Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Planting Daffodils and Encouraging a Love of Nature






Hi Everyone,
One of the great things about being in Room 12 is that we are right next door to the school vegetable garden. Dennis has given us our own special patch right next to the scare crow.
Our friend Cheryl ( Sarah's mum) dug up some daffodil bulbs from her garden and the children had a lovely time planting them in our patch today. We also intend to plant some carrots, peas and other vegetables. We all made tags with our names on them to stick in the soil next to our bulbs so that we know which person planted each bulb.

My two plastic aquariums do not have any bugs living in them yet but I have a feeling that they won't be empty for very long.

I can honestly say that I have never before worked with a group of kids who are so into nature and the environment. I think the Earth has some marvellous caretakers coming through in the next generation.

We have been watching episodes of Pingu this week. There has been lots of laughter in our classroom. Pingu is a very expressive penguin! We have been retelling the stories in our own words after watching the DVD. I had forgotten how clever the creators of this series were. Pingu doesn't speak English and there is no narrator but the children certainly 'got the message' and that is what our theme is all about this term.

We also spoke about what we can do if we are worried about things. We discussed where we store our worried feelings in our bodies. Some students said they stored them in their tummies or throats and all over their faces. WE decided that the best thing to do when we are worried about anything is to tell a grown up that we trust. During the week we will be using the fingers of one hand as a reminder of 5 safe people to share our worries with. The children will develop a home set and a school set. Click on the picture of Pingu to read a great PDF sheet about Protective Behaviours and 'safety hands'.

On Thursdays this term we will have our art session in the afternoon. The kids are really looking forward to that.

I told you it's going to be a busy term!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Time Whizzed By!


Hi Everyone,
Time whizzed by today but we are all settled into our new classroom and the kids seem to be very impressed with it!
For the next few weeks we will only have my teacher lap top to work on as our new classroom computers have not yet arrived.
We really miss our Smart Board already!
This term our theme is 'Get the Message'. We will be looking at all the different ways in which we can communicate with each other using our bodies, our emotions and all sorts of simple and complex tools.
I hope everyone had a great rest over the Easter break because it is going to be a very busy term.