Creepy Carrots

I adore the work of the talented Peter Brown and his quirky, clever and oh so creepy characters in his Halloween-ish book, Creepy Carrots. It's a departure from the typical pumpkins, witches and goblins you'd find on the pages of a book on the Halloween shelf. 

In this witty tale, Jasper the rabbit becomes threatened by the very carrots he loves to eat more than anything in the world, when he begins seeing them everywhere. They're stalking him, he's sure of it. He sees them in his bedroom, in the shower; they're everywhere. Finally, Jasper has had enough and comes up with a solution. He builds a tall fence around the garden where they grow. Now they'll never get out! What he doesn't realize this that the carrots are secretly celebrating behind the walls. They're safe! Now that pesky rabbit will let them be and stop eating them all up. They're plan worked! Both the carrots and Jasper feel victorious with the outcome. 

We wrote about the characters point of view in the story. What did Jasper think of the carrots and what did the carrots think about Jasper? 

We loved the expressions on the carrots faces and decided to create our very own creepy carrots with paper. 

Peter Brown has a wonderful website worth exploring at www.peterbrownstudio.com. He shares his inspiration for characters and talks about where his ideas for writing come from. We tried to watch the link about Creepy Carrots but it kept freezing up on us! If you have time, have a boo at home. Google, The Creepy Carrots Zone and the Vimeo link will pop up!

Happy Thanksgiving

This week we read some lovely stories about giving thanks and being thankful (pictured below). The children wrote their own poems which were carefully glued inside of a card to be taken home for family. They were so excited to share their turkey artwork at the assembly and recite the poem they practiced at school (and home - thank you)! We have a lot to be thankful for. Here are just a few things Division 3 is thankful for...

friends, nature, Canada, food, school, friends, books, toys, Grandpa. lego, earth, love, home

Collaborative Colour Wall

The children brought in the most interesting assortment of coloured objects for our Colour Wall Project. They eagerly sorted their items onto coloured construction paper. Once they finished sorting, we took a closer look at the colour palettes we had created before assembling the final colour boards. We discussed a few possible changes as some of the items seemed to span two colours families. We voted and made decisions together. There was a greeny grey piece of fabric that triggered some debate but ended up sitting happily with the shades of green where it began. Our yellow collection was divided into yellow and gold. Once content, in partners, the children collaged the coloured treasures onto square cardboard with LOTS of white glue. They lay still to dry overnight. To my surprise, not one thing needed re-gluing in the morning! The colour wall was born. It looks amazing.

Turkeys on the Loose!

They're on the run! Can you spot your feathered friend? They are fantastic, so bright and colourful - LOVE them! We used oil pastels to draw our birds (guided drawing - step by step). Details and patterns were added to the feathers and bodies with colourful oil pastels. Then, it was onto painting with watercolours. A feather was glued on for the finishing touch. Gobble, gobble…

What vegetables would you like with your Thanksgiving dinner? Beets me!
Why did the turkey play the drums in his band? Because he already had drumsticks!
What key won't open a door? A turkey!
What side of the turkey has the most feathers? The outside!

Gobble Gobble

In anticipation of Thanksgiving next week the children were busy drawing and painting some very colourful turkeys today at school. Gobble gobble. Tomorrow we'll be writing poems of thanks to add to our patterned birds! Stay tuned for the big reveal…gobble.

Classroom Promise and Portraits

We've been talking, reading and writing about our school motto over the past few weeks, trying to unpack what it means to us in our classroom and in the school community. What does it mean to be kind? How can we be safe at school? What does being great look like? We read some stories about kindness in the classroom, being a friend at school, and school rules. Writing our own classroom promise seemed like a great way to capture what the children felt were the most important ingredients in creating a happy, healthy classroom. A home away from home. After lots of sharing and brainstorming, this promise was crafted with the students' voices and vision.

In this class we promise to try new things and to do our best work. We will use calm voices and speak kind words. We will be respectful of others and responsible for our choices. We will take turns, be patient with others and use our manners. We will share and care for our friends. Most importantly, we'll LEARN together and have FUN together.

The children chose where our promise would hang. They decided on the front chalkboard because it was easy to see from everywhere in the classroom. We'll reflect on this promise throughout our year in first grade. Such important words.

I adore the self portraits the class drew in black sharpies on white paper. They really capture their spirit, energy and youthfulness! I look forward to creating lots more art with this talented group of artists. All of their artwork will be filed into a personal art folder and sent home at the end of the school year. I find it's the best way of preserving their work and allows you to treasure it for years to come. Some favourite pieces may find their way into picture frames on your own gallery walls at home! Such a lovely way to celebrate their work.