Ice is nice

With Santa's front door left wide open, we are deep in a polar vortex. It's the perfect weather to explore ice!

We filled a few trays with coloured water, and other trays with both clear water and treasures from the loose parts centre.

In only a few short hours outside, they were frozen completely solid.

Our young scientists observed that the ice was making cracking and sizzling sounds when we brought it inside.

To explore the ice, the children used tongs and tweezers. Not only does this keep hands warm and dry, it is also great for fine motor development.

Trying to get the frozen treasures out was the biggest challenge!

With the cold temperatures here for a while, we'll keep experimenting and exploring with ice and snow.

Math Buddies

We invited Mr. Cooper's class to help us learn more about tallies, surveys and graphs.

They just finished a unit on data management and it was a good opportunity for the big kids to consolidate their knowledge.

It was also a chance for us to interact with mentor students and to learn from them.

We paired up the students with an older buddy.

Some pairs were shy at first.

But soon the ice was broken and they came up with a survey question.

"What is your favourite cookie? Hockey team? Colour?" etc.

They moved around the rooms, asking their questions and recording responses.

Once the data was collected, the buddies reviewed it with them.

They started on their graphs on giant pieces of chart paper.

They worked together to create a bar graph.

The younger children enjoyed using the rulers.

The colouring was fun too.

Finally the work was finished and we posted our learning in the hall.

 The children were striving towards many learning goals in this one activity:

-learning how numbers work

-learning to share ideas

-learning to be kind

Penguins

                               Some children in the class have taken a liking to the book The Little Penguin.

 

Today they decided that they would make themselves into penguins...

 

 

They used the book to reference what the penguins looked like. Brooklynn said, "I thought about the idea in my head and then I checked the book to make sure I was right. I noticed that the penguins had a beak, so I made one."

 

 

 

 Penguins!!!

 

 

January is flying by

There's always so much going on in Room 132.

We got creative with ways to exercise indoors while the weather kept us in. Pulling each other around is great muscle work and a source of proprioceptive input...which you can read about here.

"We are learning to be builders" remains our most popular learning goal to focus on. Our class has a very strong group of future architects, engineers, and problem solvers.

We've added a new element to the learning goal. The children are encouraged to make enclosures with a roof. Easier said than done!

JJ is writing a blueprint of his design.
Click here for a video of him building.

We've been working on surveys. There always seem s to be a few children wandering around with clipboards asking questions like "Do you have a sister?" or "Do you have a dog?" 

Tomorrow, Mr Cooper's Grade 5/6 class is going to come and help us turn surveys into bar graphs.

And finally, we've been thinking a lot about family, love, and caring. After some brainstorming, the children have decided that a family is a group of people who love and care for each other.

Here's a snowman family.

Nolan says his dad is in charge of breakfast, so here he is role playing with his friends.

Jesse is feeding his little sister Aimee. "My Aimee is hungry," he said.

Snow much fun!

After a loooong first week back to school that saw us stuck inside (including on a day the heat failed) we finally got to enjoy the snow today. It was an enormous relief to get out for fresh air, exercise, and fun!

Here are some pics:

Spiraling up

Spiral (noun) - a curve on a plane that winds around a fixed centre point at a continuously decreasing or increasing distance from the point. 

...add scissors....

Helix (noun) - a 3D curve that turns around an axis at a constant or varying distance while moving parallel to the axis. 

The spiral investigation cross pollinated our playdough centre, where a few girls were expanding their knowledge of clay building methods. By adding a coil spiraling up the sides, a taller, more stable shape is created. 

We'll try it tomorrow with the real clay.