Mini Christmas Play

Dear Families,

We have been practising a short Christmas Play about the birth of Jesus.  The students are really excited about the play and we will be 'performing' the play for some kindergarten students.  The grade 2's are asking to wear costumes and bring in props.  Please do not go to any trouble to find or buy anything for this play.  We have a few things already gathered, but are still looking for a few more.  If you have any of the following supplies laying around, please send them with your child.  Please don't go buy anything...we will use what we have and share what we can.  

Here is a list of what we are still looking for:

* 6 crowns for our Wise Men and Women
* 6 boxes to be gifts brought by the Wise Men and Women
* 1 set of angel wings
* 1 angel dress up dress
* 4 canes for our shepherd staffs
* 2 dolls to be the baby Jesus wrapped in a white blanket
* 4 Stuffed animals (sheep preferably) 

(We have 2 casts that is why we are asking for doubles of some materials...)

Thank You!
I will post a video of the 'performance' if possible.

Finding Area

We have spent all sorts of time finding the perimeter of objects (the distance AROUND an object) and have moved on to finding area (the amount of space INSIDE an object).  The students were excited to find the area of different rooms in a doll house.  

The kids decided that squares would be the best shape to use to measure
the area because they can pack together with no spaces in between.

'I'm going to find the perimeter first then we can find the area.'

'We need more squares to fill it in.'

We ran out of room at the doll house so some groups used
parts of a shelf in the classroom.

Searching for squares...

After they found the area of their room they got to go 'shopping' for
furniture.  Many visited Home Depot or Ikea.

'The room is 46 post it notes.  We used green, white and pink (post it note paper).
To know how much it was we put numbers on it (they numbered the post it notes to count them).

'We had rows of 10 blocks so it was easy to count...just count by 10's.'

'We have rows of 11 so I just counted by 10's and then added one more for each row at the end.'

Rafts are floating!

Raft Day was a Success!

The students were so excited Monday morning to have the supplies to build their own raft.  This was an amazing confidence building experience for the students.  I kept hearing things like,

 'I can't believe I am making my own raft!'  

'I did this all by myself!'

'It looks just like my drawing!'

'I've never done anything this much by myself!'

They created their own plan or blueprint, brought in their own supplies and they stuck to their plans.  Their rafts looked very much like their drawing!  

The test area...

Everyone had a chance to test their raft on it's own and carrying a load of 4 nickels. 

Some rafts floated and some were 'sinkers'.  Their mark will not be based on weather it floated or sank but on their ability to explain why it happened.  

Thanks for sending in supplies with your child!!!!