Science: Pebbles, Sand, and Silt

In science, we have been learning about various earth materials throughout our Pebbles, Sand, and Silt unit. The students have participated in a variety of hands-on investigations using volcanic rocks, river rocks, and sand. We have learned that rocks are earth materials and how earth materials can change over time. We have also been observing and sorting earth materials based on their properties.

Check out the video below to hear a little more about our science unit.

Mother Tongue Reading Session

Today, we held our first mother tongue reading session! A mother tongue is a person’s first language. The purpose of this ongoing project is to celebrate the many languages spoken, at home, by our students.

To support this project, all of our dedicated moms came to class to read with their children. The children were bubbling with excitement as we waited for the moms to arrive and the session to begin. Once the session began, each child read a book written in their first language with their mom. They then completed a writing response activity together. 

A big THANK YOU to the moms for taking the time to participate in this project! The photos and writing responses will be posted on the hallway bulletin board after the December break.

Please click on the link below to see some photos from our first mother tongue reading session. 

 Photo Link

Writer's Workshop: Authors as Mentors

Our students have finished publishing their second story of the year! Our most recent writing unit focused on using mentor texts to improve our personal narratives. We read many books by Tomie dePaola and learned a variety of techniques which we can use to make our stories more effective. Our stories will be posted on the hallway bulletin board next week. Please stop by to leave a comment on your child's story!

Please listen to video below to hear one of our stories.

Guest Poets: Michael Salinger & Sara Holbrook

This week we had the pleasure of having Michael and Sara lead our Grade 1 and 2 students through two poetry workshops. We learned that poetry is like a snapshot we make in our minds. We observe our subject and create our poems from the many details we have noticed.

Our first workshop focused on writing a feeling poem with nouns and verbs. Students each chose a feeling and wrote showing sentences to describe that feeling. During our second workshop we linked our social studies curriculum to poetry by creating a class poem about good citizenship.

Next week, you will find your child’s poem posted on the hall bulletin board. Until then, please watch the video below to hear a fantastic poem, about being silly, from one of our students! 

Click on the link below to read what Michael has to say about PRIS.

Michael Salinger's Blog: A small school that is big on learning.

Social Studies: Working Together

In our current social studies unit, we have been learning about how people live and work together effectively. We have been studying cooperation, fairness, responsibility, causes of disagreements, and solutions to disagreements.

This past week, our students brainstormed the various ways in which we can be responsible. We completed an activity called Read, Think, Draw. During this activity, students listened to a read aloud about responsibility. We then stop at specified points in the book where students thought about how they can be responsible and sketched a quick picture to record their ideas. We reflected on how we could be responsible at school, at home, with our friends, and in our community.

Some of the ideas our students came up with included: packing our own bags, opening a door for someone, helping your mom at home, being quiet in school, cleaning up our own mess, doing our homework, and helping friends and siblings,

Here is an important reminder from one of our groups about how we can be responsible each day when getting ready. 

Writer's Workshop: Authors as Mentors

We are presently completing our second unit of writing titled Authors as Mentors. Throughout this unit, students have been studying the craft techniques of author Tomie dePaola and emulating these techniques in their own writing. Listen to the video below for a little more information on our present unit of study!

Writer's Workshop: Personal Narratives

We have wrapped up our first unit of writing. This unit focused on writing personal narratives. Our students have now published their first piece of the year! They have brought this piece through all of the stages of the writing process - planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. 

The published pieces are posted on the bulletin board, in the hallway outside of our classroom, should you like to take a look. Please leave a comment, on a post-it note, on your child’s story!

Please watch the movie below to hear one of our students' personal narratives. 

Batik Field Trip

Today, we had our first field trip of the year. The bus ride to and from Batik Shaho was filled with happy children singing songs and keeping the teachers thoroughly entertained!

Once we arrived, the children learned how batik fabrics are made and then made some batik pieces of their own. Each child made a pencil case and a patch for a school quilt.

Everyone had a fabulous time. Click on the link below to see our Batik Shaho Album.

 

Batik Shaho Album 

Literacy Day & Pajama Day

Today we had a wonderful time celebrating Literacy Day and Pajama Day! We had a lovely snack of cookies and milk and participated in a variety of reading activities while wearing our favourite pajamas.

We had a special middle school guest reader who read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. Then, Miss Ellen read Thank you, Mr. Faulker. Next, we read to ourselves. Finally, the Grade 3 and Grade 4 students came to our classroom to read their recently published personal narratives to us.

It was a fantastic day! Click on the link below to see some photos from our Literacy Day album. Also, watch the video to hear some of the day’s highlights and a great book recommendation. 

 Literacy Day Photo Album

Science: Balance & Motion

We are reaching the end of our first science unit, Balance and Motion. Over the past five weeks, we have had a fantastic time learning about the basic elements of balance and how objects move in different ways. Our students have been involved in variety of inquiry based investigations in which they have made predictions, conducted investigations, made observations, and finally drawn conclusions.

Click on the link below to see photos from some of our investigations. 

Balance & Motion Photos

Would you like to learn a little more about balance? If so, you can watch this short video.