Thursday 27 June 2013

Farewell...



Well, another school year is in the books and the classroom looks empty already. It's always tough saying good-bye. This group was pretty special to me. A few of them have been with me for three out of their six years at Heritage! We learned a ton and shared a lot of laughs. I'll miss them all dearly. 
Thanks to all the parents out there for your support this year. I really can't do this job without you!
Many thanks to my support team this year- Mrs.McKenty, Mrs. Pemoeller, and  Mr. McFarlane were awesome to work with in our class!
And finally, big thanks to my students! It's kids like you who make me look forward to school everyday, and honestly LOVE what I do! I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished! I'm really going to miss you!!
Please keep in touch! Have a wonderful, safe summer! 
Love, Mrs. Waters  xoxo

What a Year!

Monday 24 June 2013

Moving Up!

This afternoon our grade 5's went for a visit to the middle schools they will be attending in the fall. A few are attending Lincoln, a few will go to Ness, but the majority are heading to Bruce.  Every year the middle schools invite the division's grade 5 students for a transition visit to meet the grade 6 teachers, tour the school, and 'learn the ropes'.  It's always a fun time; the students are excited, but you can see some nervousness as well. It's a big step for our students! Here are a few shots I took at the visit to Bruce Middle School! Thanks to Mr. Lipinski and his staff for hosting us!
Sitting in the theatre at Bruce Middle School!

Getting some answers on the scavenger hunt!
Visiting the library
Tour of the hallways
Someone won a Bruce Bearcat toque!
Do you think we're ready for grade 6?

We'll soon find out!

Thursday 20 June 2013

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

The Project of Heart tile mural was unveiled today! Isn't it magnificent?
Our final field trip of the year was a very fitting one. We were invited to the Forks to celebrate the completion of the Project of Heart. It brought some closure to our involvement, and our class was very excited to see Elaine again! The organizers played our song 'Residential Wreck' for the crowd, and we listened to many survivors speak about their experiences in these schools. At times it was emotional, but the whole day was focused on healing and moving forward.  At the end of the day, Elaine unveiled the mural she created with the tiles that were sent to her- almost 9 000 tiles in total! It's a breathtaking, two-sided mural that will be permanently installed at the Forks. Be sure to check it out if you ever make it down there! 
Sacred fire burning at the Oodena Circle, with the drum group ready to begin 
Kevin Lamoureux, professor at the University of Winnipeg, was the MC of the celebration
Charlene Bearhead, the national coordinator of Project of Heart
Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Honourable Kevin Chief, MLA for Point Douglas
Elder Mary Courchene gave an opening & closing prayer for the day
Our friend, Anishinaabe artist & residential school survivor, Elaine McIntosh
Elaine is about to pull off the cover...
The different classes take a look at the mural...
Beautiful!

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Today in Pictures: Tabloid Day!

You know the school year is coming to an end when the infamous water tabloid day arrives.  
Such a fun day to spend with the kids, and we had perfect weather for it! Hot, sunny, and just right to get wet! :)  Here are a few shots that I caught...
Getting dizzy during a relay race!
Superman flying through a hoop!
Fun with the parachute
A fun game of cat & mouse
Rolling giant 'cheerios'
There's no easy way to do this...
Skipping with a HUGE rope!
How far can we kick?
The favourite station: throwing soaked sponges at each other! A complete free-for-all! :)
Nobody was left dry!
After a while we just climbed into the bin of water...
...and held the hose onto our heads! 
DJ Sarahs was spinning some good tunes outside so we felt the need to dance!
What a great day!

Monday 17 June 2013

The Home Stretch!

We start our countdown today - we only have 9 days left of school! Can you believe it?
We were lucky enough to have storyteller and author Joe McLellan join us today to tell us some stories and talk about his life growing up.  We love Joe's stories! He writes about Nanabosho, who is a trickster in Anishinaabe stories.  Elders use Nanabosho stories to teach kids lessons.  He brought his hand drum and taught us some songs; our favourite was the Cree Laughing Song!
Joe is telling us about when he was growing up
He is telling us the story of Nanabosho and the Cranberries
Joe brought an owl puppet to help tell one of his stories!

We had some fun on the Smartboard today and played around with perimeter questions.  The activity had a neat ruler that we could flip around on the board.  The shapes got more and more challenging as we went through the questions.  


We went for a walk through the Heritage School Summer Lending Library this afternoon.  Our science lab is full of books for us to take home over the summer!  Every student will be allowed to take home ten books for the summer (and bring them back in September) so that we can practice our reading when we're not in school! What a great idea!  There were a lot of interesting books there!
Browsing through some of the tables...
Mrs. Waters sent home permission forms for our final field trip on Thursday! Make sure you bring them back right away!


Wednesday 12 June 2013

Norval Morrisseau

Mrs. Waters introduced us to the artist Norval Morrisseau this week! He is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) artist from Ontario who paints some really interesting pieces.  His art is usually done around animals that you'd see normally in Canada's wilderness, and he also paints pictures of Anishinaabe stories or legends.  Here are a few shots of his work, when we searched him on the computer:




Our class noticed some things that are common in all of his pieces: they are colourful, the animals all have over-sized yellow eyes, there are large shapes within his creatures, they are all lined with black, and there are spirit circles connecting in many of them.  So, we thought it might be fun to create our own pieces, following Morrisseau's style.  We planned it out on blank paper first, and then we transferred our different sketches and designs onto canvas! We just started painting this afternoon. Hopefully we can finish tomorrow!  Here are some photos of our 'works in progress'!
A bear!

A deer!

We are using acrylic paints

A turtle
Stay tuned for the finished products!

Thursday 6 June 2013

Track & Field Day!

Today was our divisional track and field meet at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate. It's an annual event held for the grade 4 and 5 students in our division. We are lucky - Sturgeon is close by, so we walked over.  This is always one of my favourite days of the year! It's a great way to expose our early years students to track and field events, and focus on fun and sportsmanship. Check out some of the pictures!
Waiting for the event to begin!

First race of the day! 50m dash!

Run!

Flexing our arm muscles throwing the ball!

Flying over the hurdles!

Look at the air these kids get!


It's hot out! Time to cool off! :)
It was a wonderful day! We had some amazing weather and a ton of laughs!