Category: Place-Based Learning
On aime les arbres!
Slowly but surely, we’re increasing our endurance outside. This is especially important as we move into the rainy season.
With repeated exposure, children develop bonds to our local plants and animals.
On this day, some students hugged the tree in front of our classroom. One student wanted to say ‘Thank you for oxygen’. The other student said ‘Trees need hugs.’
Les ronces élégantes
It’s the end of another school year. Salmonberries (or les ronces élégantes) remind us that summer is here.
Thank you for reading this blog. Wishing you a happy summer break! Bon été!
Les fleurs
Students are learning to identify parts of flowers. We’ve been searching for spring flowers that grow in our local environment. We’ve been learning new words and how to draw ‘like a scientist’.
Knowing the parts of a flower helped us draw abstract flowers in art recently. Enjoy the beautiful blooms!
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On identifie les plantes!
On today’s sortie nature, some students used field guides to try to identify spring flowers near our school. We noted similarities and differences between local wildflowers. We found it easiest to compare petal and leaf shapes.
With a little extra help from the Seek app, we found la jacinthe espagnole (Spanish Bluebell), le lamier jaune (Yellow Archangel), la pâquerette (Common Daisy), and le laurier-cerise (Cherry Laurel).
Une visite d’artiste!
Kwakwaka’wakw artist Simon James returned to École Westridge this month to touch up his tableau at our front entrance. Students learned about the carving’s history and significance.
They learned that it was carved from ancient cedar over 1000 years old! They also learned of the 10 animals on artwork and what they each represent. Each animal represents a school value.
Mr. James also spoke of the importance of knowing one’s culture and celebrating it. Students were encouraged to think of their own culture(s). Where do their elders come from?
As a thank you gesture, Division 10 students drew pictures of an animal or plant discussed during his artist talk. One student drew a detail shared about Mr. James education as a carver in his Indigenous community. Finally, when expressing gratitude, could they say ‘thank you’ in their elders’ language(s)?
We recognized that we all share English and French culture via the languages we’re learning every day. However, our classroom is wonderfully diverse with roots spanning not only across the country, but the world.
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Qu’est-ce qui pousse?
Spring is here! On today’s nature walk, students were asked to look for what’s growing. How do they know something is growing? What clues can they look for?
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Le parfum de forêt
Students were asked to create a forest ‘perfume’. We discovered that le cèdre was the most fragrant. Other plants were used, such as clover, lichen, or fir needles. Some even threw in pinecones and dead leaves for an especially earthy smell!
As always, we only collected plants from the forest floor. We’re aiming to not harm living plants. We’re also aiming to not disturb our local ecosystem.
L’art de bâtons
Sometimes, we get inspired by nature to make art. In this math activity, students were asked to create 2D picture art with sticks. They were asked to only use 12 sticks and for them to be as straight as possible. Then, they were asked to identify shapes within their art.
We counted sides and noted the number of vertices. We practiced using words like un triangle, un carré, un rectangle…We started identifying special polygon shapes too, like un hexagone.
We ran out of time, but it would have been interesting to extend this activity by only using ‘small’ sticks. How would their picture art change? What if a range of stick lengths were used instead? Would that change the picture again?
Un personnage de coeur (A heart character)
Un bonhomme (A smiley face)
Une étoile (A star)
Une forêt (A forest)
Un autre personnage de coeur (Another heart character)
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This activity was taken from the fantastic book, Messy Maths, by Juliet Robertson.
Les pattes d’animaux
Students are learning to pay attention more when outside. Here are some paw prints seen on my frosty morning walk. Students were asked to reflect on which animals could have left these paw prints. What animals live in our urban areas?
