Outside Adventures

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Yesterday we ventured out into the rain with Division 7 to explore our school garden and begin to prepare it for spring bulb planting.

One group at a time headed to the garden area (AKA Mother Nature) to learn about the difference between ‘annual’ and ‘perennial’ plants. They helped to cut back plants and compost dead flowers. It’s exciting to think about how our garden might look with all the spring flowers.

The other groups headed out into the grassy field to start prepping the ground near the fence. Yes, more bulbs–we got 400 bulbs from Bulbs4Kids to plant (thanks to Isabella and Lorena’s Mom!). These groups worked with trowels to soften up the ground–and dig a few holes too!! We had scissors to cut grass and leaves, magnifying glasses to check out the interesting nature finds, and tiny containers to gather nature samples.

Check out a few of the images of our time below…

Thanks to everyone who was prepared for the weather! It was great to be outside knowing we would all be toasty warm!

Categories: Nature School, Science | Leave a comment

Math Talk

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

This year our school is working on developing a school wide math goal. We have dedicated the 15 minutes after recess as a quick EXTRA math time to help our students build their capacity.

We will be working on all the strands of math through games and math talks.

Geometry, Numeracy, Computation, Measurement, Date Collection…

On Mondays we are doing a school wide “How Many?” image.

Here is our image from this past week:

avocado

A few of the questions we answered: How did you count? How many with pits? How many without? How many whole avocado’s?

On Thursdays, we are working on WODB (Which One Doesn’t Belong) math talks.

We look at an image on the board that has 4 math pictures, then we need to decide which one we think doesn’t belong and why.

In addition to developing our math skills, this also develops our communication and critical thinking skills.

You can see the WODB images we have looked at so far below…(you’ll have to click on each image to see the whole picture).

What do you notice?

Enjoy having a math talk at home!

Categories: Core Competencies, Math | Leave a comment

Welcome Back!

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Division 8!

We’ve had a very busy first few weeks–learning lots of new routines and slowly getting to know each other’s names…a very tricky business in Kindergarten! I’m sure many of you are noticing that your Kindergarten children are tired after their full day! Hopefully that’s a good thing!!

We’ve had a lot of firsts in these past few weeks–gymnastic equipment in the gym, dance class and library with Ms. Besic, Music with Mrs. Ishii, as well as exploring our outdoor classroom spaces. WOW–that’s a lot to take in!

Feel free to explore the tabs at the top of the website…there are a lot of resources available for those days you are looking for something to do. If you would like to be informed about our posts (usually once a week) you can subscribe on the right hand side bar.

Check Out some of our activities below:

Categories: Special Events | Leave a comment

Summer Fun

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Hello Everyone,

Here it is, our last day of the school year.😎 Although it has been a challenging time we have successfully made it to the end. Give yourselves a big pat on the back!! As we look ahead to the summer months (with joy and anticipation for many reasons) some of you might be thinking “How will we fill all that time?”…

Hopefully you have joined the Burnaby Public Library Summer Reading Club…and in addition to that there are some really great projects you can try that I have posted from SD38 and other sources.

Check out the Special Projects tab to see some great at home activities related to our curriculum:

Structures
Growing Things
Water Play
Maker Play
Construction Play
Light Play
Shadows

Enjoy your summer…and I will see you in September!!

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Butterfly Photos

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Last Week, Divisions 7 & 8 went out on a neighbourhood walk with our butterfly ‘viewers’ (thanks to Div. 7 for making those!). In mixed grade groups we went to look for some interesting patterns and symmetry.

The groups had a digital camera and at least 1 viewer and were tasked to work together to find, discuss, set up and photograph patterns for the butterfly wings.

The students were encouraged to take turns doing each job in the group–find, hold viewer, and photograph.

The groups were chosen randomly to encourage communication and collaboration with new peers.

I contribute during group activities with peers and share roles and responsibilities to achieve goals.
I communicate purposefully, using forms and strategies I have practiced.

Here are some of the photos that were taken…

Categories: Arts, Arts Integration, Math, Nature School, Science, Technology | 1 Comment

The Past and The Future

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Last week Divisions 7 & 8 read an indigenous story called “P’esk’a And The First Salmon Ceremony”.

