We're still learning!

The students have ben writing up a storm!  In this last language learning unit exploring the world of dragons, the students have practised using similes and adjectives to write two dragon description paragraphs....

....have written a story entitled" How Dragon Lost His Fiery Breath", using what they had learned this year to ensure that the story had characters, a setting, a problem, three attempts at a solution and a suitable ending......

...and finally, used nonfiction material to fill in a graphic organizer with new learning and facts

about the dragon that exists on Earth today,

on five islands in Indonesia,

the Komodo Dragon.  

They worked on creating an introduction, four paragraphs of information and a conclusion.  They are all familiar with the understanding that each new paragraph of information should be indented.

For the last ten days of school, the students are hearing a loud 'POP!'

as each and every day, a balloon is burst.

Inside each balloon is a special activity that will be done that day.

On Monday, all the students learned how to make a paper airplane and then we had a contest!

It was a hit!

Our 'Small Crawling and Flying Creatures' science unit is not yet finished.  This past week, we explored the world of bees, learning that there are many different kinds and that like many other insects, they have compound eyes, which have multiple lenses!  These glasses helped the students see like the bees do!

Congratulations to this handsome fellow...

and this lovely gal who have now brought their lives closer to Jesus through the receiving of Communion.

Congratulations also to this guy who is now a big brother!  Baby is so sweet! Lucky to be the little sister to someone with big arms for lots of hugs!

Guess what we did this week!

First Week of June is DONE!

Truly the best part of teaching in a Catholic School is not having to apologize for our belief in God.  We are free to worship, and pray and experience His presence daily.  I love watching my little ones take this giant step in their own faith journey, welcoming Christ into their hearts at Communion.  It is truly a reason to celebrate!

The student were visited this week by a representative of our parish's Knights of Columbus group.  These gentlemen take the time to create a cross for each and every Grade Two student in our district.  I was sooo impressed that this year, the gentleman took the time to come dressed in traditional garb and explained his mission.  I think the children understood that you are close to God no matter your age.  He loves us all, all the time.

Our science unit is called Small Crawling and Flying Creatures.  On Friday morning, we  became entomologists and explored and observed ants within the school yard.  We learned that ants are very fast!  We also learned that ants could be found just about anywhere we looked!

Every child had a magnifying glass to use.

That didn't stop the constant "Ant!  I see an ant!" from happening!

Ants in the tree?  Yep!  Even there!

There were a few small clear containers with magnifiers on top that I had found when Target was closing.  This allowed the students to get 'up close and personal.'

I didn't think there would be ants in the grass, but there were!

These students are noticing that there were a number of holes in the ground that the ants were coming  out of and then going into.  The question was "Why are they doing that?"

They were all so intent!

Can you see the sugar, oatmeal and cracker crumbs that we sprinkled to see if the ants would be interested in joining us for lunch?

After sharing, discussing, wondering and viewing a great Magic School Bus video, the students were able to create their version of what would be inside an ant hill.

Scientists label their sketches!

Earlier this week, we had focused our attention on ladybugs and wrote a paragraph of facts, independently,  that we learned.

What have we been up to lately?

We had lots of practise before the Cup Stacking Tournament.  Somehow practise is easier than the actual contest, but it was fun to try our best!

This fellow showed up in our room.  We are going to read, write, and explore all things DRAGON!

We started with this favourite by Robert Munsch.

Come on into our room and see the Paperboy Princesses that we created ourselves.

On Friday, with half a dozen moms and grandmas in tow, we took the bus trip to this cool location.  For some of the children it was their first visit, but many remember previous visits, especially into the corn maze in the Autumn.

The weather was delicious, just like the cookies that we got to nibble on as we watched a puppet show about the Little Red Hen, with some unusual characters!

It's always fun to go for a ride and we got to travel around the farm on this train...bumpy ride!

Everyone got to plant a little marigold to take home.  Should be blooming later this summer.

Oh my goodness!  These little baby bunnies were only 5 days old!  They were precious!

There were peacocks, goats, noisy sheep, quiet chickens, flower shops, a haunted house giant chess and checker games, an area to ride bikes and another to climb and slide.  It was a perfect day!

Thank you volunteers for being so helpful.  The students never stopped smiling!

Thank you BP ENERGY!

It's a long, long process but the reward is SOOOO worth the effort!

Today these two lovely people wandered into my classroom and presented me with a huge cheque for $7000.00!  BP Canada awarded me this amount to fund a project based learning opportunity for my Grade Two students in the 2015-2016 school year!  The students will be exploring alternative energy resources.  Perhaps one day, one of them will be a scientist who helps our world meet all of the needs that seem to be continually growing!

Though these tykes will be moving onto Grade Three and will miss the project, they were certainly happy to be there and learn that with three zeros, that number is thousands!