Saturday 26 January 2019

Amazing First Families

Yesterday we welcomed in Nadine from the Strathcona Wilderness Centre! She spent the afternoon sharing with us how families used to live a long time ago. We learned so much about the Inuit people of the Arctic, the Plains First Nations, and the Woodlands First Nations of Eastern Canada. 




Nadine began by explaining why the first families in Canada thrived. There were no stores, like Save On or Costco, so these people were excellent hunters. They lived in community, supporting each other in many ways, such as sharing food and child care. The children had chores and responsibilities that helped their families survive, too. While they didn't attend school, children learned from elders how to hunt, make clothing, cook, and so much more. 


The Inuit

The Inuit lived in the north, often in igloos. Nadine shared many fascinating items with us from the Inuit people. We touched a ring seal fur. Fur from ring seals was used to make clothing and "kamiks", or shoes. One student tried on a cozy seal fur parka, which is very warm, as well as caribou kamiks! He gave snow goggles a try, too, which are wooden glasses with thin slits that protect the eyes from the sun's glare off the snow. 


The Plains First Nations

The people of the plains would follow the buffalo and hunt them. They often lived in tipis, which could be quickly and easily set up, taken down, and  transported. 

Nadine shared that the Plains First Nations were known for their love of celebrations, or "powwows". She shared an elaborate fan that the women would use, and when it waved it sounded as though birds were flapping overhead! She dressed up one of our students in some traditional celebratory clothing. She wore a bone and bead choker, beaded moose moccasins, a breast plate (often used as chest protection during battle), and a moose skin wrap. The most amazing piece she wore was the replica headdress. Traditionally it is made of eagle feathers (although this one was not), and each eagle feather on a headdress represents a brave or kind deed. 





The Woodland First Nations


The Woodland First Nations lived in the forests of eastern Canada around the Great Lakes. They were amazing hunters. Nadine shared a variety of beautiful furs with us. 

The Woodland First Nations lived near many lakes, and made canoes from the bark of birch trees so they could travel through the water. 



After hearing so many interesting facts and seeing the amazing collection of artifacts, it was time to touch them ourselves! The students most enjoyed feeling the silky furs and pelts, and many tried out the birch bark horn!



Then the students were challenged to get creative! Using paper, feathers, and markers, the children got to work designing their own fans. They were encouraged to draw scenes from nature, and many drew rainbows, flowers, animals and more!


Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was learning several of the games the children would have played. While they were simple, with few rules or game pieces, they were challenging and fun for everyone! 



With a bit of energy left to burn, we headed outside to learn one last game. Kick Stick had us cheering and laughing, as classmates kicked sticks in teams in a relay race. The children were excellent sports and enjoyed the challenge of the simple games. 


Our First Families program last week was fascinating, packed with new information, and so much fun!

Friday 25 January 2019

Fairy Tale Fun!

We are so excited to have begun our "Building Things" unit in Science! 

We're exploring the following learning outcomes:


  • I can choose appropriate building materials
  • I can describe the job of each part of an object I made
  • When I look at 2 things, I can describe what is the same and what is different

Inspired by fairy tales, we tackled our first challenge, building a house for the three little pigs! This was a perfect way to experiment with effective materials. 

We read many versions of the fairy tale! We choose one version, retold the story in partners, and then reviewed the parts of a story:


Just like the pigs, we built with "straw" (paper shreds), ...


"wood" (foam blocks), ...

... and "bricks" (Lego)!



We had a great discussion together, learning so much about choosing the best materials for the job.



Keep your eyes peeled for our next fairy tale challenge! Rumor has it we may get a call to repair chairs for some bears in the woods!



Fairy Tale STEM Activities for Primary Grades from Dancing Into First

Thursday 17 January 2019

Winter Adventures!

Our Winter unit in Science, which focuses on seasonal changes, has been lots of fun!

Not only are we learning about how animals and plants/trees change in winter, but we are also exploring what people do in Winter. 

We got our creative juices flowing when Mrs. Beliveau read Snow Day. In the book, a "snow day" is declared and kids must stay home from school! The children in the book do loads of fun seasonal activities, which became an excellent conversation starter for our class!



Then, Mrs. Beliveau promised we could do those Winter activities we just read about! Ski, sled, build a snowman, skate ... but how?

The boys and girls dressed in their warm woollies and posed as if they were doing a snowy activity. Can you guess what winter activity these kids are acting out?

Then students focused their efforts on writing a complete sentence about their activity, with a capital letter and period,



chose a whimsical Winter background, 



and glued their cutout with a few details in white to complete the picture!

Look at what we made! Can you guess our activities?



Isn't Winter fun?




Friday 11 January 2019

Spelling: Not a Spectator Sport

Learning is often disguised as play in our classroom. What better way to engage and involve our kids, all while having fun?


Graphic courtesy of  technology rocks. seriously


In our Grade 1 spelling program, the students are exposed to 125 core words. These are words we use most often as beginning readers and writers, such as "and" or "her". While Spelling Quizzes are important, the goal is to read these words with ease and spell these words correctly in our own writing. 

As we learn words each week, the words are placed on our Word Wall, which is front and centre in our classroom!


We play several engaging games to practice our spelling words! Have a look!

Head Hunters
Each student sticks a spelling word to their noggin'. Everyone receives a chart with all of the classmates' names. Then off they go, recording the spelling words stuck to their friends' heads in their chart!



Roll and Read
Find a buddy and roll the dice! Read any word from the row you rolled!



Shaving Cream
Always a hit! Spread it on our desk and get spelling! Bonus? Our desks are lemony fresh after!

Spelling Center Bins
Inside these 14 bins are hands-on ways to interact with our words! These centers also focus on strengthening our fine-motor skills by involving those important small muscles in our hands. 



Have a peek at a few games!


Again, the idea behind our weekly spelling words is to encourage the students to interact with foundational words in an engaging way...and doesn't this look engaging?