Learning About the Arctic

    As a class, we were very fortunate to learn about life in the Arctic from some serious experts! The Smith’s shared with us all about their experiences in Nunavut. We had spent the weeks prior to the presentation exploring Arctic life through stories and videos but learning from a classmate was a 
whole other experience.

    Many of the beautiful pieces that Robin brought in to share for the presentation belong to the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Center, a multi-service organization that provides educational, cultural, recreational and social support Ottawa’s growing Inuit community.  The programs are run by both parents and the community with the goal of fostering strong Inuit children, youth and families by providing a positive learning environment to enhance well-being, adaptability and strength.  

    When a child's family is involved in their learning, the classroom becomes an extension of their home. The first teachers that children know are their loved ones. Family involvement allows for there to be a flow between learning at home and learning at school. Children also feel a sense of pride when they get to bring their loved ones to class. 

    When a child sees their culture reflected within their learning environment they have affirmation that their beliefs and traditions are valuable and worthy. 

    Learning about another way of life broadens and expands the way children view the world. The world can seem pretty small through the eyes of a child, but each time they explore something out of their every day context they develop a new sense of understanding and compassion for others.

    When a child has extensive knowledge about the learning focus in the classroom, the teacher can step back and become the learner. When a child sees that their teachers can learn from them it gives them the confidence to share what they know. It allows the child to be the expert and feel successful in front of their peers, motivating them to become life long learners.

     We would like to thank Robin, Martha and Alex for coming in to share their knowledge with our class. Two weeks after the presentation we were still singing songs from the songbook. I will post the lyrics to the songs on the song page sometime soon!

    Extensive family involvement is something that makes Churchill such a wonderful place to learn and work. If you have anything that you could share that would add to the learning experience please let us know. The doors are always open.

Elf Academy

Here is another post that should have been done before the holidays. Unfortunately, I did not have internet access in my hibernaculum. Better late than never though, right?

Before the holidays, our classroom transformed into Elf Academy and our classroom was suddenly full of happy little Elves. The children decided their Elf names, what their specialty was and then they were sent off to work.

But before they got to work, they needed to become official elves!

The ceremony was very special. Some elves spoke in a different language which made it all the more interesting. It was quite an entertaining affair! Lots of laughs all around.

Each of the elves got to come up to the front where the Head Elf preformed the ceremony. They were so excited for their turns to come.

Head Elves from each of the four Kindergarten classrooms had come up with an important job for the Elves to do. One of the jobs was to create Reindeer food!

Another job was to create special little crackers with a special surprise inside!

At another station, Elves were working hard to create Jingle Bell Bracelets. The elves count out ten of each colored bead and string them onto the pipe cleaners.

One of the Head Elves Vanessa came in to talk about how to take care of a Reindeer. Vanessa has horses and taking care of a horse is similar to taking care of a Reindeer. She brought in tools and props to show the Elves. Here, the Elves are petting and brushing our resident Reindeer.

Some Elves taking a break from their hard work to play!

Hibernation

It has been quite a long time since our last post; you would think that we had been hibernating! And the photos that were posting in this blog post would be the evidence as they date back all the way to the beginning of December! 

As the temperature began to drop all the way back in the beginning of December, our focus shifted to hibernation. As a class we inquired about the different kinds of animals that hibernate during the winter, what kinds of shelters they create or use and we gathered information about the different animals themselves through books and video clips.

These photos were taken during our Hibernation Celebration. Here we see a bat and a bear living in harmony, handing our fresh baked cookies in their pajamas. 

Holly was wonderful helping the children create their hats. Here she is about to receive a cookie from a bat.

The children used the tent as a hibernaculum and brought along some tea to keep them extra toasty.

As a group we worked togeather to make a cave our of our puppet theater. The bats were made from hand prints and cut up pom poms and the floor of the cave was made of bits and pieces of natural materials.

We ended our Hibernation Celebration with a visit from our Study Buddies. The Kinders got to work with their older Buddy to create an animal out of plasticine and a hibernaculum to go with it.

Have you ever noticed your hands were sore after molding and shaping with plasticine? It is a wonderful hand workout! For children, building and creating with plasticine works fine motor muscles in their fingers and hands that are important for writing, zipping up zippers and buttoning buttons. Independence during the dressing routine is something that we are working on so the stronger their fine motor muscles are the better!

Witnessing the Kinders and the older Buddies collaborating their ideas was wonderful. 

Activities like this where the age groups are mixed allow for some interesting conversations. The Kinders are absorbing language, knowledge and sometimes even positive behaviors from their older Buddies.

This one was really neat. The two of them created a porcupine by breaking a stick into tiny pieces.

And then there was this bear. Absolutely adorable. 

Working on an art project like this with an older student gives the Kinders inspiration and ideas for using plasticine. It is an opportunity from them to learn and practice some techniques.