What's in your Makerspace?

Just a note about the perler beads:  these students created a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jam, pieces of bread and a football.  They then created an epipen for their friend who is allergic to peanuts!  Love it.

Division 6 came ready to play in the Makerspace today! Look at some of the projects! There was lots of creativity, imagination and problem-solving at play today. What's in your Makerspace?  Tell us in the comments below.

Christmas at Katzie

December has started with a flurry of activity, including some beautiful decorating around the school. Many classes participated in a door decorating contest with the rule of using as much recycling as possible! The gym has been transformed into a Christmas wonderland with a beautiful set created by Chris and her team of student helpers. We are all looking forward to our concert, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", and the decor will certainly get everyone in the Christmas spirit! We have many talented students here at Katzie and it's so lovely to see a celebration of art and music.

Shh! We Have a Plan

Students loved creating their own paper collage characters and birds after reading Shh! We Have a Plan, by Chris Haughton. Other students created a scene from the story on the Draw and Tell app on the iPad. This is one of the nominated books for the Surrey Schools' Picture Book of the Year. 

Looking Closely

Have you ever looked closely at the evergreen trees in the parks and forests and maybe your own backyard? We have three types of evergreen branches in our exploration centre where students can use the magnifying glass to look closely at how they are the same and how they are different. 

One World

Children cut out their traced hand from a magazine page to create this beautiful display.
The hands around the world is a powerful symbol of our friendship with each other. 

Over the last couple of weeks we have been reading One World Together by Catherine and Laurence Anholt. This is a beautiful book that shows us how children in other parts of the world live. We discovered that we all have many things in common and anyone can be a good friend! 

Our Makerspace takes shape

Some of the makerspace supplies.  We also have LittleBits kits and lots of Lego!

A few of the projects from today.  

Create, collaborate, inspire, learn, teach, invent, and create some more! Students from Division 3 had a blast in our newly created Makerspace in the Library Learning Commons. Here are some of their comments: "That was SO fun!" "That was better than doing long division!" (This student loves math!) "Thank you giving us this opportunity!" "Thank you for having this time for us!" 

We had students making perler bead art, weaving (after making their own mini loom), putting together circuits with LittleBits and doing origami. The biggest question at the end of the session was, "When do we get to come back?"

I was impressed with how respectful the students were and how they helped each other and I'm looking forward to working with them again soon. 

Halloween Fun

Halloween is 10 days away and we've got some great books to read! Check out our collection of picture books and spooky novels, if you dare! 

My favourite Halloween joke:  Where do baby ghosts go during the day?
Answer:  Dayscare!

For our older readers:  some spooky novels!

Meanwhile, in the Library Learning Commons...

Students have been busy building some very creative structures! I'm doing a read aloud of
 A Creepy Case of Vampires, by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel, getting in the mood for the spookiest day of the year coming up at the end of this month! After sharing part of the book today, students invented "bat detectors", and explained how it worked. There are some very imaginative kids at Katzie!

Keeping with the spooky theme, Grade 2's heard a Winnie the Witch story, written and illustrated by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul. These stories are such fun! Winnie is hilarious and I love her cat Wilbur. Here are some creations inspired by the story, Winnie's Dinosaur Day.

Our Thanksgiving Garden

This week some of our Grade 1 and 2 classes created a garden wall showing some Thanksgiving foods and how they are grown. We used Tumblebooks to read Caldecott Honor Book, Tops and Bottoms, by Janet Stevens and determined which part of the plants we eat, the tops or the bottoms! To read this book on Tumblebooks at home, students can click on the online resources link--elementary--Tumblebooks and use the username and password for our school.  If you need the username and password, come and see me in the library learning commons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kindness Bookmarks

What a fun way to show appreciation for a friend or family member:  kindness bookmarks! Students in grades 3 and 4 created bookmarks to give away to someone they are thankful for.  Also a great way to promote reading! The supplies will be put into our "Creation Station", for students to make additional bookmarks throughout the year.

