Butterfly goodbye and Community helpers

This post will be a quick one as it is that busy time of year where teachers are madly trying to finish units, mark work, update data and check skills. Not to mention it sounds like a thunderstorm is on the way...it doesn't take much for the power to go out where I live!  I may not be my 'creative self' but I will try :)

Butterfly Release
Wow, we had almost 100% success rate with hatching our butterflies through their complete metamorphosis. A surprise to many was how much red liquid (meconium) that comes out of an emerging butterfly's abdomen.  Most students naturally think this is blood, but in fact it is 'metabolic waste' left over from metamorphosis. This prompted one of my students to say while looking into the butterfly net, " it looks like a crime scene in there but no one is hurt". 
Here is a pic of some of my students watching a butterfly emerge right before their very eyes!

I was able to take many great pictures of students holding butterflies but will try to get them to students personally rather than post them here. It was a little chaotic as you can imagine but at least this time I didn't take accidental pictures of my finger (like last year!)

Fractions
We have done a lot of work with fractions and are moving on to division and multiplication. Using books such as 'The Doorbell Rang' by Pat Hutchins, we even acted out how to divide objects fairly. This week I am laying the foundation for deeper understanding to ensure students understand that 'fractions' are related to 'division' which is related to 'multiplication'. At some point, multiplication tables need to be memorized but in grades one and two we are learning that 8 X 3 can also mean 8 sets of 3 or 3 sets of 8 or 8+8+8 or 3+3+3+3+3=3+3+3. I will post a livescribe lesson to show how I am teaching fractions and the language that I am using. Also some interesting things students were doing as they moved along the path to understanding. 

Community Helper Visits
If your child is in Grade One, there have been some community helpers visiting as part of the social studies curriculum.  We have hosted a local dentist  who gave out free toothbrushes and toothpaste (freebies are such fun at any age). A local Doctor and Policeman will visit shortly. There will also be a quick trip to the local fire hall in June.

A funny story
Whenever a student leaves the classroom and I know a fire drill may happen, I always ask the students if they "know what to do if the fire alarm goes off". Usually, I get an answer like, "meet you outside in our safety spot" or "go to the nearest adult" which is great. However, today I asked that question and the student said a bit too quickly "I'll stop, drop and roll!". I replied (kind smile on my face) , "and while you are rolling around in the hallway, the rest of us will be exiting the building". There was a short delay (as students pictured it in their minds) and then we all started laughing together. Then there was an "Oh" moment as the student said, "oh ya, that's if you're on fire and not for a fire alarm...oops". I love those cute moments when everyone gets what is funny!

Smartpens, Butterflies and Fractions

                                 

           Hope everyone enjoyed a great Victoria Day holiday! 

Smartpen
If you get a chance, please click on the Livescribe, Smartpen link. I have been lucky enough to be part of a team that is learning this technology and developing ways to use it in a primary classroom. You may have seen how it was implemented by creating a 'talking word wall' that your child showed you at our Open House (with their own voice recording/sound stickers). It also can be used in different ways. I am always interested in feedback. If there is anything you can think of that you think I could share (one minute lesson) in this way, please let me know. I have had a request for 'success criteria' on how to write a paragraph with an emphasis on what is required for a level 4 (highest level) on the bump it up wall. I will see if I can do this shortly...still learning myself.

Butterflies
Early this week, all but one of our caterpillars developed into a chrysalis! You can see that they formed onto the lids of their little containers. This meant it was time to take off the lids and move it to a bigger, netted container. The chrysalis are very much alive and it is always fun to see them wriggle.

Now occasionally, some chrysalis don't attach or fall from the lid. A little trick I learned from the butterfly conservatory is to use a glue gun to re-attach them to a popsicle stick. If they don't hang up then the side where they lay results in a deformed wing. Always a bit upsetting, but the glue (if used sparingly) works quite well. If you ever find yourself doing this (and who knew I would need this knowledge in life..now really)...the little guys do wiggle which is a bit unsettling but I'm guessing the hot glue can't be much fun. However, we must give them as much a chance to survive as possible :) It is a precious life after all!

Finally, today there were two Painted Lady Butterflies. Many of us donated a little bit of fruit from our lunches to welcome them to our world. The arrival of our first butterflies is always a magic moment!
                                        

What's on the bookshelf...
We have a collection of fiction and non-fiction books on butterflies (of course). As well, we have a selection of books on fractions.

 If you are looking for some great books for boys, take a look at the 'Favourite Books' tab as I will be updating the book list to include more books recommended to me from another teacher friend. She has included descriptions so you can pick and choose what might interest your little reader at home.

Upcoming events
June 11 - Jump Rope for Heart
June 26 - Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory Trip
                Final Reports come home

Soaring Together - Art for the Sky picture

A few pictures of the 'Art for the Sky' Florence Meares Falcon.

