The Rosary Apostolate visited our classroom on Wednesday. This was their last visit of the schoolyear. We celebrated the fourth Glorious Mystery, the Assumption of Mary. After Mary died, she was taken away to be buried. Because she was Jesus' mother, and had never sinned, God brought her to heaven, body and soul. Mary was the first person Jesus took to heaven.

Our Dinosaur Inquiry Continues ...

How big is a T-Rex Footprint?

We are conducting a science experiment to see what will happen when carnations are placed in water with food colouring. Science experiments allow children to make predictions, observations and to explain their findings and to ask more questions.

Materials:
We used  white carnations and  blue, yellow and green food colouring.

Predictions:
Some of our students made excellent predictions: the flowers will shrink, the flowers will grow and the flowers will change colours.

Initial Observations:



The carnation placed in blue food colouring started to turn blue very quickly!














The carnation placed in blue food colouring also started to turn yellow!

The carnation placed in green food colouring had a few green "featherings".

Questions:
Some of our students questions included:

• How do the flowers change colour?
• Why did the flower in blue change first?
• How come the flower in green is not changing very much?

On Monday, we will discover more!

Math

Our students love representing numbers! We are practicing counting and writing numbers. We show numbers using words, pictures, dots, tallies, ten-frames and even math sentences (equations). The children are exploring the concepts of addition and subtraction by rolling a pair of dice and subtraction bowling.

Literacy

Our little ones are making great strides in reading and writing. Each day, they have an opportunity to read the morning message with the Student of the Day. On a weekly basis they write in their discovery journal. They must write their name for each journal entry and are encouraged to write a story. Senior Kindergarten students write their first and last names as well as a sentence describing their picture. Junior Kindergarten students write their first name and are now beginning to write words sounding out using "rocking fist." The Knights of Columbus and members of the All Star Reading Team read with our SKs individually on a weekly basis.

Snuggle Up and Read

The home reading connection is our Snuggle Up and Read program. While most children bring home books twice a week to share with their parents and caregivers, there are a few who do not send in  their folders on a regular basis. We urge you to consider the benefits of having your child "read" to you at home. Those who regularly participate make significant progress and are so proud of their achievements!  If you have any questions about how to make this program work for your reluctant reader, please feel free to contact us.

Dance Recital

A special treat on Thursday! Sophia in Grade Eight visited our classroom to share her love of dance. She performed ballet and tap dances. Students had a chance to look at her pointe shoes  (toe shoes) and costumes. They also were able to ask questions about dance, lessons and performing.