Thankful for Books

With our Canadian Thanksgiving coming up on October 12th, I wonder what kinds of things people are thankful for. I love books: picture books to share with children, novels that take you to another time or place, and nonfiction books to teach you about the world.  I am thankful for books that make me not want the story to end because I've grown attached to the characters. I'm thankful for the creativity of the authors and illustrators whose books fill the shelves of our library learning commons. And finally, I'm thankful to be able to share the gift of reading with children.

     "I do believe something very magical can happen 

when you read a good book."

                 --J.K. Rowling

What are you thankful for?  Tell us in the comments below.

Skippyjon Jones Artwork

Today the Grade 1 students enjoyed the book Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner and then created their own Skippyjon with iPads or pencil crayons and paper. Here are a few of their pictures. Enjoy!

Encyclopedia House

How cool is this?!! This art installation is called "Encyclopedia House" and is using discarded encyclopedias and other books to create a house in a grove of trees next to the Newton Wave Pool.  It was still under construction today but will stand in the grove through the month of October. Then it will be dismantled and recycled.

Encyclopedia House in Newton is definitely worth a visit!
Located in the grove of trees next to the Newton Wave Pool.

Rock it!

I have always loved collecting rocks and have brought some in to our Library Learning Commons for students to explore. Check out the display by the window and feel free to add a favourite rock to the pile! 

Do you know how rocks and minerals are used around your home?  Check out the house on this link to find out more!

Use the magnifying glass to see the details on the rocks.  How would you sort the rocks?  

Minions of books!

Next time you're in the Library Learning Commons, check out the new bulletin board behind the circulation desk!

Minions love reading!  What do you love to read?  Tell us in the comments section below.

New books and new friends

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our students at Katzie and introduce you to our new teacher-librarian, Ms. Rogan, who will be working on Tuesday and Thursday in our Library Learning Commons. Drop in and say hello! You might just spot a new book while you are here!

Here are some of the new books you can look for when you come into the Library Learning Commons.  Graphic novel fans will want to check out the Max Finder Mystery series!

Look what's happening on the weekend!

You know where to go! The Katzie Library Learning Commons is the place to be for a drop in storytime and Lego club on the Saturdays listed on the poster! Come and meet the staff from the Surrey Public Library and enjoy this fun morning with your family.  (You have to bring your parents to join in on the fun!)  Please note:  There have been changes in the dates.  The November 21st session has been moved to November 28th and December 19th has been cancelled.  

Summertime Fun

Summer officially started yesterday and soon students will have lots of free time to fill!
My suggestion is to join the Summer Reading Club at the public library.  The closest branch to our school is the Cloverdale branch of the Surrey Public Library.  Sign up has started so go anytime to get in on the fun!
Looking for fun activities to do at home?  Check out Camp Wonderopolis!  This site is free and has great activities and reading suggestions for students.
And spend some time exploring!  You never know what you'll see when you go outside!

Look at this swallowtail butterfly I spotted at the beach one day last summer! 

Surrey Schools' Picture Book of the Year

Amazing Marble Maze!

Look at this amazing marble maze! There was much excitement in the library learning commons this morning when some students from Mrs. Smith's class built a very tall maze! I really loved how the students cooperated in building one tall structure.  Check out the photos below.

Lego City

Check out the Lego city being built in our library learning commons! This has been a collaborative effort  by students from various classes throughout the week.  A few students from Division 15 had the idea and it has turned out to be a favourite activity with many students!
The Surrey Museum has a LEGO display on right now!  It's called LEGO: A Fraser Valley Odyssey.
The display is open June 2nd and runs through September 19th.  And it's FREE!!  Lego lovers will want to check it out!

Yee-haw!

It's Rodeo weekend in our community of Cloverdale and students came dressed in their jeans, plaid shirts, bandanas, hats and cowboy boots! Find out more about the Cloverdale Rodeo on their website. We read a great book by Janet Squires called The Gingerbread Cowboy, a new take on an old classic.  Giddyup!

You Can Count on Math Books!

