December 18

I know this is out of order.

Right after I posted the picture of the tulip, I noticed that I hadn't posted the picture of the last Christmas sharing. We heard about Christmas traditions that included going to church, putting up heritage ornaments and opening stockings before breakfast.

December 30 2008

Hello everyone,

This post is for the children.

Remember the tulips that we fooled into thinking the fall was winter and that winter was spring? We put them in the fridge for a while. Then we took them out to warm up. I promised that I would post a photo of the tulips when they bloomed.

I went away for a short trip. I wrapped the tulip pot in two blankets to keep it warm in the car and took it with me. The tulips didn't bloom while I was away, so I wrapped the pot up again and brought it home with me.

This photo shows what I saw when I got up this morning.

December 17

What a day we had!
First of all, there was real snow, the kind you can slide on and build with. We went out first thing to collect more greenery for our project. It was very cold, so we had hot chocolate when we got back inside. We wrote about cold things and hot things.

Then we heard two more family stories.

Who goes to a restaurant for Christmas dinner?
Who makes cookie Christmas tree ornaments?

We are chatting a lot about the different traditions we have.

Finally, we got to work on our baskets. Mrs. Alcock came in to help us. But the children did the work themselves. I think you'll agree that they did a lovely job. Many people stopped by to check out what was making the wonderful smell. It turned out to be all the greenery we had collected both from home and from the school yard.

Listen to the local radio for any warnings about the weather for tomorrow.

December 16

Today three more children shared about their Christmas traditions.

We heard about the decorations on a tree, about the large family gathering that includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and about opening gifts early at relatives' homes.

In case you didn't have photos of the Christmas concert, Mr. Heidebrecht has some posted on his blog.

December 15

We started the morning with sharing.

We heard how one family goes from waking up to stockings to gifts under the tree. We saw Christmas cards that one child is giving. 

Finally, we heard about new skates.

After lunch, Ms. Bjornson, our Aboriginal Education teacher, came in to help us make bear masks. She has been teaching us about bears. The masks we are making use First Nations designs.

December 12 part 2

Katherine and Sasha shared their Christmas items with us. This time there was a definite theme: Hand made ornaments.

We are learning a great deal about each other in these special Christmas sharing events.

December 12

Get ready for Monday. Lots of sleep is in order.

We start the day in the gym with Santa's breakfast. Parents can come, too.

In the evening, we have our concert. Our rehearsal went well, and I expect that the concert will, too. Everyone looks good and sounds good.

Of course in between breakfast and the concert, there is lots of work to do. We are still learning the basics as well as celebrating the season.

December 11

Today we saw family photos, a special personal pillow, and a special Christmas ornament.

Tomorrow we show the Intermediate students our concert piece.

Judging from the excitement, everyone's costume is ready and spectacular!

December 10

We started this morning by hearing about three Christmas traditions.

Guess who will have 33 people for Christmas dinner?

Guess who will have Christmas in two different places?

Guess who is getting presents from Grandma?

December 9

We are working with combinations in Math. The question we are thinking about most right now is, How many ways can we combine these two things?

Here is a sample question:

We can have six balls on our Christmas tree. We have to use red and yellow balls. How many combinations could we have?

Or:

I've got 6 coins in my pocket. Some are pennies and some are nickels. How many combinations could I have?

Can you think of some questions like these to give you child extra practice?

December 8

We've had a smart board in our room since the beginning of the year. Now we have the hardware and software both working so we can use the board.

Everyone has had a chance to use the special electronic pens that let us write on the board. We'll be using the board for more of our daily work in the future.

For those who don't know, the smart board is like a large computer touch screen. It's better, too, because of extra features like the special pens.

December 4

Today the children followed a DVD presentation with Madame Marshall to retell the story of Chicken Little whose name I can say, but not spell in French. They have made puppets who speak French. When the dance DVD comes on, the classroom comes to life.

Miss Owen

December 3

Today we talked about feelings. Can you guess how we are feeling from this picture? You can choose these feelings.
Happy
Sad
Angry
Surprised
Disgusted

December 2

I apologize for not adding to the blog yesterday. My mother has been very ill and taking care of her has used up all of my out-of-class time. I'm happy to say that she seems to have turned a corner.

Today Riley shared his tarantual's first molt.

I hope you are talking about which animal your child wants to be for our part in the Christmas concert. Everyone is enthusiastic about showing what we can do.