Embedded Files
Celebrating Nature & Getting Creative: April 21 & 23
We celebrated Earth Day on Tuesday. Mother Nature gave us beautiful weather, and we put our newest HUMBLE Habit into practice during our outdoor learning time with Miss Samantha. After reading "Out on the Trail" by Bonnie Morgan, we set out on a sense-of-touch scavenger hunt. Once the kids found something that fit the feel, they got to take pictures. After following the story's script, they took their clipboards and recorded what they saw on the trail. It was too nice to go back inside, so we stayed in the barnyard and played "Duck, Duck, Goose."
We started learning about our final HUMBLE Habit: explore. In the story "Umami" by Jacob Grant, we read all about a little penguin who was tired of eating the same old cold fish and set off on an adventure to find tastier food. It helped us better understand what it means to explore - bonus, it also had lots of connections to our sense of taste. This week, we also drew another six names from our class HUMBLE Habits jar. The kids are becoming such great cheerleaders for their peers - making nomination suggestions and cheering when we read out a nomination to win a prize. It is amazing to see their team spirit alive!
We had so much fun sculpting clay to make sheep. Clay 4 Kids came in to help us with the process of creating all the pieces to build a sheep. They even got to put their knowledge of the sheep body parts into practice as they crafted.
Rhyming & Exploring: April 14 & 16
We had so much fun at the Royal Alberta Museum on Thursday! We split into small groups, and everyone could move at their own pace and explore all the wonderful things the museum has to offer.
We read some pretty fun books this week that helped us to identify rhymes. The kids got lots of giggles out of both of these books. It also created the perfect opportunity to generate our own rhymes along the way. Rhyming is one of the foundational phonological awareness skills that help with learning to read. Because of this, we are always sneaking in ways to practice the skill.
Our Tuesday time with Miss Samantha had us helping with some barnyard tasks and learning all about the needs of our sheep. We created a graphic poster of all the things they could think about that sheep need to survive, from food & water to care. After, we headed into the barn to create some sheep patterns. We finished our day with "shaking with the sheep," a class favourite for practicing subitizing.
Welcome, Spring: April 7, 9 & 10
I shared one of my favourite sheep story characters and read "Russell the Sheep" by Rob Scotton. We got crafty on Friday, creating popcorn sheep. Next week, we will be reviewing our sheep body parts and adding those to our creations.
We headed outside to enjoy the sun and read the story "The Wonder You See" by Johanna Gaines. After, we captured some "Spring Snapshots." Enjoy seeing the changes that spring has brought to our barnyard through the kids eyes!
On Thursday, we read "Buffalo Fluffalo" by Bess Kalb in the barnyard. It was the perfect connection to our rhyming activity that had us searching for things that rhymed with our given words around the barnyard. After, we headed inside to visit our newly arrived chicks and poults!
The Grade 7 class joined us for board games on Thursday morning. The kids had lots of fun engaging in and playing different games with them. Board games foster so many great skills and it was great seeing the Grade 7's taking on some leadership!
Our first day back from spring break had us visiting the lambs to begin our new barnyard focus. We started by reading "One Sheep, Two Sheep" by Tammi Sauer, followed by a Q&A about sheep with Miss Samantha, before heading into the greenhouse, as the wind impeded our ability to do our activity outside. Inside, we practiced our number skills with a "Shear the Sheep" game. The kids were given a number, and they had to cover the sheep with that many cotton balls. They took turns, shearing their sheep and counting cotton balls for wool. After, we headed outside to play "Sheep in the Pen" to practice subitizing.
All Things Springy: March 24, 26 & 27
Despite the weather not feeling very springy, after reading the story "Good-bye Winter, Hello Spring" by Kenard Pak, we headed outside on a senses search. The kids were tasked with using their given senses to find things that were different from what they were in winter. Some things they found included: puddles, the sounds of geese flying overhead, the smell of spring thaw and the feel of the lamb wool. Afterwards, the kids picked one thing that made them think of spring that they found in the barnyard and recorded it in their journal.
Inspired by a project the Grade Four class did for us, we set out to collect sticks in the morning. Later in the day, we looked at photos of the letter building the Grade Four's did, and got right to designing! Make sure to check out their alphabet and word creations in the photos.
We had to take advantage of the fresh coat of snow Mother Nature gave us. We headed outside and had fun spray painting snow - an activity the kids had been asking to do for quite some time. Enjoy their snowy portraits!
The kids had fun partaking in our first "Board Game Friday." Playing board games is a great way to work on teamwork, turn-taking and strategy. They are looking forward to more board game Fridays in the future and hoping to have some of the older grades join us.
Searching, Splashing & St. Patty's Day: March 17 & 19
We went on a scavenger hunt around the barnyard, searching for golden eggs with clues to our next location. The kids had fun solving the clues and pointing out the rhymes they heard. Along the journey, we stopped to learn about each of our feathered friends' life cycles. Our hunt finished in the greenhouse, where the kids worked together in small teams to organize the life cycle of their given poultry bird. After, they had fun climbing the snow hill in the barnyard.
