Close Encounters...

....of the CHEMICAL kind.

On January 12 (yes...I am FINALLY catching up on blog posts!), we had a special visit from The Science Alliance.  We witnessed fantastic chemical reaction experiments that dazzled us!  Check out some pictures below. 

Whoa!  He must have a cold face!

Yikes!  Amazing!

Our very own Ayreal even had the chance to color a chapstick picture on goldenrod paper.  When she soaked it with Windex, a very interesting reaction happened!

 Science is AMAZING!

Investigating Solids

In our new FOSS curriculum there are some pretty cool hands-on activities.  We have already spent some time investigating the properties of liquids and are learning vocabulary words like transparent, translucent, viscous, and colorless.  Now, we are onto investigating the various properties of solids.  First, we took some time to check out a few solids that can behave like liquids.  Then, we mixed them all up into a "dry soup mix."  The students' challenge was to separate the five different solids using only some screens and their hands.  Check out the picture below:

Here are some of the conclusions we came to:

*Some solids are made up of different sized particles.

*You can use screens or your hands to separate a mixture of solids.

What fun! :)

Savvy Spenders

On Friday we had a special visitor - Mrs Hinsdorff from Johnson Bank.  She did a WONDERFUL job teaching us all about how to be savvy with our money by saving, spending, investing, and donating.  She explained these four principles to the kiddos and then let them put them into action at the Barrie Boutique.  A few pictures from her visit are below!

These are the four ways that led to being savvy with your money!  Mrs. Hinsdorff and the bank also showed us the recommended amount (out of $10) that we should allocate to each action.

Browsing the Barrie Boutique!

One of our donating options.

Tracking where our money was spent!


We definitely learned a lot from Mrs. Hinsdorff
and were thankful for her visit!

Please?

Our newest display outside the classroom is pictured below.  It is our appeal to whoever is in charge of winter and made it so late this year!

We made these snowmen so that they are looking up to the sky--as if saying, "Let it snow!"  The kids had a GREAT time making the scarves using a soda-straw weaving technique.  I promised the kids I would put a link on the blog that explains how to do this so that they could give it a shot at home (these can be great bracelets, scarves, belts, etc - and can be good holiday gifts, too!).  So, click here if you would like to view the a tutorial on soda-straw weaving (scroll down a bit to see the video).  The hardest part of this is the assembly.  After they got the hang of the weaving pattern, that part went very quickly!

The writing component of this project was equally fun!  As we explore the 6 + 1 traits of writing I like to do some fun projects.  This one involved "word choice."  We looked at the carol, "Let it Snow," and decided that we could tweak some of the word choices to make it a little more interesting than the traditional version.  Here are a few examples of our results!

I love how they all turned out!  And I hope our appeal works!  Let it snow!

Just Say No to Bullying!

As I promised in our most recent newsletter, I want to show you what we have been working on in response to bullying at Barrie School.  We have read lots of text and had many conversations about bullying - personal experiences and ones witnessed.  The kids have been very honest and sympathetic and I have appreciated their compassionate stances against bullying.  Below are some photos that detail the conversations we have had about what bullying is and what we can do to stop or prevent it.

This poster details Barrie School's definition of bullying.

A song (to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") about bullying.

Please check back for updates - including bystander roles and responsibilities and a video of the bystander pledge!

**UPDATE**

Check out our "Bystander Pledge" below!

(: Winter Program :)

On Thursday, we had a big day - TWO performances of our winter program.  The kids did a GREAT job and I was very proud of their hard work.  Mrs. Westby often commented on their cooperation and dedication during rehearsals.  Here are some pictures from the performances:

What a fun night and what a fantastic job all the K-2 kiddos did!  Below is a quick video of my FAVORITE number from the night.

Happy holidays!!