Exciting spring happenings!

We checked in on the Bird Cameras today and low and behold! Red Tailed Hawk babies! So exciting!

The barred owlet is getting so big!

"The owl is so cute I just want to hug it!" Ariana

I agree.

We are still waiting patiently for the Kestrels to hatch.

While we were having a wonderful time at the park in the sun, Daisy found this treasure in the sand:

An acorn that sprouted in the sand pit!

So we decided to bring it back to the classroom to help it grow. Here is Daisy planting it...

... and watering it.

We will keep it in the window and observe it.

We hope it continues to grow!

As we continue to plant our seeds, we read "Anywhere Farm"

We are creating our very own "Anywhere Farm"

Right now our seeds are hiding, we will continue to observe them. We are hoping to see them soon!

So many "eed" words!

Outdoor learning was our spring visit to our class tree - Sharkey!

We noticed that the buds are starting to come out!

We drew a full picture of Sharkey and a detail of a branch with the buds starting.

This week we will be planting seeds together. We started by reading the story "Plant and Seed and See What Grows".

We talked about what it takes to make a seed grow.

We are planting seeds in peat pellets all week. Each of our groups will plant one vegetable, one herb and one flowering plant

Many thanks to the Plant a Seed and See What Grows Foundation for sending us work books to record our seed and plant observations and seeds!

Seeds were also donated by Oliver's family - thank you!

 In celebration of Earth Day coming up, we read "It's Only One."

We talked about how "only one" from each person suddenly turns into a lot! Only one piece of garbage turns into lots of waste. BUT - only one act of kindness to the earth can also quickly turn into many -if we all do our part.

We examined our own garbage. What is going in our waste? 

Don't worry - no hands pulled garbage out of the bin. I used my hand-dandy garbage picker (clothespin) to pick up the pieces of garbage.

We found the following:

masks, food wrappers, paper towels, plastic wrap

What was in our garbage the most? The least?

What things can we reduce in our garbage?

 Continuing our learning for Earth Month, we read the book No More Plastic.

Isley is frustrated with all the plastic in the ocean. She loses her temper and yells "NO MORE PLASTIC!"

She decides to do something about it. She makes art to remind people about how plastics are bad for the environment.

We have also made art to remind others to be kind to the earth. 

We made "Tiny Protesters" out of recycled newspaper. Each protester has a message to remind people to care for the earth.

"I love you earth."

"Recycle!"

"Keep the ocean clean!"

"No more plastic!"

Our tiny protesters are proudly delivering their messages in the display case by the office at the school.

"Throw the garbage in the bin!"

 Today we read The Adventures of Gary and Harry.

Harry the Hawksbill turtle thought he was eating a jellyfish - but it was a plastic bag!

We talked about things we can use instead of plastic bags;

- cloth bags

- baskets

- our hands!

We met another Hawksbill turtle today. Bruce! 

Bruce is one of the coolest teacher gifts I have ever received. Bruce was adopted in my name. He was injured, he was rehabilitated and he was returned to the ocean to enjoy life - just like Gary and Harry!

What is extra cool is that Bruce has a GPS now and we can watch his movements. He has done a lot of swimming since he was released!

If you want to follow Bruce at home you can click on this link.

My favourite quote today: "I hope Bruce knows enough not to eat a plastic bag like Harry."

 Bee week continues with lots of books about bees...

Ms. Sarros has made a lovely bulletin board featuring bees that we have been making.

Tomorrow we will visit the book fair! If you would like to purchase books to support our library you can send money with your child. If you are uncomfortable sending cash, you can purchase through the virtual book fair at MHPS Virtual Book Fair.

Continuing with Bee Week and our work with the "ee" word family.

We are writing our "ee" sentences.

 Welcome to Bee week!

We started the day with reading The Very Greedy Bee

Our word family for this week is the "ee" word family.

Can you find "ee" words around the house and in everyday activities?

We are practicing writing sentences using "ee" words and using our sight words.

"The deer is free"

"The bee is peeping"

We are making flowers for the bees to visit.

 We wrapped up "Bird Week" by going on a bird walk. 

We used our eyes and ears to identify birds out in the forest.

Our final tally is a little hard to read as the "spring snow" kept our tally chart a little wet.

We saw and heard:

• one blue jay
• three cardinals
• nineteen robins
• five chickadees
• one crow 
• two seagulls

A very successful bird walk!

Here are some of our other bird week activities:

Bird graphing

A fun cardinal craft with Ms. Sarros!