It's February 2nd, and that means it's Groundhog Day! We were on the edge of our seats... would Canada's "Wiarton Willie" predict an early Spring, or would we be doomed to 6 more weeks of Winter? It would all come down to whether or not he saw his shadow. And that called for some Science... What makes shadows, anyway?... We played around with a flashlight as the sun, first shining it directly on our groundhog, revealing a shadow, then blocking the "sun" with a cloud, eliminating the shadow. So it seemed we should be rooting for a cloudy day for Wiarton Willie! In the end, we were thrilled to tune in to CBC's coverage of Wiarton Willie's prediction and find out that the clouds hath smiled upon us. They blocked the sun, in turn blocking Wiarton's shadow, meaning that Spring will soon be here! We also learned that there are a whole lot of other groundhogs out there predicting the weather!... Shubenacadie Sam, Fred la marmotte, and Punxsutawney Phil (from the U.S.A.). There's even a lobster from Nova Scotia who has been encroaching on the groundhogs' monopoly of weather prediction ("Lucy the Lobster"). Thankfully, all of the groundhogs agreed about an early Spring. Lucy the Lobster was more pessimistic, but... what do lobsters know, anyway?! And groundhogs weren't the only animals on display this week. We also got to meet an amazing barn owl and red-tailed hawk, thanks to a visit from the OWL society ("Orphaned Wildlife" Rehabilitation Society)! The presenter taught us so many interesting facts about raptors, including the shocking fact that peregrine falcons can dive at speeds of 300km/h!!! We learned all about the foods they eat and how their various eyes/ears/beaks/wings/talons help them when hunting, etc. We also learned that the French actually distinguish two categories of owls where in English, we just refer to them all as "owls". In French, owls with feathers on their head that look like ears are called "des hiboux", and owls without these feathers are called "des chouettes". We did some art to represent the "hiboux"... In Math, we're trying something new!... Math stations! In small groups, we have begun rotating between written work, Math games, and small group lessons with Madame. We only had time to try this out once this week and didn't quite get through a full rotation, but Madame says that she was pleased with how well it went and how she was able to begin targeting the specific needs and curiosities of the various groups. We are looking forward to seeing how this new routine progresses. We also had our last ice skating day for this year, and we lucked out with a walk that didn't involve snow or rain! Madame was so impressed with all of our progress in just 3 practice sessions, and with our determination. We kept trying, even when it was hard! Extra pics...
Comments are closed.
|
Archives
June 2024
Categories |