Our Winter Concert Songs

Puddle

O the trouble with this puddle is it's very hard to see
If it comes up to my ankle or it comes up to my knee.
If I decide to step in, the chances are I'll get
A welly full of water and my foot all wet!

Monster

The birds come to the bird table. Some make the feeders sway.
But now and then a monster comes and CHASES THEM AWAY.
I put our nuts and seeds and fruit and hope the birds will stay.
But still that monster comes along and CHASES THEM AWAY.
I only want to feed the birds but I can't get my way.
That monster called a squirrel comes and CHASES THEM AWAY!

Little flakes of Snow

O where do you come from
You little flakes of snow,
Falling, falling, softly falling
On the earth below?

On the trees and on the bushes
On the mountains afar,
Tell me snowflakes do you come from
Where the angels are?

finger knitting

Ash class has been busy learning how to fingerknit! They have been turning them into necklaces, bracelets and decorations for our Wish Tree. We are turning our Thankful tree into a Wish Tree this holiday season, and we will be sharing our ideas about our wishes for people in the world.

A new winter poem

Winter Weather
Let's put on our mittens
And button up our coats
Let's wrap scarves snugly
Around our throats.

Pull on our boots,
Fasten the straps
And tie on tightly
Our warm winter caps.

Then open the door......
And out we go
Into the soft and feathery snow.

Some new poems

Yellow
Yellow is a lemon
Yellow is a star
Yellow is the sun
in the sky so far

Winter
I like Winter
I like snow
I like icy winds that blow

Season's come
and season's go
But I like winter
I like snow!

Jack Frost
Where'd you get that little red nose
Jack Frost kissed it I suppose
Kissed it once, Kissed it twice
Little red nose as cold as ice

The North Wind Does Blow
The north wind does blow
And we shall have snow
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
He'll hide in the barn
And keep himself warm
And tuck his head under his wing
Poor thing!

Stay tuned for more winter rhymes!

Numbers

Ash class does a lot of fun math activities and games, and recently we have been trying to match our numbers with the number of dots on another page. We will continue to do this in small groups, and make our own number/dot games to bring home. We have also been playing a variety of games with dominoes, which is another great game to play at home. It helps the children with a variety of number concepts, such as learning to recognize the number of dots without counting, learning about the stable order of numbers, more or less, composing numbers. As well, we have been using the hundreds carpet, which the children are enjoying. It is a big carpet with 100 squares, and they are playing games to find where the numbers are and they are learning to see the relationship between numbers. Samantha, our student, has done a great job at guiding the students at this centre!

Popcorn Words

Some of you have been asking about our popcorn words. Popcorn words are words that "pop out" at you everywhere! They are small words that you will find often in written text. Here are a list of the ones we have done so far:

to, the, and, no, yes, can, see, we, will, do, did, like, love, you, is

When you are reading to your child, you can ask them if they see any popcorn words in the story. It is always nice to strike a balance, so no need to do it every time you are reading. If they are showing interest, then go with it!

November

November has been a very busy time in Ash class, with so many inquisitive minds and lots of play and learning! After we carved our pumpkin on Halloween, we kept it in our classroom. After a few days, it started to change. One day, Nina said, "Ms. Smith, look what's happened to our pumpkin!" And the rest is history....Our inquiry started about our decomposing pumpkin. The children came up with so many interesting observations, predictions, and conclusions. They noticed the "colourful" parts, like red and black dots, and how slowly the face was falling apart! We wrote down everyone's remarks, and posted them, along with photos and their pictures of our decomposing pumpkin on our bulletin board.

November also brought with it an inquiry about ants. When playing outside, some children were interested in looking for ants, and building a home for them out of leaves and sticks. And hence, our ant inquiry began, guided by our student Samantha. There were about  students who were interested in learning more about ants, their habits and home. Through inquiry, they created and conducted an experiment, gathered ants, tried to create their own ant city, drew their thoughts and observations, and made their own ant homes out of clay and other materials. At the end of their inquiry, the group of children shared their observations and findings with the rest of the class!

Ash class also discussed what Peace meant to them. We talked about what peace might look, sound or feel like. The children shared their thoughtful responses with the class, such as Peace is.....being quiet, the sunset, sleeping, not fighting. If only, the whole world could take the advice of Ash class!

Ash class was lucky to go on a mini field trip to King Eddy, and watch the play The Nightingale. The set and costumes were well made and the children were very engaged. The following day, the children started drawing pictures and writing about their favourite part of the play.

Pink

Erato, our new poet, wrote a poem called Pink. She was inspired by the two other colour poems we have done so far - Red and Orange. Erato has inspired us to make our own poetry book of colours! We will start working on it and are excited to create a book for our class. Ask your child if they have any ideas for a colour poem. Feel free to jot their ideas down, even if it is not a finished poem - and send it in. It is not meant to be long - You can look at our Orange and Red poem as a reference - short and sweet! If there is anyone that would like to come in and help the children with their poems one morning, please let me know, and we can arrange a time!

