Week 12: Sharing our Learning

A lot of learning took place this past week. The Early Learners were hard at work preparing for Social Justice Data Fair, which took place on Thursday. They created presentation sticks, practiced talking about their projects, and then finally they shared their learning with families, peers, visitors, and other teachers. As well, the girls enjoyed collaborating in the classroom and telling each other about their work during Learning Centres. Visitors often ask if we enjoy having a small Early Learning class at Linden and I explain that we love it because of the opportunities for the girls to build strong relationships, practice cooperation, and feel safe taking risks together. As always, our week together ended with a beautiful walk in the ravine, as well as an extended period of play at the playground. It was a fantastic week.

P and A work together to create a new piece of collaborative artwork. They both love to draw and are excited to share the work of making a design on this "big paper".

G and K add passengers to their train. They communicate with each other about which car they're working on to ensure that none of the gems get accidentally knocked off.

G thinks about which number is the "secret number". She refers to her number line when she is given "higher" and "lower" clues.

A hangs out on top of the parachute at recess. She is patiently waiting for K (in Grade 1-2) to finish skipping so that she can join A in a parachute game.

A and K get in to the zone as makers, and they repurpose extra materials in the CERES lab to create their own projects.

G is determined to saw through the piece of wood during Makers Club after school. 

This is K's incredible design on the Light Table that she created during Learning Centres. It is a subway with lots of passengers and some surrounding water. She was so proud of her work that she asked to present it to her classmates. They were awestruck at the vivid colours when we turned out the lights and wanted to share comments and questions with K.

G and G (in Grade 1-2) work collaboratively in CERES to create a marble run. Even though we did this a couple of weeks ago, the girls were excited to apply their understandings and strategies a second time around. These engineers were successful in creating a working marble run.

P focuses as she attaches a new section of ramp to her group's marble run. She has learned how to rip off pieces of tape on her own, and she was very happy to share extra pieces with her friends.

A is convinced that she needs safety goggles for her work in the CERES lab. She's making sure they're on straight before continuing her work.

This morning's literacy lesson is broken into two mini-lessons. Here, P and A practice writing the sounds that we have learned together, using our phonics book as a reminder. 

K and G participate in a different literacy mini-lesson this morning. They are working together to sort and read words that have "sh", "ch", and "th" in them. This activity was good practice for them because both girls are working on spelling words with these patterns in our word study program.

G creates a unique design at the Math Centre this morning. She tells me that "only the monkeys can get what's inside". 

K presents her project about food waste to her mom at the Social Justice Data Fair. Everyone is shocked that her graph goes all the way up to the ceiling, but K explains that this is because so many people at Linden recycle at home.

G snuggles up with I, her Grade 4-5 reading buddy, and they enjoy an Arthur book together. This time continues to be one of the girls' favourites of the week. 

Sometimes in their creative process, artists manage to paint more than just their canvas. P is excited to spend her final Learning Centres of the week painting at the Art and Light centre.

K writes a short story and wants to read it to her friends. A and P listen quietly as K reads. The story includes a witch, a fairy, a princess, a teacher, and four girls. 

P calls out to her friends during recess, wanting them to come over for a minute to chat. 

The girls hang out and wait for the rest of the group to catch up. They don't mind admiring the structure of this huge bridge and enjoying the warmth of the sunshine.

The group notices a stream running down the ravine, and the girls are curious about what the water feels like. They describe it as "cold", "slippery", and "wet".

A uses the stick to write her name in the wood chips at the playground. After first trying to write while kneeling, she realizes that she can do a better job making her letters when she is standing up.

K and P use their strength and gross motor skills to pull themselves up to standing on the swings. This body shape allows for them to swing more easily than sitting down on the swings.