Hello Room 6 families,
Students described Wednesday's Calgary Zoo field trip as "epic". It truly was great to go visit the zoo animals in person, as the students are expert zoologists that know a lot! One of the zoo school teachers that lead our Asia Edu-trek shared "I was so excited to see you all FINALLY at the zoo. I was so impressed with all of the knowledge your classes had remembered from zoo school and their excellent observation skills! " Thanks to the deep interest in volunteering, we had 5 volunteers on Wednesday. I was touched when looking through the Volunteer Field journals to find these amazing sketches of the students engaged in front of the enclosures!
Students enjoyed creating Alliteration Poetry based on the poem "Bleezer's Ice Cream". They did a fine job referring to the success criteria that we co created, and published their poems which are now on display in the hallway.After listening to and discussing a number of mentor texts (The Most Magnificent Thing, Rosie Revere Engineer, Izzy Gizmo) students generated a list of characteristics that define an engineer as well as identified the sequenced steps of the Design Thinking Process. Our next steps will be to engage in the Design Thinking Process while applying our understanding of boats and buoyancy (grade 2) and bridges (grade 3).
Where I go walking on Saturdays, I came across the prairie crocus covered up in its warm winter coat- the following weekend they had bloomed. I shared an Indigenous story connected to the prairie crocus (see below) as well as scientific information about how, where and when this flower grows. The prairie crocus is the first native flower to bloom in this area, hopefully you can take a walk this weekend with your child to look for this native flower.
There was once a boy ready to go through his ceremony of manhood in the early spring. After the traditional sweats of purification he was sent up into the hills with nothing but a buffalo robe, for three days of fasting and vision questing. The first night it became very cold, so he wrapped his robe tightly around himself and he heard a little voice say, “Thank you.” Surprised, looking around for the voice, he noticed a little white flower. It looked at him and said, “Don’t unwrap the robe it is cold out there.” The boy soon fell asleep, feeling just a little bit more secure, now that he wasn’t all alone. The next day he started talking to the flower and it kept him company as the long hours went by. The second night was just as cold and the flower was very grateful for the boy’s warm robe. On the third day, the boy was starting to get a bit concerned because he had not as yet had a vision. If he didn’t have a vision he would not become a man. The flower assured him that everything would be all right as they looked out together at the beautiful yellow sun, reflecting on top of the purple mountains. That night was the coldest of them all, they had to cuddle close in the robe to keep warm, but just before the dawn, a great vision came to the boy. He saw himself as a great medicine man, taking care of many tribes of people. In the morning he was so happy with his newfound power, feeling grateful for the friendship given to him by the flower, he told the flower it could have three wishes. The crocus said, “I would like to have the warmth and the beauty of the yellow sun at my heart, the grace of the purple mountains all around me and a heavy fur robe to keep me warm.” To this very day the children of this little crocus have been given all three to keep them warm and happy in the early spring.
We ended our day with watercolour sketches of the prairie crocus!
Have a hoppy Easter !
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