Embedded Files
Ice Rinks, Snow Piles & Beachy Vibes: January 27 & 29
While Mother Nature gave us beautiful weather this week, we still enjoyed some "fun in the sun" classroom style and celebrated Beach Day. The kids had all kinds of fun engaging with our beachy-themed centers. The biggest hit was the selfie station - they used the kid cameras to capture all their beach day memories. Miss Melissa also made some fun beachy treats for us to enjoy later in the day.
We were excited to welcome Future Energy Systems into our classroom for an in-school field trip. The kids got to learn all about how to be "An Earth Doctor." They were able to create their very own ecosystem through the presentation.
Printing, Patterns and Products: January 20, 21 & 22
The chilly temperatures kept us inside, but that didn't stop us from tapping into outdoor learning. We read the digital story "Patterns in the Snow" through Epic. This was a great review of the work we've done so far, looking at patterns. After we read the story and looked for patterns in the pictures, the kids decorated their own popsicle stick snowflake with patterns. Once the weather is warmer, we plan to head outside and capture all the patterns we can spot in nature and around the barnyard.
We started looking at composing numbers within 10 this week. This took us on some small and whole group activities working on different ways that we could make 5 or 10. We used our link cubes as manipulatives and followed along with the story "Counting Cows" by Woody Jackson, then we did a small group grouping activity, and finished with a worksheet where the kids drew dots to represent their own ways to compose 5 and 10.
We learned all about the products that cattle provide us with. It was quite windy, so we utilized the barn again and just stopped for a quick visit with the heifers before heading inside. The kids completed a cut & paste activity as we talked about the different parts of cattle and what they use those parts to create. They made great observations and were able to sort the products with the cattle parts using teamwork and sharing why they thought that.
This week, we finished our January letter focus, so we spent time practicing all the letters & literacy skills that we have learned so far this year. Some of our activities included reading lots of stories, printing, playing letter games, and going on sound searches in the barnyard.
Hiking, Heifers & Another Humble Habit: January 13 & 15
On Tuesday, Mother Nature blessed us with great snowman-building snow! Miss Samantha led us on a hike through the forest area, and the kids searched for the perfect location to build some mini snowmen. They had fun exploring for different pieces of nature to add to their little creations and make them unique. We even connected it to 3-D shapes from math as we constructed different shaped snowman body parts like spheres!
We kicked off our new Humble Habit on Thursday with reading the story "The Most Magnificent Thing," written by Ashley Spires. This month, we are going to focus on "motivation."
We discussed what the word motivation means, and the kids shared how they thought the character in the story displayed being motivated.
We will continue to explore motivation as well as practicing it throughout our classroom time this month.
We started our focus on cattle this week. The kids learned about the parts of a heifer as well as their needs. Maureen Fergus's story "Petal the Angry Cow" led us on a great chat about how we need to treat others the way we want to be treated. Enjoy some photo snippets!
First Week Back: January 6, 8 & 9
We wrapped up our focus on goats this week with a few different activities. The kids were super interested in learning about how the goat's stomach works. They were interested in learning about the four parts of the goat stomach and had lots of questions for Miss Samantha and me. We headed outside to see if we could watch the goats chewing their cud. Later in the week, we enjoyed some outdoor activity exploring the barnyard snow hill with Triscuit and Pepper. The kids were amazed at what great climbers goats are!
We partnered with the Grade 8's to help us find answers to our lingering goat questions. Each student had something they still wanted to learn about goats, which guided our mini research project. With the help of their Grade 8 partners, the kids were able to investigate their questions and record their learning.
With winter officially upon us, we started our focus on the new season and investigating all things snow. We went on a walk through the forest area, climbed some big snow piles, and read Kenard Pak's "Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter." The snow wasn't quite sticky enough to build real snowmen, so we improvised with playdough in the classroom - fingers crossed for snowman building snow next week! We collected some snow from different locations around the school to melt and see what was in the snow once it melted.
All Things Festive: December 16, 18 & 19
The kids had fun decorating graham cracker "chicken coops" as part of our festive morning activities for our Christmas Party on December 19th. To complete the look, we had candy cane Peeps to give their coop a chicken. Some of the kids got quite creative and added real coop features like red skittles for heat lamps and using chocolate chips as poop. They were also challenged to include a pattern somewhere on their coop, so have fun searching!
A recap on all the festive activities that took place - we sure had a busy month of celebrating all things revolving around the holiday season. Santa visit, ornament making for our school tree, Christmas concert practice, SEED Day - to name a few.
