MathMath this week was so hands on and involved, that I was too engaged to think about snapping a photo or two. We compared length, ordered numbers from least to greatest, collected data using tally charts, and explored 2D shapes. I had a few discussions this week with parents around the purpose of data collection in first grade. In response to this, I told them that young children collect data every day. They note who has pink sparkly shoes and find out who will share the ball on the playground. Children are interested in collecting data if the topic is important to them, such as recording their favourite colour. We collect data daily with our 'question of the day' board in the morning. What's equally important as data collection is looking at what we do with data once students have collected it. This week, we had whole group and small conversations about patterns we saw in data. We also noticed different representations of their observations We talked about the importance of any new questions that come up when looking at data. Language ArtsThis week, our phonics focus was on silent letters. Silent letters can be tricky to grasp for young students. We began by assuring students that there are not infinite possibilities of silent letters, this helped those with spelling woes. For example, if a word begins with the /n/ sound, but not the letter n, then there are three possibilities of spellings: gn, kn, and pn. Since pn words are commonly medical terms such as, pneumonia, students will likely not encounter words beginning with a silent p. As for words that begin with a silent g, there are a few common possibilities: gnome, gnat, gnu, gnarl, gnash, and gnaw (and their extensions e.g., gnarly, etc). The other words are less common. There are however, over 200 words that begin with a silent k. Some examples are: knack, knife, knight, knob, etc. Assigning students the task of finding as many kn words as possible helped further their understanding of silent letters, this helped students understand that if they are searching for a word that begins with an /n/ sound, but not the letter n, they should try searching out kn words first. Once students were comfortable with silent letters at the beginning of words, we moved onto silent letters in the middl and at the end. It was also a great way to introduce several new vocabulary words. We spent the rest of the week playing games, sorting and reading to become more comfortable with this. We will continue working with silent letters next week, while reviewing common digraphs. Unit of InquiryWe began this week of our UOI time by reviewing the life cycle of a butterfly. This was important, as we were preparing students to make connections between the bee life cycle and the butterfly life cycle (both life cycles that involve cocooning and metamorphosis). With some help from our phenomenal design/technology teacher Mr. Joe, students created stop-motion claymation videos of the butterfly life cycle. It was such a great way for students to show their understanding while learning a new tech skill. You can watch your child's video by clicking on their name below. Angéle and Soyane Imara and Gabriela Imran and Tifanny Juliana and Emmy Luca and Nina Seoyeong and Enzo Lia, Sohan, and Anastasia This week we began our last life cycle inquiry on the life cycle of a honey bee. Our provocation for this unit was watching 'The Magic School Bus: In a Beehive.' We learned about how bees collect nectar with their proboscis and use it to make honey in the cells of their hive. To make this process understandable for our little ones, we all went outside and collected 'nectar' (water dyed yellow) from flowers (green containers) around the playground using our 'proboscis' (a pipette) and brought it back to our 'hive' (an egg carton).. Students learned that there is a reason for the term 'busy bees;' It takes a lot of trips back and forth to flowers to get just a little bit of nectar. After several trips from lots of sweaty, buzzing bees, we fanned the nectar with our wings, while stirring it to turn it into honey. This was a really fun, first hand way to see many of the jobs that bees do. Our friend Imran also found a hive of some sort on the playground this week. It was so neat for all of us to be able to see all of the hexagonal cells that the insects produced. It was also a great way to review one of the shapes we learned about this week! We also learned about another important job that bees do; pollinate. We went outside first to see if we could see it in action, and we did! First we walked around the school, looking for flowers and examining the pollen, and discussing its importance for helping fruits, vegetable and seeds to grow. Next, we learned about how bees pollinate flowers by using their furry legs to collect pollen, and moving it from flower to flower as they drink nectar. To better understand this, each child was given a cotton ball to represent a bees furry legs, and a little finger bee to attach to their hand that was holding the cotton ball. Students were instructed to fly from flower to flower to drink nectar, while stopping in the pollen (glitter) that was in the centre of each flower. After buzzing around the class, students started to notice that the glitter (pollen) from each flower that was once a single colour was getting all mixed up. They realized that at every flower they were stopping on to drink, they were not only picking up more 'pollen,' but also leaving some behind. At the end of this activity, we took a close look at each of the flowers, and noticed how bees pollinate by spreading pollen from flower to flower. At the end of the week, students worked in groups to research about bees and their life cycle, and began to find ways to display and record their knowledge. We are so excited about our field trip to Mr. Kresko's bee hive next Tuesday. You can find out more about him and his bee keeping here, and/or watch the video below. Other...Thank you so much to all of you for coming out and supporting Mrs. Van and your little one's at the concert this week. We are all so proud of your lovely children, who looked so cute!! I received a lot of thank yous, however they should be sent Kristen's way, as she did all of the heavy lifting for this one ([email protected]). We also discovered a 'new friend,' on campus this week. It was a great way to make connections to our inquiry on camouflage a couple weeks back. Too cool not to share. Looking forward to all that we see at La Ferme d'Ivato next week as well! Here's to another jam packed week of learning,
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
ASA First GradersWe are caring, balanced , reflective, openminded, risk-taking, knowledgeable, principled, thinkers, communicators, inquirers, explorers and learners. Archives
March 2018
Categories |