Gallery Walk Part 2

Here are the other half of the wonderful art pieces my lovelies did at the Art Gallery last month. Better late than never, I suppose!!!

Square
"I like squares because I like squares."
M.I.

Cachao
"I like it because I painted a Canada flag."
S.Z.

The Scrape of Storm
"I named it The Scrape of Storm because I used the comb and scraped it and for the storm part I did lots of black. Altogether it looked like a storm."
K.B. 

Diamond
"I named the painting Diamond because I like diamonds."
R.L.

Fish
"I named my art Fish because it looks like a fish."
J.K.

Undersea Storm
"I think it looks like underwater."
R.M.

The Tornadoes
"I called it Tornadoes because I see a tornado."
J.M.

The 2 4 6 8 Line
"I wrote The 2 4 6 8 Line because I like lines and numbers."
T.Z.
         

 
Line + Diamond + Circle 
( The artist used the symbols for the shapes not words but I can't get my computer to do it properly. Sorry!)
"I like my painting."
M.Y.C. 

The Big Dude
"I called it that because it looks sort of like a dude."
D.H.

The Fiery Land of Doom
"It looks really dark and really doomy and fiery."
E.E.

And one last one that, unfortunately, does not have an Artist's Statement to accompany it as this lovely went on a vacation right after the field trip.

So, there you have it! All of the masterpieces created by my lovelies on our wonderful field trip to the VAG. If you haven't been, you need to go and check it out! Especially right now over Spring Break...they have daily programing that is free for children 12 and under. So, what are you waiting for? Check it out already!!!!

Click on the picture to go to the Family Activities page at the VAG!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites Book Study: Chapter 3 Field Trips

Oops! I am falling behind on this book study! My only excuse is that Spring Break started and I have been sleeping and reading for the past 3 days!!!!

So, I'm going to try to catch up today.

Chapter 3 is on field trips.  I love the opening line in this chapter where the author says that "[t]he purpose of the brain is not to make good grades or to score high on standardized tests." Can I get a hallelujah?!?!

Here is my thinking about how I am doing with field trips...

I've gotta be honest here, field trips are not my most favourite thing to do. The amount of extra work that goes into the booking, planning and organizing of a field trip is something I tend to avoid. I am definitely not going to ever win the title of Queen of Paperwork!

Also, I have to feel that there is a solid educational purpose behind the field trip. I don't really believe in going on a field trip just because. It has to be something worthwhile and it has to fit with our curriculum goals. 

I once worked at a school where students had never left their community. I mean, quite literally, ever. They were 5 years old and had never been out of the ten block radius around their homes. They lived in a large city with museums, art galleries, gardens, the ocean and an aquarium, a planetarium, Science World.... You get the idea! 

When I worked there, going on field trips had a larger significance than just extending curriculum learning. We were providing them with life experiences that they would not have otherwise. At that school, we went on at least two field trips per term. (Oh, and a bonus was that I never booked any of the trips...they were all organized by our Resource teacher. I just had to show up. Yay!) 

For the last 9 years I have been at a school where many of the students have family passes to places like the aquarium and Science World. Many families routinely go skiing for the weekend or on vacation to Hawaii on Spring Break. The families provide their children with many rich life experiences and, I have to admit, the feeling that I need to provide them with lots of field trips isn't really there the same way as it was at my old school. Plus, it is hard to find places that they haven't all been already!!!!

However, that said, I know that there is room for improvement. 

This year we went on a fantastic field trip to the Art Gallery where we got to see some works by Emily Carr and Landon Mackenzie and do a workshop (Having a hands on workshop is key. Especially if we are going somewhere many of them have been before with family. The workshop provides a change to their previous experiences.) If I had been more on the ball, I could've booked us in to go again to see the Cezanne exhibit this coming term. Next year I am going to book in August so that I can take advantage of their 3 field trip special (each time you go, you pay less!)

We also have a fantastic outdoor classroom and garden at our new school and I do not use either nearly enough. I've participated in the Earthbites program along with the rest of the school but that's about it. I know it is a wonderful teaching space and I am determined to use it more. I am going to try to teach a lesson out there at least three times before the end of this year. 

Both of these photos are of last year's class working on planting potatoes and herbs.
Can't find any of this year's group for some reason!

So, while I know that there is value in field trips, I also know that I tend to avoid them if possible. If I could just have a private secretary to take care of all the paperwork etc then maybe I'd go on more! I have to say that, this chapter has definitely left me with some thinking to do...

Cheers!

Olwyn

Gallery Walk Part 1

Last week we went on a fabulous field trip to the local art gallery. I bet you never thought you would hear the words fabulous and field trip together from me ever, did you?

