Earlier this month, we were lucky enough to have a special visit from Arts Reach. Arts Reach promotes rich, creative experiences in order to help support children explore their potential. When they visit a school they bring materials and opportunities that we might not normally have available in our school. This year, we had the opportunity to participate in a print making session. The students had a chance to look at, and talk about, examples of print art and then they learned how to make their own print. The best part was getting messy and stretching our creative skills! We always have a great time on our walks up to Summit Park but today was an exceptional one. I am sure I heard kids repeat "this is the best day ever" a dozen times or more. I'm not entirely sure what made this walk especially good but we were all feeling it.
The task today was to find heart shapes in our neighbourhood and in nature. We found heart shaped leaves, heart decorations on houses and even a heart in a sawed off stump of wood. We couldn't stop there though so we also looked for other shapes including rectangles, diamonds, triangles and circles. Along the way we also identified multiple signs of Spring, picked out a few letter shapes and listened to the birds chirping. Check out all of the pictures from the walk here. Another component of the walk was all of the neighbourhood construction. We came across large diggers in action on two separate parts of Fifth Street and even got to see inside a hole they were digging for a new water line close to the school. It was pretty amazing to see the tree roots below ground level. I am feeling pretty grateful that we got to get out and have this rich learning adventure in our neighbourhood! What is Science if not an opportunity to get messy and experiment? We had a great time learning about how some substances respond to force. Oobleck is a simple mixture of cornstarch and water but it is anything but "simple". If you apply force to the Oobleck it acts as a solid substance, but if you are gentle with it, it flows like a liquid. As always I am very grateful to the adults who helped - we wouldn't have had this opportunity without Karin, Mrs. Cashin and Rebecca! We had a great visit from the Sierra Club today. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn a little about how interconnected ecosystems are and appreciate nature. The kids got to play some games, explore some artifacts and get outside to hunt for various items. We will be exploring the wonderful books of Mo Willems this month. He is the author and illustrator of the popular "pigeon" books, the Knuffle Bunny series and the "elephant and piggie" books. There are many reasons to love Mo Willems' work but what we will be focusing most on is learning to make inferences while reading. Reading is so much more than just the words on the page and these books are a great resource for practicing some important comprehension skills. It was a wonderland of icing and candy today in our class! The kids were thrilled and the adults will need a few extra hours of sleep tonight but it was all worth it! Some of the houses are true engineering miracles - who knew such a small house could hold the weight of so much sugar? Today I am feeling especially grateful for Mrs. Cashin, Mrs. Gilbert, Karin and the volunteer students from UVic who made this endeavour such a success!
I love Todd Parr's books. His words and pictures convey big ideas in ways children can relate too. One of my absolute favourite books is "It's Okay to be Different". For the last few years, this book has featured prominently in my teachings about Social Responisibility. By the end of each school year the phrase "it's okay to be different" becomes so common place in my classroom the kids use it in conversations amongst themselves!
This year's class wanted to make their own book. It was an inspired idea that we had to pursue! We made the book digitally so that we could share it with our families and friends. I love discovering new children's books and this week I found a great one! "Hello, My Name is Octicorn" by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe is a fantastic book about an endearing character who is different than his peers and therefore finds it is hard to fit in. The students found they were able to empathize with how Octi was feeling and also connect with some of the things Octi wants in life (cupcakes, friends and a jet ski). We spent some time discussing why Octi felt the way he did and how each of us would try to cheer him up. In order to cheer him up, the kids realized it would be important to know what he likes so we made a list of what we knew about Octi on the inside and on the outside. Since the part of the story the kids most connected with was when Octi was excluded from a party, they thought the best thing to do would be invite Octi to a party where he would get to do all the things he loves (like swim, dance and eat cupcakes). Below are the invitations the kids made for Octi. At this point in the year the students are encouraged to attempt to spell words on their own but many are still seeking help (even when they don't need it...). We have been working hard on leaving spaces between words and printing legibly. Most students are comfortable using periods at the ends of their sentences and some even experimented with using question marks in this task. The proper use of capital letters remains a challenge for many but that will come with practice. We made our gratitude jars this week! The project was a success thanks to the creativity of the students AND the tireless efforts of Mrs.Cashin, Mrs. Gilbert and Karin.
Our class will have the opportunity to visit the library on Wednesday afternoons. At this time we are able to use the library resources and check a book out. Please make sure the book your child brings home is cared for and returned to school on the Tuesday before our visits.
In anticipation of our library visits the students made this video describing some of the ways we can be responsible for library books. |
Ms. Shawna WoodPassionate about teaching, learning, inclusion and kindness. Archives
August 2019
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