Gotta Be Me

Gotta be Me
This is a great rap song video for kids by Secret Agent 23 Skidoo about being yourself.

Patterns

We've been learning a lot about patterns -- patterns in math and patterns in our behaviour.
This is a current school-wide focus -- one of our "Critical Pathways" this year.
These are some of the questions that we are asking:
What is a pattern?
How can we change a pattern? Why would we want to change a pattern?
How can a pattern affect our lives? (our daily habits; weather patterns; the seasons)
(answers to follow)

We have been reading books such as
Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
Jake Baked a Cake
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

These are some patterns that we came up with (beads on pipecleaners)

Math Monday - Geometry and Spatial Sense

This was supposed to appear a few weeks ago, but somehow never posted....

Geometry and Spatial Sense

Young children need to
1. develop knowledge of geometric principles
2. Recognize and name simple shapes (circle, square, triangle, etc.) in various sizes and positions 3. Classify and sorts different shapes
4. Combine different shapes to make representations or patterns
5. Develop spatial sense
6. Use comparison words correctly (longer, shorter, same length)
7. Use words that describe the relative position of things (on, off, on top of, under, in, out, behind, below, above, between, around, through, across, up, down, near, far)
8. Group objects together that are the same in some way and give reasons for groupings (sort)

Things to do at home:
Use describing and comparing words often.
Play some sorting games (or have your child sort the laundry!)

When your child collects leaves, rocks, shells or other objects, use them to reinforce sorting skills and vocabulary. "You have sorted the rocks into 2 sets, dull and shiny. How many other ways can we classify our rock collection?" (large/small, light/dark, smooth/bumpy etc)

Neighbourhood in Progress!

Thank you for the boxes! We have painted our houses and then added some dors and windows. We can now use them in the classroom as a neighbourhood and do some imaginative play with them using cars and people. We are still adding some towers and some smaller buildings, if the students wish to make another one.We talked all about "shelters" and why we need shelters (to keep us warm and dry and to keep the wind out were some answers that the students came up with themselves). We talked about all of the places that we could live (houses, apartments, snow houses, tents, and, sadly, cars and cardboard boxes).
We will be discussing our "needs" (food, clothing, shelter, and "wants" (toys, tv, etc). We are also talking about our own neighbourhood/community!

Boxes!

(above photo from Alisa Burke's blog)

Help! We need boxes -- I thought that I had enough -- but we need boxes for some houses (a neighbourhood!)(similar to this recycled city, I hope!)that we are making. We need small boxes such as cracker or cereal boxes (or even smaller ones such as jello boxes). If you've already flattened them for recycling -- that's fine too -- we'll tape them back together!

Math Monday -- Measurement

Children need experiences:

• classifying, describing and arranging objects using language such as shorter than, longer than...
• describing time and temperature with terms such as longer, shorter, hotter, colder, warm...
• comparing sizes of objects by using non-standard units e.g. line up blocks beside books, count the blocks
• choosing a non-standard unit and using it to estimate, measure, compare, and order various objects
• Use a non-standard unit (link cubes for example) to cover the given area of objects. e.g. How many crayon boxes does it take to cover the desk?

The terms non-standard and standard are often used when describing prescribed learning outcomes for measurement.

Measuring with non-standard units means measuring things with blocks, pencils, hands, feet, etc. As long as the items used to measure with are all the same size, e.g. identical blocks or brand new pencils, they are suitable to use.

Measuring with standard units means measuring with inches, feet, yards, centimeters or meters, using rulers and other measuring devices.

How you can help at home:

Reinforce terms such as: taller, shorter, small, large, lighter, heavier, hotter, colder, warm and variations of the terms such as large, larger, largest, morning. Also afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, week, year

We (heart) the Olympics!

(the red symbol at the top is the flag)

It takes a few weeks for us to warm up and "get into" a subject. The children's interest in the Olympics peaked this week -- because now they have a frame of reference (watching it on tv, and hearing parents and Ms. Brown talk about the Olympics). We discussed a different sport every day, cut pictures out of the newspaper and painted pictures of our favourite sports. We're even learning that song that they play (in Canada) all through the Olympics (I Believe). The junior students told me what to write about their paintings, and the seniors did their own writing. It was really exciting to be able to use a permanent marker! (we painted on glossy paper, so pencil didn't show up well, and regular markers smeared). I've given a few "translations" to make them easier to read. Can you tell that we have been working on our punctuation (periods and exclamation marks)?

(the person at the bottom is watching)

Saskia is playing hockey

He is Bobsledding

The guys are bobsledding.

She is snowboarding.

He is skating.

The men are speed skating.

The girl won a gold medal in figure skating.

He is almost to the finish line.

He is skiing. He won!

She is playing hockey.

The skeleton slider crashed!

She is skating.

(it's hard to see, but the flag in the top has a heart instead of a maple leaf. I didn't show how to do this, she came up with it herself)

On the "Go Canada!" signs, juniors and seniors copied the words. As adults, we don't realize how difficult it is to copy. You look at the word, then have to remember the first letter. Then you have to remember what that letter looks like. Then you print it on your paper. Then you look up and try to remember what letter you are supposed to write next! The card that I wrote was in upper and lower case letters (Go Canada!) . Lower case letters are difficult to print, but we use them because books are written in lower case letters, and we need to know both. The sign that says GO CANADA all in upper case shows me that this child knows a lot. She can see a letter in lower case print and transfer in her mind what it looks like in upper case print, which she is more comfortable printing. She really knows her letters!

(some students haven't finished their paintings or their writing -- I will add those paintings on Monday night)(maybe there will be some gold winning hockey games. Yay, Canada!)