In IBL (Inquiry Based Learning) I am working with grade 1. I taught a grade 1-2 multiage class a few years ago but my memories of September grade 1 children have faded a little. I absolutely love working with grade 1, they are SO excited to see me and are gung-ho to do just about anything I announce!! In Science they are learning about Daily and Seasonal Changes so we are focusing in on the changes animals go through in the different seasons. We talked about the seasons (no, Christmas and April are not seasons...) and some of the things they know about the seasons and then they got to use sticky notes and smelly markers (best writing lures ever) to post their ideas in each season. I reminded them that if they didn't know how to spell an idea they had, they could just write the sounds they hear, stretch out the word, etc. This was followed by some awesome ideas that the children wrote independently! There were also a few of these:
child: "I did one!"
me: "Awesome! Can you read it to me?"
child: "Umm, I don't remember what I wrote."
me: "That's ok, I think it says"
child: "Mhmm, I think so too."
I love it.
I posted this photo to instagram the other day - such a great reminder of where these new little writers are at. :) It says "the snow is melting so we can play outside at the beach!"
This Sunday, September 15 is International Dot Day! It is the anniversary of publication of a great book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds (great author). We started celebrating today by reading The Dot and talking about being ourselves when we work on art at school. Each piece we create is our own and should look the way we want it to look. Art is what we want it to be! We started Kandinsky Circle art, one of my favorite pieces to do at school. It always looks so amazing when they are all done and we post them all together. I love circles (and polka dots) and I love colours. On Monday we have some other activities planned and don't forget to WEAR DOTS!
"It's a big responsibility, you're the only ones in our school so far with personal blogs. Can you handle it?" You can imagine the intensity of fist pumps and quiet "yessss" under their breaths.
Today the children in Room 9 are embarking on a blogging adventure. Each child will have their own blog space on Kidblog that will be all their own. I know they expected to come to the lab and "get on the blogs already" but there is a lot to talk about first. We started with, and will continue to talk about being responsible digital citizens, how to write quality blog posts and quality commenting. It is very important to me that the children appreciate the responsibility of having a global audience and also understand what is and isn't appropriate to post for this audience.
The children will be supported to write, edit and publish their work but it will be their work. Their posts will be a true snapshot of who they are as writers at this point in their lives. By the end of the year we will be able to look back and see how much they have grown in our 10 months together! That sounds pretty awesome to me.
A note about KidBlogs...
KidBlogs is a blogging platform that allows teachers to set up accounts for their students under the umbrella of a classroom account. This means that I have complete control over what is posted to each blog. Before any post or comment appears online, I receive an email and then have the option to approve, deny, or edit the post or comment. If the post or comment meets our criteria, I approve it and then it can been seen by others. I moderate everything and choose what goes live.
This afternoon we were browsing old posts on our blog and we came across this great song. "What I Am" by Will.i.am has such a great message, we love it! I am reposting it here so the kids can find it easily from home this weekend. We had a great first week back and are enjoying getting to know each other, figuring out new routines and learning about some of the neat things we will do together. I also shared some news with our class today, I am going to have a baby in the new year! Everyone was very excited and had lots of questions. As you can imagine with 6 and 7 year olds, this was a very entertaining way to end a great first week!
Have a super weekend, see you next week!
Yesterday was our first day of grade 2. We have 22 kids in our class. In the morning we all met on the playground. Our teachers and friends were waiting outside for us. In the morning our teacher is Mrs. Henry and in the afternoon our teacher is Mrs. Dent Scarcello.
We learn. -Madison
It was exciting to meet our new teachers. -Rhyann
We met a lot of friends yesterday. -Corbin
We made self portraits yesterday and today. -Sarah
They are made out of construction paper. We cut the parts of our face out of paper and glued them together. -Mikaela
We did a get to know you activity where we wrote things about ourselves. We will put them in the hall with our self-portraits. -Anthony and Lucas
We did word searches with all our names in it. -Sage
We made paper t-shirts. We coloured them. Our names are on them. -Jace
We got our agendas and we learned about making cardboard faces. -Carter
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great summer. I sure did! My family and I enjoyed many days at the lake, at the beach, on the water with our boat and at the park. I am getting ready for the first day of school next week and I came across this great infographic that shows you why it's so important to read everyday. I found it on Pinterest. What are some of the books you read this summer?
There was a flurry of excitement as the students gathered around this giant moth on the playground. Three of them ran inside to get me and a camera, I am glad they found me! I have never seen something so big and beautiful. I always think of moths as the little, brown ones that flutter around the lights outside. The boys that came to get me with the camera earlier just came with a book. They found the caterpillar and moth when they got to class! It is called the Cecropia Moth and is the largest caterpillar in Canada and the US. It can grow to 10 cm as a caterpillar and be very fat. The caterpillar eats many different tree leaves such as lilac, apple, ash and cherry. We have lots of lilac trees around our playground, maybe that is where it came from!
Check this out!
The final piece for the grade 5 Human Body Series is the Integumentary System - the skin. All the videos will be compiled into a DVD for each of the grade 5 students to keep. What a great portfolio piece! I loved doing this project with grade 5.
