My Smore Flyer
December Newsletter From Room 208
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us over the past few weeks. It was great getting to know you all and finding more individual and personalized ways to help your children succeed.
Take a look below at some of the learning that happened during the month of November.
OUR FIRST MYSTERY READER
MESSAGE TO OUR MYSTERY READER.....
Beautiful Stuff Alphabet Wall - The Rationale
"To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover, and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure." (From the introduction to: "Beautiful Stuff: Learning With Found Materials" by Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella Gandini).
The students met many curriculum expectations with this collection of their very own "Beautiful Stuff". This activity allowed the children to think about the materials around them more deeply, and all of the ways that materials can be used to create and express ideas. We learned to collaborate, share, think, sort, organize and invent by using the materials . We also counted and then finally used the materials to make a class alphabet wall. As an extension, students also found objects from home that begin with their letters and shared with the class. Look at our final co-created alphabet wall!
Math Inquiry - Putting it into practise
Toothpick pictures
Final Product
Class Number Gallery
Snail Inquiry
During our outdoor play, a student found snails in a bag on the steps. She brought the snails into the classroom. After an in-depth discussion on what to do with the snails, the class decided to adopt them. We discussed some important questions such as:
"I wonder what we need to do to care for these snails?" and "I wonder how we need to care for them?"
Creating a terrarium
Horray! We are finally finished!
Designing a playground
"Love the structure"
Getting some excercise.
2D and 3D Structures
In November, we started building structures with 2D and 3D figures. Building structures has been an ongoing exploration for students since the beginning of the school year. Over time, the structures and the language used to describe their creation are becoming more sophisticated as we explore building two dimensional and three dimensional shapes and figures.
The students have been learning about two dimensional shapes and have used these in their drawings of buildings, cityscapes, and towers. All the students have worked really hard at the paint area to create cityscapes, the Eiffel Tower, and the CN Tower. They have also created numerous structures using marshmallows and toothpicks to create squares, triangles, and cubes and pyramids. They also explored with these materials to create 3D structures. We will also begin to use a variety of recycled materials, such as cardboard boxes, to create towers, castles, and other buildings. This was inspired by the story Iggy Peck, Architect. The students were even talking about a variety of towers, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the CN Tower. They also started to do blueprints before they started to build!
Take a look at our 2D and 3D Figures .... Created by Room 208
Skyline Paintings inspired by the story Iggy Peck
Art Project
Thank you to all the parents for donating the building materials. The students had a blast using the materials to construct various shapes and structures.
If possible, we are asking each child bring in $4.00 by Friday December 12 to purchase some art materials for our up coming art projects. Thank you again for your continuous support.
Don't Forget...
December 19th is the last day of school before the Christmas break.
School will resume on January 5th.
Happy Holidays!!!!