Goats and Senses : December 9 & 11
Another morning of furthering our knowledge about goats with Miss Samantha. We didn't let the cooler temperatures stop us from getting out in the barnyard - we brought the goats into the barn for a hands-on learning experience. After talking about the needs of Pepper & Triscuit, we set out on a measuring challenge using all kinds of non-standard units, seeing how many were needed to measure the length of different goat body parts.
After reading Rachel Isadora's "I Hear a Pickle," we used what we learned about our senses to explore cut-up pickles. Enjoy some quotes from our learning! "Pickles feel bumpy." "They are wet to the touch." "It made a crunch sound when I bit into it." "They smell like dill." "Pickles are green and shaped like circles." "Pickles taste sour."
The cold temperatures kept us inside, so we pivoted from our original plan and explored our sense of touch using all kinds of art supplies. We are looking forward to some milder weather so we can use our sense of touch outside in the barnyard and forest.
Jumping into a New Month: December 2, 4 & 5
We kicked off our focus on goats this week, learning all about their body parts. The kids compared the goats to the pigs and pointed out some similarities and differences. They got some time leading the goats around before we headed into the barn to complete a cut & paste goat parts activity.
We wrapped up our pig focus with a STEM "Little Pigs" building challenge. After reading "Penny the Engineering Tail of the Fourth Little Pig," written by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R Johannes, I set the kids out to design shelters for their pig figurines. Each group was given a different material to work with: cardboard strips, popsicle sticks, Duplo Lego and then a mix of various materials. Working together in small groups, they built shelters, and then we reflected on what materials made the best pig shelters.
After learning about our sense of hearing and smell, we took a trek outside to tap into our two newly learned senses. The kids took in all the sounds of the school yard from passing vehicles, birds chirping, dripping water spouts, to the sound of the snow crunching under their boots. We also utilized our cameras to capture close-up shots of different things in the forest.
Another Month Complete: November 25 & 27
We learned that pigs are one of the most versatile livestock for by-products - the tag line is "Everything but the Oink!" After talking about all the products that are produced from pigs, from medicine components, meat, crayons and even bone china, we headed outside to serenade our pigs with a thank you song.
The past couple of months, we have spent time talking about fall and the changes that occur between summer and fall. We headed outside and went for a hike through the forest. The kids captured all the changes that they could see.
As we wrapped up our monthly focus on pigs, we took time to reflect on our learning. The kids were asked to share what they learned or found most interesting about pigs this past month. They captured their learning in their journals by drawing an image and verbally sharing about their learning, so I could record it for them. Some even challenged themselves to copy print! Enjoy!
Just for fun, enjoy their faces from our taste test this past week.
We tried something from each of the five basic flavour profiles: bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami as part of our science learning. Chef Jeff also brought us dragon fruit to sample on Thursday.
Verdict: lemon tasting gives us the best facial expressions!
Three Days of Adventure: November 18, 20 & 21
After practicing our rhyming with the book "What This Story Needs Is A Pig In A Wig" by Emma J. Virjan, we spent another fun-filled hour with Miss Samantha outside in the barnyard. We learned about all the things that pigs need to stay healthy. We fed them different kinds of scraps to see what they enjoyed best and found out all about the ration that they are fed. The kids also pointed out that the pigs had a shelter, enrichment toys and water.
Learning our letter sounds in the barnyard is so much fun! We went on a search to find things that have the starting sound of the three letters we had learned so far - A, T and S. The kids found all kinds of things: snow, turkeys, trailer, Miss Samantha, sunshine, as well as pointed out classmates whose names started with our letters.
We tapped into our first sense: taste. We discussed the important role our tongues play and tested them out by having some pumpkin seeds that Miss Melissa prepared for us. The kids noted that the seeds tasted salty, and many enjoyed several helpings!
Welcome, November: November 4 & 6
We started our monthly focus on pigs! Miss Samantha joined us to help us learn all about the parts of the pig - the kids went into the pig pen and captured some "pig portraits" using our kid cameras. After, they helped tidy up the barnyard spaces and were super excited to use the rakes!
In honour of Remembrance Day happening next week, we partook in some activities to help us understand why we remember on November 11th. The kids listened to a presentation from a Canadian soldier as part of Veterans' Week, read the story "A Poppy is to Remember," and created poppy art to display on our bulletin board.
