Week Five - Review

This week we said farewell to the final 2 butterflies that emerged from the chrysalis...on their way to Mexico to enjoy a warm winter!

We have had a busy week learning all about Canada!  We have learned that it is the northern most country in North America.  We learned that every country has it's own flag and our flag is red and white.  It is made of 1white square with 2 red rectangles on either side with a red maple leaf inside the white square.  Each child is able to identify the Canada Flag.  We also learned that each country has a special song "anthem" and ours is called "O Canada".  We learned that Canada has 2 official languages english and french.  We listened to a variety of Canadiana folk music too.  We have been busy learning all the provinces and territories and the children are able to sing along to the song which helps us remember.  We learned the provinces from west to east, then the territories west to east.


We read the story of Paddle to the Sea.

A terrific book about how the water flows from Nipigon Country through the Great Lakes eventually ending up in the Great Salty Sea, the Atlantic Ocean. Calvin gave me a map of the waterways so the children have enjoyed looking through this and seeing how "Paddle" made his voyage.  We could see that Lake Superior looks like a wolf head and Lake Michigan looks like a long, zucchini squash. Lake Huron looks like a man with a back on his back. Lake Erie looks like a lump of coal and Lake Ontario looks like a big, fat, carrot. We learned that the word buoyant means to float and the opposite of buoyant is to sink. We also watched the NFB of Canada vignette of Paddle to the Sea if you'd like to watch it too! The children were quick to point out that the book was different than the movie and some of the parts were mixed up.


This is a photo of Calvin kayaking in Lake Superior this summer with Quaid looking on...a family trip we took at the end of August.

This is a favourite photo of Calvin's (he loads these lakers so to kayak beside one in Lake Superior en route to Lake Huron, port of Goderich was quite exciting)!

These photos were taken at Whitefish Point Bay, a place mentioned in Paddle-to-the-Sea, it is home to a Shipwreck Museum and has a display on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The children were also able to learn the Canadian coins and symbols (quarter has a caribou, dime has a bluenose schooner, nickel has a beaver and the penny has a maple leaf) and they sorted these out under the proper word headings.  They also learned all about Canadian animals and matched the written word to black & white sketches of each animal. We have been working on printing too.  We reviewed again our alphabet sounds.  We also learned that sometimes when 2 letters are put together they make 1 sound.  Because we are studying North America this month, we learned the "or" sound and the "th" sound.  The children pretend they have an "oar" in their hands and paddle to the side when they see the "or".  They were reading words like, tractor, orca, fork, cork, cord, corn, horn, pork. When we learned about the "th" sound, the children have to remember to stick their tongue out and then place their teeth on it and blow.  They were reading words like math, think, thin, moth, bathtub, with.

We will be learning about the United States next week - followed by Mexico - followed by the Island Countries  - and ending with the Central American countries which will lead us into South America in November.  If you have any items at home that you would like to send in that relate to the upcoming topics please feel free to do this...like a sombrero?  Thank you to the Greydanus' for lending us their Smart Globe!

And - there's nothing more American than apple pie - so, you guessed it!  We will be making apple pies next week (thanks to the Davidson family for picking up 2 bushels of apples for us)!

Enjoy this long weekend and remember to...