What a fantastic field visit we had at the Royal Alberta Museum!  A HUGE thank you to our parent volunteers who were able to help us on this day.  For the first forty-five minutes, the students explored the museum's galleries in small groups (led by teachers and volunteers).  We then met in the lunch room for a quick snack break.

The last hour was spent in the discovery room.  This is a special room for school bookings, with changing hands-on exhibits for children.  As you will see from the photos below, the kids were busy with all sorts of activities relating to prehistoric times.

Following our field visit, we asked the children to reflect on their experience.  We guided this discussion by asking them to think about what they liked, what they didn't like, what they wondered about, etc.  During our community circle, each child shared their thoughts on their time at the Royal Alberta Museum.  

• Rayyan: I wonder if Spineosaurus has teeth?
• Luka: There was a lot of dinosaurs and the King of the dinosaurs is Tyrranosaurus Rex and he’s my very favourite. I was mad he wasn’t there.
• Megan: I wonder if the T-Rex’s sharp teeth were flat teeth?
• Leia: I didn’t know what that green dinosaur was called.
• Nathan: I liked the fishies and I liked playing with the computers, they were so fun.
• Amelie: I liked when we went to the butterflies.
• Tobias: I liked playing on the computers with Augustus.
• Gabriella: I liked everything.
• Augustus: I liked playing on the computers.
• Jasper: I like going to the museum and I sometimes go there, and there’s some scary parts, and sometimes they talk, and my cousins go there, and there’s a scene where they are killing the buffalo. I’m telling you all the parts of the Aboriginal part so that you know. And then there’s a dark and spooky part where you see their clothes, and then there’s a secret hall you go in, and then you walk through and it’s light again.
  

Following our field visit, we asked the children to reflect on their experience.  We guided this discussion by asking them to think about what they liked, what they didn't like, what they wondered about, etc.  During our community circle, each child shared their thoughts on their time at the Royal Alberta Museum. 

• Aroh: My group went to the Aboriginal part of the museum, and I was too scared to go where the dinosaurs were, so instead I looked at some rocks.  Kinan saw a beetle that looked scary. 
• Seth: I was scared about the dinosaurs and I liked to see the bug animals.
• Jesse: The T-Rex: I thought it was real at first when I was little.  But suddenly, I thought it wasn’t real. Then when we were at the museum at Drumheller there was a huge T-Rex.  There’s nothing that I think about there.  I liked the T-Rex, and I liked dinosaurs - how big they are. I liked that.
• Kinan: I love to play in the room, and I loved that those big dinosaurs. And I liked those fishy.
• Elisha: I liked where we could dig in that hard rock and find bones.  Me and my Mom are going to make that with pastry one day.
• Finn: I like the Indians the best at the museum.
• Kaliko: I liked the T-Rex and the dinosaurs, but I didn’t like the bugs.
• Samantha: I like to go on the swing and have fun, and I want to go back there again.
• Cooper: I forgot all the things yesterday, so I will tell about today. It’s Bridget’s visit day so after she left we will go to gymnastics. I always forget that.

Dinosaurs
By Amelie

One purple dinosaur named Amelie came along then another yellow dinosaur names Leia came along.
Then they walked along together and met a pink dinosaur named Megan.
And then they all made friends.
The end.

Pirates
By Jasper

Once there was a pirate that had three pirate sons named Looly, Grover, and Elmo.
They went on an adventure to Treasure Island to look for treasure.
There were zombies there guarding the treasure.
And then they fighted the zombies.
And then black and white dinosaurs named Whomee and Solo came.
And then two red and white dragons named Evenme and Starwars came.

A Little Boy Out in the Snow
By Elisha

A little boy is holding a snowball on top of the snow.
And then there's a snowball fight and he throws it and it splits into pieces and hits four people.

A Little Boy and a Little Rabbit
By Kaliko

A little rabbit and a little boy were playing in the snow.
And when they went inside the snow started to melt.
And then next night it started for pirate ships to come out.
And then next morning the pirates played outside and the little boy and the bunny played outside. 

