Week 36: Coding and Light Stories
This week was filled with excitement, energy, and tons of learning for the girls. We pulled out the Light Table, the BINGO game, and the mouse coding game for learning centres, which gave the girls some direction during centre time. We also travelled to the park and ravine a number of times, learning about giving thanks to the natural environment, poking around in streams, and engaging in cooperative play. We also had a special visit from an incoming JK student, A, and the girls loved making her feel welcome and being leaders in our classroom. Enjoy the photo story from our week together.
A and A create a design on the Light Table using the transparent shapes. They observe that they can make squares with triangles, and that they can also make squares with rectangles.
P works with the mouse coding game this morning. Together with G, she creates a maze for the mouse to move through, and then plans out the route that the mouse must take to find the cheese using the direction cards. It is also good practice to use directional language, such as "forward", "backward", "turn right" and "turn left".
N creates a new math game. First she chooses a numeral and places it in the 5-frame. Next, she types the same numeral into the calculator, and then repeats her steps.
This morning we head to the park with Ryan, one of Linden's Indigenous educators, to learn about giving thanks to the natural environment. The girls learn about the significance of tobacco ties as a way of giving thanks, and they even learn how to make their own. They place their tobacco tie somewhere around the park that they want to give thanks to.
G and P are eager to spend time learning with the BINGO game at the Math Centre, and these two girls work collaboratively to place the BINGO balls in the correct spaces using the letter and number clues.
N practices using the glue gun during CERES safely as she creates a two-sided structure. One side is supposed to help the structure travel quickly down a ramp, while the other side should make it move slowly.
The girls are pretending that they are dogs this morning (except for G, who is a wolf). Z is their dog-walker and is taking care of them while they are at recess.
N explores the 100-bead abacus in the classroom and works on moving all of the beads from one side to the other until they're all lined up.
A and N work together on the mouse coding game. They create a maze for the mouse to travel through to find its cheese, and then use the arrow cards to plan out the code they need to input for the mouse to know where to go. After a few unsuccessful trials, and with some necessary adjustments, the girls successfully program the mouse to travel through this complex maze.
It is not often that we take group photos outdoors, especially ones where our clothes are not yet sweaty, muddy, or covered in paint. Look how much the girls (G, not pictured) have grown since the beginning of the school year.
A, our visiting JK student, is all smiles as she dresses up in the scarves, leis, and dresses available in the Drama Centre. She enjoyed learning with K this morning.
The girls feel the soft feathers on the owl wing that Jean, Linden's Director of Admissions, brought to share with us today. We learned that Jean helps rescue birds that have been injured from flying into windows. We also learned about the FLAP (fatal light awareness) program that helps people learn about the consequences of having many buildings in cities that are in bird migration pathways.
A is excited about continuing to work on the "Women in NASA" LEGO kit that she gave to me in the winter. She is comfortable following the step-by-step instructions to build the scenes.
P shows off her balancing skills during morning recess as she shouts "look, no hands!"
K and A use a stick to poke around in the stream and mud during our weekly ravine hike. After taking the stick out, they observe that the stream is not too deep, but it is very mucky.
G gives P a big push on the swings at the park, while also encouraging her to pump her legs.