Apple Harvest Feast Success!!

Thank you to all for a wonderful Apple Harvest Feast last Monday. It was a great success. The class was hustling and bustling with bakers and peelers and cutters and mashers and juicers!!! We enjoyed it all - I don't think we stopped for a moment. We all had so much fun and learned a lot! The children enjoyed the fresh apple juice and we have enjoyed apple sauce and crumble throughout the week. Autumn is such a wonderful time with all that we harvest! Thank you to all who were able to come in and volunteer your time. We could not have done it without you. We are following up with How to Make booklets, pictures, and graphs of all of our learning and our fun day! And Thank you to Bodhi for helping us learn our Apple Harvest Feast story. She did a great job retelling the story on her own, before our Apple day. Oral storytelling is a great way to spend a few moments with your child, and helps them learn to remember a story and tell it in sequence.

playdough

Thank you Lisa and Eva for the wonderful playdough so far! The children love the sensory play. Please let me know if you are able to make some playdough and I will put you on my list and let you know when we will need some next. When making it, feel free to add essential oils or spices or herbs.  Eva also added some sparkles, which the children loved! I try to stay as natural as possible, but am also ok with using food colouring if you are trying to get a certain colour that would be difficult to get otherwise - ie, orange etc.

Diwali

In celebration of Diwali, we read a book explaining about Diwali, and we then made a diya pot out of clay, and will be painting them. They can place a tea light in them when they are done. The children really enjoyed working with the clay. They were recreating the scene at the playdough table and making more diya pots!

Busy little bees

Ash class has been very busy talking about Fall and harvesting. We have read and continue to read many books on harvesting and apples. We have read Strega Nona's Harvest, which is a favourite, if you have the chance to borrow it from the library and Ten Apples up on Top. We will also be looking at, Way up High in the Apple Tree, How to make an Apple pie and Travel around the world, The Apple Cake, and An Apple Pie for Dinner plus plus plus! We have also been busy learning how to make apples and pumpkins out of yarn. Be sure to ask your child to retell our oral story, The Little Red House, with No Doors, No Windows, and a Star Inside - There is a lovely surprise at the end! We will be telling it on our Apple Harvest Feast Day!

Our new poems

Apple Tree

Way up high in the apple tree
Two little apples were looking at me
I shook that try as hard as I could
Down cam the apples
Mmmm mmmm good!

Orange

Orange is a carrot
And the orange that I eat
Orange are these bright new socks
I wear upon my feet

Graphs and Surveys

Ash class is hustling and bustling asking their fellow classmates all sorts of questions to find out information from them! They have done surveys and graphs using names and we will also be doing tallies and pictographs. It is fun to do these surveys and graphs at home if you get a chance!

Harvest Feast

Ash class will be having an apple harvest feast this year. We will be making all things made from apples! Parents are invited to join us in this Harvest feast, and we welcome recipes. Everyone is asked to bring in a few apples. We will be coming up with ideas this week. The date for our Apple Harvest Feast will be October 27 in the morning. We are excited for you to join us, however, it will be difficult to accommodate siblings in our small room. I will send out more details soon.....

Fall

Ash class has been talking a lot about Fall and all the changes we see, hear, feel and taste. We have been making Fall collages, which are beautiful. We recently brainstormed all the things we are thankful for and wrote them on the beautiful leaves, cut out from the tree rubbing paper the children made. We are hanging them on our Thankful Tree in the classroom.

Playdough recipe and volunteers

Playdough recipe

2 cups flour
2 tbsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp oil
11/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup salt

If you are interested in volunteering to make playdough for the class, please let me know directly. We will be looking for playdough every other week, or if we get enough volunteers, perhaps weekly. I will make up a schedule and let you know when we would need a  new batch of playdough.

What's in a name?

Ash class is always learning what all of our names look like and practises writing them.  We look at our names, count the letters and claps in them and do movements to them. We also will start to use sensory materials such as playdough and sand to write our names. We encourage you to work at home with your child wherever they are at with becoming more familiar with writing their name. It may mean forming the letters in sand or with playdough, or it may mean asking them to write down names for a specific purpose. If they are already writing their name, chances are they are using only capitals - encourage them to also write them with lower case letters. It is the one thing they love to do - because it is their name!!

Songs and Rhymes

Here's a cup
Here's a cup
Here's a cup
And here's a pot of tea.
Pour a cup,
Pour a cup,
And drink it up with me.

The children love this poem and like changing "tea" to another drink!

