After coming across a science post about bubbles freezing and shattering in cold temperatures, I decided we needed to try this!  So yesterday we went outside (it was about -5 C) to blow bubbles.  I have never thought about doing this activity in the colder weather.

In order for the bubbles to freeze and shatter (as described in the science post) the bubble needs to be caught on a wand and held for a few minutes... needless to say our bubbles only lasted long enough for a child to reach them and pop them with their hands!  However, we found that the bubbles lasted longer - in the sense that they did not pop on their own - they would float through the chilly air until a child popped them or they landed on a nearby tree.  

We will try this experiment again, maybe on Thursday, and this time try to catch out bubbles on our wands and wait for them to freeze.  I hope you also try this experiment at home and let us know how it works out! 

Here are our self-portraits for the month of February.  This is one of my favourite activities to complete with the children!  They have shown great improvements in their fine motor skills.  Also included in these photos is a great picture of Jenn and Jenny drawn by Luka :)

What fun we have had with Stone Soup!  At our Stone Soup literacy counter the children can look at different versions of this tale and also retell it as they mix up their own stone soup with manipulatives.

We have read the following versions of stone soup:

• Stone Soup, by Jon Muth
• Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown
• Fandango Stew, by David Davis
• Bone Button Borscht, by Aubrey Davis

Thank you to everyone for sharing your veggies so that we could enjoy our own stone soup at school!  Sitting around a circle, the children shared what they had brought to contribute to our soup.  We then sang the stone soup song (sung to the tune of Frere Jacques) as we took turns putting our veggies in the soup pot:
We have ______________
We have ______________
In our stone soup
In our stone soup
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for sharing
Yum, yum, yum!
Yum, yum, yum!

In the soup pot was also one large stone (boiled on my stove prior to entering our soup... and I use the same stone every year so it's really clean by now!), a bay leaf, salt and pepper, and vegetable broth.  The morning soup ended up very spicy as there was too much pepper in our soup.  You will see this reflected on the children's faces in the photos below!  The afternoon soup had less pepper in it, making it much more enjoyable!

Welcome to our new student, Anna, who is starting in the afternoon class today :) 

Thank you to Luka's Mom, Miep, and baby Jude who came for a classroom visit on Wednesday!

We sat in our community circle with Jude lying in the middle.  We then went around the circle and the children had the opportunity to ask Miep questions about Jude's development.  Many children also told us about "their babies" (aka younger siblings) too.  We used building blocks to measure how long baby Jude is - 9 blocks long.  Next time when he comes for a visit we will measure him again to see if/how much he has grown.  At the end of our visit we sang Jude songs while Miep took him around the circle to let the children hold him if they wanted. 

We had a great Valentine's Day!  

Thank you for ensuring your child had valentine cards to deliver to her/his peers.  It is a very exciting day for the children, and I always worry that someone will have forgotten their cards at home.  I was really impressed that the children were able to recognize some of their peers' names as Jenn and I helped them deliver their cards.

We also had some special Valentine's centres for the children this day.  On the SMART Board the children drew 'Valentine's Pictures", at the art centre they created valentine cards and decorated foam hearts, they played a toss game with gummy hearts, completed heart puzzles, and created patterns with two different kinds of heart erasers.  We then had snack (a big thank you to the families who brought in snacks to share) and opened our valentines.

Dinosaurs
By Rayyan

First there was a red dinosaur.
Then a blue dinosaur comes to play.
And the last dinosaur is friends with the blue dinosaur and the red dinosaur, and he's the colour orange.

I am a little behind on my laundry thank-yous! 

• Thank you to Augustus' family for washing our clothing at the end of January.
• Thank you to Seth's family for washing our clothing last weekend.

Continuation
By Augustus

Once upon a time in a continuation of a story, the bear and the squirrel were teaching each other things.
But suddenly - poof - they were in a different world.
The powerful, powerful, powerful encyclopedia brought them to the new world.
They saw no creatures, no trees, no other animals.
They only saw a new world full of different creatures.
And those new creatures were dinosaurs.
To be continued...

Love
By Gabriella

Once there was a cow, he was playing all day on his eyeball.
A pen comes up and writes on a piece of paper.
The pen draws an eyeball.
Three zombies have a battle with the cow and the pen.
Three princes come up and help the cow and pen.
The zombies fall down and they sleep for one hundred years.

Zombies Vs. Pirates and Monsters
By Nathan

There's five pirates swimming to find treasure.
And there's two zombies guarding the treasure.
The pirates reach land and they fight them.
And there's two monsters - their colours are black, blue, and pink - they eat the zombies.
The pirates win and get the treasure.
The end. 

Unicorn and Princess
By Leia

Once upon a time a princess was playing in the castle.
And then the unicorn was eating hay. 
The unicorn was by the castle so the princess went out for a ride.
The end.

The Little Girl and the Unicorn
By Megan

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Megan who had a unicorn.
And she gave her a ride to school everyday.
And there was a monster chasing after the unicorn and the little girl.
And the unicorn used the magical horn and little wings to fly.
And the unicorn flies super fast, but walks really slow.
She flied Megan to school. 

The Narther of the Fiercest Pirates
By Aroh

Once upon a time there were three pirates.
One of the pirate's names was Aroh, and the next one was Elisha, the third one was Jesse.
One day a little girl was walking along, Aroh's ship - the Jolly Roger - came. 
They made the little girl walk the plank.
And then some sharks came, the little girl swam away.
Good thing she was fast, those sharks were as fierce as a podner monster.
To be continued...

The Pirate
By Samantha

A girl and a boy where taking the treasure away from the pirates. 
And then one day someone be nice.
The girl and the boy shared the treasure with the pirates.