Writing in Voice

"Day One:  I swam around my bowl. Day Two:  I swam around my bowl. Twice. And so it goes in this tell-all tale from a goldfish. With his bowl to himself and his simple routine, Goldfish loves his life...until one day... When assorted intruders including a hyperactive bubbler, a grime-eating snail, a pair of amorous guppies, and a really crabby crab invade his personal space and bowl, Goldfish is put out, to say the least. He wants none of it, preferring his former peace and quiet and solitude. But time away from his new companions gives him a chance to rethink the pros and cons of a solitary life. And discover what he's been missing."  (http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Goldfish-Devin-Scillian/dp/1585365076)

After reading the story, students wrote diary entries pretending to be an animal of their choice.  They were super excited to write and their work was beyond what I had expected.  I love it when lessons like this catch all the learners and inspire them!  Here is a piece written by a grade 3 student.

Dog
 

Day #1:  I bark too much.
 
Day #2:  I'm stuck outside because I barked too much.  
Day #3:  I get a new friend and he's eating my food.
 
Day #4:  He's still eating my food, but my human isn't doing anything.
 
Day #5:  I run away, but they found me.  I guess I should have gone farther               than the back alley.
 
Day #6:  They throw me away.  I'm sad.
 
Day #7:  Bye, bye.

Sea Crow Tradition

I posted last May about our Sea Crow field trip.  Traditionally it takes place in September, but due to job action last year, we went in May.  The details of the story and lesson are in the May posting, but I did want to share some photos from the trip on Thursday. 

Searching for Materials and Treasures

 

Building Time

 

Some of Our Sea Crows

 Whispering Worries to Sea Crow

A BIG thanks to all the parent volunteers. 

We couldn't have done it without you!!

Self-Compassion in Kids

 

 

http://blogs.uwhealth.org/kids/2015/08/self-compassion-in-kids/

 

One can find so many examples of how we teach compassion at the annex.  Here are a few:

 

Mindfulness - Mindful breathing in our class after Family Reading. Parents are invited to stay.

 

Kindness - Whole school delivery of hand-made Valentine cards around the neighbourhood.

 

Compassion for Others – Common Humanity - a student gently holding another who is hurt and walking them to the office for help.

 

Gratitude:  Gratitude statements occur weekly during our class meetings and at Assembly.

Terry Fox Run

On Thursday the whole school learned about Terry Fox.  I also spoke to the children about a student in my class, Grace, that has leukemia and that we would be dedicating our run to her.  I explained in simple terms what leukemia is.

When the bone marrow makes lazy cells that do nothing but take up space, this is called leukemia.  Soon there is no room for the hard working cells.

Medicine called Chemotherapy destroys the leukemia.

We wanted to ensure the students knew that cancer is not contagious and many people like Grace, and myself, will survive cancer and the Terry Fox Run helps raise money for doctors and scientists to help those with cancer.

 

Students then represented their knowledge of Terry Fox in a variety of ways.  Here are 2 examples of what students made using Lego.

Terry Running

 

 

 Terry's artificial leg

 

 

 

 

Patterns Rule!

A student asked me, "When are we going to do math?".  I replied, "We are doing math!" 

Math is often thought of as numbers only and operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  It is also commonly looked at like us adults have learned in school, by using pencil and paper, answering facts, memorization and such.  Today we teach for conceptual understanding.  Some children tell me they know how to multiply and can show on paper that 2 x 6 = 12, but actually have no idea what it means.  2 x 6 means that there are 2 groups of 6 and we ask students to build it and draw it in order to understand it fully. 

Patterning is one unit of math that we cover.  Here are the big ideas:

 

Big Math Ideas:

• Patterns repeat in predictable ways. The pattern core is the smallest part that repeats. We can build a repeating pattern with materials.  We can act it out with actions or make it with sounds.

• Growing/increasing patterns get bigger. Shrinking/decreasing patterns get smaller.

• We can use letters to describe a pattern, like ABABAB or AABCAABC. This is a way to generalize.

• There are other kinds of patterns as well, ones that grow and shrink. Growing patterns get bigger each time. Shrinking patterns get smaller each time.

• We can use manipulatives to build an increasing or decreasing pattern. We can make a pattern rule for an increasing or decreasing pattern.

• Knowing how a pattern changes helps us to “predict down the line”.

• We can use a T-chart to show a skip counting pattern.

• There is a pattern in the even and odd numbers. It’s an ABABAB pattern. When we start at 0 and count by 2’s we say the even numbers. When we start at one and count by 2’s we say the odd numbers.

• When we skip count by a number to say the multiples of that number. Increasing patterns change based on multiples.

 

Big Ideas in Math Across the Grades 1-3 – Carole Fullerton 2013


After reading a story, children worked in pairs to build a repeating pattern with pattern blocks.

Once the students understood increasing patterns, we moved onto growing patterns.  I read, The Tree that Grew to the Moon and the children created trees of increasing ages.  They began with a 1 year old tree and were asked to show how it would grow year to year.  The older children used a t-chart to show the age of their tree and how many blocks they used for each tree.  I then asked them to explain what happened to the tree each year it grew in relation to the number of blocks used.  Here is one example:

 

  Now you understand why after doing an activity like this, I was asked when we were doing math!

The New Curriculum

Here is a great article about B.C.'s new Curriculum:

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/146991/Great-time-to-be-a-student

For a general overview, see below:

https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/rethinking-curriculum

Much of what is "new" in this curriculum has always been part of what we do at the annex, so it's very exciting.

Another Year Begins

Another school year has started.  For me, the first bit often feels like I've jumped on a treadmill that is going waaaaay too fast!  The relaxation of summer quickly turns into full speed ahead, then things settle and we all get into a rhythm.

People ask me, "How is your class?"  I tell them I have a really nice group of kids this year.  Some have been with me for 3 years, and some are new to division 1.  They each add their uniqueness and I can't wait to get to know them more.

I am moving into my...gulp...19th year at the annex!  Makes me feel ancient, but also very, very lucky to be a part of such an incredible community that I call my second home.

Please come to me if you have any questions or concerns.