Colours (song)
Orange is a carrot
Yellow is a pear
Purple is a plum
Brown is a bear
Green is the tall grass
Blue is the sky
Black is a witch's hat
Red is cherry pie.

Yellow the Bracken (song)
Yellow the bracken
Golden the sheaves
Rosy the apples
Golden the leaves
Mist on the hillside
Clouds grey and white
Autumn good morning
Summer good night!

The cobbler (rhyme)
There was a cobbler on my street
mending shoes for little feet
With a bang and a bang
And a bang bang bang
With a bang bang bang
And a bang bang bang

Mending shoes all day long
mending shoes to make them strong
with a bang and a bang and a bang bang bang
with a bang and a bang and a bang bang bang!

Our new storytellers!

Storytelling both with and without the use of books is something we do a lot in Ash class, whether it's telling a story orally, retelling a story we have read, using a book to retell a story or using our story cards.  Our latest storytellers, Theo and Bodhi, did such a great  job retelling the story, The Gruffalo to the class. It is a very funny story, with a lot of repetition. As your children if they can retell it to you, and join in. You can also pay a visit to your library and borrow it. It's a great story before bedtime!

2 new rhymes

The Key to the Kingdom

Here is the key to the Kingdom
Here is the Kingdom
In the kingdom, there is a town
In the town, there is a hill
On the hill, there is a street
On the street, there is a house
In the house, there is a room
In the room, there is a bed
On the bed, there is a basket,
In the basket there is a blanket
Under the blanket, there is a baby!
Baby under the blanket
blanket in the basket
basket on the bed
bed in the room
room in the house
house on the street
street on the hill
hill in the town
town in the kingdom
Here is the key to the Kingdom!

(this is a bit tricky, but is a lot of fun - ask your children to show you all the actions!)

Red

Red is an apple
Red is a rose
Red is the colour of my
frozen, icy nose

What is your favourite......

Survey says........
Ash class has started taking polls! The children started by asking each other what their favourite colour leaf is - and then they record the names on their graph! This is a great way for the children to learn more about eachother, practise writing their names, and make observations and conclusions about what they find out. We just started doing it and we couldn't keep up with everyone who wanted a graph to fill in! Throughout the year, Ash class will explore making all sorts of graphs, using names, pictures and tallies. The children have lots of fun doing them - ask them about it at home. Some of the children wanted one to do at home, so you may find one in your child's backpack...Get ready to answer some questions!

Morning outdoor play

It has been great to start our mornings outside again. We begin with yoga poses and exercises - while balancing on the small ledge. Then we do various active exercises, usually combined with counting of some kind. We may so some art, play a game or do an activity such as hopscotch or skipping. Tomorrow we will do some tree rubbings, which we will then use for an art activity once we come up to the classroom. For the past 2 days, we played Red Light, Green Light, and the children had a lot of fun. Many of them initiated their own game, even once we were done as a group! There will be lots more games to come!

Three Billy Goats Gruff

I told their first oral story - Three Billy Goats Gruff. They were all excited - and some of them know it and were ready to join in with words and actions. We will tell it again, and see if any of the children would like to tell part or all of it to the class. Ask your child if they would like to tell you the story! Storytelling is a wonderful art, and is beneficial in so many ways. Encourage your children to tell you stories they hear.

What are those things wiggling in the soil?

We had a look at our worms yesterday! The children were very intrigued. We talked about why worms were good for our soil and what they actually do! We  also discussed how we need to care for them, and observed their tunnels. Today, children were independently going over to the worms, and someone rushed over to me to show me a tunnel! We will continue to observe them, feed them, draw them and write about them.

Some more rhymes

Peas Porridge Hot (an old time favourite)
Peas Porridge hot
Peas Porridge cold
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it in the pot
Nine days old

We often do this rhyme with movements, which get progressively harder, ie, first clapping, then marching, then both at the same time - the crossover claps with the feet moving are the hardest ! ( I call it brain gym!)

Crackers and Crumbs (often done with movements)
Crackers and crumbs
Crackers and crumbs
These are my fingers
These are my thumbs

These are my eyes
These are my ears
They will all grow big in the next 10 years

Hickory Dickory Dock  (also a favourite - often done with movements and other variations)
Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock

Little Mousie Brown
Up up the candlestick
Went little mousie brown
He climbed to the top
And couldn't get back down
He yelled, "Grandma, Grandma"
But Grandma was in town.
So he curled himself up
And rolled back down

The Moon is Round
The moon is round
As round can be
Two eyes, a nose
and a mouth like me!

It's a chesnut
What's this thing here
prickly green?
Open it up, so I can see.
It's a chesnut,
brown and shiny,
I can hold it right behind me.
Oops, I dropped it -
Wipe off the dirt
And put a cherry on top
For a squirrel's dessert!

