Jan 31 - Student Hoop Dancing Performance

Today we finally got to show off all of our hard work and preparation with hoop dancing. Family and friends joined us in the gym as every class got to present their routine.

In the end, Teddy gave us a special performance....

he danced with 30 hoops!

it was very impressive 

and the best part was the message: embrace mistakes and never give up! 

We are very excited to bring our hoops home today!

Reminders:
1. No school tomorrow
2. Karthik is special helper for next Monday (Feb. 4, 2019) - please prepare to share about you special talent.
3. Report Cards are coming home today - please return signed envelopes to school.

Jan 30

Today we practiced our routine for our performance tomorrow (Thursday).

Here we are facing the imaginary audience and starting our routine.  

We are getting better at the different moves but we know it is okay to make mistakes.

Afterwards Teddy read us "The Medicine Wheel: Stories of a Hoop Dancer (by Teddy Anderson)".

Everyone in this world is important.

During the afternoon, we worked on our poetry books and then worked on our numerical patterns. We went outside for gym and played rounds of Fruit Basket. 

Reminders:

Liam is special helper for tomorrow - please prepare to share about your special talent.

Tomorrow is our final presentation for hoop dancing (1:30pm) - family are welcome to come and watch!

Han 29 - learning about our hoop dancing routine

Today was our first day learning how to hoop dance with the hoops we made yesterday.

Teddy started the lesson by explaining the meaning of the four markers on the hoops. The number four is represented in our world through many things such as the four seasons, the four people, the four sacred colors, and the four cardinal directions. These hoops are symbolic and we have to show our respect for them by being careful with them and not stretching or breaking them on purpose.

We started by learning how to go through the hoops - forwards. 

Then, we learned how to go through the hoops - backwards.

We also learned how to throw the hoop over our heads and then climb through them as they fell.

Finally, learned how to catch the hoop between our legs and dance around with them.

We ended the morning session with some free-style dance with the hoops!

Then, in the afternoon all three grade 1/2 classrooms came together in the gym to learn and practice the hoop dancing routine that we will be performing on Thursday.

We learned how to make wings with the hoops...

... and a diaper (which we won't be doing for the performance haha)...

It was a lot of fun but also very tricky at times. Teddy reinforced the importance of never giving up. He taught us a very important lesson: making mistakes is good and it helps us to learn and grow. If we make a mistake, we should "take a break and try again"! This lesson can be applied to all areas of our life and in learning.

In the classroom, the grade 1s worked on "-ap" family words and put them into sentences at the carpet, while grade 2s created their "-ing" endings table. The grade 2s also had book time to read independently and record any -ing words in their journals.

Later, we worked away at our poetry book covers and then learned how to assemble pages with the paintings.


Reminder for tomorrow:
Aksel is special helper - please prepare to present about your special talent.

Jan 28 Meeting Teddy Anderson

Today we met Teddy Anderson and watched his hoop dancing performance.

He played us the double flute

He showed us a shape, using the hoops, that represented the earth. 

He taught us that no matter who you are or where you come from, everyone belongs to the earth. 

He showed us the eagle (... we think)

He showed us a flower

He showed us the "ballerina"

He was dancing along to the music

He showed us the butterfly

He showed us the caterpillar (...we think)

He showed a horse

The students in grades 3, 4, 5 and 6 were invited to the stage to try out hoop dancing.

Here they are following Teddy as he shows them how to dance.

Then, we got to make three hoops that we will be using to practice hoop dancing with, and we will be able to take them home at the end of the week!

The first step was to measure the rubber tube to our height. Then cut it.

Afterwards, we had to wash each of our hoop tubes.

After we connected our hoops together, we chose a tape color to wrap around our hoops!

Tomorrow, we will learn how to hoop dance with them!

Reminder:

Eli is special helper for tomorrow - please prepare to present about your special talent.

Jan. 25 - Temperature!

Today we read with our big buddies and then they showed us videos and about outer space. Some of us got to create start constellations, such as Orion and the Big Dipper with them. 

Then, to start off our new unit in science, we learned about temperature and thermometers. We learned that freezing temperature is 0 degrees Celsius and boiling temperature is 100 degrees Celsius.  We learned how to record the temperature using a thermometer and then investigated different temperatures in our environment.  

We started with indoor temperatures: 

We got into groups of two or three, 

and went on the "Temperature Hunt"!

To get an actuate temperature reading, we made sure to count to at least 120 before recording the temperature on the thermometer.

 

....we measured a cup of warm water...

...we measured the temperature of the mudroom near the recess doors...

...we measured the temperature of the mudroom near the front doors...

Then we went outdoors to record different temperatures:

..we measured the temperature in the middle of the Whispering Woods...