Check out our great selection of math books! Look for the "1,2,3 Counting" sticker on the spine and check out one of these fun titles!

Try your hand at some math games at Millie's Math House!  A free resource for residents of British Columbia.

Jeans Day!

Lots of support for Children's Hospital Foundation at Katzie! Today is Jeans Day!

Creative Learning with Book Creator

Grade 4 students have been working on a book about a sea animal and today they were delighted to share their creations with Grade 1 students! We used the Book Creator app and the students were very proud of their finished books! They learned how to search for and save an image, add text and resize it, add their own drawings, take a selfie, record their book and upload it to the iBook shelf on the iPad.  Primary students were very interested in learning about the animals the Grade 4 students had researched.  We all learned a lot!

Inspired by Surrey Picture Book Nominee, The Hermit Crab, by Carter Goodrich, Grade 4's created their own nonfiction book about an animal that lives in the sea.

Monkey Traps and More!

This week the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes are enjoying the book, Warning: Do Not Open This Book!, written by Adam Lehrhaupt and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe.  How would you catch a monkey? Well, with a trap, of course! Students created monkey traps out of Lego, Tinkertoys or Jenga blocks and then explained how their trap worked while I projected it on the Apple TV with my iPad. Take a look at some of the traps! And then check out the author's website.  There's a great book trailer for you to watch!

The Grade 2 and 3 students are loving Marsupial Sue and the Runaway Pancake, written and read by John Lithgow and illustrated by Jack E. Davis.  After listening to the cd of John Lithgow reading the story (very funny!), we talked about what kind of animal Marsupial Sue is and where we would find books on mammals in our library. We looked at a nonfiction book on kangaroos and discovered that mammals are found in 599. This led to our activity of sorting the animal pictures onto the "shelf" they would be found on. I had 4 students hold up the Dewey number cards (see the photo), and then each student was given a card with an animal on it. They had to decide which shelf they would be found on and stand behind that Dewey number.  Many students chose animal books to sign out! 

A fun way to learn about Dewey!

Making connections with littlebits!

This week we have been working with our new littlebits kits which we received through a grant from My Class Needs. I don't think I've ever seen students more engaged in their learning! After learning about the need for a power source, (a 9 volt battery), students worked together in table teams to "make something that does something", the littlebits slogan. Check out this video on youtube to learn more about littlebits or ask one of the students who have worked with them!  

Spring into Reading!

Come to the Book Fair in Room 139!  

Spring is upon us, here on the west coast of Canada, and our PAC is hosting a book fair next week! This is a fundraiser for the library so every book purchased helps our library to buy new books.  Why not hop on down to the book fair and spring into reading?!

Beautiful colour wheel flowers have sprouted in the library learning commons!

Like mice?  Look for the mice stories on display this week.

Be Kind!

Today is anti bullying day! We had a wonderful assembly where many classes presented songs, poems and stories to teach us all to be kind to others. The choir sang beautifully and I was so proud of them!  (Our music teacher, Mrs. McReavy and I practice with the choir every Wednesday at lunch.)   I was amazed at the variety of pink shirts today so I've made a pic collage of some of them.
Here's a link to the video we watched: http://safeshare.tv/w/mevNbNFYmC
Did you participate in Pink Shirt Day?  Tell us what you did in the comments below!

Learning through Play

This week we have been exploring symmetry and being creative with the iPad app,  Geoboard by The Math Learning Center.  Students were challenged to make their name, an object, or a design and just play with the app. There were many "aha" moments as students figured out how to use the many features of the app. You can try out Geoboard on your computer or download the app.  It's free!

Here are some of their creations:

Have you tried Geoboard?  

Library Learning Commons turned into a Makerspace!

This week we are reading Going Places by Peter and Paul Reynolds.  It is one of the Surrey Picture Book of the Year Nominees.  After reading and discussing the story, students worked collaboratively with a partner to build something that moves! We saw cars, planes, spaceships, submarines and even a horse and a pogo stick! Katzie kids are sure a creative bunch! Read the book, watch the book trailer, and get inspired!