This poem was created by Mr. Canrinus, their gym and outdoor science teacher. Personally, I think it's a winner and should win an award of some kind :)

A new September rhyme

Golden is the garden
Golden is the glen,
Golden, golden, golden
September's here again!

Golden in the tree-tops
Golden in the sky
Golden, golden, golden,
September's going by!

Getting to know eachother

Ash class is off to a great start! We are getting to know eachother  and learning the routines of the classroom. You may still see some tears, but do not worry, slowly they will be gone. We must be patient and let every child have their own experiences. Thank you for all of your support in helping the transitions happen as smoothly as possible. Everyday, we are conducting interviews of eachother to learn more about each student. The children ask questions to the interviewee and we write down their answers. When we are done, the child being interviewed draws a picture and we hang it up in the classroom.

The Rose Ceremony was a lovely way to end the week! The weather was perfect and the children sang so beautifully. Here are the words to the song we sang together:

Love's Great Circle
We are dancing love's great circle
We are dancing love's great circle
We are dancing love's great circle
Family one and all

We will live in peace together (3X)
Family one and all

We will speak in truth and listen (3X)
Family one and all

We will heal our hurt and sadness (3X)
Family one and all

We will live in celebration (3X)
Family one and all

Ash class always ends our day with a poem:

All my doing now has ended
What I've learned I'll put to rest.
Always knowing, always seeing,
That I've done my very best.

You can practise singing our tidy up song with your children at home (especially when you want them to tidy up! :)

Tick tock goes the clock
What does it have to say
Time to pick up the toys
And put them all away!

Welcome Ash Class 2014/15

Welcome Ash Class 2014/15! We are excited to meet you all and are looking forward to a great year!
We have had a great start, with lots of smiling faces every morning - and not worry if you still see some tears...this is normal! It is harder for some children than others to leave their parents, especially if it is for the first time.  Once the routine settles in, they will be off to the races!
We begin every morning with 3 poems:

In this circle here we stand,
quiet mouths and quiet hands
Feet together, straight as can be,
As we count, 1,2,3!

Below is the earth
Above is the sky
Here are my friends
And here am I!

I touch the sky
I touch my feet
I clap my hands on every beat
without a sound
I turn around
And this new day
I happily greet!

We read a book called the Kissing Hand, and then we talked about how Chester felt when he started school. Then each child had a chance to express how they felt on their first day of school, and we wrote each child's answer down.  We got all sorts of answers, such as scared, nervous, sad, lonely, happy, and excited. It is always nice to be able to acknowledge their feelings, so they can feel them and move on when they are ready. We talked about getting a kissing hand from our moms or dads before going to school. Ask your children to tell you what a kissing hand is and it may be nice to give one to your child before they go to school!

We are looking forward to a colourful fall together!

Spring Concert

Our Spring Concert will be held on June 20 from 2-3 pm. The children will be performing some songs and poems with the rest of the school. Please send your child in white shirts and colourful bottoms that day. All are invited. It is a lovely way to end the year! We hope to see you there.

New Spring Rhyme and songs

A little brown rabbit popped out of the ground
He wiggled his whiskers and looked all around
Another wee rabbit who lived in the grass
Popped his head up and watched him pass

Both wee rabbits went hoppity hop, hoppity hop, hoppity hop
Until they came to a wall and had to - STOP!
Both the wee rabbits turned themselves round
And hurried on home to their hole in the ground!

Lady Spring

Look who's here it's lady spring, lady spring, lady spring
Look who's here, it's lady Spring
Lady Spring is here

Who'll come into our wee ring, our wee ring, our wee ring,
Who'll come into our wee ring
and  dance with Lady Spring?

__________ will come into our wee ring, our wee ring, our wee ring,
__________ will come into our wee ring
To dance with Lady Spring.

Come with me said Lady Spring, Lady Spring, Lady Spring
Come with me said Lady Spring
We're off to dance and sing

Cuckoo, cuckoo, messenger clear

Cuckoo, cuckoo, messenger clear
What are you singing
What are you bringing?
Spring-time, spring time,
Spring-time is near.

Cuckoo, cuckoo, sounding so clear
Winter is over,
Pink grows the clover,
Spring-time, springtime,
Spring time is near.

Cuckoo, cuckoo, sing through the land.
Gladly we hear you
Now we are near you.
Listen, listen,
Spring is at hand.

Onion planting

We did an experiment by cutting an onion in half and placing it in a jar of soil. The children made predictions about what would happen to the onion and we got such responses as, "it will get bigger", an onion tree will grow", and "it will sprout". We looked at it the other day and the children were surprised at what they saw! Ask them at home to tell you about it!

New Oral Story

We are doing a new oral story called Four Legs, Four arms, and One Head. We have just started it, and the children think it's funny. As we do it a few more times, the children will be able to tell it to you at home.

