Taking Care for the Holidays

At Elwick School we talk daily, weekly and monthly about our school beliefs. These beliefs were created by the staff and students of Elwick School around 5 years ago and continue to be the underlying values that guide our daily teaching. It is important to note that each quadrant could not exist in isolation, each belief is reflective of the other three quadrants.

As a classroom teacher I feel that it is my responsibility to constantly bring our learning, and our daily classroom life back to these beliefs. Making them become not just something we talk about in isolation at the beginning of the year, but really making these beliefs a strong foundation in how each students and member of the school acts daily. Always understanding that taking care of ourselves, allows us to take care of each other, and when we are taking care of each other we can take care of this place together, and when we take care of this place we are learning ways to take care of our world.

This year our holiday gift home was reflective of each quadrant of our Elwick belief statement. Here are a few examples of students work and ideas that reflected these beliefs.

The first was a gift to ourselves. A published story of our favourite holiday memory. Students wrote each story in their writers notebook, created the detailed illustration, then typed their story and created the full published piece that they could take home share with their families and be proud of. Thus taking care of themselves as an individual learner!

The second gift was to each other (our families). As a class we have been talking ALOT about how we speak to each other. The tone we use, and our word choice and how this effects others. We have done several activities with Ms. Toni (School Learning Support Teacher) and within the room all reflective of the kind words we can say to and about each other. So I decided to use this understanding and encourage the class to create a gift of kind words for their families. Choosing their words carefully they wrote kind and loving things about various members of their families. Then we laminated their work so that it would last forever, just like how kind words can last a life time.

The third gift was a gift to our place (our home).  We made a snowman tree ornament with each students face as the snowman's face. As an adult I still have ornaments on my tree that I made in school and we decided  that making a tree ornament would be a great gift for our place!  Almost all of my students expressed that they had a tree to decorate in their homes, however for the students that do not celebrate Christmas and do not put up a tree we talked about how this gift could be hung anywhere in their homes, on a door or window or fridge.

https://www.pinterest.com/source/aspoonfuloflearning.blogspot.com

The fourth and final gift was a gift of promise to our world.  As a class we brainstormed how we could take care of our world in various ways. Each student came up with such amazing and thoughtful ways to take care of our planet. This gift was more of a promise to act instead of something tangible. Each student selected one or two of the ideas and promised to act on these ideas with their families. Here were their great ideas...

All in all it was an amazing and thoughtful way to spend the last few weeks at school working on these various gifts. And at the same time being constantly reminded how our Elwick School beliefs can be visible everywhere!

Happy Holidays!

Nicole and Room 6

Winter Traditions

Every family has their own special traditions that they celebrate throughout the year. Since our classroom is reflective of a family, and our school like our extended family it is important to also value and share the traditions that occur each year at Elwick School. Traditions are a great way to bring people together and to get re-aligned with the important values of learning and education.  I believe these values to be: community, positive relationships and fun. In many ways if we don't have a sense of community we cannot work as a team and feel comfortable with our learning in a classroom setting. If we do not have positive relationships amongst students and adults there becomes a disconnect with learning and finally if we do not have a little bit of fun we often loose our passion for learning and growth.

This is why all of the winter traditions that occur at Elwick School revolve around these main ideas and they are: The Holiday Feast, Learn to Skate and the Winter Concert.

The Holiday Feast

Every year in December the staff and students, along with a few community members join together in the gym to share a meal together. The meal is prepared by staff and community members and served by the same people. This year our class shared the meal with our grade 4/5 buddies and it was a huge success! We even had a visit from Santa!

The Winter Concert

This year our fabulous music teacher Mrs. C organized a short musical titled "Elflandia" a story of elves meeting humans for our K-3 students. Our class sang the popular and catchy song "Elfie Selfie". Sporting elf hats and festive colours the concert was a huge success for the students and the packed gym of families who came to support them!

Learn to Skate

Every winter students in the Seven Oaks School Division are given the amazing opportunity to learn to skate with trained instructors for a 10-12 week block. The program began including just grade 1 students and has often expanded to allow students up to grade 3 to get on the ice and perfect their skills! Students all come to their first lesson with varying abilities, and often the first class has some tears, some cold bums and rosy cheeks. However we are only 4 lessons in and our class has already improved so much! I am so proud of their dedication and ability to literally get right back up when they are down!

What are your school traditions?

Happy Holidays!

Nicole and Room 6

Exploring Cultural Traditions Part 1...Diwali

One of the teaching goals I had set for myself this year was to have my students learn, understand and share more of their own cultures within our classroom.  I also wanted my students to begin to recognize the many similarities between their own family traditions and cultures and the traditions of their classmates.

These ideas brought us to learn and explore our first cultural celebration of the year beginning on October 31st....Diwali.

Our amazing learning support teacher Miss. Brar took the lead with this, because she personally celebrates Diwali with her family and has celebrated for many generations. She brought in some authentic artifacts such as peacock feathers, ceremonial clothing and many hands on activities for the students to learn from.

Here is a look at what Diwali in room 6 looked like...

First we began with learning about the history of Diwali. It is a traditional fall celebration mainly celebrated in India. During this time people shut off all their lights in their homes and live the week under just candle light. Diwali the word meaning 'Rows of Lights'. Miss. B told us that this was also a time that people set goals and hopes and dreams for the year. Our class set their own goals and hopes, these were called Lakshmi's.

Many of the dreams the students set were about hoping for happiness and for good health for their families.

Next the students learned about ceremonial clothing women and men wore during Diwali.

