Today we had our first community circle together. We are working on listening and speaking to each other with kind hearts, kind words and kind thoughts. 

We sit in a circle so everyone is equal. The use of a circle is important in many cultures around the world. Indigenous cultures here in Ontario have long used community circles for sharing and decision making among other things.

In our circle, the person who holds the stone is the speaker - everyone else is the listener. 

We will continue to have weekly community circles.

Today we read Saturday at the Food Pantry.

We learned that "everyone needs help sometimes."

Activism through kindness! 

We brainstormed ways that we can help.

Together we will create a care package for a local food pantry. There are many ways that you can help. If you are able, you could give food. You could also make something nice like the pictures Caitlyn and Molly made for the food bank.

 Cooking Class!

Another day of cooking together. Today we made cookies. We cooked in the staff room! So exciting!

Our ingredients went in the pot in order from least to most. So we had to arrange them together.

We took turns adding the ingredients. Can you see the big block of butter?

We realized that we needed heat to melt the butter. So I cooked the ingredients over the stove. Then we made observations:

"It smells like hot chocolate!"

"It is bubbling."

"It is dark brown now."

"It looks so smooth!"

We took turns each making our own cookie.

The best part - tasting!!!

Our final observations.

Success!

 I have been out of the classroom on some professional development. I am glad to be back with your beautiful children.

This week we have been exploring the idea of food insecurity - sometimes people do not have enough food to eat.

When Lulu doesn't have enough to eat, Hunger Monster follows her around. 

We are also learning about the concept of  symmetry.

We learned about the mirror line all together.

We are working on reflecting on our own.

 Fun Friday with Elephant and Piggy!

Gerald broke his trunk- can you remember the story of how he broke it?

Another Friday routine is watering our baby plants.

They are growing!

"My plant needs water 'cause it needs to grow. It goes in the window because we need to make sure it has sunshine."

"It needs water and some sun. It needs looking after."

"It needs water and soil. We need it in the window so it gets sunlight."

Today we read Happy Belly Happy Smile.

Louie looks forward to going to his grandfather's restaurant each week. They eat special family dishes together.

What special family dish will you share with us for our class recipe book?

Outdoor learning! 

What shapes can we find outside? Are the things we find made by people or by nature?

"I found diamonds in the fence. The fence was made by people"

"I found this square of ice! It was made by nature"

"I found triangles! "

"This tree trunk was is a cylinder and it was made by nature."

 Today we read Yasmin the Chef.

Yasmin's family has special food they make for family traditions.

We talked about our different family special foods.

In connection to the above conversation, we talked about making a class recipe book! Please see the email that I sent home today. Here is an example of what each child's page will look like:

Mindful Monday - We continue with our monster meditations. Sometimes we are feeling frustrated - in the yellow zone. Taking a birthday cake breath (cupcake breath) can help us to steer clear of the red zone. Take a breath - and try again.

Our letter of the week is "Ii"

Can you find things that start with Ii around your house?

Continuing our look at food as an identity builder- we read Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji. 

Eating Roti makes Dada-ji feel POWERFUL!

We talked about the foods we eat and how they make us feel.

"I like to eat ice cream because it makes me feel cold."

"I like to eat cherries because it makes me feel sweet."

"I like to eat grapes because it makes me happy."