Now that we have a strong understanding of the forms of shapes, we have been identifying them frequently in the world around us. This week, Ms. Alison introduced us to some famous artists that use shapes, including Paul Klee, Wasily Kandinsky, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp. We worked in small groups to find and name different 2D shapes, and used the Explain Everything app to make our thinking visible. |
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When we began our inquiry into shapes, we started by collecting our prior knowledge. As we drew, discussed, and wrote what we already knew about shapes, some differences in understanding emerged:
Through the process of extending and consolidating our knowledge about shapes, Ms. Alison wondered if our thinking had changed from our original collection of knowledge. She reminded us of the conflicts in thinking that had emerged during our prior knowledge collection and asked if we could justify our thinking about the similarities and difference between:
We worked in teams to collect information and draw conclusions - what is the same and different about the two shapes?
We presented our research findings: What did we notice? What did we learn?
Some of the curriculum connections and desired learning outcomes of this project include:
Recently we were featured on the ISS ES Action as Service website with an example of our project. This example showed us writing 'thank you' notes to Miria for teaching us ballet!
As our 'How We Organize Ourselves: We move in different ways and for different purposes' inquiry draws to a close, we have been reflecting on our learning and discoveries. This week, we discussed our favourite ways to move, analyzing and evaluating why they were our preferences. We sketched our ideas with pencil, then traced over them with permanent marker. Finally we painted over the drawings using watercolour paint.
For the last two weeks our Star Name has been Ms. Caz! Her name gave us a chance to review the letter C. Through our explorations, we discovered that C can have two sounds: a hard 'C' and a soft 'S'-type sound, like in the word cinnamon. Ms. Caz's name also introduced us to the letter Z, which we haven't explored as a whole class yet. Next week we are going to review all the letters and sounds we have learned so far this year. Then we will be on to the next Star Name!
Our class has continued to be curious about ballet after exploring whether this type of movement could be for both girls and boys. Rui and Jay took action on their learning and curiosity by doing a ballet lesson with a professional ballet teacher. They were so inspired, that they decided they wanted to teach a ballet lesson to our class. We learned 5 different moves: penguin, cat, mouse, flamingo, and river. After Rui and Jay's lesson, the professional ballet teacher, Mr. Jonathan, told us a story about the history of ballet. We were so interested to learn from Mr. Jonathan, Rui and Jay that, originally, ballet was only for boys! Thank you to Mr. Jonathan, Rui, Jay and all the parents who supported our lesson and continued inquiry about ballet!
Yesterday, we went on a field trip which helped us compare different types of movement. First we walked to the Somerset MRT which has a skate park on top of it. Then we took the MRT train back to Orchard MRT which is very close to our school. We didn't see any skateboarders in the park, so we got to play on the ramps and exercise our gross motor and risk taking skills!
After our trip, we reflected on our MRT and walking experiences in our journals. We discussed which we thought the better way of moving between our school and Somerset was: walking or MRT . . .
Last week we had a joint K1.1 and K1.2 PE lesson following our field trips to Paterson Road/Orchard Boulevard. Children were presented with different materials -- including road signs, chalk, bikes, and big blocks -- and were invited to re-create some of the movement and road organization they had observed during our road visits. First, the children worked with chalk to draw roads. Then they added the road signs and blocks. Through this experience, children showed their ability to transfer knowledge between situations and apply their knowledge about road safety...all in a fun and playful way! |
K1.2
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