Needle and Thread

Ash class is fully engaged in sewing! with burlap, embroidery thread and (blunt - don't worry!) needles at hand, they are stitching their own designs and loving it. We didn't expect such a positive response from everyone, and it is so wonderful to see such a great interest. They are asking to sew! It is a wonderful activity to do anywhere, and can easily be done at home if you are looking for some new activities to do with your children. Their weaving is also coming along and the children are making such beautiful weaving boards.

Our Caterpillars are here!

Our caterpillars have arrived and Ash class has been watching them in their amazing transformation process. They started out as little caterpillars and we watched them grow bigger and change into their chrysalis. Yesterday we actually saw a caterpillar attach itself and hang and become more still, the beginnings of the formation of the chrysalis. The children are big-eyed with wonder as they watch them change and are drawing pictures of them at their different stages. They are awaiting the butterflies anxiously!

Old Man and the River

Our trip last week to see Old Man and the River was wonderful. The production was so well done and quite impressive, with beautiful handmade puppets, skilled puppeteers and a great plot. The children loved it a lot. When we got back to school, they wanted to continue to tell the story and made their own felt images on the felt board. A group of children set up the classroom for the audience, and performed the play using the felt board. They have continued to do this all week. It has been great to watch their performances! They also drew pictures of a part of the story that they liked a lot, and were so animated when describing them.

Upcoming trips in May

 High Park
On May 8, we have our third and final trip to high park! We are looking forward to it. Please dress your children for the weather, and pack a lunch. I will use the TTC fare you sent in for the Riverdale Farm trip for out High Park trip, so no need to send in fare again at the moment. I will collect fare again, before our Riverdale Farm trip at the end of May.

Wee Festival

On May 16 we will be going to see Old Man and the River at Alliance Francais on Spadina. Thank you Lisa for informing us of this wonderful opportunity. It is always such a treat to see live performances! I will be sending home the trip forms on Monday or Tuesday, so please check your child's backpack. The cost of the performance is $10. We are still deciding if it is doable for the children to walk up Spadina to north of bloor or if we will take the streetcar. I will let you know if you also need to send in 1.50 for TTC fare.

Riverdale Farm Trip

We will definitely be visiting Riverdale Farm and will let you know of the new date soon. It will be sometime at the end of May.

Stories from the Phillipines - a lovely class visit

Thank you again Jen and Alex for coming in to the class to share your wonderful story, movement and musical instruments from the Phillipines. The children of Ash Class had such a wonderful experience and couldn't stop talking about it the next day. Both the story and the sounds of the instruments were so calming and mesmerizing. I could listen to them over and over again! 

Here is a paragraph that Jen sent me about what they brought in to the class and the story they told. Unfortunately,  I have not had much luck posting pictures on my blog, so cannot post the picture of the instruments.

 The instruments they brought in are called an Agung and Sarunay.

Malong

The malong is a traditional "tube skirt" made of hand-woven or machine-made multi-colored cotton cloth, bearing a variety of geometric or okir designs. The malong is akin to the sarong worn by peoples in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. The malong is traditionally used as a garment by numerous tribes in the Southern Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago. There are also other names for the ‘malong’ in other regions of the Philippines, such as Patadyong and Lewek Tedeyung.

 The story: 

 Long, long ago there was a beautiful village in a high mountain.

 In that mountain, there was a lake and by the lake lived many families.

 It rained a lot, but the families had special clothes to keep them dry and warm.

 The people of this place did many things, including the special duties of planting and      harvesting their food to eat.

Just before the sun went down, the people would see a bird with big, beautiful wings. The bird would fly across the sky.

When the people saw the bird, they knew it was time to pack all their things,

mothers would pick up their babies and everyone would go inside to eat, sing, dance and laugh all together…until the moon was up and the sky was dark, everyone would fall asleep peacefully through the night.

Planting

Ash class has planted a variety of seeds - Carrot, Radish and Green Onion, as well as Basil.
The carrot has really taken off, with roots and shoots and is cool for the children to look at because it is in a clear glass vile that Ms. Spain brought in from home. The radish has also rooted, but we have not noticed anything happen to the green onion as of yet. Surprisingly, our basil, has not showed any signs of growth yet - but we are wondering if it has to do with the dryness in the room. The children are faithfully watering their seeds to help them grow. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for some new growth soon!

How tall are you?

Ash class has been measuring all sorts of things! We are using objects such as blocks, pencils or feathers to see how tall or short something is. In groups, the children used string to measure eachother and figured out who was the tallest and shortest in the class. Soon, we will be making a "handy ruler" by putting 5 handprints in a row, and they will use it to measure if objects inside or outside are taller, shorter or the same size as their handy ruler. On Friday, they each estimated how tall they were compared to 3 paper stems that I cut out and hung on the wall. They placed their leaves by the stem they thought was closest to them in height and then we checked eachother and measured how tall everyone was! The class got to observe which children were the same size, taller or shorter than them. See if your children can measure you at home using objects of the same size!

