Mason Bee House!

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

We were SO lucky this year, and so were our Mason Bees! Pasquale, our local “Mason Bee Man“, dedicated a lot of time and effort over the winter to hand-make an AWESOME new wood Mason Bee House for our school! It even has RAINBOW COLOURED “Mason Bee Cubbies”! It is such a BEAUTIFUL new Mason Bee home, and Pasquale even donated a cubby-full of cocoons to hatch! We truly THANK YOU, Pasquale!!!

We learned a lot more information about Mason Bees from Pasquale’s introductory lesson and from the DVD that his son made. It was interesting (and a little scary) to actually see real pollen mites and parasitic wasps under the microscope! It’s not easy to be a BEE!

The best part is… seeing our own Mason Bees fly in and out of their new home!

Here’s a short video of some of our “Bee Action” in the Sanctuary Courtyard!

What do YOU remember best about setting up our Mason Bee House?

A Daffodil is a Promise

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

Our wonderful “A Daffodil is a Promise” has come almost full circle now! We planted our bulbs in the fall and have seen them grow leaves, stems, buds and finally beautiful daffodil blooms! As the lovely yellow blooms fade away, the seed pods are beginning to grow. In order to strengthen the bulbs for next year’s growth, we will have to “dead-head” the blooms. Maybe, however, we will keep just a few seed pods growing to see how they do! Nature has many ways of assuring that each species succeeds and survives!

What was YOUR most surprising fact about Daffodils?

Our Magnet Projects!

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

As part of our FORCES AND MOTION Science Unit, we had a lot of fun learning about MAGNETIC FORCES! The highlight of the unit was a take-home project which became a BIG display in the hallway. SO many people stopped to look at our amazing projects! Each project was so unique! Then we took time ( a LOT of time! ) to listen to each person’s project write-up, see the experiment in action, and then ask questions and make comments afterwards. Mrs. B. video-taped each person’s “scientific presentation”.)

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Presenting our work to the class was a great experience!

Enjoy the collage of our video presentations!

What was YOUR favourite part of the Magnet Project?

Yee-Haw! It’s Dance Fest!

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

What a fantastic way to burn off some energy, have fun with friends, and practice PATTERNS! (Oops, Mrs. B. always like to find the MATH in everything!)

We practiced a LOT in our PE times and it was amazing how many dance steps we learned! One of the best known tunes was “Oh, Johnny” and it definitely stuck in our heads.

We finished off with the Chicken Dance and the Macarena. Wow! We sure were tired by the end… but we all agreed that it was a lot of fun!

What was YOUR favourite dance?

100 Days of School!

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

2…4…6…8…10…

10…20…30…40…50…60…70…80…90…

100!

It seems like such a BIG number… 100… but we made it to 100 Days of School in Grade 2!

Hooray for us!

We celebrated with a fun “100 Day Stations Activity” in our classroom and then got a 100 Dollar Bill to go home with!

(Ha! Ha! Ha! It was just a fake 100 dollar napkin!)

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Here is some of the action!

Happy 100 Days of School and Happy NEXT 100 Days!

What was YOUR best School Memory of the last 100 Days?

Sports Visitors

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

We had some REALLY special visitors at Nestor school!

The BC Lions Football Team joined with Fortis BC to teach us about being ENERGY CHAMPIONS! We learned about how we can take Green Actions for the Earth!

Then the Coquitlam Express Hockey Team came to show us how important READING is for everyone! Tyger read a great story called “The Goalie” because he is a goalie on the team!

It’s inspiring to see how SPORTS, LEARNING, and being GOOD TO THE PLANET all go together!

What is YOUR favourite Sport?

Bonhomme Carnaval

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Mrs. Boekhout

We had such a FANTASTIC time celebrating the Quebec “Carnaval” at our own school! Bonhomme Carnaval even showed up himself! We did lots of fun activities (did you know that there are over 200 activities at the real Carnaval?) like “freeze dancing”, snowball toss, curling, and ice block building… of course ours had to be “simulated” because it just isn’t that cold here! The final activity was a delicious treat of ice cream and maple syrup! Yum!

The “Freeze Dancing” was REALLY fun!

What was YOUR favourite activity?

Christmas Yule Logs

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Mrs. Boekhout

Once again my dear “Christmas Lumberjack“, Mr. Nussle, has provided a REAL log for each student in my class! Every log has been carefully chosen, side branches cut away, and a hole for a candle carefully drilled. We have to be the luckiest of classes, and I am most definitely the luckiest of teachers. It is now Year #16!

It is most definitely my FAVOURITE craft of the year and I love to hear from previous students, who tell me how they still bring out their Grade 2 Yule Log with their family decorations.

I love the idea that this craft has roots in tradition from long ago, and I especially love how we are able to bring a bit of “nature” into our homes. Thank you, so much, Mr. & Mrs. Nussle, for helping me make this lovely keepsake with my class once again this year!

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Where did YOU put your
Yule Log centerpiece on display?

Evergreen Center – Fall

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Mrs. Boekhout

We are so lucky to be close to the Evergreen Art Centre… we had TWO field trips in the fall!

Our first field trip was a PERFORMANCE by Bouge de la called “Bedtime“.

You can watch a bit of the show on YouTube because we weren’t allowed to take any photographs.
(Parents, be aware: at the end of the YouTube it offers a variety of shows so only click on the “Bedtime” link!)

Our next field trip was an Art Gallery viewing of “Perfect Geometry” by Laurie Papou and a workshop called “Up Close and Far Away“. We learned about hot and cold colours and sketched the geometric patterns found inside slices of different fruits and vegetables. Then we painted the HOT coloured foods in COLD colours and the COLD coloured foods in HOT colours! The workshop was SO MUCH fun, and the results were AMAZING!

Here’s a slide show of our two field trips.

What was YOUR favourite part?

Happy Hallowe’en

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Mrs. Boekhout

BOO! to YOU!

Our Hallowe’en Celebration was a Howling success!

(Thank you, Ms. Harris, for these six great photos!)

Enjoy the SlideShow of this special day!

Classroom 2 Kids