Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Eggs-citing Day of Learning

Jelly Bean Prayer waits at each child's table as a wee Easter gift

The day after Easter weekend (Easter Tuesday?) is one where I've traditionally (for about 5 years) followed a theme of sorts to get the kids back in the swing of learning after having been off for 4 days.  Bring on the eggs-plosion of   
             eggs-tremely   
                       eggs-citing   
                             eggs-periences!

Enjoying an egg hunt in gym class
GYM:
Students were divided into teams of 4.  Plastic eggs had been hidden under the pylons that were scattered around the gym.  Time for a little eggs-ercize during this Easter egg hunt in gym. 
For each round, the students had to find the right coloured eggs in the right order.  We did Yellow, Blue, Green for the first round.  The first students for each team set out to find the yellow eggs.  They were only allowed to check under one pylon.  If it had yellow, they took the egg.  If it didn't, they left the egg under the pylon and headed back to their team so the next person could go.  
We played a few rounds, broke a couple plastic eggs but definitely got up and moving first thing!

My favourite tradition is Resurrection Rolls
RELIGION:
When food is involved, especially after gym, the kids will buy in EVERY SINGLE TIME!  This lesson is simply delicious.

Materials Needed:
  • Large Marshmallows (White represents Jesus' purity and His body)
  • Butter (melted in microwave represents oil placed on bodies during burial)
  • white sugar mixed with some cinnamon (represents spices used in burial)
  • Crescent Rolls or Grands Biscuits (represent the linen wrapped around the body)
Preheat oven to 350 F



Students took a marshmallow, dunked it into the butter until covered and then dropped it into a baggie containing the cinnamon/sugar mix.  They then took a roll and worked to get it wrapped around their marshmallow, taking care to cover completely by pinching the dough shut.  We placed ours into muffin papers so that the kids could write their name on the roll that they actually made, ensuring that they were eating their own germs!

10-12 minutes later... 

MATH:
After licking the sticky goodness from their hands (and then washing them), I had the kids grab a pencil for some Easter Math.  

NRich Maths had some interesting information about the largest Chocolate Easter Egg so I created a worksheet which allowed the kids some practice at estimating and calculations.




After lunch, we tried eggs-perimenting with Egg Drop Engineering.  No, we are not talking Chinese food here.  We're talking about honest to goodness, raw eggs and designing, building and testing a contraption that allows the egg to survive without eggs-ploding.  FUN!  Here are some of the designs...


Each group was given the same materials (brown bag, Solo cup, smaller plastic cup, 1 pipe cleaner, 2 large paper clips, 3 popsicle sticks, 1m of tape, 1 sandwich size Ziploc, 1 paper towel, 4 bendy straws) and 25 minutes to design, build and test.

We then headed back to the gym so that we could set up a drop of 2m.



There were seven teams.  

1 egg survived.

You do the math!

~MissBrooks


Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Hockey Checks (in at) School

If you've been following us on Twitter, you're already aware that our school received Regina Pats in the Memorial Cup Draft back on January 26, 2017.  The WECDSB drafted teams from the WHL as Windsor, our home town hosts the Memorial Cup this May.


Immediately, we connected with The Pats Regiment through Twitter.  We learned of their prowess on the ice. Not only were they dominating in the Western Hockey League, they were ranked #1 across Canada for a while this past winter.  This draft could bode well for the 5/6  and 6 classes!  Maybe we'd be going to see a game if our team gets through the WHL playoffs!

They sent us a box of swag.  Complete with a key chain and deck of hockey cards for each student! 

We sent them a poster of inspirational quotes.  It was kinda long!



The Pats graciously hung the poster in their locker room and tweeted about it to their #regiment (followers).


In middle February, our school received a visit from Windsor Spitfire, Logan Brown (OHL and hometown hosts) but all we could do was ask if they were worried about how well the Pats were playing.  We were focused in our good wishes and encouragement of this team we had adopted.

First round of playoffs, the Pats swept their opponents in 4 straight games.  We were elated!  One step closer to Windsor.  One step closer to Memorial Cup.

Currently, the Pats are struggling against Swift Current in the second round.  Their captain is injured.  They are down 3-1 and find themselves in a do or die situation for Game 5.  We'd been working on a Stomp routine for about a month, hoping to send it when the Pats were making their way to Windsor.  We sent it via Twitter the other night as they were battling their way through Game 4 (which they eventually lost after 4 OTs!  A crushing blow for team members and fans alike.

When the kids heard of the loss, one student said, "Don't count them out!  Look at Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series.  They were down 3-1 against Cleveland and pulled it out".  So that was a baseball comparison that made me wonder what hockey greats found themselves in the same boat.

  • 2004 Montreal Canadiens against Boston Bruins in Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals
  • 2003 Minnesota Wild against Canucks in Western Semi-Finals
  • 2003 Minnesota Wild against Colorado Avalanche in Western Quarter-Finals
  • 1987 Detroit Red Wings against Toronto Maple Leafs in Division Finals 
There are many more.  The point is, it CAN be done and HAS been done.  We're not counting OUT Regina Pats.  We're counting ON them to continue to make us proud here in Windsor.  Thank you for allowing us to get behind you this year and become invested in the Memorial Cup!

#Let's Go Pats
#Memorial Cup Dreams Still Alive 🏒
#Windsor is Waiting
#Panther Pride

~MissBrooks