Week at a Glance

We were super fortunate to be able to spend some time with the Grade 4/5 students practicing some team building skills. In this activity, students had to cross an area only using so many steps. 

Did you know that beetles have terrible eyesight? They use their sense of smell to navigate the world around them. We practiced using our sense of smell to match scents to each other. 

The time had finally ocme to release our butterflies to the wild! It was an emotional journey watching our friends fly away. 

After a windstorm, students found red pinecones on the forest floor! Pinecones are an important part of a spruce trees life cycle, and provided us with an excellent opportunity to witness the power of the wind. 

Students worked hard to ensure the correct measuring when planting corn seeds. Did you know that corn seeds should be planted about 4-6 inches apart?

Students played a game of sentence telephone, taking turns writing a sentence and then drawing a picture. It was a beautiful day outside so we decided to make them all nature themed. 

After the long weekend we felt it was important to spend some time visiting the animals and showing them some extra love.

Instructional writing teaches students to add details into their writing. There is no better way to learn the details of cleaning a goat pen, than to do it. After, students wrote an instructional writing piece on how to clean the goat pen. 

When discussing clean water and humans impact on the environment. Students created their own water filters to showcase how life straws are used to clean water. 

We are currently raising broiler chickens and turkeys! Telling thme apart can be tricky business, however if you look at thier feathers, and facial features. Students can easily tell you the difference between the two. 

 A vital chore that is apart of our daily routine is watering our plants in the greenhouse. Watching them grow helps us gain a better understanding of life cycles, and the suns energy. 

We are just so lucky to get outside! Rain or shine, we love learning outdoors.

Students learned the various important steps of gardening. Including pulling weeds. Some of the dandelions were even teaching us about life cycles, showing us how dandelion flowers start out.

We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the bush and push our limits.

Our barnyard is a fantastic source for first hand data gathering. We took every opportunity to graph their behaviours etc.

When discussing the life cycle of a plant, we used our bodies to move through the different stages. Seeds roll, sprouts hop, seedlings shuffle, and an adult plant runs.

We were very fortunate to receive new equipment in the barnyard. After learning what each piece of equipment does, we had to have some with the hay feeder. 

The final stage in a plants life cycle is shedding its seeds for new growth. We learned how seeds spread, animals, wind and water are three mains ways that plants spread their seeds.

In our classroom , earth day is an important to be reminded of all that we can do to help the earth. This year, there was lots of gravel left on the soccer field. We took the opportunity to help remove the gravel from the soccer field so that our grass can grow. 

In Science we have been learning about similarities of offspring to parents. Our sheep are a wonderful source to learn from. Students noticed that the lambs all have dark legs, similar to their mothers. 

With the weather warming up, we took the opportunity to start some seeds in the greenhouse, and transplant some of our grow tower plants to dirt. We are hoping to move them out to the greenhouse once they have adjusted to life in dirt.

This week in art, we focused on building perspective into art. I can think of no better way than to create rolling hills with sheep. 

As our class prize for reaching our goal in the readathon, students requested a Science Afternoon. The highlight for most students was building volcanoes out of sand. 

We are sure thankful to have our Junior High students to lead us. The Grade 7 students had previously built solar ovens, so naturally buddying up with them to help us build our own was super helpful. 

To finish off our fraction unit, we built hula hoop fractions using natural materials. Students were tasked with breaking their hula hoops up into different parts, filling in various fractions with leaves/snow etc.

We had an amazing presentation from Beaverhill Bird Observatory! We learned all about the different types of Owls in Alberta, and got to meet Tansi, The Great Horned Owl.

When learning about trade in Social Studies, we discussed the difference between needs and wants and how that can determine trades. We also included the needs and wants of animals in our barnyard. 

We have been learning about writing opinions! I can think of no better place to formulate opinions, than out in the barnyard

We had an in school fieldtrip! Clay for kids came to our school and together we built a plaque of important Natural Resources across Canada

We finished off our week with painting the birdhouses we built last year! Students had so much fun letting their creativity shine through! 

We learned about fractions with the help of snow! Students painted the snow with different colors to show various fractions

We had a great time preparing our Math Fair Projects this week. It was incredible to see all the projects come to life. 

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to build birdhouses with one of our  classmates parents. We learned so much about carpentry and had a blast enjoying the warm weather.

There is no better place to practice learning and building landforms than in the snow! We built mountain ranges, rivers, and hilly areas.

Some of the plants on our grow tower started putting out flowers. We talked about how this is a crucial part of the life cycle of plants in the wild, and different animals that play a part in it.

St Patrick's Day is just around the corner. We made Leprechaun traps out of natural materials in hopes of trying to catch the illusive Wild Leprechauns.

