Forever Friends

So many lovely spring pictures books to read and share with the class, but this one, Forever Friends is the simplest of stories about true friendship. With a focus on Carin Berger's collaging technique, we recreated a spring scene using a variety of materials with different textures.

• blue background
• wood grain drawer liners (giant roll of sticker paper)
• painted paper in pink with added texture (patterned rollers) 
• different shades of green paper and crepe paper for leaves
• sharpies
• shredded Kraft paper
• mini eggs

Thanks to the five boys who painted paper during Centres the day before to share with their classmates!

The drawer liners were pre cut to fit the paper but still managed to create a few sticky situations. A few friends took the backing off before cutting out their branches, eek. But, with a little teamwork every twig was carefully placed. Next, flowers were cut from the painted paper and leaves were added. The flowers were finished with sharpie detailing. The finale was rolling and wrapping the shredded nest and deciding on its perfect resting location on the cherry blossom trees before choosing a mini egg for their tummies and one for their nests. Hot glue ensured the eggs wouldn't disappear.

Collaborative Community Map

As a culminating activity to consolidate our learning and exploration of community in Social Studies (just prior to Spring Break) we joined forces with Ms. Koo's K/1 class to create this collaborative mapping masterpiece of our community, Champlain Heights. This was no small feat, let me tell you. It quickly became their project and was tackled with full enthusiasm and determination from every angle. Once we got going, there was no stopping this crew of kids. They were passionate about including all of the places and spaces they felt really define, represent and meet the needs of their families in the community. We could barely keep up!

To create the map we consulted google maps to help draw out a simplified version of the community streets. Chalk on black paper. Did I say simplified? This hood is a web of tightly knit co-ops with cultasacs and crescents so inticrately woven it's near impossible to recreate on a scale that would sufficiently support forty plus paper bag houses to represent the single most important place in each child's interpretation of community - home. We quickly realized there was zero chance of fitting all of the colourfully decorated houses accurately on the map. Hence, the birth of the pin and string system. The kids were responsible for creating their own street labels and with google maps and some quick estimation, we got every home secured to the map.

The children decided on which additional places and spaces were important to include on the community map. Using oodles of paper and supplies parks, shops, cars, schools and fire halls were constructed and lovingly situated on the map. It was surprising how particular these customers were, cars had to be in exact spots, as did trees and shrubs!

When asked what makes their community great, this is what Division 3 had to say...

• I live close to my friends
• I can walk to my friend's house 
• I can walk to school
• Its prettiness
• Everything

When asked what places were important to them they said...

• My school
• Waterpark
• Nana's house
• My home
• Independent 
• Bus stops

When asked how they'd describe their community they said...

• Clean
• Tidy
• A nice place to live
• Beautiful
• Special
• Comfortable 

There's no place like home.