The Man with the Violin

This week we are reading "The Man with the Violin", by Kathy Stinson. This book is a story based on a real event and reminds us to stop and listen to the musical moments in life.  Students are enjoying watching and listening to Joshua Bell play the violin and learning about how a violin is made.

My personal treasure:  a violin made by my grandfather, Tom Tourand.

Here are some pictures of some parts of the violin.  It takes many hours of careful work to make a violin.

When I was young, I made my own stringed musical instrument with an empty tissue box, a paper towel roll and some elastics.  See how you can make your own too! You will need help cutting the hole for the neck.  This video will give you some ideas.   http://safeshare.tv/w/eFbrVQEOJM

Here's another example: 

This is an example of a tissue box guitar.  Have you ever made one?  This site from wikiHow has great step by step instructions.   http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Tissue-Box-Guitar

                 

Lost Cat

This week we are reading "Lost Cat" by C. Roger Mader. We have been talking about our pets, including pets we have lost because they have run away, died, or we had to give them up. Students have really enjoyed this story and have been delighted with the ending.

All About Those Books

Look for the poster up in the Library Learning Commons.  It shows you all 10 books we will be reading.

This week we are starting our Surrey Schools' Picture Book of the Year program.  This is a readers' choice award program.  There are ten books nominated.  We will read all ten and students will vote for their favourite in the spring.  Votes from across the district will be collected and the winner will be announced in June!  Read more about the program at http://surreybooks.co.nr/


Here's a great video about reading for you to enjoy!

http://safeshare.tv/w/OqCOBNSWlx

And I love this one by a middle school:

http://safeshare.tv/w/YrwdwezfAD

We also have a readers' choice book program for intermediate students. Look for the poster and books in the library learning commons.

These are the 10 nominated books for the Surrey Schools' Book of the Year.  Read 5 to be eligible to vote!

Our windowsill garden

I was cutting up celery for my lunch last week and decided to try and regrow it. As a child, I loved growing things on the kitchen windowsill. I remember growing carrot tops, avocado, sweet potato and even orange seeds! One orange seed grew into a small bush I had for many years but I never did get any oranges!

Have you ever grown plants on your windowsill? Tell us about it in the comments below. I will add pictures of our windowsill garden as it expands! 

We are going to overwinter this geranium plant on our windowsill.  I wonder how long the bloom will last?

Amazing Mazes!

                                              I made these photo collages with an app called Pic Collage on the ipad.

Remembrance Day

We have a selection of books to read to learn about the wars and Remembrance Day.

Come and pick up a Remembrace Day bookmark which has the same picture as the poster on the door.

Our Grade 1-2 class created a beautiful display in our front hall.  Thank you to all our young artists!

Here are a few of the doves created by each division for our assembly on November 7th.

We learned about the Book of Remembrance located in Ottawa.

Each division worked together to make a wreath for the assembly.  The wreaths will be brought to a local Legion Hall for veterans to enjoy.