January 4th to January 8th

We had a fantastic first week back following the winter break.  We began the week by creating recipes for our winter break in our visual journals.  It was interesting to hear what was important to the different students.  Some looked for an action-packed adrenaline filled holiday while others enjoyed lazy and cozy activities.

We read the book, "Snowflake Bentley" which focused on the true story of Wilson Bentley, a farmer living in Vermont in the late 1800's.  He had a love of snow and spent his life working on capturing snowflakes through photography.  Through his work, we learned that no two snowflakes are alike.  Inspired by the story, we combined measurement in math with art and created beautiful snowflakes, measuring each line we added to our snowflake.

The students were excited to finally have the opportunity to share their research on the provinces and territories.

In Science, we began a new unit, "LIght and Shadows".  We discussed different sources of  light and distinguished objects that emit their own light from those that require another source of light to be seen.  We looked at transparent, translucent and opaque materials and that opaque objects create shadows.  We had a fantastic time playing shadow charades with an overhead, trifolds and large pieces of white paper.  I felt incredibly old when I learned that most students had never heard of and overhead projector!

We then experimented with a variety of shadow puppets to different pieces of music.  The students had only a short time to collaborate for there shows, but their creations were fantastic!

We had a great deal of fun in Phys Ed this week.  The first day of Zumba was wonderful.  Another hit was the new game, "Scrabble Sramble".  Be sure to have your child share how we combined spelling with physical activity.  Spelling had never been such great exercise!