Free-Form Collages

Collecting our papers.

We read about the famous artist Henri Matisse. He created amazing artwork. When he was older and no longer able to stand at an easel to paint, he cut out shapes and made collages. Matisse called this "drawing with scissors." We cut out free-form shapes and created our own collages inspired by Henri Matisse. After we started our collages, we stopped and took a gallery walk to see what everyone had been up to. It was neat to hear the compliments that were shared and the ideas that we took back to our work. We think our collages look fantastic.

Lots of artists and Room 2 like to stand while they create.

"Drawing with scissors" and planning our pieces. 

Taking a gallery walk to see the work in progress. 

Back to work.

Here are our thoughts:
I like drawing with scissors. He used to paint, but when he got older he just cut out stuff. -Jake
I enjoyed cutting out shapes. -Gavin
I enjoyed placing the coloured paper onto our sheet and cutting them out. -Anna
I liked to cut out the shapes. It was fun to make shapes and put them on the paper. -Cady
I liked when the shapes were done. I loved the picture I made because the shapes were really good. -Bapreet
You just make random shapes and you don't have to draw to make them. You can close your eyes and cut. -Brady
I loved when we cut out the paper. I glued the shapes on the paper anyway I wanted. -Landyn
I had fun working with scissors. I learned that Henri Matisse can draw without using pencil or crayon or marker. -Levi
I had fun learning how to draw with scissors. I made some neat shapes. Naomi
I learned that Henri Matisse was an artist and as he got older he drew with scissors. -Sierra
I learner that Henri Matisse did not give up on making pictures. -Zachary
I liked cutting shapes. -Jay Dee
I learned that he made pictures with paint and then he drew with scissors. -Eliza

Here are our collages!

Valenhundreds Day!

We celebrated friendship with our valentine exchange on Friday. The students designed their own valentine card holders. It was interesting to see how they held up to the test of holding all the cards and treats. Before we opened our cards the students were able to tell the class if their design was effective and if they would change anything.

We also celebrated 100 Day with stations in the afternoon. It was so much fun to move through the different activities that were set up in room 2 and 3.

Here are our thoughts:
I liked when we made the 100 Day headbands and went to all the stations. -Cady
I loved when we made the 100 fruit loop necklace and after we ate it. -Sierra
I liked giving cards to all my friends. -Russell L.
We made hats and it said 100 on it. I loved the part where it folded down. -Anna
I liked when we got all the goodies for Valentine's Day. -
We celebrated Valentine's Day and 100 Day. We did activities. All the stations were interesting. -Brady
I liked getting treats on Valentine's Day. I gave everyone gum and a card. -Russell A.
When I put stuff in my folder it fell a couple times. I leaned it against the wall. It held all my cards and candy. -Eliza
I looked funny as a 100 year old man. -Ethan
It was fun when we made the hats because we got to dab the strips. -Landyn
100 Day was fun. My favourite station was when we got to see what we might look like when we are 100 years old. -Jake
I made a hat. -Jay Dee
I liked it when we made the necklaces. I wanted to have two necklaces. It was yummy. -Naomi
I liked the treats from Valentine's Day. -Josh
My card holder worked. It was tiny, but it fit all the cards. -Cody
I liked getting valentine cards from my friends. -Callum
100 Day was fun. I liked making my valentine folder. It held my candy and my cards. -Gavin
100 Day was awesome. I liked the candy I got in my valentine holder. -Zachary
I had fun at the 100 Day stations. My favourite station was the fruit loops station. -Levi
My valentine holder worked. There were lots of cards in it. It did not fall off the counter. -Bapreet

Thank you to the volunteers who helped out at the stations. We really appreciate all your kindness and support. I don't think we could have packed anything else into this exciting day. I can't wait to see all the learning we will do in the days ahead!
-Mrs. T :)

Design Process

We created marble runs during our IBL time with Mrs. Dent Scarcello. The unit we worked on was called Characteristics of Objects and Materials. There were many recycled materials that were brought in to help us with our designs. The students had to do lots of planning and problem solving during the process.

Here are our thoughts:
You don't have to give up or quit because you could make it work. -Callum
I had trouble building the marble run. Plan A did not work, Plan B I made a change and it worked. -Jake
The marble run I made was fun to make. I had trouble with the marble going through and coming out, but then I changed it to be taller. -Russell A.
I liked putting the marble down my marble run. -Cody
It was really fun building my marble run because I got to tape things together. -Levi
The marble went all the way down. I had to pull out the magazine roll to get out the marble. -Gavin
It was hard to make it because there was tape that was sticking onto the marble so I had to put a marble down and the other marble hit the stuck marble and then it went down. I took part of the tape off so the marble would not get stuck. -Brady
I liked when I made the marble run. It was fun to put the tape on. -Landyn
I had to put some new tape on the bottle so the toilet paper roll would stay on. -Zachary
I used a box, toilet paper rolls and tape. -Russell L.
It was hard to put some stuff together when the marble got stuck in places. I took toilet paper roll and the solo cup and I left one cup on and it ran down. -Sierra
I liked when we put the stuff on. I used toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls and tape. -Eliza
I made a marble run. -Jay Dee

I learned to not staple popsicle sticks because it won't work. -Naomi
I learned to not tape the toilet paper roll because it won't stay on properly. We hot glued it on and it worked. -Anna
I used a cereal box. I put tape on it. I used toilet paper rolls. -Ethan
The marble goes fast. It lands in an egg carton. Josh
My marble didn't fall down to the bottom. I made straws to make it like a game. The marble doesn't go the same way every time. -Bapreet
We made marble runs. We had to make changes. I didn't know how to make a loop in the middle so I changed the plans. -Cady.