It was a story basket that included a number of indigenous artifacts related to the story…for example:

Eagle Miniature
Drum
Animal Skins
Miniature Canoe

The setting of the story was “long ago”. It told the tale of how after a long winter the first salmon fishing of the spring was a celebrated event.

Yesterday Divisions 7 & 8 hiked up to the lookout with our clipboards and pencils to do some sketching. We were looking into the past…1000 years–just like the setting of our story.

Some guiding questions included:

What do you think was still here? Why?
What would NOT be here? Why?

Some of the past sketches are here.

Then we moved to the future 1000 years…What would that look like???

Some of the future sketches are here.

What a great day–even though we had a quick sprinkle of rain…

Categories: Arts, Arts Integration, Nature School | Leave a comment

Painting Hearts

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Yesterday our library story was “The Shape Of My Heart”.

Then we spent our art time painting hearts💜❤💕🧡💗 on the new garden bins. This is a school-wide project that we hope to complete by the end of this school year.

Painting hearts is more difficult than you can image…So…We started by creating a stencil. Folding the paper, drawing the half heart shape and cutting it out required that we use a lot of different skills! We then placed our stencil on one of the bins and traced the inside with black paint.

Finally, we got to choose what colour or colours we would like our hearts to be.

This was a follow up activity to our school wide indigenous “Project Of Heart”. The tiny tiles (see the new photo on our home page of some of the tiles) we made represent what we are most grateful for and for what we would miss most if we had been sent to live in a residential school. (This project was based on the story “When We Are Alone” )

Your Assignment this week: Talk to your child about what they chose to include on their tile and why.

Categories: Arts, Arts Integration, Special Events | Leave a comment

Walking About…

Posted on May 25, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

This year, we have been spending a fair bit of time walking around our neighbourhood. Each time we go out, we have a purpose or focus in mind–often inspired by The Walking Curriculum.

We have tried:

Colour Walk
Lovely/Unlovely Walk
Opposites Walk
Shapes Walk
Where are We? Walk (using our neighbourhood map)
Hidden Number Walk
Numbers you can see Walk (house numbers, license plates etc.)

Today we did an ‘Underfoot‘ & ‘Overhead‘ Walk–we had two questions to think about as we walked…

What do you notice about the world you are walking on???
What is looking down on you as we walk???

One of the goals of these walks is to make us more aware of our surroundings…

“I contribute to group activities that make my classroom, school, community, or natural world a better place.”

This week your assignment is to go on a walk with your family.

Choose a purpose/focus…you can choose one from above, or make up your own…
Then walk about…
What do you notice????

Categories: Core Competencies, Nature School, Physical Health | Leave a comment

Symmetry

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

What is symmetry???

In geometry, symmetry is defined as a balanced and proportionate similarity that is found in two halves of an object. It means one-half is the mirror image of the other half. If an object is symmetrical, it means that it is equal on both sides.

Yesterday for art we created symmetrical butterflies. Using the paper we made last week during our messy art, (we mixed primary colours to create secondary colours, then added black and white to create shades and tints) we made collage butterflies. The skill of cutting 2 of the exact same shape is a difficult thing to do. We are all glad we have been practicing our scissor skills!

This art is a great connection to the butterflies we are currently ‘raising’ in our classroom. They began as very tiny caterpillars, grew very quickly, and are now moving into the chrysalid phase of their development. So exciting!!!

Here is a video we watched today about the Painted Lady butterfly transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.

Congratulations to all those students who thought it would take 14 days for the chrysalids to appear!!

We can’t wait to see the butterflies emerge!

Here are the butterflies we created:

Categories: Arts, Arts Integration, Math, Science, Technology | Leave a comment

Measuring Capacity

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Ms. Fischer

Yesterday we had a wet time measuring the capacity of a variety of containers! Working in a small group we had to compare containers to decide which had the most capacity . Our first task was to choose 2 containers. We then had to predict which one had the greatest capacity–a great chance to practice our communication skills.

After predicting, we then had to measure to be sure! Wet and wild fun was had by all!! Our final task was to put 6 containers in order from least to most capacity…tricky stuff!!