Another spirit day at Fieldcrest Elementary has been won by room 102 kindergarten! Idol day was May 26th. We had many superheroes, princesses and sports players. Of course there were lots of blue jay players in support of Mrs. McLeod’s favourite team. We sure like having the spirit trophy in our classroom.

How do tadpoles turn into frogs? How do frogs catch flies? Do frogs rest on lily pads? Do frogs sleep in the water? These were some of our many inquiry questions. We got to work searching for answers to our questions. We learned 2 legs grow near the tadpole’s tail and next 2 legs grow near the front. Its tail gets shorter and soon it is gone. Now it has become a frog. We also found out frogs are not always green but can be yellow, blue or red and some have spots or stripes too. We made some frogs and included long sticky tongues with a fly attached. We were lucky to have a family bring us in some tadpoles from their cottage and we have been feeding them some frog/tadpole food from the pet store.

With the warmer weather upon us, the children decided to create an ice cream shop in our dramatic play centre. They quickly got to work creating a plan of what we needed. We learned that we all like different ice cream flavours and we like different things on our ice cream. They put out containers with pretend sprinkles cherries, peanuts and marshmallows. They made signs and decorations. Customers were lined up as we all know we all love ice cream!

VanGo is the McLaren Art Centre’s school program. This program brings professional artists into the classroom to deliver visual art experiences. The arts helps develop some key life skills such as motivation, discipline, cooperation and self esteem and self-confidence. The children explored the primary and secondary colours and created works of art using watercolour techniques. We did 3 different art activities throughout the morning. First, we placed special tissue paper on a piece of paper and painted over it with water. We waited for it to dry and then brushed off the tissue to see the prints the tissue paper left. Next, we wrote our names with white pastels on a piece of paper and then painted over it with water colour to watch our names appear. Lastly, we were given the opportunity to explore with various art materials such as water colours and water pastels to make our own beautiful piece of art. Thank you to those parent volunteers who helped us and all that sent in old shirts so that we could get messy!

Last week, we had our Jump Rope For Heart. This encourages kids to get active by skipping rope while they collect pledges for heart disease and stroke research. Schools participating in Jump provide their students with the chance to learn about healthy eating, the importance of physical activity and the benefits of giving back to their community. Our grade 7/8 student leaders ran some fun activities such as snakey snakey, limbo, helicopter, short and long rope skipping, skipping the bases, scooter boards, soccer and an obstacle course. We are awaiting to hear our total money raised. Our school goal was $3000. The children are anxious to hear if Mr. Brownlee and Ms. Booth are dressing like hot dogs should we reach our goal.

Today we had paramedic Mark visit the school and speak to all the kindergarten students about his job and the equipment he uses. He pulled out the stretcher and showed us where he sits in the back and where he drives. We saw all the bandages, needles and medicines and the oxygen tank and he reviewed the help number, 911. Our favourite part was when he turned on the lights and spoke on the loud speaker.