Some new Spring rhymes

Rum Sum Sum
A rum sum sum
A rm sum sum
Goolie goolie goolie goolie goolie
Rum sum sum

Arafi Arafi
Goolie goolie goolie goolie goolie
Rum sum sum

Dickery Dean
What's the matter with Dickery Dean?
He jumped right into the washing machine!

Nothing's the matter with Dickery Dean
He dove in dirty
And he jumped out clean!

Garden Snail
Slowly slowly very slowly
goes the garden snail
Slowly slowly very slowly
Up the garden rail

Quickly quickly very quickly
runs the little mouse
Quickly quickly very quickly
to his little house

Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and wey
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her
and scared Miss Muffett away

Little Miss Tucket
Little Miss Tucket
Sat on a bucket
Eating some peaches and cream
There came a grasshopper
And tried hard to stop her
But she said "Go away or I'll scream!"

The Old Fashioned Bed

The Old Fashioned Bed is our latest oral story and the children really love it. It is amazing to watch the children so engaged as I tell a story orally. After the second time of telling it, they were already joining in and knew a lot of the sequence. We are going to start to dramatize it as requested by some of the students! Ask them to tell it to you - I am sure they will do a good job - and even if they dont get through it, that's ok! The oral tradition is such a wonderful way to encourage the imagination.

Our precious Earth

Ash class has been celebrating Earth Day every Day! We have been studying our worms, watching them make their tunnels and wriggle around. The children enjoyed investigating them, holding them and drawing them. The children have also been feeding the worms and observing what happens to the organic matter that we put into the soil. They are figuring out what happens to the matter, just by watching it! They beam with excitement when we open our wormery! Mr. Canrinus even did an experiment with them comparing 2 different soils, one with organic matter and one with non-organic matter (garbage basically) - to see which side the worms went to more - ask your children their observations!

We have also been doing an activity where the children pick an object and try to put it into the right bin - recycling, garbage, or compost. We have talked about the 3 R's - Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. Many of the children said we could re-use many of the objects, which they thought was even better than recycling. They are learning to be good stewards of the Earth.

We have been reading a variety of books about recycling, and the environment. The children are very curious about our Earth and keep thirsting for more information!

Upcoming events for Spring

We are in the process of trying to plan a trip or two in April. In May we will be going on our 3rd and final High Park trip. We will also be going to see a play at the Wee Festival that Lisa informed us about and I am sure the children will really enjoy it. I will let you know further details closer to the date.  Spring is in the air!

Oral Story

I am orally telling a new story called The Magic Drum. It is fun and interactive and the children are beginning to join in and even starting to tell it on their own. Ask your child if they can tell you some or all of the story and join in with them as they tell it!

Pattern Patterns Everywhere

Ash class has been observing, describing, creating and extending repeated patterns, inside and out, using colours, shapes, people and various objects. The children are beginning to create complex patterns on their own initiative, with so many different things. Patterns can be created in a variety of ways: using objects, ie, forks and spoons, shapes ie, circle and squares, colours, ie, red and blue, or sizes, ie, large and small. Explore some patterns with your child. Create a simple repeating pattern using two kinds of household objects. Ask them to read their pattern to you and explain what comes next. As Spring is finally coming, and plants and insects will be making an appearance, we will observe and learn about more patterns in nature. See if you can spot some with your child and tell us about them! Have fun exploring patterns!

Some more rhymes

The North Wind Does Blow

The North Wind does blow
And we shall have snow
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
He'll hide in the barn
And keep himself warm
And tuck his head under his wing
Poor thing!

The Sun

The sun comes over the mountains
The sun comes over the sea
The sun comes over the rice fields
And the sun comes over me.

The sun sets over the palace.
The sun sets over the street
The sun sets over the houses
And the sun sets over me.

Flea
On my foot there is a flea
Now he's climbing up on me
Past my belly
Past my nose
On my head where my hair grows
On my head there is a flea
Now he's climbing down on me
Past my belly
Past me knee
On my foot
Take that, you flea!

The Little Old Man

A little old man went up in space
And he got ice cream all over this face
So - wash him with a washcloth
Roll him in a rug
And tuck him in a blanket
Until he's snug snug snug!

musical bowls

The children seemed to have loved our Chinese New Year display with the chinese bowls and chopsticks. They took it upon themselves to start making music by tapping the chopsticks on the different sized bowls. We  thought we could run with that idea by filling jars with different levels of water and they could explore the sounds and music making with different utensils. We will start by making predictions about what will happen, and will take it from there! We are excited to see where this will go and looking forward to some new muscial accompaniment in the classroom!

