Our fieldtrip to the Elmvale Zoo and Springwater Park is tomorrow! We are very excited about our trip and eager for a day of fun and learning! Here are some reminders of items to bring for the trip:
- water
- hat
- sunscreen (please put it on before you come to school and bring some to reapply as needed)
- proper running shoes (no sandals please)
- a lunch with lots of snacks (there will not be an opportunity to buy lunch at the zoo and unfortunately we are not able to bring the hot lunch orders to the zoo)
- please do not bring cameras or other valuables as we don't want anything to get lost or broken (I will be bringing a camera and students will each have an opportunity to take a picture of an animal)

If you would like more information on the places we are going tomorrow you can click on the links below. Make sure you get some rest tonight and

Elmvale Jungle Zoo
http://www.elmvalejunglezoo.com/
Springwater Park
http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/spri.html
 
In math we are learning to make equations. We used a new math tool today called Cuisenare rods to help us explore equations.

Here is a picture of the Cuisenare rods. Each colour represents a different number.
We used the Cuisenare rods to help us make equations. For example, green + purple = yellow + red (3 + 4 = 5 + 2).
 
Yesterday N.D. brought three tadpoles into our class for us to watch grow! We are very excited to see the life cycle of a frog. We are learning about the frog life cycle in science right now, so it is the perfect time!

Right now the tadpoles are very small and they are dark in colour. They are eating a lot of lettuce. This reminds us of our caterpillars at the beginning of the year when they were eating a lot of milkweed.
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This is N.D. holding our tadpoles.
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These are the tadpoles that are swimming around looking for food.
 
As a class, we wrote a persuasive radio commercial explaining why we think Fieldcrest is the best school. We have been learning about how to write persuasively. Here is the success criteria we came up with for persuasive writing:
- a topic sentence with an opinion
- at least 3 strong reasons (our commercial has 6!)
- an ending statement
- 5 star sentences
You can listen to our commercial below and I think we will convince you that we really do have the best school!
 
We had a great time at Jump Rope for Heart today! The weather was a bit cool, but the sun started to come out while we were outside and it turned into a beautiful day. There were 10 different stations that students had a chance to try, including free skipping, limbo, scooter boards, hula hoops and much more! The Grade 7 and 8 students helped out by running the activities and leading the primary students around the stations.
 
We rewrote Dr. Seuss' The Lorax in our own words.
 
As we head into the final stretch of school before summer vacation, I wanted to review the six learning skills we focus on in elementary school. These are the learning skills that are reported on each term on report cards. We discuss these skills daily in our classroom and talk about the ways students demonstrate them at school. Students set goals for themselves in the portfolios that relate to their learning skills. The six learning skills are:
1. Responsibility
2. Organization
3. Independent Work

4. Collaboration
5. Initiative
6. Self Regulation
Please click on the pictures below to see the posters that we have hanging in our classroom that describe the behaviours we are focusing on for each learning skill.
 
We had a surprise visitor in our class yesterday. It was a baby pig! We formed a circle and she walked around and let us pet her. The pig was confused and cold because she was not used to being in a classroom. Then the pig had a washroom accident on our floor (oops). Don't worry though, we cleaned it up! The pig even had a chance to sniff Vivi the teddy bear!
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This is Piglet the pig.
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Oops...washroom time!
 
Our class is very excited to be participating in a teddy bear exchange project with a class in Taiwan. We sent a teddy bear named "Brad" (named after Bradford) to Taiwan, along with some information and treats from Canada. We recently received a teddy bear from the class in Taiwan named "Vivi." Please visit the new "Teddy Bear" section of our class website for more information on our exciting teddy bear exchange project!
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Brad from Bradford!
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Vivi from Taiwan!
 
The verdict is in...we LOVE The Rockin' Tale of Snow White!!!
All of the primary students had a chance to watch the musical on Tuesday and it was fantastic. Congratulations to all of the cast and choir members who did a wonderful job, we are so proud of you! We had our first evening performance tonight and it was absolutely fantastic! There will be another evening performance on Thursday night at 6:30 at Bradford District High School.

Click on the VoiceThread below to hear what some of the students in our class thought of the musical...