B.S also celebrates Diwali with his family and truly saw himself as an expert during this time!

Room 6 got a hands on learning experience when creating their own Diya's. They began first with molding the dough into a shape they liked. Then Miss. B baked the dough and finally students were then able to paint and decorate their special Diya's.

 

Finally the class shared a traditional snack of Samosa's. All of the students tried them! Some even enjoyed them!

Many students made connections to their own traditions that they celebrate with their family.

H. C-R said "How they dress up is like how I dress differently when I PowWow dance. Also the Samoa's are kind of like bannock"

                                                                               L.Y. "All of the lights reminds me of Christmas"

Until the next tradition...

Nicole and Room 6

We Snack together, We learn together, AND we travel together!

Each fall I personally get so excited for our first class field trip! A few years ago I discovered this amazing fall field trip just 50 minutes from our school. That place is called Penner's Pumpkins. It is a farm run by the Penner family and it has everything and more that I think a field trip needs. There are opportunities for new learning, hands on experiences, visuals and the ability for children to kinaesthetically take risks and above all play.

A few of the activities for the day were:

-Watching Pig Races

-Learning about Pumpkins and Squashes

-Going on a nature scavenger hunt through the forest

-Learning about chickens and goats

-Playing in/on three different natural wood play areas

-Pumpkin picking and painting

I think the mark of a good field trip is when even the adults are enjoying themselves, and I think I can speak for all of the adults who attended that it definitely was an amazing day!

 So amazing I actually came back two days later with my own son and husband!

Here are some candid images from the day:

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Nicole and Room 6

How we began our Readers Workshop Journey

I view reading as more of a journey then a means to an end. As a child I often struggled with reading and felt that my teachers were always frustrated with me. Thankfully my parents we always amazing, they read to me every night never pressuring me to read. I had countless interventions in school and it took me until grade 8, when I had the MOST AMAZING teacher who saw me and my reading in a whole new way for me to develop my love of reading. And thanks to that teacher reading is one of my passions and a favourite of mine to teach. Thank you to that teacher!!!

In room 6 reading began with an exploration of the books and the book bins that we have in our classroom. Students enjoyed reading stories independently and with a partner. Eventually (after much begging by them!) I felt it was time for each student to have their own special book bin to keep their most treasured books in. And from here our reading journey has taken off!

We have had many great conversations about
                                                      "What do readers do?"
                                                                                                              "Where do readers read?"
"Why do readers read?"              

The students came up with some amazing ideas for all of these questions and all showed such a genuine interest for story.


One thing I found so interesting was how each student finds a different place in the room that is a "Good fit" spot for them. Here were some of their choices...

 As a class we have been working on what it Looks Like, Sounds Like and Feels Like when we Read to Self (RTS) and when we Read with Someone (RWS). Until next time...

                                                                     Happy Reading!!

The Classroom that Snacks together, stays together!

Over the summer when thinking about my classroom their were a few key activities that I wanted to have as apart of each day. One of those traditions being to have a snack that the students are responsible for preparing and serving to each other, family style. I truly believe that a 1,2,3 multi-age classroom can only be successful when the children learn to work together as a group...similar to that of a family. And when we are preparing and serving snack to one another the students have been learning more and more about each other as well as how to work together!

Here are some of the snacks we have prepared and shared thus far:

-Muffins and jam

-Apple slices and WOW butter

-Granola Bars

-Veggies and dip

UP NEXT: Trail Mix

Making Muffins!

Happy Snacking!!

Week 1...

This first week in room 6 has been a busy one, from getting to know our space to learning about each other as people, and as learners! All of the students have been so kind, caring and welcoming to one another. I can already tell it is going to be an amazing year!

Some of the things we having started exploring this week have been:
                 1. Finding good spots in our classroom to read!
                                               

"I liked Reader's Workshop this week" -B.S.
                                                 "I liked reading books" -H.C-R.

We began our exploration of reading by talking about the different book genres that our classroom library has to offer. Students first explored the various book bins in small groups. Then we began our Read to Self time where students choose 3-4 books, found a good spot and started reading!

2. We began to create our classroom alphabet, which will be used daily to help students with both their reading and writing.

3. We started our conversation around our Elwick School Beliefs. Specifically focusing on how we can Take Care of Ourselves. We are learning that in order to be a good friend and student we need to make sure that we take care of our self first.

4. The definite favourite this week has been the time after lunch when the students get to 'Explore Room 6'. During this time  students had a chance to see all that the classroom has to offer, from building, to art, to dramatic play! Many essential skills occur during this time such as: students start to cooperate with one another on various tasks, as well begin to learn what all is in our classroom and how these objects can be used, manipulated and help each student dig deeper into their learning.

"I liked everything at school this week, especially explore room 6" -V.A.

                      "I liked explore room 6 and playing with lego"-S.B.

"I enjoyed doing art during explore room 6" -A.P.

5. Another favourite in the room this week has been the beginning of our journey with our Writer's Notebooks. These are personal journals that the students write in each day. Some days their thoughts come from something that happened at home, or a book we read. The possibilities are endless. Students are also given the choice to either write, draw or do both for each entry. I am very excited to see where these notebooks will take us!

"I liked writers notebook" -B.K.

                    "I enjoyed writing in my writers notebook" -M.P.

"I liked when we got to do writing" -C.E.

I am so pleased and excitied about this year after the first week! Keep checking in to see how our  routines and classroom activities  unfold in the coming months!

Until then...

Nicole