A very exciting week with all our ewes lambing! We are so excited to have babies around and potentially having the opportunity to bottle feed

We went outdoors to explore the flow of water! We of course had some fun outdoors along the way.

Wetlands are an important body of water in our ecosystems. Students learned about their importance, and had their hand at building their own wetland in a pan. 

We had an in school fieldrip this week, where we learned about winter adaptations in animals. Students tried their hand at gathering resources for their specific animal.

Students got to enjoy the outdoors during their wellness blocks. Where they took a moment to practice emotional regulation. 

To wrap up our measurement unit, we went to the animals and attempted to measure them. Surprisingly enough, the goats were the most and least cooperative animal out there. The ruler was almost a snack for them. 

To learn more about rotation and revolution, we built the sun and earth using tissue paper and styrofoam balls. We got messy but had loads of fun. 

While discussing rotation and revolution, we learned about seasonal changes in animals. With our sheep due to lamb at the beginning of March, our barn is laid with with fresh straw to keep the ewes insulated and babies warm. After spending sometime learning outdoors, we took a break and warmed up in the straw.

Our math unit is focused on learning measurement (centimeters and non standard units). To further practice our skills. We took to meausring objects in the barnyard. 

We started our new Science Unit this week by conducting experiments. Students planted their own seeds in cups to watch them grow, and Miss H, wanted to learn how much water is released into the air through condensation.

On our hike with Mrs. Klatt we saw deer tracks! We saw what way they were heading, identified what animal it was, and discussed if it was walking or running. 

We joined the grade 1 students to solve an open-ended question. If farmer John counted 12 legs in a pen, how many chickens and sheep did he have? How many different answers could there be? 

Groundhog day is my favorite holiday! So naturally I taught the students about all the different groundhogs around Canada. Balzac Billy saw his shadow and that gave us hope for an early spring. 

Learning about the Metis culture had us baking Bannock together. It was delicious when it was served with rasberry jam and butter. 

Unfortunatley our skating afternoon got cancelled, twice in a row! However, we still made the most of our afternoon and worked on team building skills. Students were tasked with building snowmen in a group and having to lift all the snowballs they built by themselves. 

Mrs. Samantha helped us learn more about the ewes getting ready to lamb. When they are due, what should we start to look for, why some udders are bigger than others. With all this information, we feel ready to lamb! This coupled with a writing activity, tell a story about when we went out to the barnyard with Mrs. Samatnha.

To learn more about personal bubbles, students wore Hula Hoops to participate in different activities. We discussed how difficult it can be to stay out of each others bubbles, and what to do if you go into someone elses bubbles. 

After learning about the different landforms across Canada, students were tasked with creating them out of clay to show how vast and varied Canada's terrain is. 

After learning about the long A vowel teams, students were sent on a scavenger hunt to find and recrod items/objects that have a long A in them. 

We spent a couple of days talking about responsible land use, and what can happen if we do not treat our land with respect. Students were tasked with creating a picture on one side that shows land now, and on the opposite side, what land could look like if we do not take care of it.

When talking about cardinal directions, students went outside to take a look at the wind fences set up for the cows. They noticed that there is a wind fence set up on the north side of the pen, noting that the cold wind is also coming from the north. 

When discussing why people need to be around each other, students went out and visited an animal. They noticed that the goats and cows are happiest and more social when we give them scratches and spend time with them.

On students hike with Mrs. Klatt, students created nature art. 

We are diving in deep to story writing, there is no better place to write a story than to go outdoors and write about a time that we learned something in the barnyard.

Our social studies unit has us exploring the regions of Canada. We are learning about the natural resources and relating then natural resources to careers our parents have. 

Cardinal's are beautiful red birds that look striking against the white of winter and birch trees.

A writing activity this week involved getting messy! We ripped and glued pieces of brown paper to create our reindeer then we wrote a quick story about them. 

We were very fortunate this week to get to join in on the Grade 5 potluck, they each researched a country and then made a food from that country to share with friends. 

Cst. Curtiss came to our school this week and let us try on his vest. Many of us were amazed at how heavy it was. 

To keep practicing our cardinal directions, we went out and explored the woods. 

In the new year we are going to start growing plants in our grow bin, but to do that we had to haul the dirt in! Teamwork makes the dream work. 

We had an officer come in and visit us! She was so helpful in answering all of our questions. 

Students explored the outdoors with Mrs. Klatt on a chilly snow day. They learned and practiced cardinal directions, and even drew their own compass rose in the snow.

In Geometry, students have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes, we took our learning outdoors and identified 2D and 3D shapes in the barnyard. For example, a haybale is a cylinder. 

Using geometric shapes, students were tasked with creating a barnyard animal of their choice and using crayon rubbings to transfer the shapes to a paper. 

As we started to wrap up learning about light, and the sun was out. It felt only natural to talk about shadows! Tall objects have larger shadows, small objects have smaller shadows. 

