Abstract Art

Our Art lesson this afternoon was all about abstract art.  We viewed some paintings by Kandinsky and noticed many different kinds of shapes, lines and colours.  Then we made our own abstract art!  Students created a shape template, traced it onto their paper, used coloured markers, and paint to make some beautiful art.

Beautiful abstract art!

Our pictures displayed in the "gallery"

Work in progress

Painting was the best part!

Have a great weekend!  Look for the June calendar and notes about our trip to the city - coming home on Monday.

Visit to Luther Place

Yesrterday afternoon we went to visit the residents at Luther Place, a local retirement condo.  The people there are always very appreciative when students come to visit!  We sang a few songs and recited a couple of poems.  (Ask your child to perform them for you at home!) 
Here are a few pictures:

Students are reciting the poem "Seeds"

Planting Flowers

The boys and girls enjoyed planting their flowers this morning, despite the wind and mosquitoes!

Students patiently waited their turn to plant flowers!

Each student planted the flowers they chose yesterday at the greenhouse.

We hope the weatherman is right - rain is forecast for the next few days to help our flowers grow!

Finding big, juicy earthworms added to the excitement.

Flower Time!

This morning we walked to the local greenhouse and bought flowers with the money we had from our recycling venture.  Each student chose their own flowers (a 4 or 6-pack). Our plans our to plant them tomorrow morning.  If you have a hand trowel or gardening claw, please send them along to school tomorrow morning.  Thanks.

It's hard to choose when there are so many beautiful flowers!

Bike Safe, Bike Cool and Follow These Rules!

This morning we made a video to conclude our unit on bike safety.  Each student had the opportunity to tell something they learned about how to be safe when riding on their bikes.  Enjoy the video!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3yapOXG0Uk

(I tried to insert the video directly into the blog, but was unable to do so due to technical difficulties!  Click on the link to watch the video.)

Bike Safety

Spring is a great time to review bike safety rules!  Today, Constable Chabot came and talked to the grade one students about bike safety.  He stressed the importance of wearing a helmet at all times, making sure your bike fits, and following the rules of the road.  Students had lots of good questions (and stories) to share!

The Constable showed the students how to make sure their bike helmets fit properly.

Constructors and Builders!

Students brought a wide variety of materials to build their objects today!  They were very excited to construct things made out of recycled materials.  Here are some pictures of the works in progress as well as the final projects.  Students told the class about what they had built:  what their object was called, what kinds of materials were used, how it was constructed and how it could be used.

Students worked independently to build objects using the materials they brought to school.

They used egg cartons, empty pop bottles, styrofoam trays, toilet paper holders...

...paper, cardboard...

...tin foil, straws, cans and plastic containers.

A bird house.

Medical Surgery Kit



Cat House

A house - see the intricate door with string hinge!

A robot

iPad

Bird feeder

Boat

Laptop computer

iPod



Fighter Jet



Telephone

Making Ten

This past week we have been working on the Addition strategy called "Making Ten".  We learned and tried to memorize all the different ways we can make 10.(There are 11 different ways!  See if your child can tell you what they are.)
Since it was Friday, we used our Math period to practice this strategy by playing games!  Here are some pictures of the students playing different "Making Ten" games.

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

These two happy girls are looking for combinations of numbers on a grid to make ten.

Rocket Making Ten

Finding ice cream scoops to make ten.

Matching doubles with "thinking doubles" (number equations that differ by 2: 4 + 6 is the same as 5 + 5.)

Using flashcards to practice the missing number to make ten.

Water Absorption Test

In Science, we have been learning about different objects and the kinds of materials that they are made from.  Today we tested four different types of cloth (cotton, rayon, linen and nylon) to see how absorbent they are.  We put a square of cloth over a clear, plastic glass and secured it with an elastic.  Then students worked with a partner to count how many drops of water it would take until the water went through the cloth and fell into the cup.  The nylon fabric repelled the most water!  Some pairs of students counted over 100 drops and it still wasn't soaking through. It kept making a bigger "puddle" on top until it slid off! We thought that this would be a good kind of material to make raincoats
from!

Careful counting!

 

Notice the large beads of water on the nylon fabric.  It repelled the water!

Recycling Frenzy!

I'm afraid our attempt to count how many cans and bottles that students have brought to school was not very successful!  We began by taking all the containers outside.  My plan was to have students count the recyclables into groups of 20, but it was a very windy day!  Bottles and bags were rolling and flying around and some students spent more time chasing than counting!  We finally just put everything back into bags and decided to let the people at the recycling depot count them all in the morning.  Check back tomorrow for an update on our expedition to SARCAN.

Here are the students with all the bags of containers before we dumped them out to count!