Junkyard Symphony

The concerts today were a blast and the kids were mesmerized the whole time. We teachers learned that using a whistle and a few signals is just as effective as talking and giving a lot of instructions. We might try that in our classrooms next week! The performers talked about recycling and about rhythm. Their website is here: http://www.junkyardsymphony.com/bios.html for those of you who want to see them and let the children do some follow up activities such as making rhythm instruments from recycled materials. They were a LOT of fun and we all thank the parent committee for setting up this great activity.

Healthy Eating

We are visiting a healthy food display with the public health nurse today in the school library! Ask your child what he or she saw and which food they might like to try after seeing the display. Please help them to plan what he or she would like to say to the class when it is his or her turn to talk about healthy foods. The girls are having their turn to speak this week and the boys will have theirs next week. Thank you to the committee who organized this healthy week!

Sharing Time

We are adding some more sharing time to our Circle time and inviting more children to come to the front of the class to speak. We will have different subjects for sharing and a simple schedule for who can have a turn to share. Weeks one and three of a month will be for the girls to share and weeks two and four of the month will be for the boys to share. When it is your child's week to speak, she or he can bring in something to show the class or simply tell us what sheor he would like to tell us about our subject. I will post our subjects on the blog so you know how to help them prepare. As this is the third week of the month, the girls will speak this week. Our subject will be Eating Healthy and they can tell us about their favourite healthy snack or show us what they brought in for snack. Next week the boys can have their turn with this topic. We look forward to hearing what they all have to say!

Seed Time

We are talking about seeds and gardens at school these days. We started with planting some bean seeds today. We will be observing them carefully as they grow. We would also like to learn more about seeds, so we are starting a seed centre here in the classroom. If your child finds any seeds in her or his apple, grapefruit or avocado, we would love to have them for our centre. We will even sprout a few and see what happens. Thank you for your help with this project.

Wear Pink for Anti-Bullying on Wednesday, April 11th

Wednesday is Pink Day across Canada, an Anti-Bullying project. We will be reading a few stories about the subject and having a short discussion. If the children have anything pink they would like to wear that is another way to participate in the day. Apologies for the short notice. I just received the memo now. Anything pink will do! We will also make a pink craft so that everyone can have some pink to wear in case some don't get this note in time.

Our Wax Sculptures

Here are some of the wax sculptures that the morning class created with our Artist in Residence, Deirdre. They turned out so well! They made an armature out of wire first and then covered it with softened wax. They are a bit fragile, so if your child usually goes on the bus we will keep them safe here until you can drop by to pick your child's sculpture up.
The afternoon class tried a different method and made an animal and a human pairing from a fairytale. For example, they made a princess and a dragon or a Goldilocks and a bear. Picture to follow soon! These are a little more stable and we will try wrapping them up and sending them home in tissue boxes. The walkers will simply carry theirs home. Feel free to sign in and drop by the classroom to get your child's art this week if you prefer.
If the sculptures need any repairs or revisions simply place them in a sink or bucket of boiling water and they will soften up and be malleable again. Congratulations to both classes for some great art work!