Here we are on the back field of our school. My class is the whiter part close to the the birds head. Or, as one of my students pointed out (and we all laughed)..."Ms Fink, I think we're the armpit"...or "wingpit"??


A picture taken further away of our Florence Meares Falcon with our school. So glad the weather turned out lovely for us. It was a day to remember. 

T-shirts, Butterflies and Podcasts

This week is an exciting one! I had a few tired children today who may have stayed up to watch a certain hockey team lose in the final moments of the playoffs. As one child said, "I heard some shouting at the television last night!". Another exciting moment was our Canadian astronaut landed safely last night in Kazakhstan. Chris Hadfield has done so much through both the space program and social media to allow children to learn and understand about our universe and space travel.

Art for the Sky
Our t-shirts have arrived. Tomorrow your child will get their t-shirt with the Florence Meares falcon proudly printed on the front of the shirt. 

The students will go out to the field and form the falcon on the field for the helicopter with the artist 'Daniel Dancer' to take our picture as they fly overhead. Not sure what will happen if the weather doesn't permit but we are all hoping for the best! Here is a picture of some of my students excitedly pointing out the mulch outline of the falcon being built onto the field. 

***please dress your child in either dark pants (jeans are fine) or light beige pants...NO hot pink pants or else the falcon may have a weird pink dot on it :)*****

Butterflies
Our caterpillars arrived on May 7th and we have put them into containers ready for the magic of metamorphosis to take place. Once they have formed a chrysalis, we remove the lids and place them into a larger terrarium. I'm not sure what is in the food (it smells like flour and some sort of protein powder) but I'm amazed at how fast these little guys grow! 


Podcasts
If you look at the top tabs on this website you will see a new area entitled 'podcasts'. My goal is to have all students on there eventually (first names only for anonymity). They have written their own persuasive paragraphs about ecology and are reading them for you. Hope you enjoy listening. Thanks to Mr. Cann (our librarian) who always helps me figure out how to make my ideas into technological reality. 

Music Monday in the news!

Music Monday
Did you know that Florence Meares Public School was in the news? 
Today we had the opportunity to sing with astronaut Chris Hadfield through a video link. CHCH news was there live to cover the event. Here is a clip from this afternoons coverage, as well, there will be more on the 6 o'clock news tonight. I will post links when I can. For now, here is some of the coverage! What a great event and one to remember.  Click on this link for the CHCH coverage:                                                                   Florence Meares school sings with Chris Hadfield
Here is a more updated link: http://www.chch.com/home/item/12889-hadfield-sing-along-update

Singing outside to our family and friends!

Shhhh! We are working on some super, secret Mother's Day (or 'Mommy's Day' as one of my grade one students wrote) projects! 

As promised, here is a picture of what we made for Mother's Day. Using a mason jar (the kind for canning) we coloured butterflies in various shapes and designs to decorate it. Then Modpodged the butterflies onto the jar, saving a big butterfly for the front. I used the students for the butterfly bodies (I disguised the faces for this picture) but you can get the idea. 

Determining Importance, Ecology books and something Random

Welcome Spring Weather...we missed you!
It is so nice to be able to get outside to play games, swing or play on the climbers. 

                                  'Determining Importance' 
This week we have done work towards understanding what is important when reading text. We started by doing a simple sorting activity (looking inside a willing student's backpack).

Then we worked in groups to brainstorm what would be needed on a camping trip. Such interesting discussions evolved within their little groups as I asked them to provide the rationale.
This group chose to draw pictures and sort them by R for really important, M for mostly important and N for not important.

(you will notice this chart talks about 'clothes are very important or else you will be naked'... then they talked about the need for bug spray...sometimes primary students are so practical)

'Determining Importance' is a skill that permeates all learning subjects. In Science, students are reading non-fiction text to highlight and source 5 facts about insects, amphibians, mammals, birds and  fish. In Math, students are reading problem solving questions where they have to determine what the question is really asking and be able to answer it fully. When reading, it is one of the many fundamental skills that enables a learner to comprehend what they have read. 
What's on the bookshelf...

This months book shelf has a collection of Ecology and Earth Day books. I would highly recommend 'The Great Kapok Tree' by Lynne Cherry, Peter's Place or One World by Michael Foreman as great read alouds. They also generate interesting discussion points for class lessons on ecology. 
We have also finished reading 'James and the Giant Peach' by Roald Dahl. Wow, students have been listening so well to longer and longer chapter books. We have begun to develop what author Mem Fox refers to as a 'shared language' around books we have read. 

A random picture of one of my sister's alpacas. Yep, they are this cute :) I promised a certain student a picture.