Today, Mr. W (our Artist in Residence) returned to our class and taught us a new fancy word, "composition." In photography, this is how a photographer arranges the parts of a picture. We also learned the difference between a photo taken in "landscape" (horizontally) verses a photo taken in "portrait" (vertically). The Kindergarten students were then given the task to create a picture using some classroom building materials. Using the "picture frames," they decided how they were going to take their picture. Have a look at their learning today: We are so excited to learn that the next time Mr. W returns to our class (in January), we will be using the iPads to take our own pictures! In the meantime, we will be deciding what kind of stories we want to tell with our photographs.
Homework: Discuss with your child the following question: "Is a Photographer a Scientist?" (Be prepared to share tomorrow). *REMINDERS: Book order deadline extended to Monday, Dec. 4th. Today, Mr. Brad Wrobieski gave the Kindergarten students an introduction to photography. Mr. W, as the students call him, is an award winning photographer. His work is represented in many publications, such as National Geographic and others. Please read Mr. Emery's principal message for more information about our talented Artist in Residence. Ask your child to tell you about what Mr. W is holding.
Today, the students learned that a photographer's job is to tell a story when capturing a photo. Mr. W shared some of his work with us. The Kindergarten students were very engaged and asked many questions about his photographs. They were also very excited to find out that they will be taking their own pictures with iPads in the coming weeks. Today, we practiced using a "photo frame" and looked for things in the classroom that had: -colour -light -patterns -texture -up high -down low -far -near Can you imagine taking 65 Kindergarten kids grocery shopping with you?! Thanks to our volunteers, we did just that! A BIG thank you to Jim, Leslie and Donna for all your help today. This trip is one that the students will remember for a long time. The behind the scenes tour was a highlight. We also observed that Grocery stores sell a lot more than just food.
Have a look at our day behind the scenes at Safeway. So far, we discovered that food is grown from the land. Other kinds of food are from animals, they also need the land to survive. Today, I brought a snack bag to school with some special items. As I pulled each item out of the bag, the students were asked to stay quiet and only use their sight to make observations. After a minute, I asked them to share their thoughts with me. Here are the first three items. Some thoughts about these items: "They are all apples!" "They are all made out of apples, except for the apple." "It's an apple. apple sauce and apple juice." The next set of items: Students began to make connections that food can come in different forms. The conversation led to how "fresh produce" only last for a short time. A few students commented that "fruit dies," referring to how fresh fruit goes bad or rots eventually. We are beginning to scratch the surface of the ideas around preserved and processed foods. Some of the kids asked what the numbers on the apple sauce container mean. It was the expiration date! They couldn't believe that some of the food will be good until they are in grade two! During snack, everyone started to look for expiration dates on their snack items. Some interesting questions started to form. "Why is the yogurt due tomorrow? Why so short?" "What is the year? What grade will I be in?" "Where is the expiration date on my apple? There is no number." Another student replied, "Its on the sticker... you know the sticker that some of the fruit have." :) Tomorrow during our Safeway Field Study, students will have the task of picking a food item in it's natural state and then finding it elsewhere in a different form.
In preparation for tomorrow's trip, please discuss the following picture with your child: This week we added some new food items to sell at our store. We have been discussing how food can be sorted and categorized. Today, I asked the students to show me their understanding of how items can be grouped. They got to pick from two big baskets of pretend food. I wrote on the post-it's what they said their groups are. *REMINDER:
Library books due tomorrow. ![]() The students were pleasantly surprised to see a few new items during exploration time this week. The cash register, play money, and pretend food was a huge hit. As they were playing, a lot of their conversation revolved around how much things cost. Suddenly everyone wanted to go to "the store." We knew this was an opportunity for authentic, real-life learning and the possibilities were endless. So it was decided.... we're going to open up our very own Grocery Store! It will be a Small Corner Store (literally... in the corner of our classroom!) Today, we listened to a story about how a Grocery Store functions. The students learned that the food is transported on big trucks from farms and factories. Then, the food is sorted and organized into different categories in the store, this helps the customer find things easily. We looked at real photos of a store's Bakery, Deli/Meat, Dairy, Fresh Produce department. We also discussed how foods in the aisles are organized and labeled into different groups and categories as well. After, the students began to make labels for the items they wanted to sell. We talked about the dollar sign and other important information to display (what the item is, how much does it cost). Because we are still learning to read, we included pictures and a ten frame to help us. Tomorrow we will continue to develop a plan for our grocery store in our visual journals. The students are very excited about this project. Next Thursday (Nov 23), we will be going on a field study to Safeway, the timing worked out perfectly! We are still looking for a couple more volunteers, please let me know if you are available that day.
