Former students, Earth Day

Former Students!
I have taught long enough now that my former students are off into the world doing great things. Last night I was privileged to receive an invitation from a former group of students to come watch the White Oaks High School production of 'Hairspray'. Almost all the main lead parts were children I had taught! They were an incredible group of talent and it was so rewarding as a teacher to see them grow, thrive and find their creative spirits. When you teach children in the primary grades, you can still see that little person you used to know in the grown up bodies of the teenagers up on stage. Perhaps one day, I will get an invitation from your child to attend something wonderful that they are doing. Although we never know what the future holds, I would consider it an honor and if I could make it...I certainly would. 

Another former student, Kathryn who has been working in our classroom in between her teacher's college practicum assignments is off to Peru for the month of May. She is going to help teach English to school children and work on construction projects. She is allowed to take a suitcase full of donations and I have asked the students to consider looking around for a few small items so we could make a care package for her. I realize we are asked many times for donations but this is a chance to actually see our donations in action as I know Kathryn will bring back pictures and talk to the students about this adventure. Don't go out and buy anything. I'm just going to look around my house for a few items to donate so feel free to do the same if you can. 
Here are a few ideas:
markers, post-it notes, band-aids, dental hygiene things (floss, toothpaste), crayons, crafty items (rainbow loom bands). I know all items will be gratefully accepted and truly appreciated. No pressure though! 

Earth Day
April 22nd was Earth Day. We learned some of the history of Earth Day and discussed many ways to help our Earth. We explored the Eco-Kids website using the new Chrome books that the school has purchased. It seemed only fitting to go outside for some extra Gym time on a beautiful sunny day to celebrate as well. Our school will be doing a school-wide scavenger hunt in our Tribes this Friday afternoon, as well as working together to beautify the school (also known as picking up trash with gloves). We read the book Peter's Place (by Michael Foreman) which discusses what happens in an oil spill. As well, we had great discussion about our own classroom waste and how we could reduce and re-use a little better. 

Funny Story
Usually I tell a funny story about my class but today I will share with you my new learning. As some of you may or may not know, I like to grow my own vegetables and cook with organic foods as much as possible. I decided to make a lovely chicken soup this weekend. I added a purple, organic carrot to the crockpot. Who knew that one little, tiny purple carrot actually turns the whole soup...well...purple. An orange carrot doesn't turn it orange! No worries, I think. Then I tried to eat it. Let's just say it tastes great if you don't look at it. Who knew eating lilac coloured chicken with purple broth would be so hard to stomach! And here is your learning for the week...

                                                      Yep, it's really purple, isn't it?!?

Pysanky eggs, Art's Night, Story Mountains and Making Books

Pysanky Egg Art
Have you ever seen those beautiful Pysanky eggs? I have always thought they were so artfully created. When my father was in the Ukraine many years ago, he brought me one back and so began my little collection that you see here. I started to make a few and as I was doing them, I began to think how could I do something like this with children?

So, we made these 3D decorations. The children colour planned and persevered to create such wonderful Pysanky eggs using paper, small coloured markers, fancy scissors and small bits of sponge to separate the layers. Here is our bulletin board before I took it down today and sent them home for you!

Art's Night 
Thank you to everyone who came to listen to our choir performance and view our artwork. When we set the art up a few days before, it was lovely to see all the students admiring each other's work. Many of the older students came up to me and complimented our 'Grade Two' artwork. It was a positive experience all around. 


Story Mountains
Some of you may remember a post I did last year on how to identify or de-construct a basic story. Here is a link to that post: http://msfinksclass.blogspot.ca/2013_04_01_archive.html
Using familiar stories with predictable story patterns we plot the events on our story mountain and discuss all the elements of a basic narrative story. By this time in the year, students have heard many types of different text (fiction, non-fiction, info-fiction). Info-fiction is a story with both real and fake elements. An example that comes to mind is 'The Magic School Bus' series which has some great science facts but they are embedded with a fictional narrative (Ms Frizzle and her magic bus). As we look at the stories and discuss the 'beginning, middle and end' of the stories studied, we also begin to identify key elements that we will need to add to our own written work. Using the 'Little Miss' or 'Mr Men' books by Roger Hargreaves, which has a very predictable pattern, we will first draft a story outline before we begin to write our own stories. I am looking forward to reading some of our first Mr Men/Little Miss inspired published stories. We have titles like; 'Mr Slapshot', 'Miss Bad Luck', 'Mr Floppyfeet' and 'Little Miss Gymnast' just to name a few. Let the story writing begin! 

Spring
I took this picture on Tuesday of this week when we had that surprise snowstorm. I had put up spring flowers on our windows and you can see them against the sky with all the snow. A bit of a paradox! Hopefully this is it and sunny skies are ahead :)

Butterfly larvae arrive May 14th! I know students who were with me in grade one last year have done this but I think it is a learning experience that can be repeated. It will be nice to have experts in the class :) 

Teaching Digital citizenship

Technology is a great thing. I will always remember when my Grandma (who was in her 90's) marveled at the fact that I could take a picture and casually send it to my printer via wi-fi and hand her the picture within minutes. 

Really, if you consider her first camera was a little 'Brownie camera' and most people didn't have the means to buy one...then the instantaneous ability of computers is truly amazing. Having said all this, a good teacher has to keep up to date on the technology and media that interests students at any age. Social media, changes so quickly. When you consider MySpace changed to Facebook, which also includes Twitter and now Instagram...it makes one wonder what  will be cool next week? Even though my students are in Grade Two, it is important to talk about 'Digital Citizenship'. We watched some age appropriate movies that featured scenarios that could happen when using the internet. Then we discussed what we would do. Many students were surprised that even if you delete material (e.g., on their chatt accounts) that someone could still retrieve the information. We also talked about personal safety and using the internet responsibly. Today the students brought home a stickie note with a few points to discuss with you. I hope you have a great discussion. As you can see by our chart...we certainly did. 

1.