We have been busy adjusting to a new school year, and building consensus and common understandings. In addition, we have also been trying to engage with our surroundings, and enjoying the beautiful weather outside. Here's a rundown of what we've been focusing on so far.
ELA: We've been working on making connections with our texts. We have been doing an inquiry on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, working to build a deeper understanding of the text. In addition, we have been practising our comprehension skills by using visuals with text at the bottom, and by doing close-read texts with simple comprehension questions. Our pre-readers are practising letter recognition and participating in shared listening and viewing experiences. Numeracy: We have been working to understand the students' understanding of numeracy and math concepts, so that we can build meaningful programming for them throughout the year. We have been practising some rote counting as well as some 1:1 correspondence. In addition, we've been looking at matching/sorting skills. Routines/Building Independence: A new school year has provided us with a fabulous opportunity to continue to build independence with daily routines. Students are expected to complete the entry and exit routines independently, with decreasing levels of support from staff. We took the time early in the year to let the students explore the routines on their own, so now our routines are getting quicker! Socialisation: A cornerstone of our CSSI program has been to support students in social encounters. We are looking into integration and reverse-integration opportunities, as well as shared projects with other classes. In addition, we usually have at least one recess daily with the rest of the school, so our students have a chance to interact with peers in a less-structured environment. Communication: As always, communication support is of utmost importance to us in the CSSI program. We use a variety of high- and low-tech communication supports, and we are working closely with our Speech/Language Pathologist to ensure consistent high-quality programming. If you have any questions about your child's communication, please don't hesitate to let us know. Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions, or if you want to chat about your child's progress. We are excited to work with you. It's going to be a great year!
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While we are eagerly awaiting for spring's return, we have been working hard in Room 7! Our Enduring Understanding for February was "Friendship & Kindness." Now our Enduring Understandings for March and April are "Mindfulness & Wellbeing." Here's what we've been up to: ELA: We have been finishing up our Drama/Dramatic Play unit (ELA Outcomes 5.1 and 5.2)! First we played with costumes and enjoyed pretending to be other people. Next, we worked together to build a Friendship Day reader's theatre script. Then we practised and practised, and then we filmed it. KL and SP presented it at the Friendship Day Assembly on February 28. Well done, everyone! We are so proud of all of our courageous performers. We will be finishing up our Drama unit with a Three Little Pigs reader's theatre performance (ask your child which character they are playing!). Once our Drama unit is done, we will begin our Poetry unit (ELA Outcome 2.3). In addition to our ELA units, we have begun a levelled-reading and word work program. Every day, we spend some time reading or doing our word work! Math/Science: For Science, we have been doing a Senses unit (Science Outcome 1D). We are using our "Senses" inquiry as a springboard into developing our sensory vocabulary (ELA Outcome 2.4), as well as doing some work with Statistics & Probability (Math Outcome for grades 2 & 3). So far, we have built a graph to represent how many people see a duck versus a rabbit in the classic optical illusion. We have also been privileged to have Mr Banke join our class for some work with Sphero robots! We have begun to experiment with how we can talk to the Spheros using our iPads-- we've tried using a remote control interface as well as drawing a picture, and the Sphero traces our drawing. The next step will be to try our hand at some coding. Phys Ed: We have been working on ball skills (tossing and catching, rolling, and passing in a group), and now we are starting to experiment with different ways to travel (different jumps and hops). In addition, the Room 7 students set an intention each day to run a certain number of laps, then they follow through on their goals in the gym. Social Studies: Our Social Studies work winds through all of our classroom programming. Our main focus is "Social Participation as a Democratic Practise" (SS Program of Studies, front matter). We spend a lot of time working on cooperation, consensus-building, and problem-solving throughout each day. Thanks for taking the time to read about our adventures in Room 7! Dates to Remember: March 23: NO CLASSES March 26-30: Spring Break April 2: NO CLASSES April 3: Classes resume April 19: Student-led conferences (evening) April 20: Student-led conferences (afternoon) We have been working hard in University School CSSI over the last few months! Here are some things we have been working on. Zones of Regulation: We have introduced Green Zone and Yellow Zone so far, and will introduce Red Zone soon. After we have strengthened our understanding of Green, Yellow, and Red, we will do some wotk on Blue Zone as well. We focused on the higher-energy zones, since we