The Bear Facts...

As an inquiry classroom, it is the interest of the students that direct our topics of study.  At the end of January, we read a fiction and non-fiction book about bears.  These two books sparked major interest in the students.  They had many interesting questions, and they wanted to find out more.

To find out more information about bears, and more importantly, to find the answer to some of the questions the students had, we have been doing some research together.  We are reading non-fiction books, watching informational videos and visiting web sites to find out all we can.

The other day, the students interest was focused on the grizzly bear.  We found an interesting and informative video on YouTube that we watched together.

The students were given time to talk with a partner about something new they had learned.  To help solidify the learning, I invited the students to watch the video one more time.  I placed sticky notes at each desk, and students returned to their seats to record the interesting facts they learned from the video.

The students were so excited to share their new knowledge, they got right to work.  The classroom was silent as the students worked on recording what they had learned.

The students were so excited to share their discoveries, that we took the time to allow each student to share their findings with the class.  This was an excellent and authentic opportunity to promote oral communication, and the students did an amazing job presenting in front of the class.  After they presented, we compiled all the stickies onto a Grizzly Bear Facts chart to keep our discoveries in one place.

This activity was such an authentic learning opportunity.  The students were interested, and invested in the topic.  Reading some of the sticky notes below, it is amazing to see how clear and concise the students were in recording their ideas.  

Our learning sparked some new questions that we plan on investigating.  Here are two types of bears the students had never heard of, and want to learn more about.

Mr. Allen joined us for part of our grizzly bear exploration.  While he was talking to some of the students, an interesting question arose and he helped us explore it.  Mr. Allen used the Internet to explore which kind of bear is the strongest. The students were very excited to talk to Mr. Allen and share in the learning with him.

 

There is more amazing learning on the horizon.  Although the topic of bears was decided on by the students, there are valuable learning opportunities and curriculum connections happening every day.  We are covering expectations in reading, writing, oral communication and science in both the Gr. 1 and  Gr. 2 curriculum.  I can't wait to see what exciting learning will happen this week!

Making Words

Each morning, as part of our literacy program, we do word work.  Word work consists of many different activities and games that help the children develop reading, writing and spelling skills.  This morning, we investigated a new activity that we will be using during word work throughout the rest of the year - making words.

Given a set of letters, students move the letter tiles around to form and spell new words.  The students started by finding WOW words from the word wall.  They then started finding "chunks" or "word families" they recognized (e.x. -ig, -ed, -an) and added other letters to make new words.  When making words, students also practice reading, writing and decoding new words.  They stretch the words apart and then blend the letters back together.

This morning, the word presented to the class was gingerbread.  Using only the letters in that word, the class worked together and built 53 other words (and there are even some we missed)!  The students really enjoyed making words, and we will try with a new set of letters next week.  Take a peek at the students in action...

Why not try this at home?  Find some scrap paper, and print the word snowman.  Cut out each letter.  Work together with your child to see how many new words you can make.  Have your child record each word you make on another scrap of paper.  Please send in your list - the students would love to see them!

The Grinch and Writing Similes

We had a great time reading and discussing the classic Dr. Seuss story How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  The students brainstormed characteristics and adjectives of the Grinch, and his heart.

After discussing similies, and identifying some that the students had heard before ("As hard as a rock", "As cold as ice", "Easy as pie"), the students wrote some similes about the Grinch and his heart.  This idea came from a teacher blog that I follow, and the students did a great job!  Enjoy reading a few...

We remembered...

We took time to remember all the men and women who have worked so hard, and given so much to bring peace to Canada and the world on Friday, November 11th, 2011.

We read this story, and had some time to talk about what Remembrance Day is really about...

The students wrote postcards that will be sent to Canadian Service Members in Afghanistan.  They shared words of thanks on Remembrance Day.