Here is our work on pirate flags.  The children traced the skull and crossbones / skull and swords and then decided if they wanted their flags to be red or black at the paint centre. 

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post up!  Here is a look at how our pirate project began.  

We started with brainstorming what we already know about pirates.  We then spent a couple of weeks reading pirate stories, drawing pictures, playing with play dough, and pretending to be pirates.  This lead to thinking about what kinds of questions we have about pirates.  We created our "What do we want to know?" board, and have since spent our project time researching these questions.  

We are well into our dinosaur project and I thought I had made a post over the winter break but I now see that I didn't.  So, here is an update on our inquiry into world of dinosaurs:

In November we began by brainstorming what we already know about dinosaurs.  We then read different dinosaur stories and began exploring the world of dinosaurs through play at our learning centres. During our group times we discussed what questions we had about dinosaurs and how we could find the answers to our questions.   

Sorry it has taken so long for this post!  I hope you enjoy these photos and videos.  A big thank you to Jasper's dad, Marc, for taking such beautiful photos and emailing them to me so I could put them on this site.

The day after the snowflake festival we asked the children to reflect back on the experience and share with us their favourite part of the day.  Here is what they had to say:

The cookies ~ Amelie 
The candy canes ~ Augustus
The candy canes ~ Finn
Candy canes, hot chocolate, and cookies ~ Jasper
The hot chocolate ~ Justin
When the fox ate the gingerbread cookie ~ Luka (referring to the gingerbread story we read that day)
Hot chocolate ~ Megan
Eating the cookies ~ Rayyan
Cookies, chocolate, and candy canes ~ Tobias 

Performing The Mitten

Performing Snow Songs

Dear Families,

I have no photos of the afternoon class performance.  If you were taking photos, please consider emailing some to me so that I may post them on here.  I have emailed you a link to the video Kiwook (Aroh's dad) made, as it is much better than our recording.  

The day after the performance, we asked the children to share their favourite part of the Snowflake Festival during our community circle sharing time.  Here are their responses:

It was music ~ Aroh
Doing The Mitten ~ Avery
The doodle bug part with Miss Diane ~ Cooper
Singing music ~ Dorine 
Playing The Mitten ~ Elisha
Playing The Mitten ~ Finn 
Playing the drums ~ Kinan
I loved all of it ~ Lowyn
My favourite was playing bells ~ Seth
Singing and The Mitten ~ Talha
I liked singing ~ Tommy

Over the past week we have been reading a variety of gingerbread stories including The Gingerbread Man, by Carol Jones; The Gingerbread Man, by Jim Aylesworth; The Gingerbread Man, by Karen Lee Schmidt; Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett; Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett; and The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, by Laura Murray.  

We had a whole-group discussion comparing the characters in two different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  We also discussed how authors tell new stories using the gingerbread man after reading The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School and Gingerbread Friends.  On Thursday, the children decorated their own gingerbread person with Jenn and then told their own gingerbread story to Jenny.   

Amélie’s Gingerbread Story
The gingerbread girl was first baked and then after she was baked she ran away.  And after she ran away she met a bear; after the bear there was a big, giant wolf.  And then she met a butcher, and then she met a fox.  And then the fox said, “I cannot hear you, come closer.” And then he said, “I cannot hear you again, just come a little closer.”  And then, beware gingerbread girl you are going to be eaten!  “Then crawl up on my nose above the river.”  And then in a snip and a snap, he ate the gingerbread girl.

Augustus’ Gingerbread Story
I like to eat him. 

Daniel’s Gingerbread Story
He just went to a home with his mommy and daddy and then he went to school.  When he’s done he just plays with his mommy and daddy.  And then he went shopping, and he watched movies, and he just ate some dinner. 

Finn’s Gingerbread Story
The police were trying to get the gingerbread man and he tripped.  And then he went to jail and he broke out.  Then his leg fell off and then he had to go to the doctors.  And then a bear attacked him.

Gabriella’s Gingerbread Story
First, there was a little boy and a little girl who were baking a gingerbread girl.  And then the gingerbread girl went out and runned and runned.  And then a big fox came along and tried to kill the gingerbread girl to eat it up.  And he smelled it and ate it all up and that’s the end of my story.

Jasper’s Gingerbread Story
One there was a gingerbread man who had a mustache that lived in a gingerbread house.  He went for a walk and met a bear.  The bear chases after him and he had a rocket pack.  But the gingerbread man ran faster and faster.  Then he met a wolf and the wolf chased after him because he wanted to eat him.  And then he met a fox, but the fox didn’t get to eat him.  The fox tried to chase after him but he couldn’t go any faster.  Then he met all of the animals and then the chased after him and then he got eaten.  

Justin’s Gingerbread Story
Once upon a time there was a gingerbread man.  And he was baked, then he went out the door.  And then he went and he met a bear.  And then he met a wolf.  Then we met a butcher.  Then he met a fox.  Then the fox said, “Come a little closer, I can’t hear you.”  And he said, “Come a little closer, I can’t hear you again.”  And then he was eaten.

Kobe’s Gingerbread Story
The Scream gingerbread guy does scary things and he does nice things too. 