are tending to be a high-energy class! There is nothing wrong with being in a higher-energy zone, as long as a person is able to use strategies in order to come back into green zone when necessary. Math: We have been working on our Touch Math skills, using our techniques to develop confidence with adding! Some of the students are exploring single-digit addition, and some are trying out double-digit addition. We will continue to build our confidence with single- and double-digit addition, and we will begin to do some subtraction as well. ELA: We have finished our novel study on Sideways Stories from Wayside School! Students have all done a self-assessment about how they felt they did on this novel study, and their goals for the next novel study. We did a "mini novel study" on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, so that we could practise building a PowerPoint presentation. All the Room 7 students did an amazing job of their PowerPoints! Students typed most of their presentations, and they worked hard to learn the program. Most students worked in groups of two with Ms. Spray (see above). Once all the presentations were complete, students presented to Room 20 students. Then, they presented to Ms. Smart's 3/4 class! Ms. Smart's class were avid observers, and made apt observations. We are so proud of all the students involved. Our next novel study will be Jacob Two-Two Meets the Heeded Fang, a Canadian classic by Mordecai Richler. We have begun to examine the book itself, reading the pictures, and discussing predictions of what we think the book will be about. Students are excited to start a new novel study. We will create PowerPoint presentations after this novel study. We will plan to have the students present to parents during the Student-Led Conferences. Coffee Cart Program: Room 7 and Room 20 students will be starting a coffe cart program for University School staff in the new year. Some Room 7 students have been engaging in an inquiry with Ms. Spray about how best to start it up. We did a market research survey, and we are in the process of tallying the results (we will start graphing results this coming week and make decisions about which products to offer). Designed after real coffee shops run by special needs folks, our University School Coffee Cart Program will offer 2-3 different drink options and 2-3 snack options for staff, with delivery being every Friday afternoon. Ask your child about it in the new year! IPP Meetings: Ms. Spray will be meeting with parents during the week of December 18-21. This way, we can have our IPP discussions, and we won't have to discuss IPPs during Student-Led Conferences. CSSI students will have a whole lot of learning to share with their parents, so we don't want to take away from their time. Important Dates: Thursday, December 14: Green Store Friday, December 15: Report Cards go home Friday, December 15: Solstice Lunch, 12.30-1.05 Mon, Dec 18 - Thurs, Dec 21: Caroling in the Gym Mon, Dec 18 - Thurs, Dec 21: Alien In-Line Skating (CSSI students will be integrated with grade 3-6 classes, so please send a helmet this week!) Thursday, Dec 21: Last Day of Classes Before Break (regular day) Friday, Dec 22: Non-Instructional Day Monday, January 8: Classes Resume Welcome to the first University School CSSI blog post! We are so excited to be sharing our adventures with you. If you have any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to comment on this blog post, or send us an email.
So here's what we've been up to since the beginning of the year: Social/Emotional: We have been working hard to establish and understand class rules and behaviour expectations. It can be challenging at the start of the year to remember what is expected and why, and we have all been patient with each other as we work towards a deeper understanding of why we do our routines and follow expectations. Room 7 will be starting Zones of Regulation/How Does Your Engine Run? inquiry at the beginning of November. This will help us to understand how our bodies feel when we are calm and ready to learn, versus how our bodies feel when we are feeling upset or agitated. This knowledge will help Room 7 students better understand how they can be in control of their bodies and their feelings, instead of their feelings controlling them. Math/Science: Room 20 students have been doing an inquiry into colours. Room 7 students have been starting to learn Touch Math, a multisensory approach to solving number problems. We have been focusing on numbers 1-5, and "counting on." English Language Arts: Room 7 has been reading through Louis Sachar's Sideways Tales from Wayside School, and we have been doing a novel study, with response questions after each chapter. Room 20 has been working on printing their names, calendar vocabulary, and sight words "it," "my," and "eat." Phys. Ed.: We have a combined CSSI Phys. Ed. (in addition to some students' P.E. integration into grade-level classes) every day. We have been working on cardiovascular strengthening, and yoga. For a short time each day, students "free-play" in the gym, engaging with gym equipment in a self-directed exploration time. Important Dates: October 24: Parent Council meeting October 26: School Photo retakes October 26: Family Halloween Dance! It's one of the most common questions teachers hear from parents: how do I ward off the summer knowledge drain in my children? Parents want to engage their children in grade-level learning so that their kiddos are rarin' to go come September. Grade-level workbooks don't work well for all children-- most will balk at the idea of seeing page after page of equations and quizzes. (Caveat: some kids love these books. I did as a kid-- I would enthusiastically make my way through them, revelling in my self-directed journey. So if your kids are like me, it's definitely worth hitting them with some major academics. But please make sure that they really want to do it before expecting them to do it.) For all the other children, here are some ways to engage them in authentic learning opportunities. 