Learning Through Play!

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

As we are introduced to 5 new words each week, the words are placed on our Word Wall, which is front and center in our classroom!

We play engaging games to practice our words! Have a look at this week's fun!

Head Hunters
Each student stuck a sword to their noggin'. Everyone received a chart with all of the classmates' names. Then off they went, reading and recording the words stuck to their friends' heads!

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 smell fresh!

WORDO

Wordo is like bingo! Students fill a blank 3x3 grid with our words. Then, using a spinner with our words, words are drawn! If one of their words is selected, they trace over it with a crayon. If a word is selected that they don't have, they print it outside the grid. Lots of opportunity for practice (and fun)!

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

Can you keep up with us?

This has been a spectacular week! As always, no two days are ever alike and never is a day boring! Check out our week ... can you keep up with us?

Our week began with another awesome visit from the Bookmobile for our Book Buzz program! A team of ladies from the Strathcona County Library have been coming to share stories and songs, and then help us fill our backpacks with books! 

This week is Para-Sport week! The students had a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to various para-sports, as well as different disability awareness activities. First up? Meeting the Edmonton Steel Wheel rugby team! These amazing individuals shared their personal journeys, demonstrated how they play, and wowed us with their incredible strength!

We had a rare opportunity to try out some wheelchairs. We discovered that they are a challenge and require lots of strength and stamina. We even attempted going in and out the front doors! Many realized that it is no small feat to make it over the metal bump and out the door by the time the automatic doors close! We certainly deepened our respect for those who use wheelchairs. 

We are in the Easter season and have been exploring the mystery of the Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While they are three, we believe in one true God. We compared the complexity of the Trinity to an apple:

We have returned to addition and subtraction, this time up to 20! We are practising our "doubles" and have enjoyed playing hands-on games with each other! 

A knock at our door brought in a special reader from Robin Hood!  We had a ball listening to some silly stories, all the while deepening our respect and understanding of individuals with disabilities.

Inspired by our week at Zoo School, each child has been challenged to learn more about an animal of their choosing! Using San Diego Zoo Kids, students are researching their own animals. 

Students share a Chromebook with a classmate,
allowing partners to troubleshoot, decode challenging text,
and collaborate! 

Students have been working hard drawing and labelling their animal as well as writing three facts. 

We had a blast working with words! We squirted a generous dollop of shaving cream on the desks and got spelling in the cream ... awesome!

We love words and reading, and decided to do a hunt for our word wall words in some ads and flyers! Great challenge!

We ended the week with our Arbor Day event! We learned to count tree rings to find out a tree's age. 

We worked together to build fairy houses in the woods out of natural materials, like leaves and twigs.

Turns out not all forest fires are bad! We learned how fire can help a forest and how we can be fire safe!

We were astounded by the acrobatic arborists, who demonstrated how they trim and care for trees!

We got sweaty at "nature-cize"!

Each student received a lodge-pole pine sapling, Alberta's provincial tree! They will be delivered to the school on Monday. 

Our trip finished off with a toe tappin' song along with Peter Puffin!

This week rocked, we're exhausted, and we can't wait to see what Monday brings!