Week 16: Happy Holidays
As 2017 comes to an end, I enjoy taking the time to reflect on the term that we have had together as a class. The girls came together in September, not knowing each other, and have become classmates, collaborators, and above all, friends. This term has been filled with many giggles, discoveries, stories, designs, hugs, games, and more. The girls have quickly become eager readers and writers, mathematicians, engineers, actors, athletes, and artists. I look forward to new adventures in 2018, as well as welcoming a new student, N, to the class. Happy holidays!
Look at all of the beautiful cards that the girls have hand-stamped this morning. We are waiting for them to dry so that we can add paint tomorrow and hand them out to the faculty and staff at Linden.
A and K work on decorating the gingerbread cookies that we made last week. They enjoy using different colours of icing on the cookies and adding sprinkles as a finishing touch.
G and Z draw beautiful holiday cards in art class. After drawing the black string, they use a variety of coloured markers to add the lights to the string. I enjoy just watching how carefully and patiently they are both working, despite all of the holiday excitement that is around.
P is pretty excited to receive an early holiday gift from M, in grade 1, and doesn't wait long to open it.
G and A work together to build a stage with a parking lot, a marble wall, and some surrounding speakers. A even shows us how the stage is stable enough to support her, because it is made of strong wood.
K and M find a melting snow-person when we are up on the roof for recess. Yesterday the snow-person was fully intact, but today it seems to be disappearing. They use the scoop to help chisel out some of the snow, making the head slightly more round.
A maintains her focus while she paints over the stamped design with watercolours. She makes sure to use a lot of water and not too much paint, so that we can still see the design underneath.
G loves to paint, and enjoys being creative with her colour choice. It's interesting how she covers each part of the card's design with a different colour, trying not to have them touch too much or mix them together.
In CERES today, we are learning about electricity and circuits. The girls learn the basics of how a circuit works by connecting their hands together (to have a joined pathway for the electricity in their bodies to travel), and connecting the ends of the circuit (by G and Z) to a ball that lights up. As they lift and reattach their hands, the light goes off and on.
P uses her new knowledge about circuits to build a simple "snap" circuit with a power source (battery) and connectors to make a light turn on. She knows that all of the pieces need to be snapped together for the light to light up.
G and K work together in the kitchen during cooking club to make shortbread cookies. These two don't mind getting messy one bit, especially if it's in the name of cookies.
G volunteers to read an Elephant and Piggie book to A, a current favourite book series in our classroom. The words are simple enough to read, and the author uses a mix of punctuation and font size to help the reader work on their expression. This is one of the many special things that happens when girls of different ages and stages are learning in the same environment.
Soteira helps P attach a ribbon to the top of her handmade snow globe. P excited about using a glue gun, and she is very careful not to touch the hot parts.
Look at the wonderful, sparkly snow globes that the Early Learners and Grade 1-2s have created on our final morning together in 2017. They can be hung up or displayed on a flat surface, and were made for the girls to enjoy over the holiday season.
A and K play with their handmade spinners in the last few minutes of CERES class today. The girls repurposed old CDs and clothespins to make spinners, and decorated them with flashy twist-ties and Sharpie markers. These are another great toy for the girls to use over the holidays.
P and K work together to create a gem and marble-filled structure during our special shared centres time this morning. Without knowing it, the girls are exploring the properties of capacity, volume, and force in their play.
A, G, and Z enjoy exploring the water bins at the Discovery Centre during shared centres today. They are filling the shells with water and sinking them to the bottom, while also measuring out the right amounts of water to pour into the different containers.
The performers are ready for their big debut tonight at Festival of Lights. The costumes are made, rhythm sticks tested, and lyrics are perfected. Break a leg girls!
The girls are on stage and ready to sing their hearts out at Festival of Lights. Look at all of those excited, smiling faces. I can't think of a better way to end our year together and kick off the holiday season.