1. Writing Letters As a teacher, I have used this as an authentic writing prompt for years. Children's writing needs to have an authentic audience in order to be meaningful and motivating to them. Children can either print a letter with pen and paper, or they can type (or use voice-to-speech) on computer. They can even use mom's or dad's email address for immediate delivery and response. Who they write to will largely be up to the child. Family members or friends make great options for recipients. You can even get creative, and suggest to your children to write to the creator of their favourite show, or the author of their favourite book. You can even have them write a letter to you-- for example, if they want a later bedtime over the summer, have them write a letter that outlines their arguments. (Bonus points if they can do a presentation to you for what they want!) 2. Dice Games When a child reads a die, if they can do it without counting the dots, it is called subetizing, and it is an important math skill. Dice are a wonderful math tool, since they are intrinsically motivating and fun for children. Yahtzee is the classic dice game, combining subetizing skills with addition and basic multiplication, and some probability as well! Tenzi is another dice game-- you can buy a Tenzi game at any game store, or you can pick up some dice and find the rules online. There are many other dice games--pretty much any dice game will help develop math skills. 3. Card Games Some parents may balk at the gambling associations with card games, and if this is the case, you can purchase decks of cards specifically for certain children's card games (that way, any gambling connotations are removed). Otherwise, a regular deck of cards is all you need! Card games are especially great for the summer because you can play for hours and hours--cutting down screen time and developing social skills. Simple card games like war can be good for younger kiddos (or flash card war, if you have flash cards around), all the way up to trick-taking games like whist and cribbage for older children, and everything in between. Children can even play solitaire on their own-- they can learn to deal the cards without relying on the computer to do it for them! Cards are such a wonderful and diverse activity-- who knows? You may be a trend-setter amongst your neighbourhood children, and start up a card game trend! Card games are fantastic for a way for children to connect with older generations-- ask your parents or older family members to teach your children card games they enjoy playing. 4. Money If you haven't done so already, summer is a great time to experiment with giving your children an allowance. That way, they can budget for themselves to buy what they want. (Bonus: you as a parent get an easy out from the grocery store "gimme-gimmes!") Even a few dollars a week will help your child start to conceptualize money and budgeting. I know there are a lot of resources out there about how to start with allowances, but don't psych yourself out about the specifics. How much you give your child is less important than getting started-- five dollars a week or so is fine for your kiddo to learn beginning money concepts. An equally important money concept is your own household finances. If you haven't developed a household budget, there is no time like the present to get started. Involving your children in your own budgeting process is authentic and meaningful (and helps them understand the old adage, "You can't always get what you want!"). In the era of debit and credit cards, children may not understand basic transaction concepts, so it helps to involve children in family budgeting. Some parents may be uncomfortable sharing their finances with their children, and if you are uncomfortable with it, there are ways to engage without getting into specifics. How much does a house cost? How much does internet cost each month? How much does a week's worth of groceries cost? This type of thinking helps prevent the problem of young adult credit card debt-- a fresh-faced youngester moves away from home with a wallet full of plastic and no idea how budgeting works, and learns the hard way by ending up thousands of dollars in debt. Do your children a favour by being transparent about what things cost, and what it takes to save money. 