Floating Pumpkins and Floating Children!

One of the perks of our visit to Prairie Garden Farms is that each child got to pick a small pumpkin as their very own.  We have kept these pumpkins in our classroom and this week we used those pumpkins in math!  We found out that even though pumpkins are heavy, they can float.  The students were trying to figure out why.  Is it because they are full of air, which is what one student guessed?

We measured how many blocks tall the pumpkins were, how many blocks would go around the circumference, and 

how many blocks would be equal to the weight of the pumpkin.

For seven weeks in October, November and December, our class has swimming lessons on Thursday afternoons.  I thought you would like to see how well your children are enjoying their time in the water.

The students are at different levels and so are learning different skills.  Thank you for agreeing to provide this important life skill for your child.

Learning about nouns and adjectives continue

Just a quick update about spelling....

You'll notice that I am trying to save on paper by having more than one week's words on the page.  Yes these are sight words that your child should know how to read with automaticity, and now the goal is to have your child print these words with the same automaticity that they can read them.

Here's one fun way to practise!  There are nine different ways to work with these words.  Have your child choose three ways that will fill in the Tic Tac Toe board.  They could be vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines.

On the back of the page are the three spaces for the practise.  These words are quite easy, but it is better to build up their confidence before they have to settle into really working to learn more difficult words.  The goal is to know the words, of course, but also to recognize that learning new things takes effort, and to build the routine of having to complete school assignments at home.  We're preparing for those bigger grades!

We worked through the differences between 'fact' and 'opinion.'  Some students were challenged by the opinion examples, believing that if they did not say them, then they were facts.  The students need to see that others have opinions, and they may not be the same as theirs!

Writing a good sentence means that the students need to know 'who did what.'  They are continuing to learn that nouns are the 'who' and that verbs are the 'did what' or the action.  Adjectives are the words that describe the nouns.  Together we brainstormed ideas about what witches are, what they can do,  and what they have.  Once they students had their list, they then used their highlighters to find the describing words, the adjectives.  As much as possible, the lessons have their 'roots' in the curriculum, but I try to add an interesting or an engaging element so that the students are excited to work.  Making the witch's lower half with choosing the fancy paper, and cutting out those cool curly shoes, was just the right way to keep the students busy!

We read a short little story about a new kid at school, named Frankie!

Together, we labelled (those are the nouns) Frankie and then recognized that we could describe (those are the adjectives) all of his parts as well.

We made Frankie's head using directed cutting.  That means that the students must listen to how the papers are going to be cut, and then try to follow those directions to create the shapes.  The shapes are then pasted down  and the features are added.  They were all so proud of their creations.

The list of Frankie's parts was also created.  Can your child identify the adjectives?

Prairie Garden Farms

Prairie Graden Farms is really a reasonable ride from our little town to Bon Accord, even if you are in a bus full of excited students.  We were met by a staff member who led us on a wonderful adventure, giving our 'town' kids a taste of country life.  If you see these six faces over and over, it's because I had them in my group!

We started at the corn maze, which luckily, the students were able to lead me out of!

Good thing there's a tall stile, where you can survey the lay of the land if you are a little bit lost!

We got the chance to create our own scarecrow.

Who knew that straw could be so itchy?

We couldn't wait for the train ride.  We waved at all the people as we travelled around,

and saw so many cool sites, including

a pumpkin man stuck in a tree!

We met, petted and learned about these two sheep, who were just growing a warmer wooly coat.

Some students wanted to go into the Haunted House, but not everyone!

We even got to choose our own pumpkin, which we will be using in the classroom.

What a lot of noise, OOPS, music the students made in the Musical Garden,

before visiting the Enchanted Forest.

We enjoyed the puppet show where fox got tricked out of having Rabbit Soup.

Cookies for us all as we watched.

We were sad to leave because there was so much more to do!

Thanks for these great volunteers who helped us enjoy the day.

Remember, we need four volunteers on Friday October 30 when we go to Kidz Quarterz!