Is Winter Over Yet?…not at CGS!

Slightly warming temperatures and the little bit of snow we’ve had hasn’t dampened our excitement for Winter as it relates to our current units of study.

Our Early Start children are progressing with their pre-reading and language skills through shared seasonal books. They began to verbalize their own creative story from observation during a 1:1 session of “slow looking” – focussing their attention on a springtime painting as their inspiration and creating their own ideas and conclusions of what they saw. What brilliant observations were made by these creative and observant young minds!

The Junior Kindergarten students are fully engaged in Arctic animals, their habitats and hibernation patterns. Through sorting, drawing, fine motor skills, loose parts exploration, and creative expression through visual art, these young learners appreciate the advantages that the Arctic climate provides its inhabitants. And a great reminder that it’s so good to be in our warm and cozy school!

The Senior Kindergarten class is consistently outdoors! Outdoor education plays an integral role in their current study of birds and their habitats. Constructing bird feeders to care for our neighbourhood feathered friends was an exercise in dexterity and patience! And how do birds fly? The SKs have developed their own hypotheses and will begin to test them later this week when they design their own glider-bird!

“Whales splash, owls soar, polar bear smiles, but there are more!” is one line crafted by a Grade 1 student after reading ‘When the Snow Falls’ by Linda Booth Sweeney. The author creates two-word sentences focussing on wintry nouns and verbs. “Saucers spin, sleds slide, hats fly, we ride!” was a favourite, and inspired them to create their own page. Complementing their creative language exploration, they utilized math skills to compare favourite wintertime activities through bar graphs and designed pie charts to visualize their favourite arctic animals.

Why do liquids move at different rates? The Grade 2s are experimenting with the concept of viscosity. Nothing as basic as the wet-rain-not-quite-snow-we’ve had, but instead they tested their hypothesis on liquids like ketchup, syrup, mustard and dish soap. Which would win the “Liquid Flow Race”? They joyfully conducted their experiments, carefully gathered their data, and confidently completed their conclusions. Oh, the joy of learning through hands-on experimentation!

In conjunction with their class colleagues, the Grade 3s have been focussing on Forces and Movement of a different type…Natural Disasters. From earthquakes to landslides, tornadoes and hurricanes, they will research and report on their findings. With the force of a rocket ship, the Grade 2/3s are soaring into 2024 as they explore paragraph writing and their goals for the new year. Check out our CGS Instagram account (@children’s_garden_school) for more on these amazingly impressive intentions.

Enjoy the excitement of Winter as we quickly head toward February!

How will YOU soar into 2024?