This week we made Pho which we learned is Vietnamese noodle soup

These are some of the ingredients that we needed to prepare

Yvette shows us the different ingredients - these are two different kinds of onions.

We waited patiently for our turn to help.

Then we got to help Yvette by cutting up all the ingredients

We had to keep the different vegetables seperate because 

some take longer to cook than others

We cut everything into bite-size pieces

Then waited for it to cook

Everybody tried some

And the majority of the class really liked it!

Many of our friends had seconds

The Pirate Ship (and the Treasure Chest)

This week we played with the pirate ship again

It was a very popular toy and alot of our friends wanted to have a turn with it

We waited patiently and took turns - 

the pirate ship also has only one treasure chest 

So Clayten made his own

And so did Noa

Decorating our Snowperson

We helped decorate a snowperson for our holiday party 

Dominic draws a sun on the snowperson's body

Clayten, Ashton, and Domenic play with the new marble track

Mayu and Ella show me the marbles

We painted with a wide variety of tools

Adam plays with the magnetic abacus

Justin reads a book

Weston plays with the sand

Ella experiments with the coloured blocks and the light shining through them

Clayten noticed this pig in the hall...

...and so he made one of his own!

Weston builds a fire truck

Ella and Noa climb on the playground

Justin, Domenic and Erik try to escape the zombie

Adam and Clayten play with the animals

Dominic tells Ella a secret

Weston pulls Ella and Adam around the gym

And Patricia visits the salon

Weston irons Patricia's hair

And Noa twists it

And now for an ICE exploration update:

We were playing at Garden City Park on Monday

It was quite cold

And we noticed that there was a whole lot of ice on the ground

We also took note of the grate which appeared to lead to the pond

So we wnt to check it out

This was the other end of the tunnel

And sure enough, we were at the pond

The pond was covered in ice which we very quickly began to investigate.

It was very cold and we decided that it would not be a good idea to swim in it.

We cracked off pieces

We threw pieces and watched them shatter -

They made a very interesting noise as the shattered pieces scattered across the ice

In this clip you might be able to hear it if you listen closely

Then we went into the tunnel

Which lead to the grate we had seen at the park so we called the rest of the class over

We talked about safety - it is not a good idea to walk on the ice 

it might not be thick enough to hold our weight.

The ice had things like leaves and sticks frozen into it

Some of the ice was quite thick

Clayten managed to turn this log over - it had been frozen stuck in the ice

A few of us fell in the mud but no one complained - 

the ice was so interesting and exciting that it was worth it!

Then we went back to school to get changed and have lunch!

What an amazing time we had! We were so lucky to have found such an incredible tie-in to the very thing we have been discussing in the classroom! We were all wet and muddy by the time we left but it was fine because we knew we had clean dry clothes waiting for us at school. Plus we got to play with the ice and get some real life, hands-on experience with it! 

Coming up next week - we will be doing bottle returns and collecting money for our sponsor families so that we can buy some presents for people who need them. 

Thanks everyone,

Nicole

The cold weather that we have been experiencing and 

the discovery of frozen water outside has lead us to begin exploring ICE!

PAINTING WITH ICE

Paint powder + ice 

Equals beautiful paintings!

Clayten paints a turtle

Justin experiments with different colours

We broke into work groups to take a closer look at ice.

While we touched the ice and drew pictures we also 

brainstormed some of the things that we know about ice.

Weston taught us that ice begins with the letter "I"

In order to allow all the children to be heard and to more closely look at ice, we will be meeting with our work groups at least once a week.  We are all excited to see what the different groups will learn and  to share our findings with each other. At the moment we have a group finding out what will happen if water is left outside, one group will be adding dirt to their ice next week and one group is finding out what will happen if they put their melted ice back in the freezer. 

ICE AND FOOD COLOURING

Using eye-droppers we added food colouring to trays of ice

Mixing colours

Individual cubes of ice

All the ice in one tray - and lots of green and yellow!

TWO SPECIAL GUESTS!

Ashton's Grandpa Randy is a retired fire fighter.

He showed us how to crawl under smoke if there's a fire.

We learned a lot about fire safety

He showed us one of his helmets that is burnt from a very hot fire.

We couldn't try on the helmet because it is so heavy that it might hurt our necks.

He taught us that we should all sleep with our doors closed at night. If there is a fire a closed door will help keep the smoke out.  Smoke is very dangerous because if we breathe it in, it could put us to sleep and then we won't be able to get out of the house on our own.  We know that if there is a fire the fire fighters are there to help us. They have to wear alot of protection which might make them look a bit scary, but we should cooperate with them because they know all about fires and the best way to protect us! Thanks Randy!

We also made bannock bread with Mr. Lai

It had all sorts of delicious fruits and seeds in it.

We helped mix the ingredients together, then we rolled it into a ball 

and flattened it out so that it was ready to bake. 

We all took home warm bannock bread that day!

Thanks Mr. Lai!

INDOOR PLAY

The car garage was a big hit

The cars went up and down the ramps...

...and made their way over to the blocks as well!

Erik and Ashton checked out the new gears

They made them spin!

Noa enjoys a quiet moment

Ashton made some interesting patterns

and kept adding to them!

The pirate ship

and the treasure!

Kiva blocks...

...and wooden cars!

The blue sand made another appearance.

These dinosaurs got quite a workout!

Ella wore her Superhero outfit

Justin told me that he mixed these crayons up on purpose :)

Adam practiced his letters

Clayten drew a rainbow

Adam drew a giraffe

Dominic drew a cat, and Randy drew a cat and a pig

Weston couldn't get enough of the playdough - 

"Why does it smell SO good?!?!" 

OUTDOOR PLAY

Spinning at Terra Nova Park

It was very slippery, so we had to tread carefully

Matthew plays hide-n-seek

There was alot of discussion about what might live in this hole.

In anticipation of Wee Walk, we went for a walk around the field on our way to the playground.

I like to call this the "barf bucket"

It doesn't seem to make them feel sick though

Many of them enjoyed taking turns being in it, and spinning their friends!

We went to Dixon Park on Friday

Weston was excited to try the fire pole

There was alot of challenging equipment...

...and we were up for the challenge!

Climbing,

Sliding,

Tune in next week: same bat-time, same bat-blog!

Nicole