5. Summer Reading Program Lastly, the Calgary Public Library runs a fabulous summer reading program. It's free and easy for children to get involved. Reading is one of the best things children can do over the summer-- it wards off boredom and keeps their brains active. Have your children choose their own books at the library. If you're worried that they are choosing books that are not challenging enough, you can encourage them to choose some more challenging books, or to alternate between an "easy" book and a challenging one. Ultimately, though, what you want to develop is a love of reading, so don't worry too much about the books they're choosing, as long as they can feel successful reading them. For reluctant readers, graphic novels or books with large text will help them feel successful (Mo Willems' work is always a good place to start). These are great ways to engage your children with motivating and meaningful opportunities for learning over the summer. That way, you won't have to worry about worksheets, and your kids won't even know they're learning! It's hard to believe that this is our second-to-last blog entry of the year! We have been reflecting on our year and building our transition booklets. “We are doing a transition booklet to learn about ourselves and practice writing. Next year, we’ll be in a new grade.” –BM “It’s important stuff to know about us for next year.” –CH This week was our last Safeway walk, including budgeting and planning what food we would buy. “On our Safeway trip, we bought some broccoli, French bread, and we didn’t even go over our budget.” –BM “Ms. S. thought it would be $30, but it was actually $24, and we didn’t go over our budget. We have a budget so we don’t waste money.” –CH We focused on fruits and vegetables, and we prepared and ate the food together when we got back. “Food is good to eat because it’s healthy.” –AS “I like that we sat together and ate together.” –MB Another important milestone this week was our eighth student to join our class-- Room 7 is now full! We made sure to welcome our new friend, and to share our classroom routines and expectations with him. “People are nice to me.” –CH Lastly, Room 7 students rehearsed and performed for our Andrew Sibbald talent show! “We did a KISS performance. It was really fun. I learned that it’s okay to be scared in front of an audience.” –BM Important Dates: Tuesday, June 27: Sports Day a.m. Thursday, June 29: Last Day of School (Half-Day) & Report Cards Home This week, we have been working hard to transition into our new classroom and our new year. Our big project this week was to move from Room 18 into Room 7. We decided that it was better to move now, rather than to have the students come back to a new room in September. This way, the students will know what to expect when they return to school after the summer. The students were involved at every step so that they could feel ownership of their new space, and would buy in to the move. “We moved from Room 18 to Room 7. We moved all of our stuff; our desks, the tables, and calendar and it was fun.” –BM “I am glad that we moved. I like this classroom.” –DM “I helped move my chair and other chairs. I also moved the rolling bookshelf, which is pretty small. It was hard because books kept falling off. It was cool because I didn’t move to a different classroom before.” -WBR On Thursday, we visited the Calgary Corn Maze, and had a great time. We practised our observation and inquiry skills as we used our senses to observe the animals. We practised showing expected behaviour in a group and making safe choices with the entire group in mind ("We Need" thinking rather than "I Want" thinking). “It was fun and we saw baby duckies. I learned that baby ducks stay together and that they don’t like to be picked up; they like to be watched.” –BM “We saw baby kittens. Only adults could pick them up. They felt soft.” –DM “When we went to the Corn Maze and we went into the barn, we saw a bunch of ducks. There was a family of 'quackers.' And also we saw bunnies. There more ducks than any other animal. The ducks were cute.” –WBR In Math, we have been developing our money sense. “We were counting with bills and change. I learned that there are five dollar bills, ten dollar bills, $20 bills, and a lot more.” –BM “We did lots of subtraction. Ms. R. was trying to trick us by giving change with a lot of coins.” –WBR One of Room 7's favourite subjects is Music class with Mrs. Bishop. The students eagerly anticipate our next period with Mrs. Bishop. “We do boomwhackers and we’re doing songs with them, and it’s really fun. We’re reading music notes and we’re making a song.” –BM Important Dates: Wednesday, June 21: Room 7 Safeway Trip leaving at 9.30a (**Parent Volunteers Welcome**) Thursday, June 22: Talent Show Assembly Tuesday, June 27: Sports Day & Hot Dog Lunch Thursday, June 29: Report Cards & Last Day of Classes The big news from Room 18 this week has been our trip to Safeway to buy groceries for the classroom! We did some work on the food groups, and we brainstormed ideas for our grocery trip. Thanks to a generous donation from Brown Bagging For Calgary's Kids, we have a classroom budget for snacks. This is an important life skill for Room 18 students--choosing nutritious food from many food groups. Additionally, we discussed the concept of a budget, then we narrowed down our choices based on how much money we had to spend. We walked to Safeway on Thursday, and purchased all of our items. We got to enjoy our wonderful food on Thursday and Friday, and we will finish the rest of our snacks next week. “We only had $25 in total, and it was $29. How we decided was that we got the favourite food that everyone liked. We got from our dairy group milk and margarine. And from the bread group, we got French bread, crackers, and macaroni and cheese. From our veggies and fruits group, we have gotten grapes and cherries and grapefruits.” –WBR “We got grapes and cherries and no vegetables. And that French bread was amazing!” –MB “We walked to Safeway and we had a good time there, and it was fun walking with Ms. R. The French bread was really good with butter.” –BM “When we had our food, though I did not like the bread, but I did like the grapes and had some milk. I learned that there has