We finally got to taste test some of our grow towers harvest! Lettuce was a huge hit, arugula went over as well as anyone would have expected. 

A fresh snow meant of course we had to make snow angels. But also take the opportunity to talk about snow and wind, and how the depth of snow can change in different places because of many factors. 

After reading the Mango Monster story, students got to zoom with the illustrator of the story! She then taught us how to draw the troublesome Mango Monster. 

To finish off learning about sound, students created a sound producing device.  

We started learning about how our eye captures light energy. To tie in our animals we talked about different shapes of animal eyes and pupils. Students noticed that prey have larger pupils to see around them. 

We worked hard, learning to describe sounds according to their volume, pitch, and duration. A long, low pitched sound is a car driving by on the road.

We were so excited to get our first snowfall of the year this year. In 10 minutes they had made a snowman, complete with a flower pot hat. 

Squash are some of our favorite vegetables to explore! this year we were fortunate enough to explore 6 different varieties. Be sure to check out our Charter Lesson tab in the coming weeks to learn more about our Squashathon. 

This week we welcomed Mrs. Terry to our classroom and school. Students anxiously waited the moment that they could show her our amazing barnyard and display their knowledge of agriculture and the environment

We began learning about sound this week as our next unit in Science! We went outside to look at our animals ears and noticed a common trend. All our farm animals are prey, their ears and eyes are on the side of their heads! They need to be able to see and hear all around them in case of a predator lurking. 

Students chose the biggest pumpkin in the garden to carve for Halloween. Of course they had to help scoop the guts out, this was a very messy job because of the size of pumpkin! We talked about why bigger pumpkins have thicker meat than smaller pumpkins, and we can enjoy with our pumpkins once we scoop the guts out. 

With Halloween right around the corner, students worked on their part of decorating our classroom door! Our theme is wolves.

With the drop in temperatures, we went out into the barnyard to identify problems and potential solutions that we can do immediately. Instantly, students began picking ice out of a water trough. 

Spending all day outside on Wednesday was both an incredible learning opportunity, and incredibly freezing. We had so much fun, and learned so many things while enjoying the outdoors. 

Miss. H has trouble doing mazes, so to help her practice students were tasked with making their own mazes.  While working on their problem solving skills, all students made their own successful pom pom maze for Miss H to practice with. 

Chilly mornings means we pick up our pace on our hikes. This time we worked on identifying trees and learning the difference in pine cones between a spruce, tamarack, and pine. 

Grade 2 students harvested zucchini bigger than their heads this fall, and finally got the opportunity to turn one into a delicious chocolate cake. The rest of the squash we harvested will be dissected and get messy with. 

Challenging students to take a look outside and see the patterns around them. For example, seasonal changes, patterns in leaves, life cycles. 

The new socials studies curriculum challenges students to learn about problem solving. What better way to problem solve than to do a puzzle with no picture. 

An important part of sharing ideas is distinguishing between facts and opinions. Students were challenged to choose 3 barnyard animals and write one fact and one opinion about each. 

This week, a nurse came into our school to talk to us about how to wash our hands properly and the importance of it. We even got to rub fake germs on our hands and practice washing them off.

We have been learning about patterns in Math. To put our skills to the test, we gathered natural materials and created patterns. There are two repeating patterns and a growing pattern in this work. 

To wrap up  our Science Unit,  students put thier knowledge of materials to work. Bird feeders need to be waterproof, rigid, be able to hang etc. In groups, students build their own birdfeeders. 

We had phenmoenal weather this week, naturally we took independent reading outside! Before completing a natural and manmade scavenger hunt in the barnyard. 

Grade 2 students harvested the squash this year, we learned how to store the squash, how to take the squash off the vine, and that some squash were bigger than our heads! 

We celebrated Orange Shirt Day early this year,  as the school is closed. To start off the day we gathered leaves from around the school yard and threw them in the air while yelling why they matter. "I matter because I am unique" 

Our first hike of the year with Mrs. Klatt! Students were tasked with a scavenger hunt to complete while we were hiking. 

To introduce the dichotomy of urban and rural, students created a sky line for a city based off of James Rizzi Cityscapes. 

Natural Resources are a huge part of Alberta's economy. To introduce the idea we talked about occupations that work with Natural Resources and talked about their importance. 

To get to know the garden a little better, students went out and identified what all was growing in the garden. We saw HUGE squash, lots of carrots and beets, and many other vegetables.

Our first Science unit this year is all about materials made using objects. To take a closer look at our barnyard students classified various objects in the barnyard as transparent, waterproof, soft, rigid. etc.

This year our reading buddies are Grade 6 students! This is an excellent opportuntiy for both the older students and younger students to practice their reading and comprehension strategies.