thank you to our library monitors!

We have a dedicated group of students in grades 4, 5, 6 and 7 who help out in the library. The check in books on the computer, shelves books and help put labels on books. On Tuesday at recess, I had a special snack for them in the library to say thank you for all that they do...bookworms and hot chocolate!

Thanks library monitors!
~Ms Novakowski

our paperwhites are blooming!

Divisions 8, 9, 10 and 11 were so excited today to see how much their plants had grown! We even had some blossoms to look at and smell! Some students thought the flowers smelled yucky while others thought they smelled like honey!

Some students noticed that the roots were getting longer just as the stems and leaves were getting longer. Some students also compared the plants and noticed that the plants with more buds and flowers had more roots. Very observant little scientists!

Ginger from division 9 thought the flowers are called paperwhites because they are white, smooth and thin like paper.

The students in division 10 created labelled diagrams of their plant and the students in division 11 used the KidPix in the computer lab to create drawings of their flowering bulb and then coloured them.

The students were so excited to see the entire growth cycle of this plant and to learn the scientific names for the different parts of the plant.

We also read a picture book called Paperwhite by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace which showed the preparation, caring for and growth of a paperwhite flower.

~Ms Novakowski

musical books

To introduce the primary students (divisions 8, 9 and 10) to some new books and maybe some titles they didn't realize they might enjoy, we played some rounds of musical books today. A book was placed on each chair and I played some music and the students starting walking around the circle.

When the music stopped, the students picked up the book at the chair they were by, sat down and starting reading it (reading all the words, some of the words or looking at the pictures) for a few minutes before we started the music again.

And around and around we walked and read!

~Ms Novakowski

bulb inquiry

Last week, divisions 8, 9, 10 and 11 each planted (in water) a flowering bulb. They made observations of the bulbs by zooming in and looking closely at it, including using magnifying glasses! They thought the bulb looked like an onion and noticed that it was shiny and brown but the stems were white with green at the top. They're not sure exactly what kind of flower they are growing and had all sorts of wonder questions about it...how tall would it grow? what colour will the flower be? what does the bulb look like inside?

This is what the bulbs looked like on the day we planted them:

One week later, the students were surprised how much the stems and roots had grown.

I wonder what they will look like next week?

~Ms Novakowski

more astronomy posters

Division 6 worked hard this week to finish up their astronomy mini-posters. The students needed to take their notes and create their own sentences and add at least three text features to their posters.

They did a great job and learned some lessons about sharing your work. We discussed how if we want others to read our work, it needs to be neatly done, appealing and interesting to look at too. So for this final stage of writing, presentation is important and a chance to practice our proofreading and representing skills.

A great first little project for division 6!

~Ms Novakowski