Lets Make Rabbits!

  Leo Lionni is one of my favourite children's authors.

 

Lets Make Rabbits is the story of a pencil and some scissors who make some rabbits -- each in their own style.

We explored the scissors way of making rabbits. We used wallpaper and traced and cut out some rabbit body parts (or cut free hand!), then glued them on to a background. We had a choice of cutting out eyes and a tail or adding googly eyes and pom poms. Then we freehand cut out a carrot, and added some background details with markers. They turned out so well!

(Click on the photos to enlarge them)

Liquids and Solids

These are the "Big Ideas" that we have been exploring when learning about the properties of liquids and solids:

•  Materials that exist as liquids and solids have specific properties

•  Liquids and solids interact in different ways.  

We had many "hands on " learning experiences to investigate the properties of liquids and solids. These are just some of the ways that we investigated liquids and solids:
 
We had a race with a variety of different liquids. We found that thinner liquids moved faster.

We melted some solids and turned them into liquids, and then back into solids again!
(We used a hot air tool to melt crayons)

 

We tried to melt ice using different methods. 

After we melted ice, we discussed why it might be important to know how to melt ice (to keep our roads and sidewalks safe!) 

We learned about buoyancy, and experimented with plasticine to see if we could make it float. Then we tired to put pennies in our "boats" to see how many pennies our boats would hold. (I only got a photo of one boat holding quarters -- I think that someone brought their own quarters out!)

 We will learning more about how some liquids and solids can be harmful to us and the environment in April as we focus more in depth on the environment:

Albanian Celebration of Spring

As you know, one of our students moved here from Albania at the end of last summer. This week, he introduced the tradition of the Celebration of March to us. 

Here is an explanation of the celebration in the words of a student:

 

This is M's bracelet that he wore from home. 

We made ours from heavier yarn. Some students braided, some twisted,, some tied knots and some did even fancier designs! 

We wear the bracelets for good luck!

This is what the trees look like when the bracelets are hung on them. Traditionally they are hung on March 14. March 14 is during our March Break so we will hang them out for the birds on March 11. We hope to see some spring nests in our neighbourhood with red and white yarn! 

(Photo source, Wikipedia)