March 28 - April 1
It is finally beginning to feel like spring and we are so happy to have the opportunity to spend more time outdoors with our learning. Here are the highlights for this week:
We were so excited to have another coulee adventure this week. Our work this time was to notice signs of spring using our senses. We looked carefully at the mud, grass, and the buds on the trees. We listened to the sounds of returning birds (robins and woodpeckers). We noticed that the earth smells differently when things start to melt.
We also explored two different types of art on the land during this trip. Students explored creating designs with rocks in the snow.
We also worked with our artist, Karen on capturing shadows of things in nature and we will use these marks as a jumping off place for creating colourful images inspired by Na’a.
In addition to our art work, we read a picture book called “Ishi”. This story is about a rock character who gives ideas about how to deal with difficult feelings and situations. We created our own little rock “Ishi” characters and found a place in the coulee that we hoped would make our Ishi happy. If you get a chance to visit the coulee in the next little while, you can ask your child to show you where we left our Ishsis and see if their little friend is still there. If not, maybe he/she has found his/her way home with a new friend.
After these wonderful experiences, students worked on writing about the coulee. As we are entering the last few months of the school year, I am challenging students to really show what they are capable of doing with their writing. Everyone has really developed their stamina for writing and with all of our work on developing descriptive detail, their work is really taking off. I was so impressed with how much students were able to communicate about their experiences and feelings. You can see how well your child did with this activity by checking in powerschool.
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In Gym, we started an exciting new unit of Circus activities. Students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of stations that allow them to develop their balance, dexterity, and coordination.
In math, we have reviewed our addition strategies through games, colour by number solution and puzzles such as solve it strips. Students also started to participate in daily math talks. This is an opportunity to develop our fluency in speaking about mathematical concepts specifically by sharing their own understanding through engaging partner talk and large group conversations.
In Art, we worked in small groups to watch a drawing video of our prairie research animal. Then we practiced drawing the animal on our white boards. Next week, we will have another opportunity to practice before we draw and use water colour pencils to complete a final drawing of our animal.
