During our 'How We Express Ourselves' unit of inquiry, Denzil worked on creating his own stories. Here is one that he created in his stories journal. He used his drawings skills and his knowledge of letters and sounds to record his story with illustrations and writing. Ms. Alison thinks this is an example of Denzil's best work because he took risks to invent stories using his creativity and imagination.
"First there were monsters. Then there were three more. They drove race cars. Then they roared. Then they weren't looking and they crashed."
Denzil's favourite part of our 'How We Express Ourselves' unit of inquiry was our field trip to the Big Eyes, Big Minds Singapore International Children's Film Festival. He wanted to include this experience in his portfolio because of his favourite film 'The Paperbag Boy'. He said: "Paperbag Boy had a paper bag on his head. It was funny because people don't wear paper bags unless they have lost their teeth. Then I did a good job of drawing the Paperbag Boy."
Denzil is beginning to recognize basic sight words, sound out new words, and use the illustrations to help him read. This activity shows that he is knowledgeable because he is applying his understanding of letter-sound relationships and the strategies we use during shared reading to read independently.
Denzil said: "I can read this book because I use the pictures to help me."
This week we measured our heights for the very last time in K1. We noticed that once again, we had all grown taller! We reflected individually and as a whole class on the changes that had happened. We also made comparisons between each other's heights using math vocabulary, like taller and shorter.
Here is Denzil's explanation of how and why he grew. During our class discussion, he said:
"I'm tall because I eat all my breakfast."
"Too much snacks with sugar will make you shrink smaller than Emma."
All year we have been working on representing numbers in different ways. Denzil wanted the particular piece to be included in his portfolio because: "I counted how many dots there were and then put them in the rectangle [ten frame]."
Denzil has a strong concept of number and can count up to about 80. He is working on consolidating his knowledge of numbers in the teens, including their sequences and how they are pronounced. Here he is working with Henry to decide what numbers come before and after a given number in the teens. They used the 0 to 20 Number Line when they needed it for support.
Denzil has been working on consolidating his alphabet knowledge and gaining confidence to apply it consistently in his writing. After sorting picture cards of words that start with the sounds 'b', 'm', 'r', and 's' in his word study journal, he worked with a friend to label picture cards for 'r' and 'm' words using sticky notes:
Denzil used this photo of him and his friends playing to collect ideas for a story. He illustrated the story and recorded his voice telling the story using the iPad app Draw & Tell.
Student-led conferences are a chance for students to take the lead and show their families some of their best work, favourite activities, and how much progress they've made over the year.
In other words . . . a celebration of learning!
Here is Denzil's reflection on his Student-led Conference:
"When my mum told me it was time, I said 'YAY! Student-led Conferences!'"