Good morning and happy Sunday to everyone! Today i have sooo many pictures for you! I didnt have my camera last week as i had to lend it out for joss to pick pictures for the year book!! I dont know which pictures she selected so it will be a surprise for me as well. If you want a yearbook, you go onto the PAC website to buy one...the same place where you can get platter tickets, chips (which were a HIT!!), freezies and candy bags!! All the money goes back to the kids eventually in the shape of a playground or new furniture for the school!! Can you believe that the school is finally taking shape??? I am so looking forward to being back in our old neighbourhood. But it will be bittersweet for sure. The pictures that you will see is of us enjoying our forest. The children were given a task to create a design, pattern, build something using the nature around them. They could chose to work independently or in a team of 2. They also could not pick anything that was growing. Their creations were amazing! This last week we did another stem challenge ...it was called PERFECT SQUARE. I read a book called Perfect Square and then gave the children a square piece of paper and they had to make a 2d picture using the entire square of paper. They could not throw any bits out. They could fold it, pop it, cut it, rearrange it and then draw on it. And that's what they did!! Amazing creations!! They will share their work with each other next week. WE have been doing a geometry unit along with our numeracy. We have also been doing some butterfly science. Looking at what goes on inside a chrysalis. What is happening to the caterpiller as it changes into a butterfly. We talked about ERIC CARLE. Famous author and illustrator who just passed away last week. We watched him do his art on a video and he also read The Hungry Caterpiller to us. Eric Carle died at the age of 84. A brilliant and creative man who drew and enjoyed drawing since the age of 3!! Not only have we been doing butterfly science we are continuing to talk about body science. This week we focussed on Internet Safety. The does and donts of being on a computer. ASk your child if they remember the top five important things to remember when being on a computer. And with that...thank you for being wonderful and sharing your wonderful children with me! Can you believe that we have only one month left of school? That it is almost June??? Time has been flying!! And soon it will be summer. Time to relax and walk on the beach and have a picnic!! I so cant wait for that!! take care and enjoy the pictures! teri

Our BODY SCIENCE workshop with Saleem Noon was fantastic! I hope you were able to attend the session the night before to get a preview of what the children learned. If you didnt have time, here is a summary of waht was covered in the 45 minute workshop: 1)the four private parts of the body: mouth, genitals,breasts and buttocks. 2) that they have ownership of their bodies (basics of consent) 3) the scientific words related to anatomy and reproduction (vulva, penis, testicles, vagina, urethra, anus, uterus) 4) that reproduction happens when a sperm joins an egg, usually (but not always) through sexual intercourse 5) that the baby grows in the uterus (not the stomach) 6) that the baby is usually born through the vagina 7) that families are formed in different ways and are all unique 8) not to pick up condoms or needles. Then Sarah, our moderator, took time for questions. I was very proud of the children as they handled the information wiht maturity and took the discussion time seriously. One of the main messages that was was relayed to the children is that talking about their bodies is NOT a secret, but it is a PRIVATE topic. This means that conversations about private body parts needs to be done with a trusted adult in an appropriate place at the appropriate time: it is not expected to be talked about on the school bus, in the grocery story, on the playground, etc. If you would like to further support your child's sexual health education Saleem Noon has an excellent website and you can google her name. In class we will be continuing to process these concepts as well as continuing our unit called "Let's Talk about Touching". On Wednesday the children participated in another STEM challenge. Spring is a time for birds to build their nests for their eggs so the children were challenged to build a tree to hold a bird nest with two marshmellow eggs...they had to first build it with 6 cubes, then 10, then 18...they had to think about how to balance the cup and eggs on popsicle sticks that needed to be intersected as well as a base to support the entire tree. They had a blast!! They encouraged each other and shared ideas. Check out their smiles and their trees. Our Painted Lady Caterpillars arrived on Thursday and we did some observations...they are already wanting to build their chrysalis's!! They are our new class pets! It has been a busy and wonderful week. We are on our homestretch now. Only about 6 weeks left! Isnt that crazy??? I hope the children are having as much fun as I am. (Did they tell you I had a zero day one day???) argh...flat tire coming to school , then getting a parking ticket because i couldnt drive it past where I did and thought I was parked legally, but I guess I wasnt!!) That was how my day started, but the children said they would work hard at filling my bucket and by the end of the day..it was FULL! and I was a TEN and that is all i have for you today..enjoy the pictures!! xo ms. t