We saw the Emily Carr/Landon Mackenzie exhibit and did a great workshop where the students had to do very abstract art in the style of Landon Mackenzie. For some this was easy peasy lemon squeezy but for others thinking abstractly was very difficult. 

I have been meaning to post these photos all week and today is the day. You could say that this overdue post is in lieu of working on report cards (which is what I probably should be doing!!!!). 

Randoming

"I named my painting Randoming because the painting is really, really random and I really like random stuff."

A.L.

Diamond Sun
"I named my painting Diamond Sun because I love the sun and the diamonds."
A.C.

The Black Sun
"It has some lava and has some weather and a black sun. I have some diamonds and some rain."
D. Z. 

Mommy's First Painting
"I named it Mommy's First Painting because my mommy does not know how to paint."
J. H.

Northern Lights
"I called mine Northern Lights because I like the Northern Lights."
T. B.

Confusion
"I named this painting Confusion because I was confused when I made it."
L. W.

Sunrays
"I called this Sunrays because it has sun rays."
J. G.

The Storm
"I couldn't sit still. My fingers were all over the page. I love the colour purple! Full of fun energy!"
Y. Z.

Shapes
"I named my painting Shapes because I love shapes."
Y. Z.

Under The Sidewalk
"I named my painting Under The Sidewalk because my painting reminds me about under the sidewalk. When you go under the sidewalk it is small and dark."
J. C.

Stay tuned...there will be more to come later in the week!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Cowabunga!!!!

We had a visit from the dairy farm yesterday. It is a program done by BC Dairy. Gotta love a field trip that comes right to you, teaches you new things and is over in 45 minutes!!!!

Seeing as how we are currently studying the ocean and dolphins, I really wasn't sure how this completely unrelated event would go over. But I am happy to say that the class seemed to really enjoy it and had good questions to ask to boot! (The cuteness of the calf didn't hurt in holding their interest either!!)

Some random facts we learned: 
- there are over 700 kinds of cows
- it takes 20 minutes to milk a cow and they need to be milked 2-3 times a day (hence the invention of the milking machine!)
- cows make up to 8 milk jugs worth of milk a day (the 4 litre ones!)
- a calf can walk as soon as it is born
- the cow they used to milk is named Pearl and she is a twin
- cows like molasses
- calves drink milk until they are 4 months old
- cows have their first babies when they are 2 years old
- milk in Canada can not have any antibiotics or hormones in it
- cows sleep 8 hours a day, eat 8 hours a day and chew their cud 8 hours a day
- cows have 4 stomachs
- cows drink a bathtub full of water each day. Unless it is really hot and then they drink more!
- cows eat the equivalent of something like 1,200 bowls of cereal a day!!!!

And here are some photos of the 2 year old cow (a smallish one at something like 1,400 pounds!) and the 2 week old calf. 

Cheers!

Olwyn

Owls, Owls, Owls...(And a Merlin!)

We have been wrapping up our unit on owls this past week. First we had an in-school field trip from OWL Rehabilitation Society who came to teach us more about how we can help birds when they get hurt. OWL works exclusively with raptors and we got to learn some really interesting facts.

Then, we got to meet two of the rescued birds! These two had injuries that kept them from being rehabilitated into the wild. So, they have been glove trained to help spread the word about taking care of our wildlife.

First we met, Tyra. She is a Merlin (which is a kind of falcon). She had a broken wing when she was found and it didn't grow back properly. As a result, one wing is shorter than the other. Here she is with the OWL worker.

Then we met Alba, a barn owl, who also had a broken wing. She was hurt when she fell from the rafters of a barn all the way to floor. She is unable to fly more than a foot or so.

Meeting the two birds was really cool. But, it was really hard for the 50 kids to be as still and quiet as they needed to be in order to not frighten the birds. What can I say? It's not like I haven't mentioned the chattiness of my group before!

Our final owl activity (before the assessment quiz, that is!) was to dissect owl pellets. We did that today. It was at times very cool (and, at other times, not so much!). Students worked in partners to take apart the pellets (using rubber gloves and toothpicks) and try to figure out what kind of animal the owl had eaten. Some pellets had tons of bones while others not so much. I was amazed at how small the skulls found in the pellets were. And some of the bones were no more than a half a centimetre in length. Wow!

Anywho, here are a few photos. It was really hard to get up close pictures of the bones since they were so, so, so small. But you can see a pile of them on the plate. And one of the girls is holding a rodent skull in her hand. The last photo shows the bone guide we gave the students. Some got really into it and started to sort the bones onto the paper. It was really great to see a few partnerships so involved and interested in learning about the pellets. Scientists in the making!

And, that's all for me tonight. I'm still really tired (after being sick last week) and even though it is only 7:30 it is off to the bath and then bed for me!!!!

