Teaching with Heart

Story Workshop

Posted by in Language Arts, Social Emotional Learning

In a Kindergarten Curriculum course, I participated in Story Workshop, a program that views children as imaginative storytellers.  Our professor provided us with several natural objects, backdrops, and characters to inspire our own creative tales.  Below, you will find the story my group developed.  It’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) underpinnings contribute to its heartwarming theme. Always Be You There once was a girl who liked to dance. Always wore her tutu and never pants. You could often find her in the hall, twirling and spinning with no care at…read more

Jul.23
0

Whoever You Are

Posted by in Art, Social Emotional Learning

A pivotal learning experience during my practicum occurred during an activity about diversity. I framed the lesson by showing students three apples that differed in colour and size. As a class, students posed observations about the apples. I then proceeded to cut each apple in half, asking students, once again, what they noticed about the apples. Students engaged in a think-pair-share, then shared their thoughts about the visual demonstration: “Even though the apples all look different, they are the same on the inside”  “All of the apples are exactly the same…read more

Jul.13
0

Animal Stretches

Posted by in Physical Education, Science, Social Emotional Learning

Due to the energetic nature of my class, I introduced animal stretches as a way to help students focus on their animal research projects. I created a quiet, calm environment by turning off some of the classroom lights and maintained a calm energy while facilitating different animal stretches. Once I modelled a few poses, students began volunteering to create their own. In addition to developing core body strength, this activity nurtured student creativity and promoted self-regulation.    

Jul.13
0

Research Folders

Posted by in Language Arts, Science

In order to complete their animal research projects, my grade two students engaged with numerous non-fiction texts and resources. After modelling how to take notes from informational sources, I allowed students to practice by recording facts about their selected animals. However, when I realized students were copying full sentences directly from the texts, I decided to introduce research folders. I provided each student with their own file folder which they could decorate and then use to house the information they were learning about their animals. This time I provided students…read more

Jul.13
0

Geometric Spaceships

Posted by in Mathematics

As an avid supporter of weaving literature into the curriculum as often as possible, I introduced Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart Murphy to my grade two students as a way to review 3-D shapes. Not only did the children enjoy the story of Sam and his sidekick space dog, Comet, they were inspired to build their own spaceships.  In response to this suggestion, I brought out the wooden 3-D blocks and allowed students to work in partners to create spacecrafts. This unexpected change of plans proved to…read more

Jul.13
0

Shape Monsters

Posted by in Art, Mathematics

After learning about 2-D shapes, students were invited to make their own monster masterpieces out of circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. Students were provided choice surrounding the monster’s design, name, and colour palette, but were responsible for identifying how many of each shape they used in its construction.  It was rewarding to see how the students integrated their likes and interests into the activity as the monsters came to resemble their special creators in unique ways.

Jul.13
0

Cultural Stories

Posted by in Language Arts, Social Studies

As part of an integrated Social Studies and Language Arts unit, students explored the diverse cultural backgrounds of family, friends, classmates, and neighbours in their community.  To frame this unit, I sent home a letter to students’ parents asking them to discuss and review their child’s responses to three questions. The questions surrounded students’ linguistic background and cultural experiences, including favourite foods and traditions. I appreciated the parents’ willingness to support this project by sharing their gifts and heritages.  Students then used their responses to create and share a book…read more

Jul.13
0

Community: Then and Now

Posted by in Social Studies

To highlight how communities change over time, I used Jeannie Baker’s story, Window. This wordless picture book served as an engaging hook to the topic. Before sharing the story, I gave pairs of students a page of the book. With their partner, students discussed what they saw in the picture. They then worked collaboratively as a class to put the pictures in an order. To accomplish this goal, they were required to share their observations and explore how their pictures connected.  This activity was the first time students were required…read more

Jul.13
0

Pen Pals

Posted by in Language Arts, Social Studies

During my 10-week practicum, I was fortunate to be working in the same grade level as one of my close colleagues. As a result, we were able to collaborate on several units and create connected learning experiences for our classes. In our Community unit, for example, we arranged for our classes to exchange postcards, describing the activities they like to do and places they visit in their respective communities. Not only were the children excited about writing letters to another school, the letters prompted further inquiries that enhanced students’ exploration…read more

Jul.13
0

What Stuck With You?

Posted by in Assessment, Social Studies

In my classroom, I used a “What Stuck With You?” chart to evaluate student learning during a unit of study.  I invited students to post sticky notes each week about what they learned, in their own words, on a particular topic. Although the initial contributions required some scaffolding, students quickly became familiar with the process of reflecting on and sharing what they learned.  It allowed students to work with the material at their own pace and to express what was important to them. In addition to gauging what students learned, I used…read more

Jul.13
0
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