Swimming

Swimming has now changed to Fridays until March Break. Please bring your child's swim stuff this Friday. We have 3 volunteers and are looking for one more. If you are interested, please let me know. If you are interested in purchasing a  bathing cap, the pool is selling them for 2.50. Please feel free to send that with your child in an envelope, and we can get one for them.

Happy Valentine's Day and Family Day

We hope everyone had a very Happy Valentine's Day and Family Day! We hope you loved the felted hearts that the children worked so hard on! It is a lovely craft to do at home - all you need is some wool roving, soap, hot water, a cookie cutter and your fingers! They also had a little taste of sewing as they pulled the needle and thread through their hearts so you can hang them up. We will be doing more felted projects and sewing as the year goes on! We also starting working on our Love Books - Each child is making a book about all the things they love. They are drawing and writing all of their favourite things in their own little books and they are very proud. We are sending them home as they get finished so please ask them to read you their books. They are so excited about them.

High Park Trip

We had yet again, a wonderful trip to High Park! We are so lucky to be able to participate in the activities at the Nature Centre. The staff provide such creative activities in a beautiful setting. The children learned many new things about chickadees and how birds that don't migrate, survive here in the winter. They had so much fine making pine cone feeders and hanging them up on trees during our hike. We saw so many things on our hike, such as  holes in trees where birds would find shelter, nests, and birds. Thank you to all who volunteered. I will be looking for volunteers for our next trip in May, particularly to help with the commute to and from the centre.

Mamma Mia Pizzeria

What a great pizza making day for Ash  Class! Thank you Fabio and Elizabeth (Lukas' parents) for coming in and making pizza with the children. Fabio brought in his top secret home made pizza dough and demonstrated how to roll it out and make pizza! The children did a great job patting and rolling their own personal dough. Elizabeth helped the children with the chopping, cutting and grating of the various toppings and the children went to work making their own personal pizzas - putting on homemade sauce, cheese and toppings of their choice. When they were all ready to go, Fabio and Elizabeth took them down to the oven and let them cook! The children waited in anticipation, and it was worth it. Huge smiles were on their faces when the pizzas came up to the room and their aroma filled the air.....and what satisfaction - they ate the lunch that they made by themselves! And it was delicious! Thank you again Fabio and Elizabeth for giving the children such a wonderful experience!

Max, our storyteller

Max told us a Russian version of the Gingerbread Man, about a dumpling! He did a wonderful job telling the story using his book he brought in and the props. It was a lovely addition to our Gingerbread stories. If your children ever have a book or story they would like to share, please send it in.

Farewell Gingerbread Man

After searching and searching, we could not find our Gingerbread Man. We looked everywhere, asked everyone and tried to use all the clues to help us find him. Here were some of the children's suggestions throughout the week:

"to catch him with a net"
"we should hide"
"We should run and look for him"
"Look for him with a bucket"
"Sneak on our tiptoes"
"Use a blanket"
"Use a crane to catch him and pick him up with a hook"
"we can scare him....but he may runaway again"

At the end of the day on Thursday, we decided to have one more look on the 3rd floor and ask around. We came back to our classroom without any answers. As we were going to get ready to go home, we thought we should water our plants before the long weekend. And that was when we saw what had happened......... The Gingerbread Man was eaten (there were still some crumbs), by, we think, a bird (there were some more white feathers by the crumbs).....we had learned that Ms. Spain had left the window open the night before (oops!). Ash class was a little sad, but then one of the children piped up and said, "That's ok, we can bake some more!"  (Believe it or not, this also led to some interesting discussions about what animals eat and our food chain!) Alas, this is the end to our story, and please remember, that it is not much different than the original story, when the Gingerbread Man got eaten by a fox :0)

Where are you Gingerbread Man?

We came back into our classroom the next morning to discover a note from the Ginberbread man! It went something like this:

Dear Ash Class,

Sorry about the mess. I was hungry. But you can't catch me, I'm fast! (Unfortunately, he left another mess!)

Love,
The Gingerbread Man

But the curious thing was, there were some white feathers by the snack table as well.....we had never seen them before. The children put on their detective glasses and tried to solve the mystery. They studied the feathers with magnifying glasses and a couple of them decided that they may be feathers from an owl.

The children then wrote back to the Gingerbread Man:

Dear Gingerbread Man,

You left another mess. Come back and clean up!
We miss you. Do you know anything about the feathers?

Love,
Ash Class

P.A. day Friday

Just a reminder that Friday Jan. 24 is a P.A. day and there is no school for students.
Have a great long weekend!

