Hello? Can you hear me now?

Two of our girls constructed  a "telephone" out of ribbon and dixie cups. Once they shared their learning, everyone wanted to make a set. It was great to see children teaching each other how to complete a project.

I'll help you Ty. It goes like this.

 After some exploration, we figured out the trick is to keep the string taut, then it works beautifully!

Can you hear me? I love you!

Hello? Kristien?

 The dixie cups were ripping, since it was a fine line to get it taut but not tight. If you have any tin cans with no sharp edges, please send them in for us to use!

This experimentation and sharing of ideas is what the early learning program is all about. With minimal guidance and adult interventions, the children were able to take control of their own learning. They created their own learning opportunities, took leadership roles, and communicated their findings.

And had fun at the same time!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

It's Chinese New Year in Room 132!

After reading about how to celebrate from several books and on some websites, we started our festivities.

First, we had to clean our class so we could start the new year fresh.

Then we decorated with flowers. Artificial ones stood in for the more traditional living flowers.

Then we made a giant dragon costume using a cardboard box, ribbon and bits of found objects.

Then we cut up some old sheets to make a looooooooong tail.

We took a break for lunch, and enjoyed some delicious dumplings. Thanks to Ethan's family for the treats!

Once the costume was finished, we grabbed some musical instruments and went on parade!

Gung hay fat choy!

Wonder what's inside

Back in December, we started a hands-on inquiry.

A parent from last year's class (thanks Carolyn!) donated an older blender she wasn't using anymore.

Many children didn't know what it was, so we started the inquiry process by wondering.

Kristien - "What this is?"

Lily- "It's a blender!"

K- "What means blender?"

L- "It makes smoothies and stuff."

The children handled the blender, moving the parts and peeking through the grill.

Teacher- "What do you think is inside?"

Cameron Ha- "I think there are eggs inside. Little eggs that make it go."

Kristien- "I see triangle things."

After introducing a screwdriver and going over some safety rules, the children had a go at opening the blender.

Cameron Hu- "We're trying to get it open."

Keegan- "We need to get the screws out."

Aidan- "Owen, turn it that way. Lefty loosy."

The screws were a little stripped, so our custodian Robyn used some special tools to get the bottom off. Once able to see inside, the children had lots of observations.

Aidan- "You can spin this and the fan turns. There are rainbow cords!"

Teacher- "I wonder why that spins."

Aidan- "So you can make the smoothie. It mixes fruit together."

Keegan- "See that wire? It spins so that spins, so it all spins together."

They were trying to get the motor assembly out, but it was attached through the housing. Cameron Hu and Jaxin came up with a plan to kick it into submission.....

Cameron- "HULK SMASH!!!!!!!"

Teacher- "NOOOOO HULK SMASH!"

After some discussion, Krista took the housing to Robyn during recess, and she used a hammer to do the "hulk smash" in a safer way.

Success! 

The motor could be removed and the deconstruction continued. 

The children were highly engaged in taking out screws and taking apart every piece.

With each piece removed, engagement grew. They loved pulling out each wire one by one and sorting the pieces that came apart.

Owen-"Look, it's metal. Let's put it in the metal Beautiful Stuff."

Ty- "Let's get that thing out (bolt on the fan) and it will all come apart."

Keegan- "Look at all this brown yarn inside. The rainbow wires that I took out last time, they're connected to the brown wire. I can get it out."

Now that our blender is reduced to a collection of parts, and the wire has been harvested, we're ready to move on to the next part of our inquiry.

Here's a sneak peek:

We would love to repeat this process on more appliances. If you have any at home you can donate, let Krista or Katy know.

100 Languages of Snow

 Despite the pouring rain today, we are talking about snow.

Over the weekend, some families conducted a mini-inquiry at home. On Monday and Tuesday, children brought in their representations of snow and snowflakes to share.

This is a great example of the principle of "100 Languages of Children" - no too representations are the same, yet they all celebrate learning about the same topic.

Every child brings his or her own past experiences and personal strengths to their explorations and their representations.

Communicating ideas is an integral part of a child's education and personal development.

Our learning is continuing in the classroom, with many students creating new representations of snowflakes.

 Be it stories, photos, paper, paint, fimo, markers, coffee filters, stamps, pipecleaners or pompoms, our children can communicate clearly with others. We just need to listen for each of their unique 100 Languages.

How heavy, how far, how tall, how much?

We've started a new inquiry about measurement. The children started comparing their heights, so we created a growth chart to represent their findings.

Using a variety of tools, the children have been exploring many different forms of measurement in addition to height. Owen, Patrick, and a few other children are very interested in the trundle wheel, used to measure distance.

"Look, I went all the way to the end of the hall. I hear clicks. I think they happen when
that little thing rubs against the metal part." -Owen

"If I run out, I can put another stick. Line them up, like this." -Jaxin
"Let's measure the carpet. Line it up at the edge, guys!" -Keegan
"I counted them to measure." -Ayden

We've been exploring capacity and volume at the water table and the sand box. Yesterday we used the skills in a practical context to make juice. We then connected our learning to our inquiry about ice by making juice pops.

"Measure 3 cans of water. You have to go right to the top." -Sarah

The weighing centre has been set up to explore mass and weight. The children use found objects and some of our "Beautiful Stuff" we collected to play with the scales.

"When it goes down, it's heavier. The big rocks weighs more than the small rock." - Aidan
"I add to this one to make it heavier." -Gavin
"Now it's balanced!" -Makayla

As our inquiry into measurement continues, we will be exploring ways to use our bodies to measure, such as foot prints and hand spans.

Parents can help support this inquiry at home by inviting children to help in the kitchen, or to experiment with the bathroom scale. Ask: "Which is bigger? Heavier? Longer? How do you know?"

Run, run, as fast as you can

We've been reading various versions of the Gingerbread Man, and comparing the similar-yet-different stories.

To cap off our learning, we baked our own Gingerbread Man.

But there was an exciting surprise when we went to get him from the oven....He was gone! In his place he left a note that sent us looking for him around the school.

We first went to the library...no luck there. Just another note.

We found some Smartie crumbs he lost during his mad dash.

We checked the office.

 We checked with Mrs Fowler and Mr Crawford.

We asked Joselyn from the daycare.

"He's about this big! Did you see him?"

 We checked the fountains, and found his last clue.

We had to find room 132...turns out it was our room!

As quick as we could, we ate him up so he couldn't run away again.

And that's what became of the Gingerbread Man!