Lots of collaboration happened in our monthly "Recycled Shape" center this week. The kids were very creative and enjoyed making houses together using all the boxes, containers and other things they brought from home. Turns out, you can have all kinds of fun with things that would otherwise end up being recycled or thrown in the garbage.
The Last Week of the Month: October 28 & 30
After reading Leslie Barnard Booth's "One Day This Tree Will Fall," we discussed the word sustainable and why it is an important factor in helping to preserve our environment. The kids shared their ideas, and I wrote some down before letting them add their own pictures of how they can practice being sustainable.
A kindergarten favourite: pumpkin carving!
From design to peeling out the "pumpkin guts" to carving and separating the seeds, they were completely immersed in the experience. The kids collaborated to create pumpkin masterpieces - tapping into all things around teamwork, from deciding what to carve, sharing tools and taking turns.
The bonus, we have some fabulous jack-o-lanterns to decorate our classroom for our Halloween festivities!
We said goodbye to our Broilers this week as they are headed for processing. The kids were able to watch them grow and develop over the past two months and enjoyed pointing out all the changes that happened. With the help of Miss Samantha, we shared our thanks for the food they will be able to provide us once they are processed by singing a song to them.
From the Barnyard to the Forest: October 21 & 23
The kids were super excited about our newest classroom addition: kid cameras! After reading Steve Jenkins's story "Move," we headed outside to observe animal movement in our barnyard. The kids had to imitate the animals and then capture them. Enjoy seeing the world through their eyes!
We were excited to have Jr. High Leadership join us again - this time for a building challenge. Each group was given a bag with 15 pieces of twine and a 3-D shape to replicate. They headed out to the forest and had to find things in nature to construct their 3-D shape. Our Jr. Highs helped with the construction under the instruction of the kinders.
Once we got back from swimming, we headed outside to give the chickens the enrichment block we made. The block was broken up into pieces, so everyone got a chance to head into the pen and feed some to the broilers and layers.
Sometimes, you take advantage of the beautiful weather and head outside, and Thursday afternoon was one of those times! The kids had the best time enjoying the mud kitchen and engaging in whatever way they wanted - some were creating concoctions, others made a game, and some had fun rolling themselves and all kinds of things down the hill. This unstructured time is important for building connections with classmates and tapping into their creative sides.
Getting Gooey: October 16
In the spirit of October, we started a focus on pumpkins, which began with reading the book "Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie" by Jill Esbaum. After, we busted into a pumpkin so we could learn the parts and explore all the goo! The kids also did a couple of other activities revolving around pumpkins, including a gross motor sensory station and designing a 2-D shape jack-o-lantern craft.
Stay tuned for more pumpkin activities to come!
We took our 3-D shapes lesson outside to find spheres, cones, cylinders and cubes in our environment. The kids found all kinds of 3-D shapes on the playground.
While waiting for the Grade One class to finish up their swimming lessons, we started learning about our first Humble Habit: Being Humble. We talked about what the word humble means and then read "I'm the Best" by Lucy Cousins. The kids picked out characters in the story who were being or not being humble and then shared why they thought that. For the rest of the month, we will be putting into practice what it means to be and act humbly.
Enjoying the Outdoors: October 7 & 9
We headed outside to create a turkey craft to finish off our week. There was no better place to do this than beside our barnyard turkeys, using the outside classroom! The kids used more of the leaves they collected on our leaf hunt earlier this week as feathers on the turkey.
After reading "We're Going on a Leaf Hunt" by Steve Metzger, we headed outside for our own leaf hunt. The kids found all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes of leaves.
Later, we listened to the story "Leaf Man" and tapped into our imaginations creating leaf art.
The Jr. High Leadership class joined us for a barnyard scavenger hunt. We read "Bear Counts" by Karma Wilson and then headed to the barnyard to practice counting. The scavenger hunt had us solving barnyard riddles, counting all the animals and looking for things in the barnyard to match our given number.
We finished the last part of our charter lesson, creating a chicken enrichment block. The kids dove into a sunflower from our school garden to pick out the seeds, and used some of the eggs from our barnyard chickens for the recipe. Together, they took turns adding ingredients and following the recipe.
Stay tuned for the final product test: giving it to the chickens.
One Afternoon to Fit It All In: October 2
The kids were super excited to get outside and enjoy the outdoor play kitchen. The previous night's rainfall gave us some much-needed moisture to turn the dusty dirt into the perfect mud for all their creations!
The kids were super excited to get outside and enjoy the outdoor play kitchen. The previous night's rainfall gave us some much-needed moisture to turn the dusty dirt into the perfect mud for all their creations!
