During last Friday’s assembly, students had an opportunity to proudly showcase our process of inquiry on various sea creatures. It all began with asking questions and lots of them. Then with access to resources like books, websites, videos, and a visit to the Vancouver Aquarium, students researched information together with a partner. They took notes on paper and then organized them using Kidspiration:

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which helped them publish their writing:

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and eventually, supported their formal presentation. Here is one by Isla on Starfish (click on image):

Click on image to view Owen’s presentation.

Click on image to view Riley’s presentation.

Safe Bodies Strong Kids is an evidence based child abuse prevention program for grades 1-3 students.  The program was developed by the BC Lower Mainland Child Abuse Prevention Educators and is based on the most recent child abuse prevention research. 

We have learned about five safe and respectful reasons for touch: Caring, Helpful, Fun, Healthy, and Clean. Students had opportunities to study and sort images into categories. They discovered that many overlap.

Our last lesson taught us how to be safe online and to really think about what we say to others online before we post or hit send. Please have a conversation with your child about what they have learned so far. 

Here is the video we watched on consent:

Students will be presenting our learning on the water cycle and inquiry projects on our local sea life tomorrow at the Celebration of Learning. Please join us at 9:00 am!

Our little scientists’ inquiry on local sea creatures is well on its way! They have been enthusiastically and diligently researching websites on their animal. This week, we will be receiving a Virtual Reality kit which include Google glasses to virtually dive deep into the ocean to take a closer look! 

In support of our inquiry, Division 8 and 9 had an exciting field trip to the aquarium. We had some free exploration time on our own. Otherwise, we came together to watch the sea otter feeding, dolphin, and sea lion show. Our classroom workshop experience focussed on learning more about our local coast animals. Students had an opportunity to touch a jellyfish, sea cucumber, sea urchin, and try on a turtle’s shell to name a few things.

We are very grateful to parents who have volunteered to help drive and supervise students. 

Dear students,

What were your highlights of the trip? What was the most interesting fact you learned? Please feel free to write a comment on this post. Thank you!

Our grade 1 and 2 students have worked very hard on their re-creation of the water cycle with their partners and were really excited and engaged in their learning. With practice and repetition, they became more and more confident with their explanation of the water cycle and the moving of the sun, clouds, and precipitation at the same time. Not an easy task! We are very proud of how they improved in their communication skills as they worked as partners negotiating their shared vision while exercising their creative thinking and critical thinking skills in order to pull this off! 

Children have had opportunities to share “I can” statements before and after they worked on their shows again and again. Today, they worked on their final reflections. They really understand their strengths! Click here to read all of their “I can” statements.

Enjoy our Water Cycle shows that we made using Puppet Pals! Hint: Might want to pop some popcorn first. Sorry, videos do not play on iPhones or iPads but play fine on Androids and computers.

Tobee & JeanBenoit	Sasha & Charlotte	Farbod & Lucas	Isla & Dustin
Fisher & Myel	Jeffery & Ronan	Manoj & Priscilla	Leo & Riley
Avia & Sonia	Charlotte & Katherine	Gabby, Hanna & Kailan	Owen & Zachary
Olivya & Mehr	Enjoy!	Made with Puppet Pals

Dear students (and parents),

What do you think about your friend’s shows? Please feel free to offer two stars and a wish or write a comment about why you enjoyed working on this project. What are you most proud of? What appreciations might you have for your partner? If you were to do it again, what would you change? Thank you.

Thoroughly enjoy your spring break, everyone! Looking forward to seeing you on April 1st. We have had such a wonderful year so far with you and your child. Thank you for your continued support at home. We appreciate you!

Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Ms. Cowan