Skating into the New Year!

We had our first skating session today. Many thanks to all the extra hands that came to help lace up skates. Great fun was had by all! Next session is Thursday, January 17.

Here are a few highlights of our first week back:

iPads
We are super excited to be one of three classes on the top floor chosen to begin working with a pod of 15 iPads in our classroom. These iPads are on loan from the VSB and we will be exploring how they can be used for meaningful learning experiences in a classroom setting. Today we tried out an app called Screen Chomp. Students created a piece of writing based on the book "The Best Part of Me" which had them photographing their hands, feet or hair with a partner and then voice recording their thoughts about the part they photographed. I am in the process of planning several larger projects that will engage students while using technology to create and inspire meaningful learning. Hopefully, there will be a way for me to share some of this work with you as well!


Science 

We began our new science unit - Force and Machines. Students worked cooperatively in groups to build a roller coaster. This was a highly engaging task and there were a lot of groans when it came time to clean up! Although the video is short, it gives you a picture of what was created during this exploration.

Social Studies
This week we kicked off our First Nations unit by looking at a map of the traditional territories of BC First Nations cultures. We are beginning our unit by comparing BC Coastal First Nations with BC Interior First Nations. We will be looking at aspects such as the environment, clothing, food, shelter, and transportation.

Language Arts
In D.E.A.R. students are being asked to read at least three chapter books in two different genres. They will be giving a book talk on one of the books they read. They also will complete a reading response for each book.

Our focus in writing this week was on First Impressions. We read the beginning sentences from several different stories and identified the technique that the writer used (begin with action, begin with dialogue, begin with a problem, begin with a sound, or begin with a question). Then students found or created their own example for each type of beginning. After that, they chose one of their beginning sentences and created a story from that first sentence.

We also kicked off a reading unit called "Kids Can Do It". This week we read an article as a class about Ryan Hreljac. Students were intrigued with the idea of a young boy raising money to build a well in Africa. One of our most surprising facts that we learned was that one boy in Africa had to walk 5 kilometres to get clean water. We worked out that the equivalent for us would be ten laps around the school! Students will soon begin reading a novel in four different book clubs focusing on our theme.