Pat Johnson
STETTLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS
Snow boots and winter jackets began to give way to splash pants and brightly coloured rubber boots this past week. Students were delighted with the unusually warm days and were looking forward playing outside after school with the lighter evenings.
The students in Mrs. du Toit’s kindergarten classroom have been learning about rainbows. This past week they did an experiment by placing seven white carnations in different colored food coloring in order to "grow" a rainbow. Students were elated to notice how quickly the carnations turned different colours. The students were also busy "building" rainbow jello treats by adding a different color of jello to a cup each day. They will add the last color on Monday and then to top it all off, they will add ice cream and a gold chocolate coin on St. Patrick's Day.
One of Mrs. du Toit’s students, Rachelle Enyedy, asked her parents, who are both science teachers at the high school, to help her class "make" a rainbow. Mr. Enyedy used various materials to create three different rainbows. First, he used a flashlight and a glass of water to create a rainbow on the floor. Next, he used a prism and flash light to make another rainbow on the wall. Lastly, he used five CDs and a flashlight to create a very brilliant rainbow on the ceiling. All the while, the dark room was filled with "ooo” and "aaa" as the students watched in amazement as the rainbows appeared. Mrs. Enyedy treated the students with little rainbow sprinkled cupcakes. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Enyedy for a great experience.
Cally Strandquist, a CARS worker at Stettler Elementary School, leads Mrs. Lang’s Grade 1 class though Brain Gym activities every Wednesday morning. The kinesthetic movement lesson is a great way for students to get motivated and focused for the day. The students look forward to Cally's weekly visits. Her activities make learning so much fun.
Grade 2 students are working on one of their favorite science units: Boats and buoyancy. This week Mrs. Hunter’s students made plasticine boats and were testing them to see how much weight they would support. The students were intrigued to see how much some of the boats held.
It is definitely the season of rehearsing. Grade 2 students from Mrs. Boyd-Stadelmann’s and Mrs. Hunter’s classrooms are practicing poems for the music festival. Also from Grade 2, Mrs. Geddes is coaching her students as they rehearse fairy tale plays for an upcoming presentation. All the music classes are preparing for the music festival and several Incredible Introducers are getting introduction speeches ready for the festival. These students will introduce each of the adjudicators during the music festival. Meanwhile, students in Mr. Howell’s Grade 5 class have been acting out parts in a play called “How to Eat Fried Worms.” The class read the script together, and afterward chose a character to portray. Students were assigned to groups of five, and each group planned to perform in front of their classmates. Performing in front of an audience is a fantastic experience for all. We all look forward to seeing the result of all this practicing in the days and weeks to come.