Number Wall Project

Nature Walk Find

Every week, Ms. Marrella and I take our students on a nature walk around the neighbourhood of our school.  The students usually find fallen leaves, branches and little rocks.  A few weeks ago, the students came across four large piles of branches that a neighbour had put on their front curb.  Though we didn't know what we wanted to do with these branches, we were very curious about them.  We took two piles of branches back to class for further exploration. 

Ms. Marrella and I thought it would be a great idea to use some of the branches to create a number wall in the classroom.  We organized a group of 10 students to participate in this project.  First we asked the students to sort through the pile of branches.  We needed to separate the branches from the leaves, pine cones, and other debris.

Each student was then responsible for a number.  Their task was to pick out the correct number of branches from a pile, glue them onto a piece of construction paper, and then write the number on another piece of construction paper. 

Once the project was completed, we used the left over branches for wondering and critical thinking.  All our students were invited to explore the pile of branches by estimating how many branches were in the pile, in addition to writing/drawing about what they thought the pile of branches could be used for.

Graveyard Café

During the month of October, the kindergarten students transformed their Dramatic Play Centre into a Haunted House and name it The Graveyard Café. 

Our construction sign.  Safety first!

Our students were so excited about this project.  For approximately one week, students brought to school a variety of decorations including skeletons, spider webs, costumes, and pumpkins to transform this space.  Who knew spider webs came in green and orange?! 

We were ready to begin…

First, we sorted through the big mountain of items.  We needed to know what we were working with.  We also had to make sure there weren’t any real creepy crawlers in the pile.  We found one, so we decided to save it for our lunch break!

Then, we transformed the space.  Ms. Marella and a group of students decided on the layout and placement of all the items.

Our Café was almost ready, but something was missing.  A menu!  What would the Ghouls and Ghosts visiting the café want to munch on?  Of course, eyeballs, worms and spiders.  Deeeeeelicious!

Ms. Marrella and I added a tray of money (unfortunately not real!) and a clipboard for the café staff to write down customer orders.  

This project and play area gave students the opportunity to learn while they played (play-based learning).  Students improved their oral communication skills through their interactions with each other.  They experienced, counted and touched money when paying for their meals.  They used crayons and paper to write and draw customer orders.  Finally, they developed their fine motor skills when zipping and buttoning costume pieces.    

 

This project would not have been successful without the support of our fabulous parents.  The donations we received to complete this project were over and above what we originally expected.  The students had a screaming good time playing in their Graveyard Café.

Grace's Visit

The 2013 billboard for National Down Syndrome Awareness Week

This past week (November 1^st to 7^th) was National Down Syndrome Awareness Week (NDSAW).  The aim of this public awareness campaign titled See the Ability, is to focus on the strengths and abilities of people with Down syndrome.  This is the campaign’s third year. 

Grace

Grace is a student at our school who has Down syndrome.  This week Grace and her teacher Ms. Ferrari visited our class to talk about Grace’s interests, abilities, and Down syndrome.  The visit was very successful.  The kindergarten students enjoyed asking Grace questions about her favourite colour, food, and hobbies.  Grace did an amazing job speaking to the kindergarten students about her interests.  

As a follow-up to Grace’s visit, the kindergarten students watched a short YouTube video titled Everyone Counts: My Friend Isabelle.  Based on a children’s book by Eliza Woloson, the video teaches acceptance and inclusion through Charlie and his friend Isabelle.

After the video the kindergarten students discussed how Isabelle and Charlie are the same, and how they are different.  One student made a connection to flowers.  The boy said all flowers smell nice and grow, but they don’t all look the same, they have different colours and petal shapes.  What an amazing connection!

As a symbol of Grace’s visit, the students created flowers using coffee filters, markers, water, glitter and tissue paper.  The flowers are now on display in our classroom.  Next week we will invite Grace to see the beautiful flowers that she inspired the kindergarten students to create.

  

Thank you Grace for a wonderful visit.  You are an inspiration to us all!

Quick Facts

*  People with Down Syndrome have 47 chromosomes and people without Down syndrome  usually have 46 chromosomes.

*  A doctor named John Langdon Down provided the first description of the syndrome… that’s why it is called Down syndrome.

*  For more information visit http://www.cdss.ca/

Early Childhood Educator Experience

This week I asked Ms. Marrella if she would be willing to officially introduce herself on this blog, and write about her experience as an Early Childhood Educator in our class. 

 

I hope you enjoy this blog post as much as I do!

Elissa Iagallo

Hi Everyone,

          My name is Nadia Marrella and I would like to share with you a bit of information about myself, my past work experience, and finally, my experience working with Elissa in the kindergarten classroom.

          Where to begin… I live in Toronto with my husband and children.  I am a graduate of George Brown’s Early Childhood Education program.  This is my first year working as an ECE in a Full-Day Kindergarten classroom. 

I have over ten years of experience working in a daycare/nursery school as a RECE Teacher and Assistant Supervisor.  During that time I was responsible for children between the ages of 18 months to 5 years old.  As a teacher at the daycare, I was responsible for delivering the curriculum and ensuring that the program stimulated the children’s overall development.  As an assistant supervisor, I was responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of the daycare.  This included a balance between administrative duties and responsibilities related to clients, staff and children.