..we measured the temperature at the bottom of the Whispering Woods...

..we measured the temperature in front of the grade 6 doors...

..we measured the temperature in the snow on the nature grounds...

Afterwards we got together to compare all of our data. Here is what we found:

We realized there were inconsistencies in our results. 

We decided that some of the recorded temperatures were outliers so we marked them in red. We think this may be due to errors in reading the thermometer or errors in the process of recording the temperature. 

We came up with possible reasons for errors in "Indoor" data:

(1) holding the thermometer at the bulb where the red fluid is housed

(2) not waiting long enough for thermometer to read the temperature 

(3) removing the temperature from the station (i.e. warm water or armpit) and allowing too much time to pass before getting the temperature reading off of the thermometer

But what about the outdoor data? Ask us about possible reasons why the "Outdoor" data had such varying temperatures recorded... Next week, we will share the ideas we came up with from home. 

-------

Reminders:
1. Special helper for next Monday (Jan 25) is: Leander. Please prepare to present about your special talent.
2. Next week we will have a special guest, Teddy Anderson, lead us through Hoop Dancing.
Family is welcome to watch the first day performance on Monday morning (Jan. 28, 2019: 9:00am - 9:45am) as well as the student performance on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 31, 2019: 1:30pm).
3. It would be great to have some parent volunteers (who have received their police clearance) come to help us during Hoop Dancing preparation for the following dates at times:

• Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 (Hoop Making): 11:00am -11:30am
• Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 (Hoop Dancing): 9:30am -10:00am   AND   2:00pm - 2:30pm
• Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019: 11:15am - 11:45 am

Wednesday, Jan. 23

Today we started on our prairie poem covers. We have to make sure our covers include the following:

• a painting of the land
• a title in bubble letters and filled with color
• a patterned border with at least three elements that represent the prairie 
• author' name

Most of us got started on the land painting and we will continue with creating the covers tomorrow.

For word work, the grade 2's were introduced to the "-ing" ending and went on an "-ing hunt" while they were reading. The grade 1's finished with their "-an" word family. Here is a list of the "-an" words we have been working with (students are encouraged to continue practicing "-an" words at home):

The grade 1's then moved on to learning about the "-ap" word family.  

Then in gym we had our first go at playing some basketball games.
We had two rules to follow: (1) must only take the ball when it is out of someone's hand - cannot touch any other player, and (2) must dribble the ball while moving across the court - cannot run with the ball held in your hands.


Reminders:
1. Special helper for tomorrow (Jan 24) is: Josie. Please prepare to present about your special talent.
2. Ms. Brunsch will be our guest teacher for tomorrow as Mrs. Yoon will be away.
3. Next week we will have a special guest, Teddy Anderson, lead us through Hoop Dancing.
Family is welcome to watch the first day performance on Monday morning (Jan. 28, 2019: 9:00am - 9:45am) as well as the student performance on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 31, 2019: 1:30pm).
4. It would be great to have some parent volunteers (who have received their police clearance) come to help us during Hoop Dancing preparation for the following dates at times:

• Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 (Hoop Making): 11:00am -11:30am
• Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 (Hoop Dancing): 9:30am -10:00am   AND   2:00pm - 2:30pm
• Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019: 11:15am - 11:45 am

Jan 22 - Last Day of Lacrosse

Today was our last day of Lacrosse with coach Bobby. It was so much fun!

We started with some stick and ball handling practice:

We learned how to toss the ball in the air and catch it in our sticks.

We learned how to toss the ball then make a circle with our sticks before catching it.

Then, we did various relay races in teams.

We had to run around all the teams....

...then get back to our spots and hand off the stick and ball to the next player.

We tried this again but in the opposite direction!

Then we learned how to aim the ball into a net. We got into teams and tried to get as many balls in the net as we could!

Coach Bobby enjoyed teaching us so much that he gave us a gift!
Each of us received two tickets a Roughnecks game as well as an autographed picture!

_____

Next week we will have a special guest, Teddy Anderson, lead us through Hoop Dancing.
Family is welcome to watch the first day performance on Monday morning (Jan. 28, 2019: 9:00am - 9:45am) as well as the student performance on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 31, 2019: 1:30pm).

 It would be great to have some parent volunteers (who have received their police clearance) come to help us during Hoop Dancing preparation for the following dates at times:

• Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 (Hoop Making): 11:00am -11:30am
• Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 (Hoop Dancing): 9:30am -10:00am   AND   2:00pm - 2:30pm
• Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019: 11:15am - 11:45 am

_____

Reminders:
- Special helper for tomorrow (Jan 23) is: Aadhya. Please bring your favorite stuffy, action figure or toy.