Here is work on Triceratops: 

The afternoon class had a pirate dress-up this week.  We completed pirate activities like creating an authentic looking treasure map, making 'Wanted' posters, and playing 'Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate".  Having everyone dressed up like pirates led to a fun afternoon of imaginative play!  

A special thank you to Finn and Kaliko for sharing their extra pirate gear with their classmates.

We also played the pirate games/activities on this website: http://www.cbc.ca/kids/games/pirates/index.html

More and More Dinosaurs
By Luka

Once upon a time it was the rest of a story.
And then there was Tyrannosaurus Rex, and then a Velociraptor, and then they were friends.
It was a friendship.
And then there was Triceratops who bumped his friendship because he didn't want to have a friendship anymore.

Princess Megan
By Megan

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Megan.
She had two pet kitties named Elmo and Pearl.
There was a fire breathing dragon who tried to eat the beautiful princess named Megan. 
And the kitties just purred.
A prince came and puted a sword in the dragon.
And the beautiful princess went to a ball with the prince.

The Princess and the Dragon
By Dorine

Once upon a time there was a dragon and a princess.
One day they went to the park to play and it rained.  
And then they runned until they falled into the mud.
They hurried home and dressed up and they went to bed.
And then the early morning they waked up early and they went outside to play.
And then it was night and they sleep.
The end. 

Pirate and Barbie
By Ameilie 

Once upon a time there was an invisible pirate.
He went looking for a butterfly to help him. 
But then a castle appeared and a Barbie looked out the window.
The end.

Zombies Vs. Pirates Dinosaurs
By Nathan

One day there's two pirates swimming to an island.
The zombies were tere and the pirates were fighting them right now.
And there's dinosaurs - blue, purple, and black dinosaurs - fighting the zombies.
The pirates and the dinosaurs win.

The Pirate
By Samantha

A little girl is walking.
The pirates come and tear her away.
And one day there was a little girl, her name was Sam.
This girl steals the treasure away from the bad guy.

Untitled
By Seth

I love my mom so much and I like to play with the dogs.

"How do you Meet a Cow"
By Gabriella

First there was a cow and then a horse came up.
They played together all day and laughed and laughed.
Then they were so hot they got ice cream.
The flavours were chocolate and strawberry.
Horse read his own book and cow read her own book. 
And the books were: 'How do you Meet a Cow?' and 'How do you Have a Music Day?'

"Pirates"
By Rayyan

Once upon a time there were invisible pirates on a pirate ship and they were looking for buried treasure.
There were mean pirates that were not invisible and they hit the invisible pirates with their swords and knocked them in the water. 

"The Two Pirates"
By Finn S.

Once upon a time there was two pirates.
They were sailing and a wind came.
They fall off the ship but then they swam back to shore.
More pirates came.
The end. 

"The T-Rex Didn't Know What to Do"
By Jesse

Once upon a time a T-Rex didn't know what to do.
Another T-Rex came and they played hockey all the time.
The end.

Last week the children used puffy paint (a mixture of shaving cream and glue) to create snow scenes.  We quickly discovered that in order for the paint to remain puffy, it had to be dabbed onto the paper - rather than spreading it around with our paint brushes.  

Here are the children's self-portraits for the month of January.  We are so impressed with the growth we can already see in their drawings!  

A teacher sits with the children who are completing their drawings, cueing them to add details and hold their pencils correctly, but they do the drawings themselves.  We are very proud of their hard work! 

"Princess Leia Land"
By Leia

One day Princess Leia was playing in the water.
A storm comes and it rains.
Luke Skywalker comes and plays with her - they play leapfrog, they play with blocks too. 

"E-A-N-D-O"
By Tobias

In the forest a cougar was roaring at a lion.
They fight.

"Unititled"
By Kaliko

A little boy and a little girl were making a snowman.
And a big storm comed.
And then they went inside and then they went to bed and then it was close to summer.