On the Hunt!

To celebrate all the great learning over the past two weeks, we decided to decorate our own gingerbread men.  But when we returned from lunch, ready to decorate, we discovered our gingerbread cookies were missing!  A quick search of our classroom...

...and all we found was a paper gingerbread man with a clue on it.

The students worked together to read the clue...

The first clue led us up the library...

Throughout our hunt, the students displayed great teamwork, working together to read and solve each clue.

Our hunt led us all over the school.  Our next stop was...

 ...the office!  Miss Chase was kind enough to let us look around.

We found another clue on Mr. Callow's door.  

Next, we were off to the lunchroom.  This was the toughest clue of all to find...

But we found it!!

Miss Chris helped us along the way as well!

After a great adventure, the clues led us back to Room 104 - our home, sweet home!

And there they were...waiting for us!

We set to work decorating our gingerbread men, women, cats and dogs...

Here are some of the finished products...

And just like in the story -- the Gingerbread Man was eaten up -- Snip, Snap!

Gingerbread Retell

The students were so enthusiastic about reading The Gingerbread Man last week, we continued investigating various versions this week.  Another activity the students enjoyed was retelling the story.  Once again, we used a story telling kit, but this time the students decided to work in groups.  Each group met together and planned their retell.  Once all the planning and practicing was done, each group presented their retell to the class.


It was great to see the collaboration and team work displayed.  We enjoyed hearing all the different retells of the The Gingerbread Man.  Some of the students are really beginning to task risks during our drama and oral language activities.  They are beginning to use much more expression, and many even changed the sound of their voice to speak in role as their chosen character.  It was exciting to watch!

Graph It!

Our newest unit in Math is a hit!!  We have been learning about graphing and how to display data.  Today, the students were presented with a pile of classroom supplies.

After trying to make observations from the confusing pile, one student observed:

"Maybe it will be easier if we sort it!"

Some volunteers made short work of that confusing jumble...

Next, the students decided to make a graph of the school supplies.  We used our graphing mat.  Again some eager volunteers got to work...

Everyone was so eager to help, we ended up sorting and graphing many different groups of school supplies.

After each graph was completed, the students discussed what they saw and interpreted the information on the graph.  Here are some ideas they shared:

• "There are more pencils than glue sticks."
• "There are more markers than anything else!"
• "The glue sticks have the smallest number."
• "We have more scissors than pencils."
• "The makers win!  Look how high they go!"
• "There are two more pencils than glue sticks."

The students wanted to do even more graphing.  We changed gears, and decided to gather information from each other to complete two different graphs.  First, the students surveyed each other and recorded if their friends had less than 5 letters, 5 letters or more than 5 letters in their name.  Next, they chose three colours and surveyed their classmates to see which of the three colours was liked the most, and the least.


It was so exciting to see and hear the students so excited about Math!  The room was abuzz!  Take a peek at mathematical investigation in process...

Before, during and after the graphs were constructed, the students were engaged in meaningful, mathematical dialogue.  While working together and talking to each other, the students were clarifying their understanding, helping each other and connecting personally to the mathematical concept of graphing.

Ask your child to share some their results with you. Perhaps you could ask them to show you how to sort and create a graph of various household objects.  Encourage your child to record and discuss the results with you (we would love to see them too).  Happy graphing!

Gingerbread, Gingerbread

During Shared Reading this week, we have been focusing on a the classic story The Gingerbread Man.  The students have enjoyed revisiting this old favourite, and have been focusing on the characters in the story.

Our big book version is a retelling of The Gingerbread Man, written by Brenda Parkes and Judith Smith.

We also read another version of the same story, Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett (this book is available at the Windsor Public Library for you to check out with your child).

After working with both stories this week, the students compared the characters featured in both stories.  We used a Venn diagram to help us organize our information.  A Venn diagram is a set of circles (we used two) that overlap.  Each book was represented by a circle, and any characters that were found in both stories were placed in the overlapping part of the circles.

The students used yarn to make the Venn diagram, and then worked collaboratively to organize all the characters from both stories.

Here is our completed Venn diagram:

After we were done, we took the Venn diagram apart, and left it on the front shelf.  The students enjoyed the activity so much that several students chose to work together to reconstruct the Venn diagram again later in the day.  

Try this at home with your child.  You can use a Venn diagram to compare books, movies, or even each other.  Can you and your child create a Venn diagram?  If you get a chance to try it, please send it in to school so your child can share it with the class.

Be Cool

We have had a great first week back!  Once a week, our students take part in a character education program, that focuses on anti-bullying.  Mrs. Papak (our CYW) has introduced the students to a program called "Be Cool".  This program focuses on a cat named Chester who has to learn to deal with his emotions.  When confronted with a bully, Chester has to choose to "Be Cool" and be in control of his own feelings and actions.  Chester wears cool shades whenever he is being cool.


This week, the students made their own cool shades to help them remember all the great things Chester has taught them.  Through stories, videos, group discussions, and most importantly, role playing, the students are putting these behaviours into action.


Check out these cool cats...

Two students role play how to resolve a disagreement...

Success!

Ask your child about to share with you what it means to be:  hot, cold and COOL!