Cheers!

Ms. Hughes

Class Catch Up

Each week I give the kids time for catch up so that they can get up to date on their work. Well, seems like I am the one needing a little of it today! Here are a few photos of creations done during Math Stations and Choosing Time over the last little while.

 a house for the stuffies

bunny wedding mural (still not finished and the crew that started it seems to have lost interest)

I really am not sure where the time has gone. For a little while it was positively dragging and now it is flying by so fast that it seems I never have enough of it! It seems crazy that Sports Day is only 3 weeks away!!!!

Last week was Earth Week at school. Each day we had a different theme. Things like working without the lights on, bringing a litterless lunch, walking or wheeling to school etc. Well, our class won the Sitting Lorax prize for having the most kids walk or wheel to school on the same day. The cheers when they called our name over the P.A. were deafening. In fact, some of the kids were so busy cheering that they didn't even know what we had won! Here he is in all his Lorax glory.

I was also very busy last week putting together report cards that reflect how students did in first and second term. We never wrote report cards because we were doing job action. Now we've been told we have to. I am not sure how it is helpful to parents to find out how their child was doing at school 2 or 4 months ago but on high dictated that they be written and written they were.  I am really hoping that parents will understand that a report card is a reflection of how a child is doing at that time. It may or may not be accurate a week or month later. 

It is that time of year when students start to take off. One student recently went up 2 reading levels in just under 2 weeks! Another who does not speak English at home just wrote 3 sentences by herself that I could read! Awesome and amazing things are happening each and every day. Change and growth are happening very quickly for some students now. So, hopefully, parents will not get caught up in the marks that are on the reports when they go home. More important is how their child is doing right now. As I said earlier in the year, no news is good news. If I had any MAJOR concerns about how a child is doing I would have had a meeting with the parents already.

To that end, I thought I would give a quick idea of where each grade should roughly be at this time of year.

In reading, grade 1's are aiming to be at a DRA level 16 by the end of June. This is a RAZ kids level I. They should be able to read the words (decode) and understand what they are reading about (comprehend). I would expect the average student (and remember that to have an average you have to have students who are higher and lower) to be reading at about a level 12 at this time (RAZ kids level G).


Grade 2's in reading...They are aiming for a DRA level 28 by June. This would be a RAZ kids level N to P. At this point I would expect the average grade 2 to be reading at a DRA 20 or 24 (RAZ kids level L or M). I find that what often happens is that students get better and better at the decoding of text (reading the words accurately, with expression and fluency etc) but as the texts get harder many students do not do as well with comprehension. There is, after all, more to remember! You can help your child at home by asking them to stop after a page and tell you in their own words what they just read (a Daily 5 method called Check for Understanding) or you can have them retell you a chapter or story from beginning through the middle to the end. Making them stop to think about their reading makes them better readers. 

In math we have been working a lot on basic addition and subtraction facts in grade 1. Addition has been covered extensively. Subtraction has been introduced and will be covered a lot in the next 6 weeks or so. I am finding that the concept of subtraction is very tricky for a lot of the grade 1's. We will be working with manipulatives and using different math strategies to fully understand this concept. That said, math fact practice at home is never a bad idea!

Grade 2's have been doing addition and subtraction without regrouping. i.e. 25
                          +32
                           
Again the addition comes pretty easily to all of them but some of them are getting stuck on the subtraction. In the case of the grade 2's, it is not because they do not understand the concept of subtraction but that they need to practice, practice, practice their subtraction math facts. We are moving into addition and subtraction with regrouping.
i.e. 49
    +37 

where they have to carry a 10 over to the tens column in order to solve the equation. This is a more complicated concept and having a solid base in math facts is super helpful. If a student has to spend all of their time figuring out what 9+7 equals then they often forget the next step to take to solve the equation.

We have also been learning about ordinal numbers, telling time and adding money. Though they keep telling me I need to take out all of the pennies in the worksheets! I suppose I will have to eventually but I am leaving them in this year.

May is looking crazy busy. We have Mother's Day coming up. The kids are working on a very cool gift so cover your eyes if you come into class! Sports Day is on the 17th and, fingers crossed, it won't rain! At the end of the month we are going on a much awaited for fieldtrip! Yes, I said fieldtrip!!!!! Details will be coming in the next few days. I am going to need a lot of parent helpers so I am counting on my class parents being as awesome as they have been all year.

Anywho, it is late. The Amazing Race is calling my name from the Living Room. Can't you hear it? The faint but steady sound of  "Olwyn, Olwyn, come watch me....come watch me..." Far be it for me to say no to one of my favourite shows. Catch you next time!

Ms. Hughes