How to make an ice cream sundae

What a day!  We got to compare the books that we listened to about Kit, a little girl who lived during the Depression, and the movie.  (SHHH!  We ate ice cream sundaes while we watched! YUMMY!)

Just one more week to go....

This past week the students had all of their assignments based upon ice cream.

On Thursday, we broke into three groups and attempted to make our own!

The good news is that one group kind of worked!  I think that more

shaking would have helped.  I will be sending home the 'recipe' so that 

you can try it yourself one day this summer.  Shaking that ice cream

mixture should keep a little one busy for at least half an hour!

I LOVE the field trip we went to on Friday.  The Fort Heritage Precinct

does an amazing job of helping the students make connections to life

in the past.  With the close location just down the highway, I highly recommend

spending a day there with your family this summer!

This little group was in the school house,

learning what might be a punishment if you weren't a student that behaved,

and how to use a slate.

This is inside of the Kulak house, where nine children were raised!

The main floor wasn't as large as our classroom!

Inside the fort itself, the children got to grind coffee beans

and sit inside a jail cell.

We went into the barracks and tried on

various hats that were worn back in the day...

and it seems that the bison hide on the bed was rather comfortable!

This area was a real thrill, because the students got to pump water,

 wash, wring out and hang up the laundry,

and milk the cow and goat!

They had so much fun trying the games that have been entertaining

children for a hundred years, egg on the spoon races, potato sack races,

and these walking blocks.

They were trained how to be part of the mounted police force!

They watched the sheep dog go through his paces as he brought the sheep into the pen ,

and then got a chance to feed them a carrot.

What a wonderful day!

Tooth Fairy ALERT!!

Tooth fairy sightings will be coming to a house near you!

In less than 24 hours, there were four new spaces in little mouths, two happening right before our eyes in the classroom.  The other little ones are busily moving their teeth so that the Tooth Fairy can come and give them $20!!! What happened to the days when a quarter was the going rate??

You are what you eat.....

I love when the lessons that I create cover a variety of the curricular outcomes that we are to learn in Grade One.  Reality is that learning is not easily pigeon holed into one category.  As we explore vegetables, through two lovely pieces of children's literature Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, and Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French, the students were immersed in writing, health, science, and art, all at the same time.

Oliver tells his grandparents that he doesn't eat vegetables, he only eats chips (He's British, you see).

Grandpa makes a deal with Oliver that they will find the potatoes in the garden and make chips but if they find a different vegetable, Oliver has to eat it without complaining.  By the end of the week, Oliver has tried, and enjoyed, seven different vegetables grown in the garden.

In the four different table pods, the students worked collaboratively and retold the story, which were then read aloud to the entire class.  Writing is becoming an area that the students are gaining confidence in, recognizing that they are able to think of ideas, and then write the words that are in their mind, down on paper.  They are being encouraged to use correct conventions and to print as many of the words on their own as they possibly can.  They are rising to the occasion!

The bear in the Tops and Bottoms story, reminds me of Brier Bear, not really the swiftest of all God's creatures.  The rabbits get that ol' bear very confused as they ask him to choose if he wants to eat the 'tops' or the 'bottoms' of the vegetables that they are going to plant.  Depending on his answer, the rabbits choose what they will plant to benefit themselves and not the bear.

The students created some 'bottoms' vegetables, using pastels on watercolour paper,

then applying a 'wash' of paint over

then finally dabbing the paint off of the leaves and the vegetables.

I think they are stunning and love how far these little artists have come!