The sixth video in our Human Body Video Series is The Circulatory System. This system was longer and had more information than some others, the group did a great job of sticking with it and creating a great product.
We had a person named Pam come to our class today and she was telling us about helmet safety. She showed us videos and what could happen to your brain if you don't wear a helmet. -Katrina
She told us not just on a bike you need to wear a helmet. You need to wear it on all sorts of things like scooters, skiing, skating, roller blading. Anything you use to move other than a car. -Kaitlyn
She said that our skulls are as think as a wooden pencil because your skull isn't enough to protect your brain. -Iain
She told us important things that could happen if you're not wearing a helmet when you're going biking or skating. -Carter L
She showed us videos of wearing the right helmet and to make sure that it's the right helmet for the activity you're doing. -Laine
You use the 2V1 rule to make sure your helmet fits properly. Put 2 fingers on your forehead above your eyebrows. The top of your helmet should touch your finger. Make a V under your ear with the straps. 1 finger should fit under your chin in the strap to make sure it is not too loose or too tight. -Elisa
Then she showed us two videos for helmet safety. They were about using a melon without a helmet and then they put on 4 different helmets to test which helmets work best. The other video was really funny because they were showing people on one wheel on their bike. -Alexa
You could get a prize for Booster Juice or slurpees or Grand Prix if Pam sees you wearing your helmet. They will be at parks like Assiniboine Park, Bird's Hill Park, Kildonan Park watching for people wearing helmets. You also get entered in a draw for a Sport Chek gift card. -Paige
Since biking season is in full swing, we thought it would be a good idea to share the videos we saw today. Wearing a proper fitting helmet is so important, it just takes a split second to have an accident that could change your life forever. We saw a picture of a person wearing a helmet that didn't fit, if they had fallen it would be as if they weren't wearing a helmet at all. Don't forget the 2V1 rule!
Elephants have ruff skin to pretect them.They live in forests and grasslands.some people kill elephants and take there tusks.Elephants eat bark dates and grasses and more-carter l.
My faverit book is Diary of a wimpy kid because it is funny. Diary of a wimpy kid is funny because it has speech bubles with things like when Manny knockd over a plate and his amaganary friends knockd it over. Manny doesn't have friends because hes not like the other kids.TOMMY-LEE.
The next video in our Human Body series is The Muscular System. This group was very efficient and did a great job on their project. Just two more systems and we will be able to compile the series into a DVD!
We are learning about Clean Air Day and we have a chart that has walkers, bikers, skaters and other. So we can keep track about all the people that walked, biked or skated or other to get to school. -Laine
Today is Clean Air Day and I walked to school. It took a long time to walk. I was so tired when I got to school that I fell down when I got in the school ground. I usually drive a car to school but I walked to school today. I am walking home today too. -Katrina
Today 8 people walked, 2 people biked and 12 people came in a vehicle. -Carter L
I was going to skateboard to school but then when I got on my skateboard it broke so then I just walked. -Iain
Today I walked to school with my best friend and we are walking home together and when we get home we are going to ride our bikes together. -Kaitlyn
Today I biked half way to school and stopped at my grandma's house and she is only 7 houses away from Bird's Hill School so I stopped there. My mom was beside me when I was riding my bike to school in the car so she could keep and eye on me and I can be safe. I stopped at my grandma's house and I walked the rest. I ran the rest so I could get to school earlier but I was actually there at 9:30 so I was 5 minutes late. -Max
Today I forgot to walk so at the end of the day, if my mommy drives, I am going to walk myself or with my sister Anna. -Elisa
Today I walked to school because I was at my grandma's house and my grandma is only a few houses down. -Laine
This morning I walked from my friend's house so then I got to walk with her. -Paige
I had to go in the car to get to school because my house is too far away to bike or walk to school. -Carter L
8 kids walked to school today and 4 of them usually get a ride or take the bus!
2 people biked to school today and 1 one of them usually drives a car. The other person who biked, usually walks.
Our teacher has been biking to school yesterday and today. So far she has biked 19.65 km, saved 1.87 litres of fuel and saved 4.41 kg of CO2 from the air! (www.commuterchallenge.ca)
Today somebody came to talk to us about water safety. They were from the Lifesaving Society. -Elisa and Paige
Always go swimming with an adult or someone who is responsible. -Carter L
You have to make sure you go swimming with someone that is mature. Carter V
You should always be in arms reach of the adult. Iain
You pretty much should always be wearing a life jacket or PFD. -Katrina
A PFD is a personal floating device. -Mason
Never go in to a pool if you don't have a life jacket or PFD. Never go on a boat without a life jacket. If there are 5 people and 4 life jackets it wouldn't be safe. Even if you are an adult you have to wear a life jacket at all times. Never go to a pool or the beach alone. -Laine
When you are in the water your mom or dad have to stay where they can reach you so if you drown they can quickly reach you. But if they are a mile away they won't get there in time because it only takes 10 seconds to drown. -Elisa
We played Safe or Sorry with one of the lifeguards. It was about where it is safe to swim. -Iain
