As part of our winter/snow activities we have been experimenting with ice and paint that has been watered down. I never expected this activity to be so popular. The children are thoroughly enjoying squeezing primary colours onto the ice using pipettes and have asked to do it every day for a week. They have watched frost form on the ice, they have colour mixed, they have stacked and balanced the ice, they have melted the ice, they have worked together to decide which colours to use and they have been developing their fine motor skills. Overall, this activity has been a win for them AND a win for me.
 When I looked for a picture of the Valentine cards I remember giving when I was in elementary school I had to use the search term "vintage". Boy am I dating myself! Every card was printed on sturdy thin cardboard and no two were the same. They all had to be cut out by hand and one had to be very selective who received which card lest the message conveyed something unintentional. I remember spending hours cutting, choosing the perfect beneficiary, and laboriously printing names the night before Valentine's Day. No fancy stickers, toys, lollipops or candies involved, just homemade cupcakes to share with the class.
For most of Team Awesome this will be the first experience with Valentine's Day and cards and the children have a general idea what its all about. We will be doing some activities like crafts with hearts throughout the week but of course will go all-out on Friday. Goodies to share with the class are most welcome and fruits and veggies always go over well with the children. Please make sure the 'To' and 'From' parts on Valentine cards are filled in before coming to class as we will not have time on Friday to do that. Have your child bring them in a bag and then put the whole bag in the Home Box so they don't get lost- we will hand them out after recess. I will try (for my own sanity) to dissuade the children from eating the candies that are attached to many cards and sometimes cards get mixed up with someone else's when we are looking at them. Here is a class list of names to help with cards: Trey Thomas Carson Myles Kaden Iszaac Jude Aidan Beni Alysa Ally Beth Tayja Tarynne Jersey Nessaya Logan Ok. Enough with the cold weather all ready. And it wasn't even sunny today to make up for it. I don't know about you, but my fingers (and toes!) are crossed for no inside days next week.
 If there was a gold medal given for perseverance, every member of Team Awesome would have received one today. It made my heart sing to see the sheer determination from those new skaters on the ice this morning. It also made me a little ashamed of my own lack of similar joyful determination when learning something new and difficult. Many of the children had never been on skates (as evidenced from the spaghetti legs and slapstick falls) and spent more time getting up than they did actually staying up. And some of those falls were hard- there might be bruises. But not one single child asked to have their skates taken off early. Not one of them complained or cried or whined. And every face had a beaming smile despite the difficulties some of them were having staying on their feet, much less actually moving. And a big thank you to those parents and grandparents who were able to come with us today. It makes activities like this so much easier when there are extra adults to help out. In the midst of the chaos of getting ready I forgot my camera at school (insert very sad face here) but Tayja's mom Laurie snapped a few pictures and sent them to me so I will add them to this post. I will be sure to take the camera on February 20 so you can all see what I had the privilege of seeing today. I was so proud of Team Awesome!  We are possibly looking at our third indoor day in a row tomorrow according to The Weather Network and perhaps Friday as well. I know I asked last Friday for some sunshine but I certainly wasn't anticipating the cold to go with it. The old saying "Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind. We were lucky today that the intermediate classes were on a field trip so we had recess in the gym and Mrs. Farber invited us to join her after recess to play with her Ks and Ms. Manson's class. We made up games with balls and other equipment and Ms. Manson showed us the chicken dance. The primaries were in the gym at lunch today but the intermediates get it tomorrow if its too cold outside and we'll have to play in our classroom like yesterday, which makes for a very long day. Just in case we do go outside, please make sure your child has appropriate outerwear.
We have been counting down the sleeps until we go skating since last week and most of the kids are excited but some are a bit anxious because they don't know how to skate. We discussed all the things we couldn't do when we started kindergarten and how well we do them now because of all the practicing we do and how its the same with skating. I reminded the kids to bring their helmets and skates (but not hockey sticks) and that there are a few pairs available if they don't have any. I will have the kids put their skates into their backpacks to travel on the bus because they must be in a bag. We should be at the MacArthur Park arena about 10ish if you are coming to join us (yay!). Our ice time starts at 10:15. The children will be encouraged to stay on the ice as long as possible as there is nothing for them to do once they are finished. They may sit on the bench and wait for us (11:15ish) but they may not run around or go on the bleachers. I will not be on skates as it is difficult to help the children with them on but please, if you are a skater, by all means bring your skates. Looking forward to tomorrow!  Am I the only one that finds Groundhog Day bizarre? According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. Really?! Not only that but a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the weather patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period—a value not significant compared to the 33% that could occur by chance. When I asked Team Awesome if a groundhog could really predict the coming (or not) of spring they all agreed that it could not- spring would come when it was ready. But it was fun learning about groundhogs and their 5 minutes in the spotlight every year on February 2. |
