Signs of Spring

Spring has officially begun and the weather is warming up. 

For me, the first sign of Spring has always been seeing the first robin looking for worms in the grass. I’ve seen lots of robins this week, so I guess that it is spring! 

Below is a signs of spring bingo. Perhaps you could look out your window or look for them in your yard. How many can you find? 

Can you draw or paint a picture of something that you saw?  

Then write: I saw a _____

Snacks!

Are your kids wanting to eat all day while they are home?  This was Jen, from the JEN Life’s solution! Each child has their own colored basket. In the morning she put their snacks in it for the day, when those snacks are gone they don’t get any more. It makes them stop and think, “Do I really need a snack?”  She also puts their cup for the day in there — or their water bottle! (Jen also points out that these are the snacks - not the meals!)

(Shared with permission from Jen - see The JEN’s life on Facebook for more ideas)

Gumball!

I took Gumball home for the break! She is doing well, with her plants — in a bucket that she is used to. 

Can you spot her?

I gave her some food to help bring her to the waters surface. 


Can you draw a picture of Gumball? 

How many letters are in her name? Can you put them in a five frame?  (Parents might need to help draw the five frame — or — I have emailed out PDFs of the 5 and 10 frames we use in class). If a five frame gets full, the letters can be added by themselves outside of the frame to the right. Then ask “how many extra letters are there, that don’t fit in the five frame? 5+ (extra) = (total) 

Can you put the letters in a ten frame? Make sure you put the letters in from left to right, and sweep back to the left to start the new row. Just like when you are reading. 

More about germs!

We learned a little more about germs before the break! 

 

Do Not Lick this Book was a really fun book! We took a journey with a little Microbe named Min. We picked her up from the page of the book. Here is Min in a really really close up photo of her on a piece of paper: 


Then we picked her back up and took a trip to our tooth:


Then we picked up Min and a friend from our tooth and put them on a tshirt:


They they took a trip to our belly buttons! 


We learned that there are tiny microbes on our bodies all the time and they don’t all make us sick. But some do, so we have to wash our hands, brush our teeth and wash our clothes - because the microbes can be stinky :) 

Robots

We’ve been interested in robots lately!

First we brainstormed about what we (think we) know about robots.

Then we read lots of books about robots - some fiction, and some non-fiction.

We created robots using some 3 D shapes (mostly rectangular prisms and cylinders). Ms. Brown put the hot glue where we needed some strong “joins” . We added details ourselves with some tape and white glue. These are ongoing creations! 

Next we will do some basic “coding”. We will start by giving exact instructions to people to get from one point in the classroom to another point. Ms. Brown might be brave enough to wear a blindfold :) .  Check back for a video! 

Germs

Keeping ourselves healthy is always important. 

We read Bear Feels Sick.  Bear came down with a cold, and all of his friends were very kind and helpful towards him. Then at the end, when Bear got better, all of his friends became sick, and Bear helped them. 

Why did Bear’s friends get sick? 

We discussed germs - and how if one person has “sick germs” , they can pass it on to someone else. We then talked about how we can prevent catching someone else’s sick germs, or prevent giving your sick germs to someone else. 

We have discussed and practiced hand washing (while counting to 30, singing the alphabet song or Happy Birthday). We wash our hands (WITH SOAP) when we come into the classroom, before we eat anything, after we have sneezed or coughed or have blown our noses.  I’ve capitalized the “with soap” because one day, every single child told me that they had used soap, but I had realized that the caretaker had put the soap on a high shelf (that no one could reach), and no one had asked me to help take the soap dispenser down :) 

We have talked about keeping our hands away from our faces, (and not chewing on our clothes!). If we feel that we really have to pick our nose, please use a tissue and do it in the washroom :)

We have practiced coughing or sneezing into our sleeve (elbow) or into a tissue. 

We try to always respect other people’s space and bodies by not touching them without permission. (We are thinking of temporarily replacing celebratory high fives with an elbow  touch, which requires even more hand (elbow) / eye coordination) 

As teachers, we are washing our tables, and doorknobs frequently. We wash our toys and pencils and markers as often as we can. 

We will read some more books about staying healthy during the upcoming week!

If you have any questions, please ask - in person or email Ms. Brown . 

Unselfie

Another excellent book for parents (and teachers) to read. 

At school we have been teaching and nurturing empathy. We have been focused on the golden rule (treat others as you wish o be treated). We are currently working on helping others and practicing kindness. Every day. 

*** it has come to my attention that many blog posts have not gone live! I am working on the problem....