Wonderful Winter Learning

Thanks to Nancy VandenBerge for sharing this cool way to focus on the concept of 'compound words'

(you remember...two little words that can be put together to make a completely new word such as into or butterfly or outside).  We started with half sheets that had a word on it.  The 'popcorn' in the corner is a hint that this word will be the beginning half of the compound word.

Here's an example of how the two small words will make a compound word.

The half pages got crumbled up with the words inside.

Then we had a snowball fight.....IN THE CLASSROOM!!!

 They couldn't believe that they could throw papers in our room!

After about one minute, each child picked up a snowball that was near them and

flattened it out before they

went searching for a classmate who could help them make a compound word

such as "cowboy."

As we continue our little winter unit (that will last weeks and weeks) the students worked in small groups of four to read a chapter in a nonfiction book and then

collaboratively answer the questions using the information that was found with that chapter.

They were able to help each other find the information and write a 

complete sentence to answer the question.

Today, another 'hit' but this time in math class.  The students took two sheets of numbers and cut those numbers into strips and glued them together.  This happy boy was so proud that he knew what we were going to make....a number line!

It matches the one we have at the front of the classroom, running from 1 to

100!  More work on this number line tomorrow!

I love that when someone in the class is finished their own work, they will offer to cut or glue for a peer so that the work can be finished faster.  What a lovely kind group of students!

Fun Fridays!

On the first Friday that we were back after our Christmas holidays, we had a visit from the inschool field trip providers, Teacher's Pet.  This time the focus was on the life in the past in the Acadia communities found in Nova Scotia.  Our presenter has the students at the word 'paint'!

Using cute wooden lighthouses, the students painted them in the colours found in the Acadian flag.

The students were very engaged,

as they were as they played a game moving around a giant game board as they learned about the culture of the people.

Music is part of culture, so they got got a chance to play 'the spoons', to some toe tapping music.

One parent led them in learning about the chores of the children which included making butter.

What a brilliant way to do this; each child got a small pill bottle filled with cream and were able to shake their own vial until it was butter.

It also allowed them to take their own home.

The activities helped make a real impression on the students and I am sure they will remember more about the Acadians because of this hands on set of activities.

Have you ever heard of The R.E.A.L foundation?

This group supports Catholic education for EICS through many fundraising activities and we were the recipients of some of those funds, this past Friday through a full day of  activities centered around Christ.  The presenters are from Saskatchewan.  They lead the students, almost in a manner of a rock concert, to "love God, know God, serve God"  This picture is from a concert they had at Cold Lake.

Click on the purple words to watch them on Youtube.

Face To Face Ministries

Happy New Year 2017

I was so very impressed with the students and their faithful manner in responding to the "I love God because..." sentence starter.  They were all so deep and spiritual, as these examples will show:

This month we will be focusing on winter themed stories in our Language Learning lessons.  The students had a great experience in December, comparing and contrasting the Gingerbread Men stories that were shared.  They were able to identify the similarities and differences between the characters, the settings, and how the stories ended.

Currently the students are comparing these different versions of the traditional Ukrainian folktale of 

"The Mitten."  They even got to learn some of the animals' names in Ukrainian and wrote them using the cyrillic alphabet.

On Friday, they used oil pastels to create colourful patterns on a mitten.

This is a math tool that originated in the Netherlands called a rekenrek.

We are using this tool to assist the students in visualizing how a one digit number added to 10 makes a 'teen' number.  In the example above you'll notice that the group of 10 on the top wire is left in place and the bottom wire shows 5, so the equation 10 + 5 would equal 15.

This is 10 + 3 equals 13.

Can you figure this one out?