Today we decided to revisit our Poppy sketches from earlier. We learned how to label the parts of a flower. We practiced using a ruler to draw straight lines.
Ask your child if they can name all the parts of a poppy. What letter does "root" start with? What other words can you think of that begin with this letter? (Tell Mrs. Lee tomorrow!) *REMINDERS: Library books due tomorrow. No school for students on Friday. (Teacher PD day) The Kindergarten students LOVE exploration time, this purposeful play time is an integral part of our program. We love to see how students challenge themselves as they interact with different materials on a weekly basis. The benefit of being in a joint classroom, (rooms 13 and 14) is that the children have double the amount of centres and a variety of options to choose from! We've recently added a special sharing time to our daily routine, where photos of student work/learning during morning exploration is displayed on the smart board. This time is greatly valued as it inspires other students to try new activities the next day. Students are also encouraged to speak about what they learned, how they challenged themselves, and what they want to do differently next time for improvement. Since starting this sharing time. we have observed better engagement and quality of work during exploration. Today we wanted to hear what the students would like to see during exploration time. Mrs. Sudbury and I will be doing our homework to make sure some of the following ideas make it into exploration time in the coming weeks. We also made a few changes in our day to maximize learning time, ask your child to tell you what was different about snack time today. Here are some pictures of exploration time over the past few weeks: The bright red poppy can be seen everywhere this time of year. This week, the poppy naturally came up during class discussions and exploration time. Not only did we spend time observing the actual flower and it's teeny tiny seeds, but we also talked about what this special flower symbolized. The Kindergartens demonstrated respect during this morning's solemn ceremony. Thank you to Kaelum and Rebecca for proudly carrying our wreath to the front. The students worked very hard making their poppies out of coffee filters, the task required a lot of steps and cutting. Ask your child if they can find their poppy on the wreath. We hope that everyone finds time to remember those brave men and women who sacrificed so much for our country. -Our letter friend was "p" this week. Ask your child what words start with "p."
-We have also been discussing the word peace, what does peace mean to your family? Maple Ridge school has the unique opportunity to house "The Wild Migration Map" in our gym for a couple weeks. This giant floor map is part of an education program that is partnered with Canadian Geographic. The goal is to inspire and teach students about wildlife and habitat that surrounds. Today was our second time interacting with the map. Earlier this week, students observed the land, water (oceans and lakes) and the North Pole. We made a a giant circle around Canada and the kids were surprised that our city, Calgary, was such a tiny little dot in the grand scheme of things! Some of their comments were: "Look at Canada, its the biggest!" "Here's the North Pole, Santa lives here!" "I'm pretending to be a shark, I'm swimming in the ocean!" "I found the polar bears!" "I've been to Edmonton before!" This morning, we took a closer look at some of the animals on the map. We discovered that climate is an important factor for animals when choosing a habitat. We observed that the Polar bears stayed close to the Arctic and Hudson Bay, while butterflies were only found in the middle areas of the map. The students also were introduced to the compass and legend. Just the Facts
*IMPORTANT REMINDER: Tomorrow our school will have a Remembrance Day Assembly (starting at approximately 10:30am). Everyone is welcome. All week we have been preparing students for this solemn occasion, it's a time to reflect and remember. Students who are a part of service organizations, such as "cubs or brownies" may wear their uniform if they wish. Others have the option to dress more formal but this is completely optional. |
Meet
|