Ella and her family sharing some of their Native traditions

 

Ella's family visited the class to communicate and share some of their Native traditions.  Their family is from the Ojibway Tribe.  The students learned that a Pow-wow is a gathering of Natives and Non-Natives together to celebrate and dance. Pow-wows occur all over Canada and the United States. Native music and dancing is very popular at Pow-wows. The drum beat in the music represents the heart beat of Mother Earth. In Native music the drum beat is very powerful. Men, women and children of all ages join in the celebrations.

 

 

Regalia and bead work are usually completely by the Mother.  It takes time and patience. 

  

Ella's tribal dance regalia

 

Ella's Mom's earing

 

Ella's Dad read the story 'I can't Have Bannock But The Beaver Has A Dam' by Brenda Wheeler.  A story that has been passed down from generation to generation.  The family brought in bannock bread for the students to try and  it was delicious!

 

 

 

Links to Curriculum Expectations:

 Personal and Social Development

3.3 talk about events or tell stories that reflect their own heritage and cultural backgrounds of others (e.g., traditions, birthdays, cultural events, myths, Canadian symbols, holidays)



The Arts
Music 4.2 respond to music from various cultures, including their own (e.g., folk songs, Aboriginal chants, songs in different languages)

An Inquiry that has continued all year....

How one boy's love for basketball provoked the interest of many other students.

Kaylo loves the sport basketball.  

He enjoys playing, drawing, watching, reading and talking basketball. 

During learning centres, he would draw many pictures, read books and share his knowledge of basketball with his friends and teachers daily. 

Kaylo independently wrote all the basketball teams and their locations!

Soon his friends began drawing pictures and talking basketball as well.

Kaylo's interest in basketball, engaged his peers and sparked an interest in others.   Basketball became a topic in many subject areas.

• Estimating and measuring

Students working together!

A morning sign in question

• Numeration

Kaylo represented numbers through his favourite athletic stars.  Independently, he wrote each player’s name, number and team, and then put them in numeric order! 

• Measuring with non-standard units of measurement

Michael Jordon's actually shoe size

• Researching stats on Michael Jordon and drawing a life-size model.  The students compared their own height to that of Michael Jordan.

• Some students choose to paper mache a balloon and paint it orange to resemble a basketball.  This was a messy two-day step lesson.

• Students made jerseys for the class dolls, using a pattern.  Then, adding their favourite players number.

.

• Students would sign up to share their basketball pictures.  Drawings usually contained two nets, family members wearing shirts with numbers on them and one basketball.

• A Community Event - Prince Edward annual fundraiser basketball game, Pacers vs Windsor Police supporting Hospice and Windsor Humane Society.  The students loved seeing the game in action.

• Just this past week, Miah-Marie Langlois from the University Lancer Women's Basketball team visited our class with her trainer.  Kaylo wrote the Head Coach of the Women's Basketball team, Chantel  Vallee because he wanted some tips on how to dribble a basketball between his legs.  What an incredible experience this was for students to play ball with experts!!!

A Marvelous Monday

Independently, Gracie wrote a book.

Lucas, with the help of Lucas drew a dump truck!

Students played with cooked spaghetti.

 

 

 

Students had cold hands after playing with ice cubes and digging treasures out of the coloured large cubes. 

 

Ahmad made a tiny ladybug and wrote about it! 

 

 

 

Plasticine/ Modelling Clay

 

Abby created a polar bear out of plasticine.  When asked, "What do you know about polar bears?", she replied, "They like to eat fish and live in the Artic."   I asked her to describe the shapes on her creation, she explained that the head was a sphere and the legs were rectangular prisms.  

 

 

Lucas excitedly ran over to me and said, 'I made me!"

Gracie made herself.

 

Other friends made turtles, leopards, snakes and airplanes. 

Ask your child if they visited the table with the colourful plasticine. 

What did they create?

Did they work with a partner?

What shapes were in the creation?

 

 

 

 

 

Responding to the story 'The Dot' by Peter Reynalds

Collaborative Art

Painting Dots

 

 

 

 

All the Friends who signed up for sharing today all choose to sing songs.

1. Abby sang her ABC's and tracked her print using a pointer.

2. Angel sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

3. Hamzah made up his own song called "5 Little Cars". 

He used the song 5 Little Ducks as his inspiration. 

4.  Kaylo sang 5 Little Frogs.

 

The students are getting excited for the Spring Concert.  Don't forget to Save the Date -- May 28.

 

 

We had a Marvelous Monday!!!

Working with Letters

MAKING WORDS

 

 

AT HOME: Together practise identifying letters and making words using FUN materials:

Use manipulatives to build letter shapes:
Use these materials to construct the actual shapes of the letters.

• Q-tips
• pipe cleaners
• pretzel rods
• chop sticks
• skewers
• toothpicks
• pencils
• pens
• crayons
• string cheese
• blueberries

Draw Letters in:
Use a tray to practice making the letter in the material.

Wet	Dry
fingerpaint or paint shaving cream pudding applesauce any puree or baby food whipped cream icing yogurt	salt flour / cornmeal / dry pancake mix sand leftover coffee grounds (dry)

 Decorate a Printed Letter using:

buttons dry pasta dry beans glitter stickers gems seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.) bits of scrap paper feathers bingo daubers or Do-a-Dot markers fingerpaint

markers, crayons, colored pencils sponges and paint small rocks  shells bottle caps foam shapes/stickers pom-poms pictures cut from magazines or junk mail leaves toy cars whose wheels have been dipped in paint

 

WORKING TOGETHER

 

Visual Arts

Curriculum Expectations

Arts -    V3 use problem-solving strategies when experimenting with the skills, materials, processes, and techniques used in visual arts both individually and with others

Personal and Social Development-   Identify and use social skills in play and other contexts

Parachute Games



Curriculum Expectations

Health and Physical Activity-    Participate willingly in a variety of activities that require the use of both large and small muscles

Personal and Social Development-   Identify and use social skills in play and other contexts

Personal and Social Development-   Demonstrate self-reliance and a sense of responsibility

 Textile Table

 -- Moon Sand--

4 cups flour

1 cup baby oil

Curriculum Expectations

Personal and Social Development-   Identify and use social skills in play and other contexts

Health and Physical Activity-    Develop control of small muscles(fine motor control) in a variety of contexts