Week Twelve: So Many Feelings


Posted by Savannah Barker on November 27, 2018 at 8:08 AM

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This week was one filled with feelings as we worked together to create our classroom "feelings wall". By listing and learning about many different feelings, the Early Learners have been practicing naming their own feelings throughout the day, understanding why we might feel a certain way at a certain time, and what they can do to change their feeling if it's not a feeling they want to be ongoing. In addition to this exciting project, we got to spend some exploratory time in the ravine during Outdoor Education, learn about "duplication" in CERES, and be creative during regular classroom experiences. We were also excited to have two groups of visitors to our classroom this week. On Tuesday, Soteira and baby E came by to read us a story and learn more about Trans Day of Remembrance, and then on Thursday the grade 3/4/5 class put on two separate plays to help us learn more about the municipal government. Enjoy the photos from the week!

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A observes the changing ravine while at her sit spot. It's been amazing watching the girls' observational skills grow as they engage in this practice each week outdoors. 

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During exploratory play time, O, G (grade 1) and S (grade 2) work together to clear all of the snow off of the log so that they can walk along it without it being too slippery. 

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These girls spend their exploratory time in the ravine jumping over the stream as well as wading in it. They try to convince us that they won't get messy, however a few slips in the stream make for some mucky pants and jackets. Part of the fun of learning outdoors is the mess that comes with it!

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A shows us how she can cook different foods in the magic oven that she has designed at the Math centre. There was an amazing amount of math skills that went into making the actual oven - layering four small blocks on top of larger blocks of the same colour, making a mostly-even perimeter, building the stories the same lengths, etc.

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N asks A to write a test for her, but gives A full control over the content of the test.

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AK, O and AB collect leftover ice chunks during today's morning recess.

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Baby E shows us their new movements during their morning visit with the girls. Soteira explains that E likes to twist their body from side to side, as well as stretch their arms up to touch anything that is dangling above. 

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Soteira reads a story to the girls about a child who is born with the ability to change into any shape possible, but because they can't decide what or who they want to be, they don't fit in with their friends. The girls talk about the importance of being kind to everyone, no matter who they are, which is an important message on Trans Day of Remembrance. 

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This afternoon we read a book about a monster who has a hard time dealing with his emotions and decides to put each different emotion into a jar to help keep them organized. The girls draw their own feelings jars and then label them with different feelings that they feel some days.

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N shows O the duplicate of her name that she made using carbon paper during CERES. She was an excited blur after seeing what felt like magic occur.

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A helps to write labels for our class feelings wall. 

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A is very focused working on her morning word sort. This week's spelling pattern involves the short vowel sound /o/ in each word. A's organization during her sort helps her to read the words back when she is finished. 

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O and N watch as AB and AK put on a play that they were working on during learning centres time at Drama. AK, the mom, is taking care of her little baby, AB.

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AK shows us (baby) AB's new talents during the play. AB likes to reach up to try to touch any dangling sparkly things that AK holds in the air. This scene reminds me a lot of what we saw baby E doing yesterday.

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A and O play another round of the symmetry game with pattern blocks. Their collaborative design is quite intricate with all of the shapes connecting together while also having symmetry (the game requirement).

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The class "feelings wall" is complete. The Early Learners did a great job changing up their facial expressions and body language to best represent each feeling that they wanted to add to the wall. Feel free to stop by one day to take a closer look.

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O watches as A uses the hot glue gun to start building the floor of the castle. A learns different glueing strategies, such as glueing on the popsicle stick versus glueing on the paper, as well as making a long line of glue versus smaller dots of glue.

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At the Building Centre this morning, A has designed a kitchen/oven/restaurant/storefront. She keeps all of the different types of food in different compartments, and then A will make up orders as they come in. The fabrics are used to wrap up the food when someone places an order for delivery. Everyone is excited about receiving spaghetti, potatoes, mashed potatoes, and more!

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O is inspired by N, and she works with the math materials to create a school. It is interesting to see how she gives each student has their own desk to work at, even though there are no individual desks in our classroom. 

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The grade 3/4/5 class is visiting this morning to put on two student-created plays about the municipal government. The Early Learners and grade 1-2s learn all about political platforms, the mayor's role, the city councillors' roles, and the ways in which we can improve our city together. Thanks grade 3/4/5s!

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N is hard at work during Writer's Workshop drawing an extension to a short story we are reading. In the story, a coyote takes different animals' suits when they are swimming and takes them home to his closet. Each girl writes the next part of the story and guesses which animal's suit coyote might take next. N predicts that he will take a turtle's suit (or shell) while the turtle swims. 

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O and A chat quietly with each other as they add detail to their pictures during Writer's Workshop. 

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It's Friday morning and the Early Learners notice that they are all working on something different at the table. The day is off to a great start!