Butterfly Video Conference

On Thursday both Grade Two classes participated in a Tandberg Video Conference entitled "Butterflies". The conference was hosted by the Distance Learning Video Conference at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta Georgia. The conference was a perfect fit with our science unit "Growth and Change in Animals", as all the activities dealt with the Life Cycle of a Butterfly. Students enjoyed learning about the different stages of a butterfly life cycle, butterfly predators, ways in which butterflies defend against predators, and last but not least, making butterfly puppets. Please take note of the symmetrical wing formation! What an exciting, fun, educational video conference.

We love our "Planet Earth!"

This year marks the 40th anniversary of "Earth Day" celebrations around the world. It has become more of a "movement " than a "celebration" for the past 20 years. Our class was fortunate enough to connect and collaborate via Skype with Miss Dewhurst's Grade Three class in Lumsden Saskatchewan. (Home of Rider Pride!) We each sang a short song about Earth Day, then read a story to each class. How exciting it was, and such good listeners. We also did a reflection activity on Wallwisher after viewing a short Earth Day video. Check it out here. Remember "Everyday is Earth Day!"

Happy Birthday Greeen Eggs and Ham !

Yet another fantastic online project hosted by Jennifer Wagner. In honour of the 50th Birthday of the book "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr.Suess, we connected with Mrs. Yakes second grade classroom (Chicago Illinois) via Skype and read parts of  "Green Eggs and Ham" together. We also created a wall-wisher, where  student's thoughts and reflections were posted! You may be wondering what is "Skype" and what is a "Wallwisher" ? Skype is software that enables users to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users.It is an amazing free tool to connect with other classrooms, educators, and experts all around the world. Wallwisher is an Internet application that allows you to post thoughts about a topic, messages, answers to questions, using an online postie note. We are fortunate enough in our classroom to be able to use these Web 2.0 tools to connect, collaborate, reflect, and learn. Check out the two walls of reflection on our "Green Eggs and Ham" 50th Birthday project that we collaborated with Mrs. Yakes Grade 2 class.           Mrs.Yakes Wall       Mr.McDonald's Wall

"Holden" Grade 2B's resident Mad Scientist !

Holden loves to bring things to class, books, comics, Wizard Wands, you name it, he has probably pulled it out of his 22 lb. backpack at one time or another. But you see this is a good thing, because Holden is a very curious kid, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Each morning is like a new adventure, wondering what Holden is going to be pulling out of his backpack. Well today was yet another one of those days, when Holden pulled out a Science Experiment Kit. It just so happened that I still had my video camera at school from the previous day, and so here is what transpired...

Choir Festival ...

Last Thursday afternoon, the Grade 2 classes participated in the Swan Valley Fine Arts Festival. Under the direction of music teacher Mrs. Darlene McKibbon, the students performed two numbers "It's a Small World" and "Tinga Layo" . The accompanying video does not do justice to the fantastic performance, Well done Grade 2!!

Swan Valley Visual Art Festival

Friday afternoon the Grade Two's battled 70 Kph winds and walked to the Veteran's Hall to view the Swan Valley Visual Art Festival. The art was fantastic, entries ranging from students to adults. Former Art teacher Mr.Paul Freed provided a fantastic tour and explained to the students the different types of art. If not for the wind, it would have been an absolute perfect afternoon.