Joyeuses Pâques!

Hello again,
We have continued our pre-Easter activities with a potentially very cool eggsperiment (see what I did there??). We are attempting to grow crystals inside plastic egg shells using alum, a pickling spice that apparently does this. It's the first time for all of us, so it's a true experiment and we all have our fingers crossed that something happens!
We have prepared the experiment by coating our shells in glue and alum and once dry, placing them in a bath of water, food colouring and more alum. Now, we wait. We are documenting each stage of the experiment by drawing what our egg looks like each day until next Tuesday, when we will either have crystals to bring home, or we will learn what not to do!

This morning, we had some fun doing a little Easter egg hunt. Everyone got to find an egg (containing a little bunny friend) and a spring notepad. We've also continued playing our Easter egg letter and math games. In one game, we match the majuscule with the minuscule; in another, we match the number with its picture; and in the last game we match some simple addition questions with the solution.

Despite the drizzle, this afternoon we walked over to the library as planned. Big thanks to our parents for joining us on this wet day before a long weekend! We got to see "The Gunniwolf", which is the English version of "Loupscaroux". When we returned, we reviewed and acted out this story in French. You can find some versions of this story on YouTube.

The April calendar came home a couple days ago, and I included some tips about some days when we may want to dress for the occasion.

Mots de la Semaine

un oeuf

le lapin

une poule

du chocolat

Joyeuses Pâques!

Fire Safety

Happy almost-Easter!

We have some fun stuff planned this week, including an eggsperiment, some Easter-themed letter and math games and today we started it all off with dyeing eggs. Each student got to colour and dye two eggs and bring them home. We got through it with very few cracks, and nobody was upset! Yay!
The eggs are hard-boiled, but students know that the eggs are not safe for eating, as they have been out of the fridge all day. They are purely decorative. Hope you love them!


Last Friday, for show and tell, Ella brought in her dad, who is a firefighter. He showed us all his equipment, and explained how he reacts if he is called to a fire. Each student had the opportunity to try on some equipment and was gifted a fireman hat! I decided to make it a fire safety afternoon, so we read a book about Curious George visiting the fire station, and we read a list of fire safety reminders. I gave each student a colouring book with some fire safety tips, as well as a special paper that you can use at home to make a map of your house, with your exits and meeting place marked. I also had just enough firetruck tattoos left for everyone. So many gifts!! Please take this as an opportunity to check your home fire alarms and discuss your safety plan with your child.

On Friday, Dewson also celebrated Earth Hour by turning off the lights and electronics between 2 and 3pm. Our class discussed this initiative in the morning, and we agreed that we could do even more to help our planet. We turned our lights out for most of the day and enjoyed the sunshine streaming through our nice new windows!

A reminder that there is no school this Friday or next Monday. Enjoy your long weekend!

Talk to you soon.

Reine des Abeilles

Dear families,
Today I'm sending home the fundraising envelopes for our upcoming dance-A-thon. I know the kids are all excited for April 6th. No matter how much money we raise, everyone will get to dance, and we usually get glow bracelets (no need to send money specifically for these).
We do encourage everyone to fundraise as you are able (safely, not door-to-door). Our goal is $50 per student, which would add up to about $23,000 for our school. This money goes directly towards programming, materials and subsidizing for special events. I, personally, arranged for a bunch of new outdoor equipment to be purchased for the kindergartens last year, using money raised by parent council (probably through the dance-a-thon and festival), so I can tell you for sure that this money goes right back to students.
Donations can be made in cash or cheque in the envelope, or online. Song requests can also be made online. It's very simple. You can find the website here.

We have now acted out the story "Reine des abeilles" twice, trying out different roles each time. We used our entire classroom as the different locations for the story, from the ant hill to the duck pond, to the beehive and finally the castle. Here are some pictures, in story order. Maybe your actor can tell you the story (in much much more detail) as you look through them!

 Three brothers go on an adventure. They find an ant hill. 

The older brothers want to squish the ants. The youngest brother says "Arrête!"

They find a pond with ducks.

The older brothers want to throw rocks. The youngest brother says "Arrête!"

 They find a bee hive.

The older brothers want to light a fire and steal the honey. The youngest brother says "Arrête!"

 They find a castle under a magic spell. Everyone is frozen in stone.

 A petite dame who cannot speak, shows them 3 instructions for how to break the spell.

 The first brother does not find all the beads before the sun sets. He turns to stone.

 The second brother tries, but also does not succeed.

The youngest brother, who respects nature, almost gives up. 

The ants help him because he helped them.

 The youngest brother cannot swim, how will he get the key from the bottom of the lake?

 A duck brings it to him, because he saved them.

The final task is to find the princess who ate honey. 

The bees help by landing on the correct princess' lips.

The spell is broken! 

The king and queen are so happy that they decide the three brothers can marry the three princesses.

Mots de la Semaine

We have learned these words through our castle-building and story-acting activities this week!

un château

le roi

la reine

une princesse

un prince