Having Fun Trying New Things in Room 12

After experimenting with sugar dissolving in science, many of us had questions about sugar and where it comes from.  This week we took the time to explore our questions.  We learnt that making sugar is a long process.  We also got the chance to see a real sugar cane and taste it.  Did you know that you just chew the sugar cane like gum, you don't swallow it?  Most of us really liked the taste.  It was sweet!

Mrs. Havixbeck dropped by our classroom on Wednesday to read us "Falling For Rapunzel".  It is a hilarious book about a prince, asking Rapunzel to throw down her hair, but instead she throws down crazy things like her underwear!  It really got us laughing.  Thanks for coming to read with us Mrs. Havixbeck.

To finish off our week, we got to build boats.  We were each challenged to build a boat out of plasticine that could float for more than 10 seconds, while holding 10 or more marbles.  It was a challenge, but we had fun doing it.  

Next week we will be having a pyjama day on Wednesday, February 25th.  Wear your pyjamas so you can snuggle up and read you favourite book in House Groups that day.

  

Science Activities All Week

This week we have been learning about molecules, changes in state of matter, and buoyancy.
We got to be molecules in a solid, liquid, and a gas.  We found out that molecules in a solid do not have room to move, that is why they are solid. This is also why you cannot move through them.  The molecules in gases have lots of room to move.  This is why we can move through them so easily.  Liquids have more molecules than gases, but less than solids.  That is why we can move through them, but not as easily as gases.

We are a solid in this picture.

Then, to learn about changes in states of matter, we made chocolate ice cream.  We each got a chance to shake a bag of salt and ice, with chocolate milk in the middle.  Once it was shaken for 4 minutes the chocolate milk turned to a solid, ice cream.  It was fun and tasty too!

We also had the chance to learn about buoyancy this week, by experimenting with different objects, to see if they would sink or float.  We found out that many objects we thought would not float, actually do float.

To end the week we got to trade Valentine's Day card with our classmates!  

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Valentine's Day party a success, we are all very grateful!

This Friday our school will be holding our annual book swap.  If you would like to send used books to school Friday morning, students will have the opportunity to swap them in the afternoon for new books.

 
  

I Love to Read

This month is I Love to Read Month.  To kick off the month we had our annual Family Read-in on Wednesday.  Not only did we get to read with our family, but we also had a mystery reader.  It was Elsa from the movie "Frozen"!  She read us a book that had two sides to it; one side was written by her sister Anna,  and the other side was written by Elsa.  She also read a book about a snowman that she and Anna made named Olaf.

Then Elsa played the song "Let it Go" from her movie, and we all sang along with her and danced.  After that, we had our pictures taken with her.  Before we left,
we got to pick out a free book to keep forever!  It was lots of fun!

This week we also had a visit from Mme. Diva in French class.  She taught us fun songs that we can sing in French.  We even got the chance to write a French song with her.  She let us use her puppets to  help us sing the words.  It was a lot of fun!

This week coming up will be Music Celebration for the Grade 2/3 choir on Tuesday, February 10th, at 5:10 p.m.  Please remember to bring in your permission forms for the event.

Thank you to our Writers this week, Tayanna and Davis, for helping to write our blog entry.

Science, Social Studies, and Kindness! Oh My!

This week has been busy for us.  We have been learning all sorts of new things.

We were once again working with liquids and solids.  This time we discovered that some liquids do stack.  We took some corn syrup, glycerol, water, and oil and poured them all into the same bottle to see what would happen.  We found that the heavier liquids sank to the bottom while the lighter liquids were pushed up.

In Social Studies, we have been learning about Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and comparing it to our community, Winnipeg.  We found out that Lunenburg is much smaller than Winnipeg.  It is also a peninsula, which means it is surrounded by water on three sides.  Today we leaned that the Bluenose was launched in Lunenburg, and that it was originally a racing ship.

This has also been a week filled with kindness.

We have been dressing up for kindness all week.  On Thursday we even had a white tiger and a bear in our classroom.

We have been busy passing out kind notes to our friends and classmates all week.  Our kindness catchers are starting to get full and we can hardly wait to go through them next week.

The random acts of kindness that I caught this week were: Davis lending a pencil to a classmate who needed one, Noah putting a classmates desk back together for her, Abigail giving up her seat to a classmate who was having trouble seeing the SMART board, and Joaquin helping a classmate with his math.

We are so lucky to have such a kind and caring classroom! 

This week in Room 12

This week we went to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra to see their Circus show.  It was great!  We saw an aerialist, some clowns, a unicyclist, a juggler, and a contortionist.  We all had a really wonderful time and saw some amazing performers.

Thank you to Mrs. Remple for organizing a great field trip.

This week we also learned about the Properties of Liquids.  We did an experiment with seven different liquids.  Our first job was to see if they were transparent, translucent, or opaque.  Then we tested them to see how they poured and how well they absorbed into a paper towel.

Next week, our school will be doing activities all week to kick off The Great Kindness Challenge.  Each day next week will have a different theme that students will be able to dress up for.

Monday - Crazy for Kindness (Crazy hair or clothes day)
Tuesday - Team Kindness (Wear your favourite sports clothes)
Wednesday - Dream of Kindness (Pyjama day)
Thursday - Wild About Kindness (Dress up like your favourite animal)
Friday - Peace, Love and Kindness Day (Dress in Hippie attire)

This weeks Random acts of Kindness are:
Arianne sharing her pencils with her classmates, Carter putting away forgotten IPads, and Leah going out of her way at the end of the day to make sure all the IPads were plugged in.

Liquids and Solids Exploration

This week we learned about liquids and solids in Science class.  We had the opportunity to explore different kinds of solids and liquids.  We have lot of questions about them, and we wanted some answers, so we investigated.

We learned that the liquids changed colour when we mixed them.  Some of the liquids were very sticky and some were not.  We were able to find some examples of liquids and solids by thinking about their characteristics.  We were also able to answer our questions about sand.  Did you know that sand is made of glass and that it is a solid?  We do!

We had a fantastic time together and we leaned a lot!  

Random Acts of Kindness 

This week I saw: Jyan and Ashton working together to take down the classroom lunch basket, Thaher helping a classmate who had lost their hat, Sara bringing back a classmate's lost lunch box, Tayanna giving up her spot in line to a classmate who was sad, and Erika helping to pick up something that her classmate had accidentally dropped.  Great job boys and girls.  

FYI - Monday morning is our trip to W.S.O.

Kindness Month!

This month our school is taking part in the kindness challenge.  We have been recognizing random acts of kindness that we see in our school everyday.

In our classroom we are creating kindness catchers.  We put our kindness catchers up around the classroom.  Everyday we write something kind and tuck it into a classmate's kindness catcher for them to find later.  At the end of the month, we will look through our kindness catchers and make a collage from all the kind things that our classmates have said about us.

We see acts of kindness in our classroom everyday, this is a great opportunity for us to recognize those students who are always being kind.
This week I saw: Danica handing out lunch kits that were forgotten to her classmates, Delilah helping a classmate who was having difficulty reading, and Nolan sharing some of his school supplies with a classmate.  I will be watching for more students to highlight next week!