We read the story "Turkey Trouble" by Wendy Silvano, which was a great way to practice our story elements. Then we began our poultry portraits. While our original plan to take our clipboards outside and sit by the bird they wanted to draw had to be pivoted due to rain, we still had fun drawing and then decorating our poultry portraits. The kids put their knowledge from our past month of learning into practice, ensuring that their feathered friend of choice has all the body parts we have learned. After drawing, they got to decorate their duck, chicken or turkey using different materials.
St. Patrick's Day brought some themed activities - selfie station, gold counting, and a St. Patty's themed sensory table. We also completed a "lucky" writing prompt and had the Grade 8's visit us to read the stories that they created.
Logging Outside Hours: March 10, 12 & 13
It was nice enough to head outside and capture some animal tracks in our barnyard! The kids had so much fun with this, and were so engaged, that we ended up spending double the time I had planned for. They enjoyed getting to go inside the pens with all the animals, and were pretty awesome tracks spotters!
Snowshoeing was "snow" much fun! The kids enjoyed the trek on Miss Samantha's trails. The fresh snow made it harder to spot tracks, but the big falling flakes made it interesting in a different way. They also enjoyed the campfire.
We did our first writing workshop this week, and the kids rocked it! This past month, we have created sentences together as a class, ensuring we start with a capital, use finger spaces and finish with punctuation. During our read-aloud time, we have also focused on story elements such as character, setting, problem and solution. They put all these writing components together and wrote a simple sentence today. Inspired by the story "One Duck Stuck" by Phyllis Root, their task was to draw a detailed picture of one of our feathered barnyard friends in a sticky situation. Then, with the help of an adult, they sounded out their sentence to print.
As part of math, we compared different fruits based on attributes such as weight, length, height and size. After, we got to use the fruit to build patterns and then the best part, eating our patterns!
Some of the candid shots of the other things we were up to this week - visiting the heifers, cleaning up our playground, picking up garbage, playing in the mud kitchen, figuring out beginning sounds of objects they found in the classroom and a new classroom favourite playing "Shaker Math."
March Came in With Lambs: March 3 & 5
Welcome, Jaxson! We were so excited to get to meet the newest addition to the Humble Herd. Jaxson was so patient and allowed us to check out the bottom of his hoof to see what kind of a track it would make, which led us to our activity of matching footprints to the different animals in our barnyard. Stay tuned - it was a bit chilly on Tuesday, so we postponed getting the kids to take pictures of the animals feet and tracks until mitts are not needed.
We took advantage of the beautiful morning and headed outside to go skating. With (hopefully) more spring-like temperatures ahead of us, I figured it may be our last time to hit up the skating rink. The kids had fun in the sunshine, skating, building snow castles and creating snowman soup in the mud kitchen.
We are working on building our writing stamina! This week, we practiced our writing, doing a "Write the Room" activity with poultry-related words, as well as a journal entry about animal tracks. The kids drew one of the barnyard friends' footprints into their journal, identified which animal it belonged to and then copied a sentence. We have worked on what sentences need as a class, so they reminded me as I wrote it down for them to copy - capital to start, finger spaces and punctuation have been our focus so far.
The kids were so excited that we had lambs arrive this week! They had so many great questions that Miss Samantha and I got to answer for them. It was great to see their curiosity and be able to make connections to other learning we have been doing this year. We are looking forward to when it is our turn to help with bottle feeding during the day.
We ventured out to the chickens after visiting the lambs and gave them the sprouts that we grew this past week. We think the chickens enjoyed them because some left the comforts of the coop to check out what we brought! Growing sprouts has become a kindergarten project and the older kids are going to track to see if it has an impact on egg production.
Last Week of the Month: February 24, 26 & 27
It is a pretty exciting time in the barnyard right now as we are expecting our lambs to begin arriving! This week we went out twice to check what our ewes were up to and observe the changes happening to their bodies as they get closer to lambing. The kids had lots of questions for Miss Samantha! After, we went inside to make predictions about how many ram versus ewe lambs they think we will end up having this year and charted it on a graph to record our guesses.
As part of our poultry needs lesson, we have started sprouting greens as a classroom project. We will be using these greens as an enrichment to add to our chickens' diets. The kids picked four different varieties to sprout and are looking forward to seeing which ones the chickens enjoy the most. Miss Melissa brought in some greens for the kids to try - there were mixed reviews, but some really loved the taste. It has become a great classroom chore as the sprouts need to be rinsed twice a day.
We had a beautiful morning on Thursday, so we headed outside to learn about our next Humble Habit: Brave. We discussed what "brave" meant, and they shared their ideas about how they could be brave. Then, we read the story "A Little Chicken" by Tammi Sauer, and the kids shared moments in the story that related to being brave or not. One of our chickens wanted to show off being brave, and decided to walk along the top of the fence - the kids were pretty in awe when this happened.
