Orange Shirt Day

We wear orange shirts to remember the girl that could not wear her bright clothes to residential school. – Maggie

We read a story about residential school. You could only wear dark clothes that looked the same. No bright colours. It was a sad school. – Lily

The children couldn’t have long hair. – Ruth

I would be sad if I was away from my family. – Sage

It was so sad for the kids that went to residential school. They lived far away from their family. – Alexa

They didn’t get to play trains at residential school. – Dmitrii

I am happy to go to Earl Grey and not residential school. – Talon

I like Kindergarten. I get dressed in anything I want. – Jaxson

Residential schools are closed. You had to speak the wrong words and couldn’t speak your own words. – Saya

Once upon a Tuesday there were three classrooms that boarded a bus headed to Kelburn Farm.  On the bus some of the windows were open and it was cold.  Our driver kept stopping and turning and was a bit lost. Thankfully he found his and way and delivered us to the farm. The three classrooms were off to begin a day of learning.

One of the first stations that Room 27 visited was the Weather Game!  The game taught how weather can affect crops. Some of the things we learned from this game were that crops need rain and sun but not too much of each.  Too little rain can cause drought conditions and crops can die.  Too much rain can cause plants to rot and not grow properly.  A farmer’s successful crop is dependent on weather.

A few stations later it was time to be a farmer!  In the game students who acted as the farmer borrowed money from the bank to buy seed, fertilizer, fuel, herbicides and insurance,  Did you know farmers buy insurance for their crops?   After harvest the farmer sells the crops and pays the bank back.  The money left over is how the farmer pays for his home and family.  Farming is an expensive business!

Lunch was fun!  There was a cookie auction.  The students made money as they worked through the stations by asking questions, giving ideas and participating in any way.  The money was used to purchase cookies for the class.  A real auctioneer took the bids.  Room 27 had over two thousand dollars to spend and got the first box of cookies.  They were chocolate chip and they were delicious.

After lunch the three classes boarded the bus again and headed to the University of Manitoba Research Farm.  The first thing Room 27 noticed was the smell.  What a nice smell of poop!  The classes learned about all kinds of livestock such a chickens, pigs and cows.  Room 27 enjoyed the dairy cows and learned that a machine milks them.  The cows have a computer chip on a collar.  When the cow goes to be milked (and get a treat) the chip only allows that cow to be milked if she should be.  The classes were surprised that farming is so high tech!

Our day came to end and the three classes returned to school by bus.  It was a great day of learning and fun.

Shared writing by Room 27

This month, Room 13 has been learning about the rules of the classroom.  We are beginning to explore different activities at centre time, such as puzzles, play-doh, counting and printing.  We have also begun to learn about letters and their sounds.  So far we have learned the letters B and M. Our favourite thing to do is have Show and Tell on Fridays!

The explorations in Room 21 this month have been getting to know each other. Our big idea has been where do our families come from? How are we different? How are we the same?

Aprendimos la palabra: identidad, identity. We have discovered that our families come from Chile, Peru, Honduras, Philippines, El Salvador, Ukraine, Scotland, and many other places in the world. We hope to have our board finished soon. Here are some pictures of our learning and shared writing. Happy fall everyone!

This month we learned about rights and responsibilities in our classroom and the world.

We discovered new planets and picked which rights our new planets will have.   We went on a structure hunt around the school to find strong and stable structures.  We discussed what materials are used for different structures and why.  Then we got to build our own!

September story

We have choice time in kindergarten and one of our favourite centres is our writing centre.

Most days you can find this centre busy with with friends in my class drawing, writing, stamping and drawing using stencils.

We enjoy using our creativity to discover the world around us.

This September, the music room has been abuzz with beautiful voices, fast-paced hand-jives, and pounding drums!

The Kindergarten to Grade Three students have been enjoying game based learning for the purpose of exploring rhythm and melody! Some of the songs we’ve learned this month have been “Up the Ladder Down the Ladder,” “Cuckoo,” and “Sandwiches.”

The older students enthusiastically learned The Game of Seven: a challenging hand-jive that pushes their coordination and rhythm skills! Following this, we began learning to play the Tubano and Djembe drums. These thunderous drums are more than just great fun. While drumming, each student is developing important life skills such as discipline, respect, and unity.

In October, Mrs. Alvarez will start a Grade 6-8 Advanced choir club for any interested students. This club will meet at lunch hour on Wednesdays. There will be other exciting clubs beginning throughout the year!

Our September Song of the Month was “We’re Gonna Be Friends” by the White Stripes.

Fall is here, hear the yell

Back to school, ring the bell

Brand new shoes, walking blues

Climb the fence, books and pens

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Walk with me, Suzy Lee

Through the park and by the tree

We will rest upon the ground

And look at all the bugs we found

Safely walk to school without a sound

Safely walk to school without a sound

Here we are, no one else

We walked to school all by ourselves

There’s dirt on our uniforms

From chasing all the ants and worms

We clean up and now it’s time to learn

We clean up and now it’s time to learn

Numbers, letters, learn to spell

Nouns, and books, and show and tell

Playtime we will throw the ball

Back to class, through the hall

Teacher marks our height against the wall

Teacher marks our height against the wall

We don’t notice any time pass

We don’t notice anything

We sit side by side in every class

Teacher thinks that I sound funny

But she likes the way you sing

Tonight I’ll dream while I’m in bed

When silly thoughts go through my head

About the bugs and alphabet

And when I wake tomorrow I’ll bet

That you and I will walk together again

I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Yes I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

Room 28’s September Story

At the beginning of September, we started off by getting to know each other. We took a survey to learn about our learning styles, we realized that we are very musical and intrapersonal. We finished the week by baking zucchini muffins and cake, MMMM!

Our second week we had to do our writing assessments, one of the topics was to write about being a teacher for a day. We’ve been doing community circle every morning to share our ideas and about us.

On September 18th we went to Agriculture in The Classroom and Kelburn Farm. We saw some animals like pigs, chickens, cows and bees. We saw a chicken lay an egg outside of the nesting area. The farmer said that rarely happens! The baby pigs were only a day old and they were super cute! We learned that the farmer only names the dairy cows if they’re special. We looked through the glass and had to spot the queen bee. She had a pink spot of her back.

Through the day we earned fake money that we could use at the cookie auction at lunch. Absar and CJ had to bid on boxes of cookies during the auction. We got a good deal and only spent 250 fake dollars while the other teams spent around 1000 dollars! It was a great field trip!

We are also starting to learn about the human body in science. A lot of us are interested in the heart and the circulatory system, and we’ll be ready to share our learning next month.

We’re off to a great start in Room 28!

It was our first day of school and we were happy and a little nervous. The first book Mrs. Orchard read to us was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In the book, Chrysanthemum the little mouse was made fun of because her name was so much longer than her classmates. We made flowers and counted how many letters are in our own names. In math, class we counted all the letter in everyone’s name and presented on a bar graph. How many letters do you have in your name?

Love,

Room 23

The Dot

Room 22 read the book “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds.  The story is about a girl named Vashti who thinks she can’t draw.  Her teacher asks her to make a mark and see where it takes her.  Vashti practices making dots of all kinds.  She shows them at an art show.  At the art show Vashti inspired a little boy to draw.  We think that you should read “The Dot” too because it will inspire you and your family to try something new!

Shared writing by Room 22