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As part of our health and nutrition unit, we learned about brushing our teeth as a way to take care of ourselves. Of course, this is a subject that Team Awesome is familiar with and they had a lot to contribute on the subject. We read some books, learned about bacteria in our mouth and plaque and did two experiments to bring home how important brushing and flossing our teeth regularly really is. Oh- and we listened to this song a number of times, but beware, it gets stuck in your head and will pop up at the most inopportune times and you just can't help but sing the chorus out loud. Crawford The Cat gave us a few pointers and we learned how toothpaste and tooth brushes are made as well. We hope that seeing why brushing is so important will help lessen the nightly arguments over taking care of our teeth.  Last week as we were talking about St. Patrick's day, it was let slip that the intermediate teachers had been complaining about mysterious messes that happened in their classrooms over the weekend- when everything was locked up tight. And as we had read a book about a cheeky leprechaun previously, Team Awesome was already aware that it was the time of year a little trickster might visit. It wasn't long before someone mentioned catching our tiny visitor and you know Team Awesome- they wanted a piece of that action pronto! Which led to a flurry of activity later that morning as the children first planned then built their own traps to catch the little man. If you picked up your child at the end of the day you might have heard about the traps placed willy-nilly around the class, looking mostly like pieces of recycling that hadn't been picked up but boy did a lot of thought and effort go into them. If we didn't catch the leprechaun that evening we would have to revisit and revise our traps as many of them didn't actually have doors that closed. So while a few traps had some bait in the form of shiny things to lure the fairy creature inside, there was nothing to keep the leprechaun in the traps after he stole the bait and had a nap. And that's what scientists do- revisit and revise ideas if they don't work the first time!
As the children entered our learning spaces the next morning they noticed a wee bit of untidiness- books and blocks spilled, papers on the floor, pencils left about and things turned upside down. There were squeals of delight and excitement as the children checked their leprechaun traps and discovered a potato and multi-coloured glitter around their traps and our classroom. But alas, no leprechauns. As we looked around we discovered the smarty pants had left a note and a few little green handprints. And of course, very big messes, which the children worked together to tidy. We resolved to catch him that night. To that end, we shared how our traps were supposed to work, why we thought they didn't, and how we could improve them and after reading a 'how-to' book later that day we all spent some time upgrading our designs. A few of us made totally new traps. Bigger and better traps. And a few of us tried to be sneakier when setting them up- we put them in places the unsuspecting leprechaun was sure to go based on where he went the previous night or we tried to camouflage them. Our fingers were crossed that we would be luckier that evening than we were the night before. Well, that sneaky little leprechaun foiled us again despite our cleverly hidden(?) traps. And not only that, but he also felt the need to leave shiny shamrocks in our traps and green and gold clovers all over our room and have a bubble bath in our sink (and leave unmentionables in our toilet). If we didn't know better we would say our resident compact green guy invited his friends and they had a big party and forgot to clean up afterwards. We were excited to find he left us a nifty poem stating that he won't be returning (Boo!) and part of his pot of gold (Yay!). Team Awesome was glad he came to visit us but sad to learn he wouldn't be sticking around. We talked about setting up our traps at home in the hopes that we might catch a leprechaun there. If you do happen to catch one, don't forget they disappear in the blink of an eye- and please don't give him directions to our classroom. One leprechaun party a year is quite enough. ** We have so many pictures and videos around these activities that it was impossible to make them into a video to show you the fun we had. Please look at the March photo album in Google to see them and share in a bit of the magic.
Kindness is not a new topic in our learning spaces. We talk about being kind in one form or another every day. And Team Awesome knows that kindness isn't just for school; it is something we should do everywhere, with everyone, always. They know that hands can be used to hurt others but it is much more difficult for children to understand that words can be used as weapons and can cause damage which isn't visible like a bruise. We read Kevin Henkes’ book, Chrysanthemum, about a young mouse who loves her name until some of her classmates start to make fun of it. In the end she learns that her name is perfect. While reading the book aloud, the children took turns crumpling up a large paper heart each time a character in the book said something hurtful about Chrysanthemum’s name. After the book Team Awesome tried to smooth out the crinkled heart while saying something kind. Although the heart was less damaged, the wrinkles did not disappear. It was a very visual representation of the impact unkind words can have on others. We discussed the best way to smooth the wrinkles we have caused others is to continue to speak & act with kindness but that it takes time and effort. Before you speak, Think and be smart. It’s hard to fix A wrinkled heart!
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