Autumn's Here

Hello Dear Families and Friends,

Today was our fall celebration; we took the day to enjoy, appreciate, and truly celebrate this beautiful season. When we arrived this morning, the sky was dark and a storm looked to be very close by! Seemed a perfect time to stay indoors and make biscuits and homemade butter. I have to say, we sure have some talented cooks in our classroom. The biscuits turned out fluffy and delicious.

right out of the oven

We even made our own butter. We shook and shook until most of us could shake no more! Pretty soon our cream was a soft, yellow lump of butter. Tommy even said our butter was better than the kind from the store. I would have to agree.

shaking so fast
it's a blur!

a perfect fall treat

As the day went on, the storm passed and the sun shone in the windows and onto our artwork. It felt as though the sun was asking us to come out and play.

cover for our monarch folder

tracing with black glue

 I went for a walk in the leaves today. 
They rustled and crunched as I kicked them away.

our youngest gets a piggyback from our oldest
after falling behind

Inspired byVirginia Brimhall Snow's picture book called Fall Walk, we went on our own walk and collected leaves that had already fallen to the ground (we were sure to not pick any off of plants or trees). We found leaves of all shapes, sizes, and colours. When we got back to the classroom, we pressed our leaves between some paper and heavy boards.

Let's take a few home to press in a book. 

When you want to remember, open and look.

(image and poems from Fall Walk by Virginia Brimhall Snow)

We also came across something very interesting in Virginia Brimhall Snow's book today: a painting of a leaf just like one of Roger's leaves! We weren't too sure at first, but we compared the leaf's shape and margin (the side of the leaf) to a sample we had from Roger. The shape was a match and both leaves were toothed! The book told us Roger was a Linden Tree. I had never heard of a Linden tree, but when I did some further research, Linden Tree is another name for Basswood. And we do have Basswood where we live! Tomorrow we will do some further investigating to be sure we are correct.

And speaking of investigating, did you know we have invited a small creature to join our class for a little while? Myles is certainly the caterpillar whisperer. He found another furry caterpillar last Friday and we are studying her closely. This time, we think we have found a Tent Caterpillar. We are hoping we can see her through her lifecycle so we can meet her as a moth and be sure! We will keep you posted.

Well, that's all for today. Until next time, may you enjoy the autumn days!

With Love,

Ms Hadfield and crew

Meet Roger

our class tree
(who we named Roger)

Poet's Tree

Underneath the poet tree,

Come and rest awhile with me,

And watch the way the word-web weaves

Between the shady story leaves.

The branches of the poet tree

Reach from the mountains to the sea.

So come and dream, or come and climb –

just don't get hit by falling rhymes!

-Shel Silverstein

Our First Full Week

Looking back at the photos from our first full week, I noticed two things: fall is a breathtakingly beautiful season, and we have done a lot in a week! As we move through September, we are all feeling more comfortable with the routine here at school.

morning walk together: an important daily routine

finding a quiet place to journal

Last week, we began our morning word-work and printing, while our older friends created menus for our class restaurant.

Last week, Myles found this fuzzy little creature on his shoe during the Terry Fox Run.

We carefully put him back in the tall grass and decided to do some research. After an unsuccessful search at school today, and some deep investigations at home this evening, I think this is a Banded Tussock caterpillar. I would certainly be open to feedback if any of our readers have any information or thoughts.

If this is in fact a Banded Tussock, he will eat many kinds of trees and shrubs found in Manitoba and turn into a light coloured moth like this one:

    Zimlich, Robert Lord(n.d.).  Retrieved September 16, 2013, from 

www.bugguide.net

on the TerryFox run 2013

As we experience our days, we are keeping a close eye on the changing season. These beautiful watercolour paintings show warm and cool colours. It was fascinating to hear the kids describe the qualities of warm (orange, red, brown, golden yellow) and cool (blue, purple, light green) colours. Their descriptions were much better than I could have ever come up with myself.  

Warm colours are like the sun, fire, and they seem soft; they remind us of fall. Cool colours remind us of winter; they are icy and they seem almost hard. 

We hung our work up to dry and it is catching the morning light just beautifully.

May you have a peaceful and beautiful week,
Ms Hadfield

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
-William Butler Yeats

Colourful Caps

Last Friday we collected acorn caps out on the playground to make these magical little play-things. I had intended on making a basket of them to use for games and math, but no one was interested in parting with their shiny gems! I can sure tell why: they are stunning! Good thing there are plenty of acorns to be found and we will make more during our playtime this week.

After colouring the inside with washable marker, we filled the caps with the magic potion (white glue).


And we left for the weekend...

Almost dry

Look what was waiting for us Monday morning!

We're Stuck in a Purple Stew...

... Scooby Dooby Do!

Has someone from our class taught you that song yet? Have they told you about the K-3 garden?

Can you spot the carrot?

Last spring, the K-3 class planted a beautiful, purple garden that we just harvested purple potatoes, corn and beans from. It was exciting to pull up dry (and a little sad looking) plants and see purple, delicious potatoes! After harvest, we studied and sketched the vegetables; we also decided it would be best to make both a purple stew and some purple fries.

Celebrating September's Arrival

Here we are preparing the soup. Everyone was happy to help cut, chop, stir, and clean up. (You may have noticed orange carrots in our pot. These came from Ms Hadfield's garden.) Mrs Abrahams and some of our friends also whipped up some purple fries while we were making soup. They were delicious!

Chopping Potatoes

"There's our corn!"

Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog! Through a collection of photographs, journal entries, and observations we will share and celebrate our K-3 journey.  We post weekly, so be sure to check back often!

autumn evening 2013

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. 

There is no end to the adventures that we can have if we only seek them with our eyes open.

-Jawaharlal Nehru