The Leighton Art Centre
The main highlight of this week was going to the Leighton Art Centre on Tuesday. It is located on the outskirts of Calgary, close to Okotoks, so the bus ride was a little lengthier than most field trips. Believe it or not, the children loved the bus ride. Throughout the day, the children had the opportunity to go on a nature walk, sketch with charcoal, engage in two art projects as well as play in the snow. The conditions that day were perfect for building snowmen and we had some dads with us who helped the children roll some very large snowballs. During Literacy Time this week, we have been writing personal reflections about the field trip. When you come to the Parent Interviews next week you will have the opportunity to see art projects, photographs and student writing. Our visit to the Leighton Art Centre was an AMAZING learning experience enjoyed by all!
I posted the photo above because it symbolizes, for me personally, what the Leighton Art Centre is all about - respect for the land and all of the creatures who inhabit it, preservation of the past as well as the development of personal creativity (no matter how old you are)!
Science
We did a Colourful Carnations experiment in Science as part of our Creating Colour unit of study. The students added food colouring to water and placed a white carnation flower in each jar. They had to mix their own secondary colours (orange and purple). Green was already in the box. We also thought it would interesting to make black. After doing the experiment we wrote about our predictions and next week we will write about our observations.
Adham has predicted the flowers are not going to change 😉
We are all very curious to observe what is going to happen to these pretty white carnations over the next few days 😊 😊
Reminders:
- Parent Teacher Interviews are next week.
- Library Book Exchange is every Wednesday.
Dear Parent Volunteers,
I would like to send out many thanks to those of you who accompanied us on our trip the Leighton Art Centre today. The day was a huge success and we would not be able to have done it without you!!
Sincerely,
Ms. Defoe 💕
Literacy
We spent most of this week listening to stories, discussing and writing about the topic of Remembrance Day. On Monday we watched a video for younger learners to help them understand the significance of the poppy. The students worked in groups of three to write acrostic poems using the word REMEMBER. They brainstormed words and phrases that began with the letters in the word. Then I edited the rough copies and the students worked conscientiously on the good copies in their Creative Journals. Jasper said he wanted to do his best work to show respect for the soldiers. The photo below shows his excellent work.
Art
All of the students (K-6) engaged in art projects which were displayed in the gym for the CHS Remembrance Day assembly. Since we have spent time learning about the significance of the poppy we used oil pastels to create abstract poppy mosaics. Each student drew and colored one quarter of the poppy and then we put them together. The students enjoyed seeing the finished products come to life when they were joined together. We discussed how this was a community piece and we all had to do our job in order for the poppy to be complete.
Numeracy
The students were introduced to growing or increasing patterns this week. We watched a short video that showed three individual stages of a pattern growing. The children followed along and drew the first three stages. Then they had to figure out and draw stages 4 and 5. I was quickly able to observe which students saw what was happening immediately so I challenged them to continue the pattern up to stage 10. They left the carpet and worked independently elsewhere in the classroom. I proceeded to present the task again and talk through it with the remaining students as we did it together on the whiteboard up to stage 6. The children were also encouraged to communicate their mathematical thinking using pictures and/or words. After drawing and writing, the students used various manipulatives to build increasing patterns.
Varlen and Adham (Gr. 2) were two of the students who quickly observed what was happening to the pattern as the stages were being presented on the Smartboard. They wanted to build their increasing pattern using centimeter squares because noone else was using them so they would be able to make their pattern grow more.
Romeo (Gr. 1) asked me to take a photo of his increasing pattern using dice. He wanted to make sure I knew he had understood this new math concept.
HOMEWORK - Have your child draw you a repeating pattern and an increasing pattern. They should be able to explain what is different about them to you.
To conclude, I would just like to mention how extremely proud I was of the students in Room 1 today as they exhibited excellent listening skills and respect throughout the duration of our Remembrance Day Assembly!!!
Have a great long weekend and we'll see you Tuesday 😊😊😊
- Thank you to all of the students who returned their field trip forms so promptly to school this morning. I received 14/22 forms.
- I would like to send out a BIG THANK YOU to you, the parents, who have offered to volunteer. We already have 4 which is more than plenty.
- Capitol Hill School will be hosting its annual Remembrance Day Assembly on Friday, November 8th from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. All parents are welcome to attend.
- K-2 students will be given a poppy in the form of a sticker to wear for the assembly.
- The school will be accepting donations of any amount which will be forwarded to the designated Veteran organizations.
- There is no school on Monday, November 11th, in honor of Remembrance Day.
- Fun Lunch is this Thursday 😋😋😋
Literacy
We read an assortment of fictional books about Halloween as well as some non-fictional information about pumpkins. Did you know the longer a pumpkin grows, the darker orange color it will become? Or, for every line on the outside of a pumpkin there is a row of seeds on the inside?
The students also spent some time enhancing their printing skills by writing and illustrating two Halloween jokes in their Creative Journals. Attention to the formation and use of uppercase versus lowercase letters was emphasized. An introduction to the use of a question mark when writing was also something new for many of the Grade 1 students.
Literacy/Numeracy
We listened to the story entitled, "Creepy Carrots." Then we practiced our listening skills as we proceeded to fold a piece of 8 1/2" x 14" orange paper into sixteenths (a mini fraction lesson). After doing that, the students had to print one uppercase letter in each square to spell out CREEPY CARROTS. The letters were then cut out, sorted into piles and used to create repeating patterns. Students worked with a partner and were quick to observe there were more Rs and Es in their piles. I personally feel this encouraged them to create complex patterns. They worked together to practice extending the pattern and identifying the core of their partner's pattern. It was a successful learning task as they remained focused on it for a good hour and observed how many patterns you can create by mixing/matching just a few elements.
Numeracy/Art
The students enjoyed drawing haunted houses where we added math based on the concept of What Makes 10? Each student chose a number and had to generate basic addition and/or subtraction questions which were equal to that number. The photo below shows Celia's (Gr. 1) drawing of, "The House of 14." The children have really enjoyed opening each other's windows and this was intentional on my behalf. My goal was that this tactile interaction will help promote further mental recall of the basic facts.
