On Thursday, May 16th, K to 7 students from Begbie competed in their annual Sports Day event. Children were split into 4 teams: blue, green, yellow, and red.
The theme of this year’s Sports Day was SPACE: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND.
Some of the relays or games in which the primary students participated included:
Space Scavenger Hunt
Three-Legged Alien Relay
Keep Earth in Orbit
Orbit the Sun
Build a Rocket Ship
Blast Off Relay
Saturn’s Ring
Water to the Moon
Shooting Star
A good time was had by all, including the Begbie Buzz reporters.
Division 11 had an opportunity to visit the Vancouver Aquarium, located in scenic Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver. The students really couldn’t contain their excitement, especially given that half of the class had never been there before!
DEBATE TIME
The day after our field trip, I read the following book to the class, in hopes of inspiring some lively discussions about animals in captivity:
The children immediately made connections with our experiences at the Vancouver Aquarium!
The kids were put in small learning pods, and in teams, they were given a side to take:
Are public aquariums good?
Are public aquariums bad?
Every team was responsible for creating posters that illustrated their side of the debate. Take a listen to snippets of each group’s presentation to the class!
***Readers, which side of the argument are you on?***
EVERY OPINION COUNTS: OUR VERY FIRST EDITORIALS
The day after our class debates, the children explored persuasive writing for the first time, in the form of editorials!
I immediately noticed something different that day. Rather than jotting down their thoughts straight away, most of the students continued to discuss and weigh out the pros and cons of public aquariums. They were still debating with each other, and many commented that they saw both the good and bad of public aquariums! They really put a lot of thought behind what they wanted to say, and seemed emotionally invested – though be it torn – in this issue.
I was impressed by my 6-8 year olds who arrived at their own opinions about public aquariums without feeling pressure from classmates. I was inspired to see the kids write with purpose. I was absolutely blown away by my students who shared their opinions with such passion and conviction!
For me, it was incredibly insightful “deep diving” into their takes on animals in captivity. I hope it is for you, too!
ENTERTAINMENT SECTION: SHOW REVIEWS OF “PETER AND THE WOLF” SYMPHONY FOR KIDS
The Junior Staff of THE BEGBIE BUZZ were excited to go into the city core to listen to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of “PETER AND THE WOLF.” The children were in AWE of the beauty of the Orpheum Theatre. Honest reactions to the stunning venue included:
“Wow……..” (mesmerized by the chandeliers, with mouths gaping)
“Are we going into a castle?”
“This feels like a mansion!”
“It looks like Elsa’s (of FROZEN infamy) house!”
“This is where rich people live!!!!”
The students then watched the live show that included many talented musicians, a wonderful conductor, and a lively narrator.
Upon our return to school, the Junior Staff of THE BEGBIE BUZZ were split into several teams. The students took on different duties for our digital newspaper…
TEAM #1:
MARKETING: the kids created print ads for the sole purpose of promoting the live show
TEAM #2
RESEARCH: the children researched the back story of “Peter and the Wolf” so that our newspaper audience could have a better understanding and appreciation of the musical rendition
TEAM #3
COMMUNITY ALERTS AND CRIME STOPPERS: this group was responsible for creating “WANTED” posters to alert the general public of the terrible crime the villain from “Peter and the Wolf” had committed
TEAM #4:
Entertainment News: the show critics gave their honest reviews of the live performance, sharing their thoughts with the public whether or not the show was worth the cost of a ticket
ENTERTAINMENT SECTION: MOVIE REVIEWS OF “LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART”
About a quarter of my class could barely contain their excitement last weekend, because they knew that they’d be watching “LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART” at the cinema with their families.
I *ahem* hinted loudly at the fact that the Entertainment section of newspapers often include movie reviews of upcoming flicks! Without missing a beat, EVERY single one of those kids who had a chance to watch the sequel wanted to contribute a review and submit it to our blog. They wanted to share their opinions of the movie!
I may be dating myself now, but I dare say we have a few Siskels and Eberts on our hands.
Enjoy.
SHOW REVIEWS: “MISTATIM”
Fear not for the rest of the class who did not have a chance to watch the LEGO sequel and become Movie Critics. Rather, those students became Show Critics for The Begbie Buzz.
On February 27th, Begbie students had an opportunity to watch a special live show by RED SKY PERFORMANCE in our gymnasium. The name of the play was “MISTATIM.” It was about a special horse who helped to build a friendship between two seemingly different kids from unique backgrounds.
The Begbie Buzz Show Critics were just as eager to share their thoughts about the performance and contribute their reviews to the Entertainment section of this blog.
It’s definitely full steam ahead for our newspaper inquiry!
As a class, we recently talked about the Entertainment section of a newspaper, and how it usually includes movie reviews, information about music events and live theatre, and reviews about the latest bestselling books!
Given that the children have been doing an Author Study on Mo Willems in the classroom, it made complete sense to have each of them do a Book Review on one story by Mo Willems!
We discussed the importance of having Book Reviewers in the newspaper world, as they help to shed light on literature that readers may find interesting or even uninteresting. The children learned that when they write book reviews for an audience, their opinions matter!!! Yes, they do!!!!
As Book Reviewers, the students know they have a responsibility to tell their readers how they feel about a book (was it good? was it terrible?), so that their readers are better informed to choose to check out the book (or not).
NOTE: Full credit for these Book Review Templates goes to Mrs. N’s Classroom. These free templates can be found on her page on Teachers Pay Teachers.
On January 21st, many people in the city of Vancouver caught a glimpse of the moon looking drastically different than usual. What you witnessed was the “Super Blood Wolf Moon” total lunar eclipse!
A total lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes in between the Moon and the Sun, forming a straight line. It is sometimes called a “Blood Moon’ because of its reddish colour. In addition, this year, this supermoon happened to be the very first full moon of the year, and so, its name was coined after howling wolves.
Photo Credit: (Mrs. Oudt’s brother) DENNIS YIP of dennisyip.ca
The total eclipse lasted about 60 minutes, and space fans were thrilled to see the changes occurring right before their very eyes.
Just click on the moon picture below to see a short video of the eclipse produced by my own brother, Dennis Yip. Check it out!
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Division 11 was absolutely intrigued by the Super Blood Wolf Moon. This seldom seen phenomenon connected nicely with our class unit on Objects in the Sky, as well as the picture book, “Taan’s Moons: A Haida Moon Story.” The young writers shared their thoughts and feelings about the moon in haiku form. They accompanied their 3 lined-17 syllable poems with gorgeous art pieces that highlighted the traditional northwest coast First Peoples shapes such as ovoids, circles, split Us, and U-forms.
