Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Ancient Egypt

The grade 5 class has been learning about Ancient Egypt this term. We learned important historical things like how important the Nile River was to their culture and agriculture. We learned about the pharaohs and their fascinating burial rituals, mummification and pyramids.

One of the things that we enjoyed most was learning what the Ancient Egyptians believed happened once they died: They thought that their hearts would be weighed on a scale against “Maat’s feather of truth.” If the heart was lighter than this feather, it meant that they had lived a good life, and would be allowed to live in the afterlife. They did however have to provide their own body and materials for the afterlife, which is why they carefully preserved the corpses and buried them with many of their belongings.

We also learned how the Ancient Egyptian culture is most likely evidence of an Ancient Church culture: they started out making statues to help them to remember different attributes of the Lord. Eventually though, they forgot that they represented the Lord and began to worship the images, or individual gods, themselves.
We went on a field trip to the ROM which has an excellent display of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including a mummy or two. Each student also made a small model of an Egyptian tomb or burial chamber, the photos of which are shown here

























Thursday, April 21, 2011

On the Shores of Lake Ontario

On April 14, the Grades 2 through 4 went to a beach on Lake Ontario to enjoy the warm spring day and hunt for fossils. We found some amazing specimens! We also did a short writing exercise, while sitting in the sand, in which we felt, heard and saw our surroundings and thought of words to describe it.


Many thanks to our chaperone for the afternoon, Katharina, who helped keep an eye on the exuberant children.











Monday, April 18, 2011

Checking for Signs of Spring

On Wednesday we checked out the creek for signs of spring. While the trees still looked very dead, the ice was gone and we saw lots of ducks. We also noticed lots of puddles and spongy, muddy ground! In a few weeks we'll head back to see if there are any leaves starting to grow!



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Kindergarten Busy at Work part II

The Kindergarten class is always busy...

Sorting and playingBuilding CraftingLearning letters

... There is just so much to do!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Kindergarten Busy at Work

Practising the letter "Nn" on the chalk board.

Painting red rockets for "Rr" week.

Creating structures during playtime.

Making a tower using diamond shapes.


Practicing tying knots.


The senior boys colour in their alphabet bible page.


The girls trace the letter "Qq" using Q-tips.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Junior Room Province Projects

The girls worked hard on their province projects and here they are!
_ Prince Edward Island

Nova Scotia

Thursday, March 31, 2011

GO Train

On Monday March 28th the kindergarten celebrated “Tt” week by going on the GO Train! We boarded the train and climbed up to the top level! Wow! We saw so much - Lake Ontario, CN Tower, rivers, houses, condos, factories and other trains! The seats were comfy and the ride was smooth and fast. It was tremendous fun!
_





Monday, March 28, 2011

Earth Hour Posters

The Junior Room created posters to help promote awareness around the school for Earth Hour.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Earth Hour

The Junior Room students registered on the WWF Canada website and posted what they were doing in support of Earth Hour. Check out their poster at http://wwf.ca/earthhour/.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Former Olivet Student Takes Home Gold

Former Olivet Student, Julia Mueller, took home gold in photography at Skills Canada TDSB Skills Challenge in Toronto. We wish her good luck for May, when she will compete in Skills Canada at the provincial level. Congratulations Julia!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tasting the Trees

The grades 2 through 4 went to Kortright Centre for Conservation to experience the process of tapping trees to get sap for maple syrup. Although it was raining, it was an excellent experience.




Monday, March 7, 2011

Snow Fort

Enjoying the sunny days is one way to avoid those winter blues!

The grades 2 through 5 walked about 20 minutes to Rev. Brian Smith's house. There was a HUGE snow fort on the front lawn of the Smith home! The children had so much fun crawling through all the tunnels and afterward they were treated to hot chocolate and delicious treats by Mrs. Smith. Afterwards they walked all the way back to school. What a great way to get to know the neighbourhood!!