Since the colder temperatures kept us inside last week, we headed outside to review our poultry body parts as well as to talk about the needs of all our feathered friends. The kids who wanted to had an opportunity to hold a chicken. After, we learned all about the different rations that our chickens and ducks eat.
Chef Jeff came to help us make Bannock on Tuesday, which was inspired by our reading of the story "Bannock in a Hammock" by Masiana Kelly. They got to work together to mush the ingredients together, which really had them tapping into their sense of touch. Reviews were mixed on the feeling of wet dough on their hands. After, they go to try the Bannock two ways: baked with cheese and plain with jam.
Brrr! A Week of Pivoting Plans: February 17 & 19
We started our next barnyard animal focus this week: feathered friends. With the cooler weather, we changed up our usual animal body parts learning and did some guided drawing. On Tuesday, we focused on turkeys, starting with reading the story "Turkeys" on Epic and followed by creating our turkey drawing while we reviewed the parts of a turkey we had talked about in the story. Thursday brought some more drawing; we drew both a chicken and a duck side by side. Then, in small groups, we labelled the parts of each respective bird. Doing two allowed the kids to compare similarities and differences, which was great!
We fully embraced what Mother Nature brought our way this week and celebrated by reading lots of snowy-themed stories during carpet time. A few highlights were: "Snowflakes on our Tongues" by Mike Ornstein, "So Much Snow" by Hyunmin Park and "The Snow Thief" by Alice Hemming. When the weather keeps you stuck inside all day, you have no choice but to get moving in creative ways - featured here are some syllable hoop counting. Students would say a word, we would say it out loud, and they would jump or step forward through the hoops for each syllable.
After reading the story "A Pine Cone's Secret" by Hannah Barnaby, we discussed the life cycle of a pine cone and what it needs to grow into a pine tree. This led us into a discussion about our needs as people. The kids shared some very intuitive ideas, even noting that "air (oxygen) is a need, as if we don't breathe, we can't live." The discussion naturally led us into talking about "needs" versus "wants" and the differences between the two. They documented their learning in a class collage of pictures that represented what neeeds and wants meant to them.
Sounds, Senses & Building Skills: February 10, 12 & 13
This week brought lots of exploration using our five senses. On Tuesday, we headed outside for an hour of adventuring in the barnyard and forest, using our senses to find different scents, sounds, sights and feels. We split off into smaller groups for a more personal experience. What a grand adventure it was - smells of sweet hay, sounds of chirping birds, feeling the cool ice and watching Walter strut his stuff, to name a few. For Valentine's, with the help of some wonderful moms, we went on another sensory adventure, this time doing all kinds of Valentine 's-inspired science experiments! We made mini Valentine's volcanoes, mixed up a concoction of materials to make our own slime, used our super sniffers to match scents, tapped into our taste buds with some heart treats and listened to some hidden objects to guess what sound we heard as we shook.
After reading the Epic story "Birds in Winter," we met outside after recess to create our own wild bird seed feeders. Using our generously donated pine cones, we got a bit messy filling our pine cones with peanut butter. Then, we put them into a bag with wild bird seed and shook it up to coat the pine cone with seed. It was a lovely morning to get hands-on outside in the barnyard! Check out the video of some of the kids shaking their creations!
We celebrated National Agriculture Day on Tuesday by reading the story "Thank a Farmer" by Maria Gianferrari and discussing what "agriculture" means.
The kids had great discussions about all the different aspects of agriculture that farmers are part of, making connections to how these aspects of agriculture impact their lives. From food to fibre, we have an awful lot to be thankful for!
It was a week full of skill development. We worked on two important executive functioning skills: attention and impulse control. The kids put what we learned through several different activities - practicing patience while waiting for our snacks to be handed out, using our whole body listening during show and share (and reviewing what a whole body listener involves), as well as working on our impulse control, playing some well-known games (with a cattle-themed twist)! They also had fun practicing their alphabet, and letter sounds - we played Kaboom and used our bodies to form letters.
Learning in the Barnyard: February 2
We started our outdoor time with reading The Life Cycle of a Cow on Epic. After recess, we met Miss Samantha outside and shared our learning from the story. Then, we worked together to identify the life stages, sound out the words and then copy them onto our worksheet. To finish, the kids reflected on our cattle learning from the past month and drew a picture.
The weather was beautiful, so we packed up early and headed outside to watch the heifers be handled. The kids were excited to watch them being walked around again and had more questions for Miss Samantha and the girls. They were wondering about what our next steps with Malibu and Rosie are. Stay tuned!
The kids were excited to head outside and finally capture some patterns out in the barnyard with our cameras. They were the best pattern detectives and spotted all sorts of natural and manmade patterns from the fur on Peaches, to the boards of the barn floor, to the net wrap on the round bale - to name a few!
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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