Zoom!

Our airplane investigation continues! After days of creating airplanes in our art studio out of foam pieces, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, paper, straws, string and glue, we thought we should conduct some flight experiments!

The children chose airplanes that they'd made from our gallery in the window...

...and in small groups we went into the hallway to test which airplanes flew farthest. The children made predictions about which airplanes they thought would fly the farthest, and why. Then they stood next to each other, and on the count of three, flew their planes!

After we measured which planes flew the farthest in each group, we talked about the results. Why did one plane fly farther than the other? Was it because of the materials they were made of? Did paper fly farther than foam? Were wings made out of straws or popsicle sticks more effective? Or was it because of how the children threw them? Did one use more force? Exploring these types of questions helps children think more critically about their hands-on learning, and introduces them to the scientific method - asking questions, forming hypotheses, predicting, testing, and analysing.

After discussing their theories, most children concluded that the airplanes that flew the farthest were made out of flat pieces of foam, and had wings on each side. Then the children started experimenting with airplanes made only out of folded paper. They quickly saw that these planes can fly much farther, and they had lots of fun testing them out!

If you have any type of paper at home, you can make airplanes there, too! There are lots of designs available online, or you can experiment with your own designs with your child! Test how fast and how far they can fly! Compare two different designs, or two different types of paper! Above all else, encourage your child to ask questions, make predictions, test their theories, and analyze the results. This is something we will be doing all year in our classroom to nurture their deep thinking.

Fly on!

Ms. Snyder and Ms. Hammond

A Look Inside Our Room

Dear Families,

We realize that for some of you, you haven't been into the classroom since the start of the year. Tonight I took some photographs of our classroom spaces so that you could see what our room looks like. Please share this post with your child, I'm sure they would love to talk about what materials they use in the classroom and what we are learning.

This is our daily schedule that tells children what we do in the morning and afternoon. We have our Clean-Up Time Promise posted here, to remind everyone how to take care of our classroom materials.

We have a message we read and write together each day. 

The special helper has their name on the board. The special helper reads the letters in their name and then puts the letters in order after we mix them. They also get to take the attendance down to the office with another student.

This is where we keep the list of special helpers. Each time children have a turn, they put a sticker next to their name. We also keep our poems/songs here for children to re-read during learning centres.

Each morning, the children find their name card and put it in the blue pocket chart.

They then write their name on a sign-in sheet.

Here is one of our art displays of the room. 

We found so many branches on the ground when we walked back from the Public Library. When we got back to our room, we used black water colour to paint bare branches on paper.

This is the Art Studio. Children can select materials by themselves. 

This is where many of them have been building their airplanes.

We have also begun to create and design our favourite animals.

Here are two tables where the children explore natural materials (branches, rocks and plants). They often record and draw what they notice using small note pads and pencils we put out for them to use by themselves.

Our Airplane Inquiry has continued. We have been talking about the properties of flight, or what makes the airplane go. The children have written their theories using words and drawings. Many of the children agreed that a plane has an engine just like a car. We wondered if a plane engine looked like a car engine?

We have begun to compare living and non-living things in the classroom. The children recognize that an airplane is a machine. We began to talk about other machines we know.

Finally, here is a view of the classroom when you enter from the doorway. 

Hope you have enjoyed this mini-picture tour of our room.

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

Airpot Centre

We wanted to put up the first few images of the children working and playing at the new Airport Centre in our classroom. More information about their learning to follow soon. Enjoy! Everyone have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

Look up! We have Airplanes in Room 208.

This past week the children were invited to construct their own airplanes using materials from the Art Studio in our classroom. 

It was wonderful to see the children working together, helping each other and taking turns. They used problem solving skills together as they worked with the scissors, glue, tape, paper, sticks, pipe cleaners and straws to create their airplanes. We think their favourite part might have been when they walked around the room, flying their airplanes by the strings. 

At the end of the day we hung them in the window. One of the children looked up and said, "WOW!" We couldn't agree more. 

Ms. Hammond and Ms. Snyder

Airplanes and Airports

For the past couple weeks, we have noticed that many of the children in the class have been building airplanes out of lego. It has been very interesting to see how the airplanes they create have developed and have become more complex, and to see how the children work together to build their airplanes and incorporate them into their imaginative play.

To expand our focus on airplanes we had a knowledge-building conversation, which is when the children have the opportunity to share what they know about a subject, build on each other's knowledge to teach and learn from each other, and determine what else they would like to learn about a subject. Directing their own learning in this way makes the experience meaningful for them, which leads to deeper learning and knowledge. We talked about airplanes and airports, and many children shared their experiences traveling and observing airplanes and how they work. In a second conversation, together the children determined they would like to make our drama centre into an airport. We asked them to share their ideas and opinions about what we would need to do this, and many of them started drawing and writing about both airplanes and airports.

Over the past week, not only have their lego airplane designs become more intricate, but so have the airplanes they have been creating on paper.

Some of the children started creating airports out of our small and large wooden blocks in anticipation of the larger airport we would create together, and others worked on writing and drawing signs for the airport. Ms Hammond and I have started to put together our airport dramatic centre based on the children's ideas. We will add travel guidebooks and maps to the centre, and will work with the children to create their own maps, as well as tickets and passports. This will give us all sorts of rich opportunities to practice our reading and writing in ways that will be meaningful and purposeful for the children. We will also decorate our centre with 3D models of airplanes that the children will create out of popsicle sticks, wire, and plasticine. This will be a great chance for the children to build on their fine motor skills, their creative expression, and their math skills.

Stay tuned for more pictures and notes about how our airplane/airport inquiry focus is developing, and if you have anything you would like to contribute to our "airport" - maps, photos, travel books or brochures, or anything else, we would greatly appreciate it! Do you see airplane play at home? As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Thanks everyone, and we look forward to meeting with the SK parents during interviews this week!

Ms. Snyder and Ms. Hammond