Human Innovation is Amazing

I was inspired by this article “You’ll Be Amazed By These Soccer Balls From Around The World“. It was a great reminder about the need for innovation and appreciation for all that we have in this world.

Joy can be found with a simple game of soccer. We don’t need fancy shoes or leather soccer balls. All you need is some plastic bags, string and a place to play.

Watch a tutorial on how to make your very own plastic bag soccer ball here.

What could you invent this summer using only stuff you can find in your recycling container?

Mindful Eating

The first step in the Friends for Life program is F for Feelings. We have been working on recognizing the signs of emotion in our own bodies and reading the emotions in other people.

This past week, we have been working on R for Relaxing. We have been learning what our muscles feel like when they are tense and when they are relaxed.

Another practice mentioned in the program is being mindful. We have continued our mindful breathing practice and just began to explore mindful eating. It is important to eat slowly and appreciate what you are eating.

We brainstormed adjectives to describe the taste and texture of food. We then put those words into practice as we sampled 7 types of apples and 5 types of pears. Each morsel was placed on our tongue, savoured and then slowly chewed.

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The most popular pear was the Bartlett pear.IMG_3965

The most popular apples were Fuji and Granny Smith.

We also began wondering why some apples turned brown faster than others and why apples from McDonalds seem to last for weeks without turning brown. I sense an experiment about to happen…

I think that we also discovered that eating is also a very social activity. There was a lot of discussion between classmates about which apple or pear they liked best and why. Some of them were intrigued to find out that the fruit they liked best because it was sweet, was not liked by their friend who thought it was bland.

In honour of Turn Off the Screen Week, I invite you to cook with your child and sit down to dinner together. Talk about what you are eating. Where did it come from? Is it in season? Is it local? What does it taste like? Do you like it? Why or why not?

More information and ideas can be found on our “Food & Cooking” page.

January Field Trip Part 1 – BC Sports Hall of Fame

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We learned about the importance of:

Dedication

Creativity

Positive Attitude

Social Responsibility

Vision

Teamwork

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The highlight, next to meeting an Olympian, was the participation zone. Everyone enjoyed running around, exploring the exhibits and trying different sports.IMG_3852 IMG_3854 IMG_3859 IMG_3861 IMG_3863 IMG_3869 IMG_3874 IMG_3878 IMG_3881 IMG_3883   IMG_3887 IMG_3888 IMG_3890 IMG_3901 IMG_3903 IMG_3904 IMG_3905  IMG_3919

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“I feel like Santa. Giving makes me feel warm inside.” – Jo. Li

We were inspired by Kid President and our virtue of generosity to give this month.

1) We sponsored a toy drive! All our toys were donated to the Salvation Army.

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Before…

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and after!!!

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Thanks to Ms. Gil’s class who helped us collect all the toys!

2) We collected supplies for the Lookout Society. They provide assistance to the homeless on the downtown east side of Vancouver.

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Homelessness happens year-round. Donations can be made throughout the year!

3) Knitting! We took on the task of knitting scarves for the homeless. We will also donate these to the Lookout Society!

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This would not have been possible without the huge donation of yarn from sweetgeorgia yarns.

A big thank you to the sweetgeorgia crew who stayed at work late to help me choose yarns, who wound the yarn into kid friendly balls and who supplied us with extra boxes for our toy drive!

“There is no distinction

between the one who gives,

the one who receives,

and the gift itself.”

– thich nhat hanh

Research is a tough thing to do.

Here are some pictures from our mini “Research Fair”. The students worked hard on writing their questions and sharing their learning. We managed to work around the technical glitches of the day and had a great turnout!

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Our research is good practice for what lies in the years ahead. This same week, we were invited to see some of the Grade 7 students’ “Great Works” projects.

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Weather School~ Yay!

With the holidays, getting sick and being back at school, I have had trouble finding the time to update our blog. I have made time to update this weekend but in the meantime, here are the links to watch us at weather school!

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January 16th, 2014 at CTV BC

Please note you may not be able to view the videos with Google Chrome.