Elf on the Shelf

Are you naughty or nice?

That's what our Christmas Elf is here to see every morning! She hides in a different spot and watches us to see if we are peacemakers all day long (sometimes it's really hard to be kind if we're tired, or feeling sad about something). Every night the elf flies back to the North Pole to update Santa. Scout elves get their magic by being loved and given a name. We decided on Elfa because she looks a little bit like Elsa. The only rule for our Christmas Elf is that we cannot touch her or she will fly back up north and never come back.

Today Elfa was found in the library. I wonder where she'll be tomorrow?

Read all about this Christmas tradition here:

Max's Butterfly

Yesterday Max gave us a special presentation on the life cycle of a butterfly. He found a chrysalis on a lime tree near his home and placed it in a special container. He waited patiently until the caterpillar metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly. He and his mom are going to set it free near his home.

 Even Patty was curious and couldn't resist taking a peek!

O Christmas Tree

Our classroom just got into the festive spirit! Thank you to Keira's mom Julia for lending us a Christmas tree and to Ke Rol's family for the beautiful decorations. The kids have been super excited about it and are constantly singing Christmas carols all day long!

Kindizoo!

It's raining, it's pouring....

It was a wet day, but the kids didn't care at all as they jumped in puddles, climbed trees, made mud pies and caught bugs! We saw snakes, durian trees, pitcher plants and even caught a frog. We didn't get to have our campfire but we still enjoyed a delicious lunch in the dry hut.

Thanks to Nadia, Dale, Fanny and the whole team at Kindizoo for an unforgettable day!

 

Arthurs Amazing Abeonim!

There were lots of oohs and aahs as Arthurs abeonim (father) came in to read the book Zoo Borns to us this week.

Jack did some really astute impressions of a few of these animals, you can read all about them here:

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween time is finally here,
So all you scaredy cats, it's time to fear!
For all the evil spirits and witches are now near,
You can run but you just cannot hide, my dear.
Have a spooky Halloween!

Pumpkin Pie

Today we made pumpkin pie with cinnamon and it smelled just like fall in Canada.

We got to roll out the dough and press it into the baking tin. Then we added the pumpkin mix that our Sodexo chef helped us stir together. The fun part was using cookie cutters to make a shape for the top. The boring part was waiting for them to bake!

Ghosts and Monsters and Slime, oh my!

Halloween is the perfect time for slime!

Which Witch can make the wickedest Witch's Brew?

Our ghosts flew high as we used static electricity to teach them to fly. A hair-raising experience indeed.

How many eyes does your monster have?

STEM Month

October was STEM Month and our classroom was full of Scientists, Technologists, Engineers and Mathematicians! Here's just a quick peek at some of our activities.

Science: Building boats using only marshmallows, straws and paper for a sail. Draw your design, build it and test it. Does it float? How do you make it move faster? How can you make it better?

Technology: Experimenting with color and shadow on the light table

Engineering: Building cubes sturdy enough to hold a ball 2" off the surface of the table, using only marshmallows and toothpicks

  
Mathematics: Creating shapes and replicating pictures with the geoboards

Our Ant House

One of the best things about being a Kindergarten teacher here is watching the kids learn using inquiry based learning. Inquiry-based learning places students’ questions, ideas and observations at the centre of the learning experience.

The children posed a question during morning recess, "what do ants eat?" and the teachers responded, "let's find out!" The kids proceeded to make an ant house all around the big tree and when they were done, we gave them a package of sugar and some crackers to spread out to see what the ants would eat. All of the kids came over at some point to see what was happening and it has kept them busy for most recesses.

Today we brought in some watermelon to share with our ants!

Alphabetical Order

Can you put your letters in alphabetical order?