Wow, what creative thinking. It was great to see that many students realized their original design was not possible, but were able to make necessary changes to meet the criteria. We had to think like real scientists. Could you imagine what it would be like if inventors and designers gave up if things didn't work the first time? Maybe some of our grade ones will be future designers.
-Mrs. T :)

Letters of Kindess

We have written letters of kindness to important people in our lives. We hope these letters help to put a smile on someone's face and to make someones day a little brighter. Please help us share kind words with others each day. I am so proud to see and hear the grade ones making kind gestures and choosing their words carefully.

Here are our thoughts:

My dad will be happy because he likes getting letters. -Callum
I felt good when I finished my letter because I think my brother will like it. -Jake
I think my dad is going to feel happy that I made it. I will feel good when dad sees it. -Gavin
When my dad gets my letter he will be really warm in his heart. -Brady
My dad will feel happy when I give him the letter.  -Landyn
My sisters will like my letter. -Ethan
My brother will feel happy when he gets the letter because he does a lot of good things for me. -Levi
I think my brother is going to feel so good. He's going to give me a hug. -Zachary
I wrote to Kaitlyn because we always play with each other and we like it. -Naomi
Mommy will smile when she gets my letter. -Jay Dee
Maxx will feel surprised and he will give me a big hug. -Sierra
I hope my friend will feel warm inside when I give her my letter. -Bapreet
Kevin will be surprised when I give him the letter. I think he will call me. -Cady
I felt happy when I wrote the letter to my uncle. It was hard kind of because I had to write lots of words. It was fun. -Anna

Thank you for helping us get our messages to the people we wrote to. We are always trying to share kind words with others. -Mrs. T :)

It Only Takes One

We watch this video often. It reminds us how even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference to someone's day. We hope you enjoy the message.

Here are our thoughts:
I say hello to many people. -Ethan
I helped people carry in their stuff at school. -Jake
I made a friend feel happy because I wrote something nice to her. -Sierra
I made cards for my friends. -Bapreet
I play with friends. -Jay Dee
I asked asked my brother if he wanted to play a game with me. -Levi
I open  the door for my dad when he comes home from work. -Landyn
I helped my sister reach her bathing suit. -Anna
When my mom has a lot of groceries I take some and put them in the house for her. -Brady
I help my parents when their backs are sore. I help around the house. -Josh
I play with my brothers. -Callum
I help my dad hook up trailers. -Cody
I write nice letters to people. -Cady
I help out around the school. I make deliveries. -Russell. L.
When someone is lonely I ask if they want to play with me. -Zachary
I say I love you to my mom and dad. -Gavin
I play with my friends and I always say nice things to them. -Naomi

How can you make a difference?
-Mrs. T:)

How Are You Feeling?

The grade 1s have been talking a great deal about our feelings. We have been doing lots of role playing and we are getting very good at being able to tell how a person is feeling by looking at someone's face and by looking at how a person moves their body. Everyone has different feelings. We will be talking more about identifying our feelings and strategies to help us deal with them. We watch this video called, "Just Breathe" often to as we discuss how we are feeling.


Here are our thoughts:
When I breathe in my nose and out my mouth I will be calmer. -Brady
When I am very excited I have to take a breath to help me calm down. -Landyn
When I am angry I punch a pillow. -Levi
I take three breaths to calm myself down. -Cody
When I am mad I have to breathe in and out and close my eyes. -Bapreet
I don't get mad a lot. I feel happy. -Jake
I can take breaths to feel better. -Russell L.
When I get mad I need to remember to take a deep breath. -Callum
If I feel bad I don't like being mad. I could take a deep breath. -Gavin
If I am angry I go in a quiet spot or I punch a pillow. -Josh
I take three breaths. -Ethan
When I get mad I go to my room for a bit and I sit on my bed. -Eliza
Sometimes I get mad so I calm myself down my taking a deep breath. -Zachary
Sometimes when I get mad I go to my room and lay down for a little bit and watch T.V. -Sierra
When I get angry I walk away. -Naomi
When I am mad sometimes I react. I could go in my room and breathe. -Cady
When I get mad I go and take a break in a quiet space. -Anna

Sometimes we are too upset to talk to someone and that's when things are said or done which may lead to hurt feelings. We need to calm ourselves so we are ready to speak and listen to each other respectfully. This takes practice. I know we are all working hard at finding strategies to calm ourselves so we are ready to learn and behave positively.
Remember to breathe.
-Mrs. T :)

Inquiry Based Learning

We started our IBL (Inquiry Based Learning) work in science with Mrs. Dent Scarcello. We are looking at the characteristics of objects and materials. We made predictions and saw a video about how gummy bears are made. Mrs. Dent Scarcello had some really neat building blocks and materials for us to explore.

Here are our thoughts:
The wood blocks were hard. -Cody
I liked to find out what the objects were made out of. -Cady
I felt the foam blocks and they felt squishy. -Brady
I like building and feeling the different blocks. -Landyn
Gummy bears are made in a factory. I like to eat gummy bears. -Levi
I built a tower with plastic blocks. -Josh
All of the materials felt different. -Callum
We learned about how to make gummy bears. -Bapreet
At IBL we learned how things are made. -Jake
I built the Children's Museum. -Russell L.
I enjoyed looking at how things are made. -Gavin
Blocks are hard. -Jay Dee
I liked when I was feeling the toys and at the end I built a tower out of foam blocks. -Zachary
I liked it when we were working on what stuff is made of. -Eliza
I built the zoo. Ethan
I found out how some things are smooth and rough. -Sierra
I enjoyed building tower of blocks. We made the Eiffel Tower. -Anna