Pirates and Assembly and Stories...Oh my!

Just before we started Spring Break, we met a real pirate.  She came into our class and asked us all to join her crew.  She was willing to offer some basic training before we could be considered to join her on the high seas!

There were four different learning stations.  At one station the students learned the importance of a keel to allow boats to stay upright in the water.  Now the students understand the word buoyancy!

At another station, the students learned the importance of distributing the weight of the cargo to ensure the ship will be able to stay afloat.

Why do some things sink and some things float?

The students were able to make predictions and then try out the different 'treasures'.

The students were able to try to create one type of boat and see how much weight the boat could hold before it sunk.

The pirate helped each and every student make their own paddle boat using wood, screws and an elastic.

We all worked so hard to create these working models that we were able to bring home!

Thanks moms and grandmothers for coming in to help us.  What a lot of learning crammed into one busy morning!

Did you hear?  Another Grade 2 teacher had her head shaved because she had challenged her class to earn a certain amount of money in their quest to save the sea ice and ultimately the polar bears.  

We watched!

Crazy socks for a great reason.  We support everyone, even those who are different from us!

Each assembly is focusing on a different grade and this Monday was the Grade Two classes' turn.

We sang, read a poem.....

and some of the students read about what we are learning in science....

What an amazing planet God has given us!

Meanwhile.....

Mrs. Gumpinger challenged each and every student at our school to help fill the pool at WEM, by encouraging teams and neighbours and cousins and friends to buy tickets to the parent council's fundraiser.  LAST DAY TO BUY TICKETS IS APRIL 15!  

GET YOURS NOW!!!

The students are loving the opportunity to read a 'bedtime' story to their classmates.  If your child missed their turn because they did not remember to bring a book, there will be an opportunity when the rest of the class has had their turn, for your kiddo to bring a book to read.  

Everyone will have a chance!

Exploring the North Through Art

Thanks to Rubble Road for coming and spending the morning with my class this week.

The students had the opportunity to work with rasps to carve a pre-cut piece of soapstone.

They learned that having something wonderful happen takes hard work and they were all determined to create their own version of a famous Inuit sign post.

Inukshuk stand like sign posts in the bleak northern landscape, showing the way to hunting or fishing locations or even where food has been buried.

Once the edges of the rock were smoothed, and some details added with the rasps, the students used three different grits of sandpaper to smooth the stones.

I love the look of determination and

of joy, as they created and knew that they were very capable!

One boy even said "This is going to be my job when I grow up!"

What a wonderful opportunity to try something new!

Once the stones were all dried out, they were coated with tung oil to bring out the colour.

They will be sent home after the conferences of Wednesday night.

On Friday, the students used a new medium, chalk pastels, to create the dancing Aurora Borealis.  Though the students had the same materials, just like each time we see the Northern Lights, they are different as they vividly dance across the night sky, so too were their final products different and unique.

This is a catch up on life in our classroom...

Sometimes life in the classroom is far too busy!  I realize that we shared our 100th day bottle activity in the classroom way back on February 21 but I didn't get this photo onto the blog.  Here it is now!

The final bear that we used as the jumping off point for our reading and writing lessons is the sweet little bear named Corduroy. (The students didn't know that the word corduroy was the name for a particular type of fabric!  You never know where learning will occur)  The students worked very hard on learning how to use elaborate detail, to describe a character or a setting.  They will be working on this aspect of writing throughout the year, and started by describing the toy bear and the setting of the second book, the laundromat.

The RCMP school liaison officer stopped by on the day we all wore pink shirts in support of the campaign to stop bullying, and brought a friend, who offered each student a free hug!

Thank you to the REAL Foundation, a group who supports our Catholic school district in ways that allows our students to experience the joy of being Catholic through concerts and retreats.  On Shrove Tuesday, Face to Face ministries worked with all the students at our school to see that we are meant to Know God, Serve God and Love God.  The photos aren't the best because of the lighting in the gym, and all the movement.

The students raised the roof, lifting their voices in song.

They showed their joy by dancing.  They loved it!

Another huge thank you is owed to Mrs. Phelan and her junior hight students who flipped pancakes ALL MORNING LONG in order to feed our entire school population.  So many of the students told me that they love pancakes.  

There was juice and fruit to round out the meal, which is always part of the day before LENT begins.

Aren't these puppies the cutest?  This was a fun activity to kick off our next set of books that will lead our reading and writing activities in March.  Who is the star of these stories??

It is Clifford, of course!

 
I have noticed that there are not many parents who are taking the time to read the blog, so here's the deal.  I have a prize for each student in my class who can tell me on Monday morning, where I spent the afternoon on Faith and Wellness day.  The pictures should offer you all a clue!  I would love to be able to give away 22 gifts!!