As we launch our last unit of inquiry of Grade 1/2, we're setting up learning zones in our classrooms that reflect the different biomes. Students have the opportunity to explore the Arctic Tundra, The Tropical Rainforest, The Ocean, The Desert, and the Savanna Grasslands. In each centre, students will inquire about animals, plants, and climate. They'll explore books, play with animals, and get their hands dirty in sensory bins. Students will use an augmented reality globe to continue to explore the biomes and their animals. Come along with us as we explore the globe and learn about our world!
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This week, students in Grade 1/2 learned about Hanami, a celebration that takes place every Spring in Japan. Hanami literally translates to "flower watching" and is an annual celebration of Sakura and springtime. People gather around cherry blossom trees with family and friends to enjoy delicious drinks and food under the beautiful pink trees, often with the petals gently snowing from the branches when in full bloom. Using potato stamps, students created beautiful paintings of the Sakura flower. Take a look at our beautiful creations below! Students in Grade 1/2 are currently working on a unit of inquiry that focuses on non-verbal communication. Last week, we learned about the creation of Braille, started by Louis Braille in 1894. Based on the French alphabet, Braille created a writing system as an improvement to night writing. Once we learned about the Braille alphabet, we practiced writing our names and other words in Braille. Using 3D paint, we covered up the Braille letter patterns to create a raised texture so we could feel the bumps. Then, we tried reading them with our finger tips and guessing the word! Every February in Venice, the whole city participates in Carnival. As part of our year-long unit of inquiry on significant events, students in Grade 1/2 learned about Carnival celebrations. We looked at books, and various pictures of masks. Then, we made our own masks to celebrate! Today is our 100th day of school! We celebrated by bringing in a collection of 100 objects, making groups of 10, skip counting to 100, and playing a game! We brought in 100 stickers, 100 noodles, 100 Legos (x2), a list of 100 words, and 100 counters! Take a look below at our different collections as we sort them into groups. Students in Grade 1/2 have been working on procedural writing leading up to the iSTEAM Fair later this March. To practice writing procedures, we studied how to build a snowman. To begin, students first identified the important steps and vocabulary. Once we had a list, we then looked at transition words to list our steps. We learned about words that we can use at the beginning, middle and end of a text. Next up, we drew out our steps to building a snowman, then wrote our rough draft sentences using the transition word list and vocabulary words. Finally, we wrote our steps to build a snowman. Take a look below at our finished products! This week, we are practicing our words for the Dictée PGL that will take place on February 15th. Students in Grade 1 and 2 have a list of words to learn that focus on education and equality. There are a variety of learning activities to practice the words, and practice dictées before the final. Here students are creating flashcards to practice their words. You can see them writing them, then practicing with each other to read and spell the words.
Early numeration skills, such as spontaneously grouping objects to simplify the count, are part of the Defi-Maths curriculum in Grade 1 and 2. In this activity, students were given a random large amount of manipulatives, and were tasked with organizing them to be easily count and identify how many each team had. We can see that the two teams focused on different visual representations. One team thought making groups of 5, and setting them in a long line would be the simplest way to count. The other team made groups of 5, and then later switched to groups of 10 by adding two groups together. They thought that counting by 5s was taking too long, so counting by 10s seemed faster. Each team successfully counted the amount of manipulatives they were given, and learned from each other about organizing and sorting strategies.
As part of our year-long unit on significant events and various celebrations, the Grade 1/2 students have matched with a school located in Vermont, USA. We got our first letters this week and learned who will be our new pen pal! We will exchange letters year-long, but right now we're sharing what we're looking forward to over the Winter break. Students are sharing family traditions and holiday plans with their pen pals, and will wait for their next letter back in January. We are so excited to have new friends in another country, and we're excited to learn all about them!
As we launch our unit of inquiry on modes of transportation, the Grade 1/2 students are so excited to use their dramatic play centre - an airport. In this centre, students will be working on their oral communication skills in French as they develop a variety of vocabulary relating to airplanes, different careers in an airport, and different roles. In this centre, students can learn about the history of aircrafts, how to work as a security agent and check-in guests, and how to get ready for take off as a pilot. Students have a passport, and the pilot takes them to a variety of countries around the world each day. Come and fly with us at AcadeCap Airlines! |
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