day. In the book, a "snow day" is declared and kids must stay home from school! The children in the book do many fun seasonal activities, which became an excellent conversation starter for our class!

Mrs. Beliveau promised we could do those Winter activities we just read about! Ski, sled, build a snowman, skate ... but how?

First, we brainstormed winter activities we enjoy doing. 

Then we dressed in their warm woollies and posed as if we were doing a snowy activity. Can you guess what winter activity these kids are acting out?

Then students focused their efforts on writing a complete sentence about their activity, 

chose a whimsical Winter background, 

and glued their cutout with a few details to complete the picture!

Look at what we made! 

We sure do know what people do in Winter!

Project idea adapted from a project featured by Christina Bainbridge. 
Visit her blog at Bunting, Books and Bright Ideas.

Sneaky Snowy Sentences

Before Christmas, we examined what a sentence is.

We learned three things every sentence has and Mrs. Beliveau revealed her hidden talent, rapping!

As a team, we sorted letters, words and sentences:

Now that we're back, we've set to work practicing our sentence writing skills. We tackled a project this past week, inspired by the book Dream Snow. In the story, a farmer falls asleep and dreams that snow covers his farm animals. This book is very clever. Clear plastic sheets, with "snow" on them, can be lifted to reveal the animal underneath! 

Armed with our knowledge of sentences, we made our own version of the book, but with a twist! Students each wrote clues about an animal of their choosing. Kids were challenged to write a sentence beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period. As well, students were required to spell weekly words correctly. 

An illustration of the animal accompanied their clues, too!

Just like in Dream Snow, a clear page with painted "snow" covered the animal, so it would be lifted up to reveal the animal hidden under the snowbank! The very best part of this was adding "snow"!

Here's a peek at the final masterpiece:

Peek under the "snow" to see the animal! It's a bat!

Because of their fantastic work, the hallway board near our classroom has curious students reading our clues and peeking under the snowbanks! Well done, Grade One!

Writing strong sentences is a skill we will work on consistently throughout the year. Support your child by finding sentences in the books you read, by identifying components of a sentence in our daily home reading books, and by writing sentences together ... the sillier the better!

"Is It a Sentence" poster was from here. 
Pete the Cat Letter, Word and Sentence sort was from here. 

O Come Let Us Adore Him

Christmas break is upon us! During Advent, our students were able to deepen their faith and prepare their hearts with kindness for the coming of Jesus. 

Have a look at our journey through Advent!

May your families be blessed with peace, joy and health throughout this Christmas season!

Christmas blessings and lots of love, 

Mrs. Beliveau

Colour!

This past week in Science we began a unit on colour! Much of our learning begins with a book, and this was no different. We started with an oldie, but a goodie! This gem was published in 1959!

 

We made viewfinders using three transparent circles in red, yellow and blue, and experimented with these colours. The viewfinder helped us discover how the colour wheel works. 

We enjoyed a super catchy song about the primary colours!

We will continue to explore colour by adding white, black, and water to a colour . Stay tuned!

Rhyme Time!

We are working hard to develop the necessary skills for reading, and rhyming is an important part of the reading process. Rhyming allows children to play with words and makes language fun and engaging. It encourages children to listen to language and notice its sounds. 

Take a peek at few activities we have enjoyed this week!

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

After reading Nothing Rhymes with orange, we brainstormed rhyming words ... 

... and created our own rhyming posters! 

Rhyming BINGO

Rhyming BINGO is so fun it hardly feels like work, but boy, are the children refining their rhyming skills! Students listen to clues I read aloud that rhyme and then they find the picture/word on their card. 

It's been a wonderful week!

Numeracy Games

We're building our numeracy skills with numbers up to 20, and have two awesome games that we've learned that can also be played at home!

Friends of 10

Friends of 10 is a game that builds understanding of 10. Using a paper clip, spin a number. Work out how many more you would need to make 10 (you can use the 10 frame to do this). Cover your answer with a counter. The aim is to cover all of the numbers. 

For example, if you spin 3, figure out how many more it takes to get to 10. We know it takes 7 more, as 3 and 7 are friends of 10. Cover the 7 and spin again. 

A copy of the game board will be coming home with your child. 

Junk It

Junk It is a fast-paced card game that helps us recognize numerals and order them to 10. 

Junk It is a 2-player game. Remove face cards, but keep Aces. 

Put 10 cards in two rows of 5 face down in front of each player. Place the remaining cards in the centre. 

The first player picks up a card from the center pile, and places it in its numerical spot. She picked up a 3 ... 

... so she put it down where the 3 goes. 

When she placed her card in the 3 spot, she picked up a 4 (formerly face down in the 3rd place). Off the 4 goes to spot 4!

Notice how when she put her 4 down, she picked up the card in that spot? It is a 3! She already has a 3, so she gets to call JUNK IT and discard it in the middle. 

Her opponent can either pick up the card that was just discarded, or select a new card from the pile. He needed a 3, so he chose to pick it up. 

The goal is to get all 10 of your cards in order, before your opponent!

We loved this numeracy challenge!

It is a little confusing to explain, but the kids are definitely the experts! Will you challenge your child to a game of Junk It?!?

Friends of 10 is from Rainbow Sky Creations.