Leia’s Gingerbread Story
I put some icing on it and some sprinkles and that’s all I just put on – nothing else. 

Luka’s Gingerbread Story
Once upon a time a girl baked a gingerbread man and he had ginger dinosaurs all over him.  And then she opened the oven and he jumped out and he ran and met a bear.  Then he met a Mr. Letter and he tried to run after him and the gingerbread man ran fastest, he was very fast.  And then he met four sharks and the sharks met a girl and gave her the gingerbread man.  The End. 

Megan’s Gingerbread Story
My gingerbread woman got chased by a wolf and then she saw a bear.  And so the bear ate her!

Nathan’s Gingerbread Story
The gingerbread boy went along but he had no friends and he wanted one.  He goed and get a boy so he could play with him.  The gingerbread boy went home and played with is toys with his friend, and he watned to watch TV with his friend too.  He baked cookies with his friend and played toys with him, and play dough.  The End.

Rayyan’s Gingerbread Story
First the gingerbread man met a woman then he ran away fast.  Then he met a shark, then he met a fox.  The gingerbread man came closer and he ate him.  The End!

Tobias’ Gingerbread Story
I will eat my gingerbread boy. 

Aroh’s Gingerbread Story
Once upon a time there was a gingerbread man and he was running and walking.  He was made by a boy and a girl and he wanted to explore the boy and the girl’s house.  And then he got bored.  The End.

Avery’s Gingerbread Story
Once upon a time there was a gingerbread boy and he bumped his toe on a rock and then he wanted to go to the doctor and fix it.  And then he loved his toe that it was all better.  The End.  

Elisha’s Gingerbread Story
My gingerbread man wanted to go to playschool but a rock hit his toe and then his toe fell off.  He went to the doctor to fix it and the doctor put a little bandage and glue on it.  Then the doctor went to his office and the gingerbread man went home.  The End.

Finn’s Gingerbread Story
The gingerbread boy was singing a solo and the principal didn’t want him to sing it because it was too loud.  And then he had to do something else.  He decided to run.  The End.

Kaliko’s Gingerbread Story
This gingerbread girl was made by two boys and one girl sister.  And then when they were making her, the gingerbread cookie opened the door and she ran outside.   And then she got caught by a fox and that’s the end.

Kinan’s Gingerbread Story
I put some glue here and some glue too here.  First some eyes, then a mouth, then buttons.  Then sprinkles.  This is a gingerbread boy.

Lowyn’s Gingerbread Story
My gingerbread girl was trying to catch up to her parents and she went to her home with her parents and after she went to her home she wanted to go see Santa and she hurt herself at the mall where Santa was.  But she hurt herself and she went to the doctor to fix herself.  She went to the mall to go to a cookie store to get a cookie to eat at home.

Samantha’s Gingerbread Story
The gingerbread girl went past a boy and then her meet the boy.  Then her snuggle him, and jumped and danced.

Seth’s Gingerbread Story
My gingerbread boy likes to walk and have his buttons on and have a smile.  He goes camping with a friend.  They go on a slide and they like to go on swings.  And he likes to have his nose on. 

Lately the children have been building, building, building!  Today I took photos of their creations and asked them to tell me about them.  

This is a Firey-Diredy.  
It shoots venomous water at any kind of nasty creature. 

I built this all morning, it took so long! 

It's a water gun.
The water goes to a little flower. 

After reading a variety of books about winter and snow the children created a list of their favourite things to do in the snow.  We then voted on our personal favourite by placing a penguin beside the activity.

This graphing lesson was followed up by counting how many votes each activity received.  We then discussed which activities had the most and least votes. 

This afternoon an undergraduate drama class came for a visit.  We watched them perform 'storyacting' to a variety of Robert Munsch books.  The actors did not rehearse any of their acting, instead they improvised as the story was read aloud.  The children (and adults) giggled throughout the entire performance!  Here are some photos of the students performing Thomas' Snowsuit, 50 Below Zero, and Makeup Mess. 

Here is a video of the students performing Alligator Baby! 

"Three Little Ghosts"
By Jasper

There was a little ghost who was all alone and sneaking up on someone.
Then a ghost-car came and picked him up and he went to a Halloween party.
And then at the Halloween party he had some yucky treats - they were yummy to him and yucky to humans.
Then they played pin the tail on the witch.
Then he meets his friends and they go home from the Halloween party.
--------------------------------

"Seven Little Ladybugs"
By Kaliko

Seven little ladybugs playing at the park.
When their mom called them, they said, "Okay."
And then they played at home and didn't think about playing at the park again.
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"The Little Fishy and the Good Shark"
By Kaliko

The little fishy was playing at home and then the shark said, "Come on, it's time to play at the park."

"Dragon Princess"
By Dorine

There is a dragon and a princess and one home.
The dragon said, "Can I play in the park more?"
And then the princess said, "Maybe Monday."
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"Fishy Under the Ocean"
By Elisha

A ball got bounced onto the fishy's head.
And then the fish go caught and the ball got caught in the net.
There's an ugly ghost in the net too.
Spiderman comes to save them - he scares the ghost away.
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By Samantha

I did laundry with Grandma.
I just played with my mom.