Christmas Breakfast & Homemade Christmas Crackers!

The busy week leading up to Christmas was nearly over but not without 2/3P starting our own tradition; Christmas Breakfast. My heart was filled with happiness that I could provide my students with pancakes, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples and oranges, yogurt and juice.

After our tummies were full and we enjoyed outdoor recess, we came in and pulled some Christmas crackers with a partner. Once they were opened, we had an engaging discussion about what was found inside of a Christmas cracker such as a toy, a joke and a crown. We also talked about the tradition behind the Christmas cracker and why it was celebrated.

I am so proud of my students for their active participation in learning and for having fun along the way!

See you in 2017!

Dream Jars ..... Just like in BFG!

On Wednesday, December 21, we celebrated BFG style. Not only did we drink "frobscottle" and eat "snozzcumbers" but we also make our very own dream jars! Students used all kinds of materials to place inside their jars such as cotton balls, pom poms, glitter glue, sparkles, water and glow sticks. Here is a peek!

We also watched the movie and we noticed some similarities and differences between reading the novel and the movie. Students were captivated by the story of the Big Friendly Giant and his blossoming friendship with a little girl named, Sofie. 

Just Like the Pioneers!

Just like Pioneers, we made a decoration from natural resources. Today, we used cinnamon sticks, festive ribbon topped with a paper star! Once again, our classroom smelled delicious!

Makayla in her Santa hat creating a snowflake after she completed her cinnamon tree.

Pomander....just like in England!

Our learning about traditions and celebrations around the world, has increased our understanding of what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in other countries. 

We learned at the Glanmore House that in Victorian times, pomanders were made as decoration for the Christmas Tree. This tradition still takes place today in England. 

Pomanders are made with oranges and cloves. Our classroom smelled so yummy!

Decomposing Numbers with Money!

Girls and Boys in 2/3P were exploring money and decomposing their value! The task was: Choose any 5 coins and find the value of those coins. Then, represent the total value using 22 coins.

This "THINKING" question had a lot of layers and our brains were growing new synapses after all of the mistakes, yes mistakes that we made! This is where the learning is exciting because in our class, mistakes are encouraged!

It took us a long time, to think about what the question was asking us, to collaborate with an elbow partner and then begin using a variety of strategies to brainstorm our thinking using whiteboards. Here is what a few of our students came up with. I am soooo proud of my students!

Although not all of us in our class, finished the task, our thinking grew and we were ready to work through a similar problem a couple of days later. This is what we accomplished together:

We are on our way to deeper understanding!

Glanmore House

And we are off.......on another learning experience beyond the walls of our classroom at POW! 2/3P were feeling confident and comfortable riding the city bus for the second time this year!

We rode bus #8 to the terminal and then took a transfer on the #1 to arrive in plenty of time for our Holiday/Traditions program at the Glanmore House on December 13th.

I didn't get many pictures because we were too busy listening and learning about the British traditions in Victorian times. Mr.Mrs. Philips who lived in the Glanmore House always LOVED to decorate for Christmas and host fancy parties.

We learned that EVERY tree was decorated with POMANDERS and the British Flag!

Once again, a HUGE thank you goes out to all of our PARENT volunteers! Our class trips are possible and even more fun when you come along with us!

Snow Day!

Buses were cancelled today but the 7 children that showed up in our class today enjoyed math games, Christmas writing and outdoor play! Check them out!