We put the potatoes we collected during our Great North Seed Potato Field Trip to use and engaged in potato painting with Miss Melissa.
They had fun learning about mixing colours to create new colours, all while using the potatoes as their paintbrushes.
We hung up their masterpieces on our classroom art wall.
We continued our learning about the Three Sisters today with some discovery through our senses. The kids got to explore using their sense of touch, using all kinds of tools, along with their hands digging into different squashes and corn. It was messy and engaging!
We also did a tasting of spaghetti squash and mashed potatoes that Miss Melissa prepared for us. It was great to see the kids step out of their comfort zones and try new things! Mr. Jeff also gave us some popcorn to add to our tasting.
While waiting for the Grade One class to finish swimming, we listened to the story "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis. When we got back to school, as part of our center activities, we worked on a journal activity - drawing a rectangle and using our imaginations to turn it into something else.
The Last Week of the Month: September 23 & 25
We ventured outside after swimming lessons to check out our Three Sisters Garden that was planted last spring, before it gets harvested. They listened to a story about the origin of the Three Sisters, and then we looked at the corn, beans and squash growing together. We will continue learning about the Three Sisters next week.
After reading "Today is Orange Shirt Day," written by the founder of Orange Shirt Day, Phyllis Webstad, we talked about the day's origin and why we wear orange shirts. The kids drew something that made them feel loved on orange hearts to display outside on our classroom bulletin board.
The kids were very curious during the turkey butchering. They had lots of questions and were very engaged during the process. We also got the chance to see some undeveloped eggs that were found in one of the turkeys, which the kids thought was neat!
Logging all the Outside Time: September 16 & 18
We harvested the sunflowers that they planted during playschool last spring! We are looking forward to lots of sunflower activities to come, but for now, we spread some sunny cheer around the school, delivering flowers to each of the classrooms. Miss Melissa also worked on some sunflower petal painting art to brighten our classroom walls!
We headed outside for a read-aloud of "How to Make a Mountain" by Amy Huntington. After, we took a hike through the trees searching for items to build our own class mountain out of. We worked as a team to create a mountain from all our hike treasures and reflected on the ways we could improve it next time!
We had so much fun learning all about seed potato farming on our field trip to Great North Seed Potatoes Farm this week! The definite highlight was getting our hands dirty and digging for potatoes - the kids filled their bags to the max.
I introduced one of my favourite activities this week - sock wrestling! Not only does it help develop gross motor and body awareness, but it also focuses on building classroom connection through cheering and sportsmanship. The kids were already asking when we could do it again!
Another Week of Adventures: September 9 & 11
We started learning all about 2-D shapes this week! After reading Tom Hopgood's "Walter's Wonderful Web," we headed outside to search for shapes in nature. The kids even spotted some spider webs and looked at the shapes within the web pattern.
We discussed the difference between "rural" and "urban," and the kids shared what each word meant to them. Then, we visited the barnyard for some rural inspiration collage drawings. The kids shared what each of their drawings represented, and we labelled it for them.
We are working on our fine motor skills and the power of perseverance. Some of our songs include snapping (a tricky thing), and we continue to find fun ways to build our finger strength and stamina, which are the foundation for pencil grip and printing!
Featured here are noodle poppers, a great way to develop that "just right" pincer grasp.
In connection with our Physical Education & Wellness curriculum, we started talking about growth and how we change as we get older, such as growing taller and losing teeth.
We headed outside and learned about some of our barnyard animals and their life stages as they grow. It's great getting to watch the broiler chicks develop—the kids noted that they are much bigger now and are getting feathers!
We explored our barnyard, finding all the animals featured in the book "See How They Grow Farm."
Check out our First Week Back September 2 & 4
On our first day, we checked out the barnyard and met the newest additions— our broiler chicks! Those who wanted enjoyed holding them. We also hung out with the goats, Triscuit and Pepper.
We also sized up the sunflowers that many of them got to plant while in playschool.
After reading "Bear Sees Colours" by Karma Wilson, we headed outside to look for all the colours of the rainbow. The kids were great colour detectives and spotted all sorts of things in the barnyard that matched our rainbow colour swatch.
We headed outside and listened to Chelsea Tornetto's story "Seasons on the Farm." During the read-aloud, we talked about seasons and the changes that we notice around us.
We then went on a scavenger hunt around the schoolyard, looking for different things to collect in our baskets. Later, we sorted the things that we found based on whether they were "natural" or "man-made."
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