Week Two: September 11th - 15th, 2017

The students in Grade One-Two have had another busy week of learning and discovery. On Monday, they used the results of their school-wide pattern hunt to begin practicing patterning vocabulary and learned to spot when suspected patterns didn't actually repeat. Tuesday involved some very creative story writing including a spooky tale about a haunted house. On Wednesday, students used new patterning vocabulary to design and describe their own custom patterns. They also had the chance to correct many (intentional) errors in a piece of their teacher's writing in order to begin practicing editing skills and the recognition of common sight words. On Thursday, Linden students had the chance to sign up for lunchtime and after-school clubs that are offered across multiple grades. Chess Club, Cooking Club, and Sewing Club were all big hits in our classroom! Grade One-Twos also had the chance to channel their inner architect as we discussed what makes a strong structure before designing and building with the Early Learners. On Friday, we wrapped up the week with a lively game of Dice Battles before conducting a colour scavenger hunt in the ravine and observing the honey harvest in our very own Linden rooftop beehive! More details on how to get your very own jar of Linden honey to come.

G and K use their homeroom time to explore different colours of paper under the microscope. They have some ideas about how to troubleshoot visibility issues with the addition of a light next time.

M suggests using paper with a pattern to increase their chances of visibility and offers a class-favourite copy of Junie B. Jones.

Grade One-Twos worked together to identify and document patterns they found around the school. This photo includes curtains from the CERES lab, an eraser from the desk of a Grade 4-5 student, stairs to the roof, a high school student's sweater, the kleenex box at the front desk, Janice's suggestion box, our sign-in/sign-out log, and an older student's waterbottle.

Students selected patterns from their school-wide pattern hunt and practiced using patterning terminology to describe them. G is very happy to have chosen the cat curtain pattern from the CERES lab for her piece of writing and S can be seen using diligent finger spacing in her writing. 

S is starting to use the classroom's portable Word Wall to help her spell unfamiliar words during Writer's Workshop. Look how many of the letters are in use at this moment!

The Early Learners and Grade 1-2s enjoy their special morning recess together where they have the rooftop playground to themselves. The parachute has been used as a cape, fortress, shelter, art area, bouncy surface for balls, and more.

M and K hypothesize and conduct trials to test their strategies for the perfect basketball shot. These are also skills we have been practicing in science class.

S creates her own pattern and is able to explain that it varies in shape, colour, and number as she demonstrates her understanding of patterning vocabulary.

After identifying different types of patterns such as colour patterns, shape patterns, number patterns, and word patterns, students designed their own patterns that often fit more than one of these categories. 

M has some fun during morning snack time.

G helps her classmates correct common spelling errors in a piece of writing on the board and relishes the opportunity to write on the board like a teacher.

The Early Learners visited our classroom for a discussion of what makes a strong structure before planning and building together. Some ideas they had for building included castles, apartments, houses, pools, subway, buses, cars, and streetcars.

G takes great care to balance blocks on her temple while M and K build a playground behind her.

G created a "purse crown" with scraps from a piece of art and explains how it folds down for easy portability.

M used her scraps to create a "canoe house" and demonstrated her ability to create three-dimensional shapes.

M and S gleefully announce that they got matching sums in their Dice Battles game.

Z throws up her hands in triumph as her resulting sum is larger than Maho's.

K and G decide to eliminate the element of competition and just take turns rolling, helping each other find their sums after each roll.

Z shows Soteira how the leaf that her and K found matches the dark green on their colour scavenger hunt sheet.

S tries to decide whether the flowers match better with her yellow or her orange colour swatch.

K finds a creative way to transport her materials back to school.

We love sharing our ravine walks with the Early Learners! Outdoor learning is even better with friends.