Grouse Mountain Field Trip

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

The field trip to Grouse Mountain was PHENOMENAL despite the constant downpour of rain throughout the day! (Many kudos to our stalwart parents and volunteers who braved the wet weather!)

After a long bus ride we arrived at the Grouse Mountain Tram. It was exciting to all squash into the Skyride tram and head up to the Alpine Station. We could feel the swaying, bumps, and shakes as we headed up the Mountain, but it was so rainy and foggy that we couldn’t actually see how high we were! Our morning was spent in an authentic Pacific Northwest Coast Longhouse, where we both watched and participated in, the educational Hiwus Presentation (First Nations Cultural Experience) led by an elder of the Squamish Nation. We learned about the ancient customs, legends, dances and rich history of our First nation people. We listened to singing and drumming, and got to do our own “Raven Dance”!

During the lunch hour we watched the Lumberjack Show. The Lumberjacks didn’t worry too much about falling in the water for the log rolling competition, because they were already soaking wet! They were really funny! Fortunately, after the show we were able to eat our lunches inside where it was dry and warm.

The afternoon was spent learning about the similarities and differences between the three species of North American bears. The videos were wonderful! Then we got to explore different tables of artifacts. We had to sort out skulls, claws, and footprints to match them up with the correct animal. All the parents were put to work at the tables, so we didn’t get any photos… too bad! We also got to see the orphaned Grizzly bears as they wandered through their enclosure. Wow, they were SO BIG!

This free slideshow design created with Smilebox

What was YOUR favourite part of the day?

Mason Bees and Daffodils

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

Although we didn’t get our daffodils from the Ministry this year (they somehow left us off the list!), Mrs. Boekhout had saved lots of the bulbs from last year AND she bought some special “Happy Canada 150” red and white tulips that came right from Holland! In the Fall, we learned about bulbs and how they grow. Then we planted our bulbs. We also learned about the life cycle of Mason Bees. They are Solitary Bees, so they don’t make a hive. The females almost never sting, and the males can’t sting at all! That’s nice! Mason Bees are one of the first insects to come out in Spring, and they are important pollinators. Mrs. Boekhout keeps the cocoons over the summer, washes them in Fall, and then tucks them away over the Winter in a cool, but not freezing, place.

Early Spring is also the time when we get our Mason Bees ready to “wake up”. Our wonderful “Mason Bee Man”, Pasquale, came into the class to tell us more about the bees. He showed us how to “roll” paper straws for the bees to use for their eggs. Mason Bees pack a pile of pollen in the tubes first, then they lay just one egg and they build a little mud wall… all inside the straw! Every egg has its own little bedroom! Our job was to get the straws ready. Pasquale hand-made a special Mason Bee house for our class the year before! He painted it beautiful colors, and made little “cubbies” in it. He opened up one of the cocoons for us to see, and hold, a live Mason Bee! The rest of the cocoons went in a little box. We put the little box inside the Bee House and then waited… not very long… to see the first bees emerge! We cheered and clapped for them!

Later on, but still in Spring, we were SO excited when our bulbs started to pop up out of the soil! When our beautiful flowers started to open, we learned more about the anatomy of a flower and the daffodil life cycle. We couldn’t wait to go outside to sketch them! They made the Sanctuary look SO BEAUTIFUL!

Here is a SlideShow of us at both our fun times in the Sanctuary!

Photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Can you remember where YOUR Daffodils were?

Evergreen Cyanotypes

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

Another FANTASTIC Evergreen Cultural Center Art Program was “Cyanotypes”… sometimes known as “Sun Prints”. The first step is to arrange some interesting shapes on the special photographic paper. Then you have to wait patiently while the sunlight does its magic! We saved our wonderful prints as a “Mother’s Day” gift!

What a wonderful learning artistic experience!

Here’s a little snippet of our learning!

Where did your Mom put her Cyanotype present?

Earth Day Tracking Trash

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

Every year our class has a VERY special project to do… tracking the TRASH around Nestor School! We pick up the trash in partners first. One partner collects the litter and the other partner writes down “what kind” of litter it is. After 4 days, we tally up ALL our results. That’s a lot of MATH! Then we figure out how Nestor students are doing as compared to previous years. We make BIG posters and prepare a presentation for the whole school to hear our findings. Later on, we start delivering the Earth School trophies and certificates to those classrooms who have sent in their “Earth logs” that tell how they have tried to take care of Planet Earth. Nestor is proud to be an EARTH V level school with the S.E.E.D.S. Green Schools program! That’s one of the top ratings in all of B.C.! Hooray for us and Mother Earth!

What do YOU do to take care of the Earth?

100 Days of School!

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

The 100th Day of School is always a big event! Our class celebrates with fun “Math Stations” where we do all kinds of activities to do with “100”!

Here we are in action!

What was YOUR favourite part of 100 day?

Dr. Seuss!

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

We celebrated a birthday for Dr. Seuss by reading some of his books and watching videos on the week of March 2… Dr. Seuss would have been 113!

We couldn’t pass up going to the Evergreen Theater production of Seussical the Musical... especially since one of our own class members, Kaitlyn, was in the production! We were delighted to see some baby ducks on the way. Earlier in the school year, the whole school saw a “LunchBox Theater” production from Dr. Seuss as well!

What a great year for Dr. Seuss in our class!

Who is YOUR favourite character from Dr. Seuss?

Mickey Mouse Birthday!

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

Oh my… somehow I missed posting Mickey Mouse’s Birthday on November 18th! (He turned 88 this year, so he’s not as old as my Mum!) We did a step-by-step Art Sketch project to celebrate!

Here are our sketches!

Who is YOUR favourite “Mickey Mouse” character?

Evergreen Mask Art

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

We are SO lucky to have the Evergreen Cultural Center so close and so full of wonderful Art Programs. This time we learned how to make clay masks! Later on, we painted them back in the classroom. That was the MESSIEST Art Project we have ever done! We had to paint the masks black and then rub the top layer off… there was BLACK PAINT EVERYWHERE! In the end, the Masks were AMAZING!

Here are the finished products!

Create your own slideshow design

What was YOUR favourite part of making your mask?

Pucks n’ Books

Posted on February 4, 2017 by Mrs. Boekhout

We were lucky to have a Coquitlam Express Hockey Team member come to our class! The team is committed to the value of books so we were treated to a reading of a “Brady Brady” hockey story. Everyone got a signed poster of the team.

Classroom 2 Kids

Reading, Writing, and Blogging!