Gingerbread Man update

This morning, we were surprised to see The Gingerbread Man's footprints on our snack table, with a half eaten cracker and crumbs all over the place. What a mess! The children looked for him everywhere, but they could not find him in our room. There was also one more sighting in the Davinci office. They have come up with all sorts of things to do, such as, hide, so he won't think we are here and he will come back, catch him in a bucket, catch him with a net and make signs. "Ginger Power!", one of the children exclaimed.

Today we wrote him a letter. This is what the children wrote and posted in the hallway:

Dear Gingerbread Man,

Clean up this mess! Come back!
Don't be afraid. We are your friends.

Love,
Ash class

So we will await until tomorrow to see what happens...... we are hoping to find him before the long weekend!

Gingerbread Man sightings

We are working 24/7 looking for our gingerbread man! We have made "Missing" signs and posters and have enlisted the help of other teachers. We know there has been 3 sightings of the gingerbread man - 1 in Ms. Farquar's room, (our grade 5/6 teacher) yesterday morning (she came and told us about it!), 1 on the first floor by the playground doors, and 1 in the gym! He is just too fast though. We will keep on looking. Please be on the lookout and let us know if you have seen him!

Some new winter rhymes

Snowflakes
Merry little snowflakes
Dancing in the air
Busy little snowflakes
whirling everywhere
Blowing in our faces
Falling at our feet
Kissing all the children
As they run along the street

Jack Frost
Where'd you get that little red nose?
Jack Frost kissed it, I suppose
Kissed it once
Kissed it twice
Little red nose as cold as ice.

The Gingerbread Man
Mix it and stir it and put it in the pan
I'm going to make a gingerbread man
With a nose so neat
And a smile so sweet
And gingerbread shoes for his gingerbread feet

Buckets of snow
Heave Ho
Buckets of snow
The giant is combing his beard
The snow is as high
As the top of the sky
And the world has disappeared
POOF!

Help! The Runaway Gingerbread Man!

Today Ash class had a lot of fun baking gingerbread men and women. We thought of what we needed to get started and looked at the recipe. We followed the recipe, made the dough, rolled it out and made the cookies using gingerbread men and women cookie cutters! I put them in the oven while Ms. Spain held down the fort in the classroom. After 8 minutes , the timer went off and I could smell the ginger aroma in the air.  I opened the oven door, and as I was taking them out of the oven, I couldn't believe what happened! One of our gingerbread men jumped up, hopped out of the oven and ran right past me....right out the door. I tried to catch him, but he ran so fast..... I called out to him, but he just kept on running!!! I was in disbelief. I could not believe that it was possible for this to happen, just like in the story. I told the children what had happened, and they were in shock. I had many responses, but mostly, they want to look for him tomorrow! So that is what we will do. I think we will make and post some signs around the school to see if anyone has seen our Gingerbread Man, and we will ask around. So please, if you happen to see him, try and stop him and bring him back to us! We will keep you posted......

The Gingerbread Man

Ash class has had a lot of fun enjoying the Gingerbread Man/Boy story. We have read many versions of it and the children are retelling it using the felt board props. We also read the book, "The Gingerbread Girl." They are drawing Gingerbread men and writing about their favourite parts. I will be orally telling them a Norway folktale called The Pancake, which has the running theme of the Gingerbread Man story. We have also been looking at rhyming words and trying to rhyme everything we can, with the word man! Start playing rhyming games with your children - It is fun and great for language development.

Playdough

I am looking for a volunteer to make playdough at home and bring it into class. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

How long will it take for the snow to melt?

Ash class has been enjoying the snow outside and have been using yogurt containers and larger bins to build all sorts of structures. (If you have extra yogurt containers you can bring in, that would be great!) They have been keeping themselves so busy doing this, they do not even realize how long we are staying outside. They also do not realize that Ms. Spain and I are using these opportunities to incorporate math activities...shapes, numbers, counting. It becomes so meaningful because they are truly learning through play, and even better, outside! To top it off, we are bringing the outside in....The children wanted to see what would happen if we brought ice and snow inside. So we followed their lead, brought it in, and inquired about what will happen. We talked about what we already know about ice and snow,  made predictions and observations. The children were so excited to watch it change and kept going over to our buckets throughout the day to observe the changes. Ask them what they saw happen.......

High Park trip

Our next High Park trip will be on Monday Feb. 3. We will be leaving at 8:45 and returning around 1 pm. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know. If you are leaving with us from the school, please remember to bring in $1.50 for the TTC by Jan. 23. Please let me know if you will be meeting us there, so I know not to expect you in the morning. Please remember to dress appropriately for the weather!

Finger Knitting and Weaving

We have begun our finger knitting and weaving projects!! It is amazing how quickly the children are catching on and they are so excited! They are making bracelets (which you have probably seen on their wrists), headbands, and necklaces. These activities will be set up as centres and the children will come to it during our learning centre time.