Remembrance Day - Peace is in Our Hands

 We read many books about peace, and also talked about why we wear poppies. We focused on remembering people who we miss because we don't see them anymore, but we also talked about peace, and how the world would be a better place if there was no more fighting.

Our discussion went something like this (Many different students added to the conversation):

Student: "But why do people fight?"

Ms. Brown: "It usually starts with an argument, because someone wants what someone else has, and it is often about land or space.... For example... What if Ms Melino's class (from the physically smaller classroom across the hallway) decided that they wanted our classroom.  How would you all feel if they banged on our door and said "Get out of here! We need your classroom! We are coming in!"

The whole class -- speaking all at once, very excited, incensed! - "We wouldn't like it! We would hold the door and not let them in!" (One student "I would cry").

Ms. Brown "So, What should WE do? "

 Student -- "We should ask them why they want our classroom." (WOW)

Ms. Brown - "They say that they need our classroom because theirs is too small and crowded and they don't fit in it anymore. And also, they are tired of their toys and they want to see if we have better ones"

Student -- "We could share our toys!" 

Student -- "We could trade our toys" (lots of nods for this one)

Student -- "Some of the kids over there could come to be in our classroom because we have a big one"

Student -- "Those kids over there should start following the Golden Rule" 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all followed the Golden Rule? (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) ( Treat other people the way you wish to be treated)

Ms. Emerson and I are so proud of this class! They are wonderful problem solvers! They will bring peace to the world.

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 We read many books about Halloween - Fiction and NonFiction. Ask your child which one was their favourite!

We learned the chant "Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate" - and also learned that some of our friends knew it - with a little bit different words, but that's okay!

We drew some faces on our pumpkins and had them sit on a branch (gate) and then put the numbers 1-5 on top - in order (or the best that we could do)

We mixed some yellow and red paint, and then painted a pumpkin shape on paper. 

 

The next day we each cut out our pumpkin shapes (We teachers drew some outlines for the students who wanted it). We added some details to make our pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns! - eyes and a mouth -- with teeth! If anyone wanted help, Ms. Emerson or Ms. Brown drew circles on the white paper for the children to cut out. Almost everyone did the eye cutting themselves! The black pupils of the eyes were punched out of black paper. The mouths were harder to cut out, so the teachers helped with some cutting. The teeth were snipped out of strips of scrap paper - the children did all of the teeth cutting. Then we glued. Dots not Lots! (or Raindrops not Puddles!). We try to set the children up for a challenge - but not so hard that they get frustrated and give up.

We have created a slideshow of our pumpkins on our Google Classroom. They look fantastic when they are all together! 

On Friday. everyone had awesome costumes on! We are going to make a book (an actual printed book) for our classroom next week.