Happy Hallowe'en from the Zombie Squirrels!

Charlotte's uncle James, who is a professional balloon artist and juggler, came to visit and entertain us. What an amazing way to start out a super Hallowe'en!

We were amazed when he put all the balloons together into a cute caterpillar who will now live in Room 305. We used a little bit of magic to help inflate his antennas!

Here we are in character for Hallowe'en. Check out the brand new "Armaanster" in the top left of the picture. Thanks to Trent for putting that together!

Zombie Squirrels at Parliament

MP Bob Zimmer brought us right onto the floor of the House of Commons.

Here we are after our "Press Conference".

We got to meet a second MP, Laurin Liu! She's only 20 and she's already an MP.

Sitting on the steps of Parliament. What an amazing day!

Supermodels!

Watch out - the Zombie Squirrels are here!

Our Trip to Parliament

Trent points out the "Members Only" sign!

Sarah T plays the part of an MP and we watch her as members of the press. Shauna's husband's cousin got us exclusive access. Thanks, Lesley!

We had a very exciting trip with all the three classes that make up Room 920 to the Parliament Buildings last week. We got to meet two MPs, sit in on Question Period (which was surprisingly interesting), go through two different security checks, learn about turning a Bill into a Law, visit the House of Commons, the Senate and the Peace Tower. We also got to go into a a Members Only Press Room.

A Gaga-licious Send-Off for Armaan

We were VERY excited to surprise Armaan!

We REALLY surprised Armaan.

Pat wrote a poem for Armaan's departure and many students told him the things they'd miss most about Armaan when he moves to his new home and school in Kitchener/Waterloo.

We had a fantastic, energetic Lady Gaga dance party.

Melodee and Owen showed off some awesome moves.

Our last full class photo! We'll miss you, Armaan!

Crazy faces

The whole crew, super excited!

Memories of Our First Day!

Now that we're almost a month into the school year, it feels like that first day when we all felt so nervous and unsure was a LONG time ago.

Before we were even Zombie Squirrels or Thumbalicious, we were a class meeting for the first time.

Remember this?

Mosquito Tone

We have a high-pitched tone that we can hear constantly in our classroom. We have asked Doug (our custodian) to look into it. The interesting thing is, Doug can't hear it.

Today we talked about how, as people get older, they can lose their ability to hear really high pitched tones. We talked about a particular high pitched tone called the "Mosquito Tone" that is really annoying to young people, but older people cannot hear it.

We tested the students and all of them could hear the tones up to 17 000 hertz. Many of them could also hear the 18 000 hertz tone.

Shauna could barely hear the 17 000 hertz tone, Andrew could only hear upto 14 00 hertz and Tiiu only up to 16 000 hertz.

Test yourself and your family!

Our New Specimen!

We have a new specimen from the Museum of Nature in our classroom. We have a super adorable little Columbian Ground Squirrel.

When this new friend arrived, I knew I recognized him.

When I went to California with my husband, Matt, two summers ago, we went to see wild elephant seals and all over the parking lot were super friendly ground squirrels.

This is my husband, Matt and a Columbian Ground Squirrel in California. I like that they're both doing the same pose. They made Matt a little nervous!

To see photos of them in action, check out my flickr album!

We Stood Up for Girls

 On September 22nd, the International Day of the Girl, Room 305 talked about the right for every child to have an education and the inequality that exists in some parts of the world today.

The students had many insightful things to say and wrote amazing acrostic poems, letters to world leaders, pledges and made beautiful illustrations asking for all kids to have equal opportunities.

We Are Awesome At...

One of the first things we worked on in Room 305 was talking about our strengths and areas of need.

Each Zombie Squirrel made a poster listing something they do really well and something they are still working on.

I have noticed that the members of 305 are awesome at reading...

I have never had a class who LOVES to read and can focus so hard on DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time in the very first week of school.

This should help us, because we are still really working on...

...using our basic writing skills to write good sentences and paragraphs;

...completing our very best work every day; and

...communicating through the written word.

Every night, students should spend at least 20 minutes reading a great book. Since we are already awesome readers, I think that each student should also spend 10-15 minutes writing.

Stand Up For Girls Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the International Day of the Girl.

In some parts of the world, only one girl in ten will complete primary school. Tomorrow at noon in room 305, we will stand up for girls at noon and talk about the fact that two thirds of all the illiterate people in the world are female. This will give us a chance to think about how lucky we are and how we have a responsibility to help out people less fortunate than us.

Wherever you are, take a quick 10 seconds at noon tomorrow and stand up for girls all over the world.