Curriculum News

Unit of Inquiry: Documenting Histories

We have just begun the last unit of inquiry for this year, Documenting Histories, under the theme "Where we are in place and time". The central idea is that “documenting our histories allows us to reflect on and celebrate who we are and where we come from.” Students will explore change over time (within their lifetime, within family, change of location), reflecting on their own past experiences and those of family members. Finally, students will discuss why it is important to document our past and how we can document our histories.

This unit offers connections to our ongoing unit on Stories, as Histories are stories about the past.  Because time is such a difficult concept to grasp, discussions at home surrounding your family history and change over time will certainly help reinforce concepts explored in class.

We will be asking for families' cooperation at different times during this unit. If an older family member  (e.g. grandparent) would like to come to our class to tell about his/her ‘history’ we would really appreciate this enriching experience! All languages are accepted. The speaker can talk about his/her childhood or important/interesting events or ‘stories’ in his/her lifetime.

As a culmination of our Stories unit, the children will perform in a play at the end of the school year! The classes have decided to represent the stories they wrote for Book Day. We have been busy creating new characters and deciding on roles and lines to say. We will also collaborate with the Art and Music teachers for this project. In the coming weeks you will receive more information and, of course, an invitation to the show!

Language Arts

For the remainder of the school year, we will work on reinforcing knowledge and skills in language. Each student will continue to develop at his/her pace.

In writing, we have begun to check our writing for spacing and basic punctuation (capital at the beginning, full stop at the end). In connection to our Stories unit, we will also work on developing creative writing skills, encouraging children to use what they have learned about story structure to their own writing.

Children will continue to take home reading books read in class in guided reading sessions, alongside self-selected books. We encourage families to take every opportunity to foster a love of books in children not only by supporting their reading, but also by sharing books and reading to their children as often as possible. Your support can have a huge impact on your child’s reading!

We also continue to work on oral communication skills. Children are encouraged to listen carefully to speakers, and to speak clearly in class, attempting to use English when possible. Speaking skills will be further developed by practicing our end of the year play and, possibly, by telling a story at the end of the current unit (more information will follow).

Maths

In Maths, we have just completed a review of numbers and addition. We have started to learn about subtraction this week. Children will have many opportunities to investigate what happens when quantities are removed, finally learning to record subtraction by using the - symbol (‘take away’ or ‘minus’).

In the measuring unit, students will investigate length, weight and capacity through inquiry-based activities. Pouring water and sand into containers, using balances and scales, and measuring their bodies and objects in the environment are some of the activities they will be involved in.

Finally, Prep students will learn about time, in connection to our unit of inquiry, by exploring calendars and clocks.

We appreciate your support in the Maths curriculum, for example discussing real uses of measurement or time. Involve your child if he/she is measured/weighed at the doctor’s, if you measure ingredients in baking, if you measure the length of a new piece of furniture, or any time you consult a calendar or clock.

Unit of Inquiry: Structures                                

In our Structures unit of inquiry, we will learn about the structures around us (buildings, bridges, furniture, playground equipment, etc.). We will investigate how the properties of materials, the forces at work (tension and compression), and the shapes used, can make structures effective. The students will have extensive opportunities to explore, build and create with a variety of materials, testing their ideas, usually working collaboratively. We will have weekly challenges or activities to explore the different aspects of effective structures. We will discuss and reflect on our observations, deepening our knowledge and understanding as we go.

For those who are wondering, tension and compression can be easily explained as pulling and pushing. “Tension and compression are important structural words. All structures—whether a tent or a skyscraper, a dome or bridge— exist at all times in either tension or compression.” (2009 Chicago Children’s Museum)

Language Arts                                                                          

Students continue to practice their reading and writing skills.  Writing workshop helps students practice different ways of communicating through writing (journal, book, labelled image, etc). While writing, we have learned that sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. We are also practicing leaving spaces between words so that others can read our writing. High-frequency words and sight words continue to be added to our word wall. In class, students are encouraged to refer to these words when writing. During guided reading, students read a book in a small group with the teacher’s support. Children also get to select another book to take home, explore the classroom library, and read stories on the iPad.

Students continue to take home reading books every week. Please help your child read the books and return to school punctually.

By listening to and discussing literature, often connected to our units of inquiry, students continue to develop listening skills and learn about story structure. As our Stories unit is ongoing, we will be connecting to it often in the next few weeks.

Mathematics                                                                          

Our current unit of inquiry offers a natural connection to the mathematics unit on shapes. Students will explore and build 2D and 3D shapes while learning about building and structures and have many opportunities to observe, compare and name the attributes of different shapes.

Toward the end of this unit, we will also begin learning about measuring length, capacity and weight using non-standard units (e.g., measuring how many pencils long the table is, or how many small cups to fill the bowl).