to be the right amount of money in order to buy something. But Ms. S. was really nice and let us pay $29 instead and gave them extra.” -CL “We were walking to Safeway to get healthy groceries.” -DM “Our budget was $25, and if we went over, we had to take something off. Ms. Spray was so nice that instead of $25, she did $29.” -MB Next week, we will be in the process of moving classrooms--we will no longer be Room 18. After this week, we will be Room 7! Important Dates: Wednesday, June 14: Corn Maze Field Trip (with kindergarten class) Thursday, June 15: Spirit Day & Fun Lunch Thursday, June 22: Talent Show Assembly We are starting to feel the end of the school year creeping up on us in Room 18, and we are starting to dream about our summer plans! Still, we want to end the year with a bang, and we are all working to do our best. In Social/Emotional, we have finished our Second Agreement: Don't Take Anything Personally. We have just started working on our Third Agreement: Don't Make Assumptions. We will continue to work on this agreement next week. In Math, we have been practising measuring using standard and non-standard units. Room 18 students have learned about meters and centimeters. “We had a toy bee and we put him on a paper, and he was trying to get to his honey, and we picked cards, and however big the number on the card is how many centimeters that the bee travelled.” –CL “You can use blocks or things that can hook together, and also you can measure how many your tablet is big, you can measure with the blocks. Also, you can measure with the ruler.” –DT "You do an estimate of how big it’s going to be, and then you take the blocks, and if you get it right, that’s good. Even if you don’t get it right, that’s still good, because you were just taking a guess.” –BM We have been using our P.E. time to help develop self-control and spacial awareness, in addition to developing and refining physical movements. "In gym, we did a warmup game with pinnies. Basically, it’s about physical space and how it works is that everyone has one pinny, and you put it in your pocket. And then you take other people’s, and it’s about physical space.” –WBR We were excited to have the opportunity to join the 3/4's for Forest School in Fish Creek Park this week. “We walked to Fish Creek Park and we were trying to make art out of sticks and lots of stuff that was dead on the ground. You’re not allowed to break stuff that’s growing, but if it’s just laying around on the ground, you can use it. We made a heart out of rocks and a bird nest.” –BM “We were writing in our visual journals whatever we saw that was interesting. We were using our four senses, except taste because you could get bad stuff in your mouth.” -CL Important Dates Coming Up Tuesday, June 6: Community Walk (leaving around 10.15a - parent volunteers wanted!) Thursday, June 8: Community Walk to Safeway (leaving around 9.45a - parent volunteers wanted!) Wednesday, June 14: Field Trip to Calgary Corn Maze Thursday, June 15: Spirit Day & Fun Lunch This week in Room 18 has been chock-full of summer adventures! We visited the Fire Station, and learned about all the ways firefighters help keep us safe. We learned what information we will expect to give the 9-1-1 operator (all the students brought home a "cheat sheet" with their information on it - please keep it near the phone, if you have a landline). All the students got to sit in the driver's seat of the fire engine, and they had a great time turning on the flashing lights! I have begun our final Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments of Room 18 students. I know that reading assessments aren't the most fun for Room 18 students, so we have a deal: after a student reads one book, they get to play a game of their choice with me for five minutes! Our biggest news is the emergence of all seven of our butterflies from their cocoons! We were excited all week, anticipating seeing our new friends emerge. Finally, they did, and we released them all on Friday. “We are going to let the butterflies free, and that is sad.” –MB “When we let the butterflies go, they’re going to have a good life, even though we will miss them and it is really sad.” –CL “When they hatched out of their cocoons, their wings looked so beautiful. And I’m going to miss them when they’re gone.” –BM In Math, we have been learning about measurements. Then we will be focusing on money for the rest of the year. “When you see something, first you take a guess how big it is, then you measure it with blocks or a ruler.” –BM “We used measurements to see how big it is.” –CL On Friday, we had our final Sibbald U session of the year! In Social/Emotional work, we wrapped up our work on the First Agreement (Be Impeccable With Your Word), and we moved onto the Second Agreement: Don't Take Anything Personally. “If somebody says something kind to you and you ignore them and say, ‘Hm!’ that’s taking things personally and it also means you’re grumpy.” –CL We have a new school website: check it out! http://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/andrewsibbald/Pages/default.aspx Important Dates: Thursday, June 1, 8 & 15: Garden Club 11.45-12.15p Tuesday, June 6: Bike to School Day Tuesday, June 6: Nicke Drama Presentation 10-10.30a Thursday, June 15: Spirit Day & Fun Lunch Thursday, June 22: Talent Show Assembly Tuesday, June 27: Sports Day Thursday, June 29: Last day of School (Half-Day) |
AuthorMs. Spray loves teaching and learning with her students. Archives
October 2018
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