Though this is my first year working as an ECE in a kindergarten classroom, I feel that my past experience did prepare me a great deal. 

As with any new position I felt both excited and nervous.  I was excited about the new opportunity, responsibilities and change.  I was also looking forward to working with a kindergarten teacher as an equal partner in the classroom.  Having said that, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I was also very nervous about how successful our partnership would be.

From the beginning Elissa welcomed me as an equal member of the staff and classroom.  As the “new” person coming in, she really took the time to explain the school culture and daily procedures.  She introduced me to other staff members and parents in the community.  Most importantly, she quickly made me feel like part of the team!

Elissa often uses the phrase “we are a team,” and she actually means it.  We have been equal partners in curriculum planning, student assessment, parent communication, and classroom set-up.  We team teach on a daily basis, and share classroom responsibilities and chores.  I feel that we have great communication with each other in that we are able to confidently share ideas, suggestions and opinions.  We definitely collaborate, and our shared goal is the happiness and education of the children in our class. 

  I’m happy that this transition from daycare to school has been a nice and satisfying experience for me.  

Nadia Marrella

An Example of SK Leadership

Spotlight

I just thought I would share this moment with you all.  In this picture a SK student is helping a JK student zip up her jacket.  This act of kindness between students was totally spontaneous and it wasn't teacher directed.  The SK student showed leadership and independence.  I couldn’t help but smile (and capture this moment on camera) when I saw it! 

Tornado Inquiry and Rainbow Inquiry

Tornado Inquiry

 

Rainbow Inquiry

We recently completed two inquiries that some of our students were working on.  One inquiry was about tornadoes, and the other inquiry was about rainbows.  The intention of this post is to share with you some information about both inquiries, the successes that we experienced, and also what we learned and can improve on for next time.  Please note that this was our second attempt at Inquiry-Based Learning.  

Tornado Inquiry

Original Inquiry Question: How does a tornado spin around?

 

Students who worked on this inquiry learned about what a tornado is and how it forms.  Through their investigations, these students learned new vocabulary about tornadoes such as vortex and funnel.  The students successfully created a visual representation of a tornado using a variety of materials.  This project required students to experiment with different materials, to work as a team and to problem solve.  Finally, the students learned about hail.  Through an experiment using salt, water, and string, the students attempted to create salt crystals to represent hail.

Rainbow/Colour Inquiry

Original Inquiry Question: How many colours are in a rainbow?

 

Students who worked on this inquiry explored what a rainbow is and how it forms.  Using a variety of materials such as a CD, mirror, and a magnifying glass, the students attempted to re-create a rainbow.  The students also created a visual representation of a rainbow using different coloured leaves.  Our rainbow inquiry soon turned into a colour inquiry when students began to create colours using the primary colours.  Students mixed coloured water, paint and play-dough in a variety of experiments to create new colours while also learning new vocabulary.  These activities also helped students further develop their small muscle control.  Finally, using materials found in the classroom, the students created a variety of posters to represent different colours.

Successes

A number of successes were experienced through these two inquiries.  Ms. Marrella and I often asked the inquiry groups to present new discoveries, experiments, and creative work to the whole class.  We noticed that students were excited and felt a sense of accomplishment when presenting to their peers.  In turn, we also noticed that the rest of the class was interested to hear these mini presentations, and wanted to test out these discoveries for themselves during their activity time.  Most importantly, the students who were involved in the inquiries seemed to be engaged throughout the process.  Ms. Marrella and I noticed that students were happy to be part of an inquiry group and didn't feel that their activity time was cut short.    

What We Learned

Initially, when we started these inquiries we had half the class working on the tornado inquiry and half the class working on the rainbow inquiry.  Ms. Marrella and I quickly realized that this wasn’t working and reduced the group size to five students.  A smaller group allowed students to have a better experience.  When the inquiries began, Ms. Marrella and I outlined a plan of what we thought the students would learn.  We were pleasantly surprised at how much more the students learned, and how much inquiries change and progressed from start to finish.  Finally, we learned that it is important to use a variety of assessments to document student learning during an inquiry.  One type of assessment just isn't enough.  We found ourselves using rubrics, pictures, checklists and lots and lots of observation notes.

                          

Personal Reflection

21^st Century Learning 

Learning in the 21^st century is a combination of Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.  But really, what does this mean?  21^st century learning is about questioning things that are interesting to us.  It is about using the materials around us, the bark on a tree and the bugs on the grass.  It is about learning how to work with a variety of people in the school and “community”, and learning how to work in different roles, as a leader and team player.  It is about solving a variety of problems, and learning about different perspectives.  Finally, it is being able to express oneself in a variety of ways, through music, writing, sculpture, etc.  Above all this, I believe that 21^st century learning is the preparation to be a social, responsible citizen, of a local and global community. 

Where does technology fit into this?  There is no denying that technology plays an important role in 21^st century learning.  Students can now find the information they need (and some they don’t) in an instant.  Navigating through this technology can be both exciting and intimidating.   It is important as educators to incorporate technology as a tool for learning.  21^st century learning is not about having the latest and greatest technology, but about being creative with the technology that is available to you. 

So where to start?  Teaching students about digital citizenship may be a good place.