Our Kindergarten and Grade One Community-Division 19

As scientists, we have been sharing our curiosity and sense of wonder about our new little caterpillars, who have hatched from an egg, and are now beginning their new cycle of life. We have been looking closely to observe and record their features, and to discuss their basic needs to survive. The hungry caterpillars have been very busy eating to get the energy it needs to transform into chrysalis and then beautiful butterflies! Here is what we have noticed so far…

As Mathematicians, we have been describing, identifying, sorting, and building 2D shapes and 3D objects. “It’s shaped like a can, it rolls, it has not points…who am I?” We asked questions such as “Where do we find shapes in nature?”, “How are the objects the same of different?”, “Can I sort these objects by an attribute?”, “Does the shape matter to build a structure?”, and “How does it move?”.

With our curiosity, wonder, and super senses we stepped into the natural beauty of Beecher Creek! As our  “I am the Earth”  poem suggests ” We must live in harmony. If we care for animals, plants, and oceans too, the Earth will be a friend to you!” Being mindful that we are all connected, the explorers appreciated the movement of water, the possibilities of sticks, the weight of logs, the change of Spring, and the joy of living things.

We have been busy investigating families. Through story, connections, conversations, and comparisons we were able to discover how families can be the same and different. We asked questions like ” What is a family?” and “What do families have?” , “Where do they live?”,  and “What do they like to do?”

Mathematicians work with tens as they explore place value, ten frames, and hundreds charts. Our entire number system is built from a system of tens. Developing a solid and flexible understanding of 10 as a benchmark number and how is works within our number system is essential to grow as math thinkers, and to describe a numbers relationship to 5 and to 10. Also, Mathematicians engage in weekly counting collections. This creates an opportunity to develop counting concepts of one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, sequencing, fluency, subitizing, skip counting, bench marks of 5 and 10 and more!

The Scientists showcased their understanding of forces and motion by exploring the movements of forward, backwards, and side-to-side with marbles and paint! Every design was as unique as the artist and they loved to experiment with fast and slow motions

to investigate forces!

We have been busy investigating “What is a family?” and “What forces makes objects move?” As explorers, scientists, and artists we created clay pots using the forces of push and pull to create a gift for you to celebrate everything that makes your families special! There was many steps to the clay pot process and they were so happy to take them home today.

As scientists we are exploring forces of push and pull. Scientists like to ask questions and share their wonders about how things move. Yesterday during  Walking Wednesday we investigated “What forces do we use outside?” Using our sense of sight and touch they were able to discover many push and pull forces at work while they moved outside. We also explored these forces with frisbees, exploring the motion of roll, spin, and slide! Then today we connected our Chinese New Year poem to push and pull forces in order to create firework explosions to scare away the legend of Nian!

Every Wednesday is “Walking Wednesday!”. In all types of weather we head outside with one of our ELL teachers, Ms. Dionne, to share our wonders and curiosities about the world around us. We have a chance to use four of our senses; smelling, hearing, seeing, and touching ( no tasting!) to notice and name new vocabulary, and to grow as great communicators by telling our ideas, asking questions, and listening to each other. Here are just some of our Fall adventures!

Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the blog! As we say goodbye to Fall and Hello to Winter, I wonder what your favourite part of these seasons are? For me it’s pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving with family in the Fall and skiing in the Winter.

Division 19 invites you to a virtual gallery walk of photos of our classroom. We wanted to show you some of the spaces that make up our class community and some of the favourite places and activities for explorations!