Kindergarten creates an Art Centre Piece in the Learning Piazza

Collaborative Kindergarten Glasswork Project

The Kindergarten students at Monsignor William Irwin love their school, and LOVE working together to create magnificent works of art.  After witnessing Mrs. Novak’s students working with glass, Miss Hart’s and Madame Carrie’s students became very interested in glass work and things that we could create using glass.   

In December, Miss Hart gathered her students in the Learning Piazza to draw our glasswork ideas.  We focused on drawing tall buildings.

Our drawings were magnificent, and we were very excited to turn them into glass work!  Here is an example of one of the designs that we decided to transform with glass:

Next, we became busy glass workers!  Each of the six Kindergarten classes created buildings and houses out of glass – all were designed by the students!  The greatest part of this project is that we worked together, and each student contributed to these works of art.

Here are some pictures from Miss Hart’s class, and some her Kindergarten students talking about the glass work process:

Joshua:  “It’s kinda like a mind thing, like, because we need to figure out and use our mind how which piece goes where and how it fits together.”

Olivia:  “We did it with glass, we put the pieces of glass on the other glass with glue.  My favourite part was gluing it on the glass, it was like putting it together like a puzzle.  We worked with each other!”

The Kindergarten teachers and students decided that our Learning Piazza was the perfect place to display our glass work so that everyone who visits can enjoy it!  Next time you walk by the Learning Piazza, take a moment to enjoy the collaborative Kindergarten glass work project!

William:  “Our work went in the Piazza!  Everyone can look at it now!”

Mrs. Novak's Class Experiments with Freezing and Melting

Typically, ice cream is the last thing that you think of eating in the winter.  Maybe it was the unusually warm weather that we have been experiencing or maybe it was experimenting with freezing and melting that led us to wanting to make ice cream in kindergarten, but whatever the reason, we had fun!

We talked a lot about the kinds of foods that help to make our bones strong.  We looked in our snacks each day and identified the foods that help us to build strong bones and teeth. 

We made ice cream by putting milk and syrup into a small ziploc baggie.  We put course salt and ice into a large baggie.  We placed the small bag inside the large bag and swished it back and forth for about 5 minutes.  We were amazed by how our milk turned to ice cream.  It tasted delicious!  Who knew that it could be so yummy to give our bones calcium?

We made ice cream cones for the birds too.  We mixed birdseed and lard together and scooped it into ice cream cones.  We put hangers on them and hung them on a tree.   Now the birds will be well fed too!















Bone Health in Grade 5

The grade 5 class has spent the last few weeks learning about Bone health.  They have discovered that the easiest way to help their bones is to include bone building foods in their meals and snacks.  Good choices include milk, cheese and yogurt.  Adding milk instead of water to recipes is one quick and easy way to increase the intake of bone-building foods.

This is a PSA that the grade fives made to encourage bone health.

Grade 5's building bone health.

Hopping and jumping strengthen your bones.

The Grade Ones Experience Science through their 5 Senses.

On December 7^th, the four Grade 1 classes put on their hand made green tie-dye shirts and went on an excursion to the Telus World of Science.  They spent the whole day exercising their brains making predictions and testing their educated guesses with hands on experiments.  They attending workshops on two different themes: Mixing Colours and The 5 Senses.

The students listen attentively at the Mixing Colour workshop.

At The 5 Senses workshop, they learned about sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell.  Here a boy gets to hear what it would be like to have a hearing aid.

Here are a couple of reflections from Mme. Chepelsky's french grade one students:

This educational excursion concluded the Grade One unit of colours.   In the upcoming term, they will continue to explore their senses.



Madame Brassard's Grade 2 Students: Growing Our Spirits

In 2B, we have the tradition of taking the time as a classroom family to wind down at the end of a week of hard work! Armed with the essentials to have physical comfort, the students take the time to tap into their spirits and fill their inner needs. Our Friday afternoon meditations are a time when we each go onto our inner sacred spaces and spend time with our Lord.

We start by finding ourselves a private place to relax in the classroom. Each student has their little nook or favourite spot, whether it be beside a friend, under a desk, or in a corner of the classroom.

These girls like to meditate under their desks.

Bringing things from home help these children to relax.

We begin to calm ourselves down as we close our eyes and take a few breaths.  Next, the students are guided into the rest of the meditation as they visualise their own meeting place with God and spend some time sharing our thoughts and feelings with Him.

Special friends are welcome to meditate too.

Spending time with God can happen anywhere.

Here’s what a few of our students have to say about meditation:

“Meditation is good for settling down when you feel stressed.”

“It’s really relaxing, and it feels good to be with God.”

“It’s a place where you get to think about God.”

“It makes you feel good.”

Grade 4's Strengthen their Mind and Body through Social Studies and Science Curriculum!

Social Studies - History of Alberta
The grade 4's have been participating in many activities to learn about personal responsibility in keeping our earth healthy and protecting our natural resources.  On a beautiful September afternoon, we imagined that we were European immigrants who settled in Alberta over 100 years ago.  We had to carry water from the nearby pond to our home (aka...our school) for cooking and bathing.  Well, the pond was waaaaaaaayyy farther from the school than it seemed and when some water accidentally spilled from our buckets on the way back, it was a catastrophe!  Everyone was hot and sweaty by the time we were done hauling water to fill up our buckets.  Not only did we find out how hard that lifestyle was, but we developed an appreciation for our easily accessible and endless supply of clean, hot water. 

Fetching water isn't as easy as it sounds!

Science - Waste in Our World
We've also made plant-compost teabags, created our own classroom compost bin, planted radishes in compost rich soil and best of all, each student got to have a pile of worms on their desk to handle and explore!  They found egg sacs to babies to teenagers to pregnant adults.

Composting in the classroom.

Red wiggler compost worms.  Cool and gross at the same time!

  This week we are carrying the weight of our garbage with us for a whole 24 hours so that we can educate people about the amount of waste we each create in one day.

Rainbow Lunch is Back!

We are participating in the Rainbow Lunch activity earlier this year.  Our hope was to get the students to begin the school year with a knowledge of what should be in their lunches.   This activity will be over three weeks instead of two this year.  Yes, you are correct, that means over Halloween! 

Include one milk and one meat or alternative from the Canada Food Guide

and

Include one fruit or vegetable and a grain product to complete your "Rainbow Lunch".

Don't forget to pack two snacks in addition to your lunch for morning and afternoon recess.  It seems that the two most frequent items absent from a healthy lunch are adequate quantiites of vegetables and an appropriate amount of protien.

For more information on portion sizes please see the attached link to The Canada Food Guide

Good Luck Students.  Remember your class could win a free trip to the Terwilliger Recreation Centre and an afternoon off school!