Recently we have been doing a lot of playing with shapes. We have been studying their form and observing how they appear in different ways in the world around us. Denzil can confidently name the common shapes: circle, triangle, square and rectangle. He is also experimenting with the names of new, more complicated shapes. Denzil's favourite work with shapes was when we noticed them on our field trip to Orchard Boulevard and Paterson Road. Denzil observed that the different road signs were actually in shapes like triangles and circles. Back at school he represented this in his Movement Journal. Denzil chose to include this piece in his portfolio because: "The shapes and signs tell us what to do. I did a good job of finding the signs."
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As our 'How we organize ourselves' unit of inquiry is coming to an end, we are reflecting on all of our experiences and learning and working on "showing what we know". This week, Ms. Alison, Mr. Nathan and Ms. Karla set up a playscape in the playground full of extra equipment and materials to move with. Students participated in free play or movement with the equipment and then sat down with a teacher to explain how and why they move in certain ways. Here is Denzil's conference using the 'Explain Everything' iPad app: ) Denzil's favourite part of our 'How we organize ourselves' unit of inquiry was our field trip to the Somerset MRT. He chose to include this experience in his portfolio because: "The MRT was really fast and the MRT turns very quickly." Through our class discussions, Denzil showed that he understands that the MRT is a way to move us quickly around to different parts of Singapore.
As emergent writers, we are always taking risks in writing. We are experimenting with sounds and letter formations, as well as pencil grip and different writing tools. As the year continues we are learning to make more and more letter and sound connections to express our ideas through writing. In our journals we do our best to add labels, descriptions, or short stories to our drawings. We also participate in free writing sessions where we write whatever we want for one to two minutes and use the writing centre and class mailbox to communicate through writing during free play.
Here is some of Denzil's journal and free writing work. Denzil confidently takes chances in writing and works hard to record his ideas, using his own knowledge and sound and alphabet charts for support. His journal work shows that he can correctly identify many beginning and ending consonant sounds as well as some vowels. He is having fun experimenting with directionality and spacing. Keep it up Denzil! Denzil made this pattern. He says it is an example of his best work because "It helps me think of better patterns." Denzil enjoyed challenging himself to create interesting and complex patterns, which is also evident in the work below:
Denzil has worked hard to take responsibility for the materials he brings to school and unpack and pack his backpack quickly and independently. He demonstrated a new level of responsibility when he checked that all the backpacks in K1AC were hung neatly on the hooks and zipped up with his friend Emma. Well done Denzil!
This is a watercolour portrait of Denzil and his family. Ms. Alison typed on her computer what Denzil said about his painting. Both Denzil's words and his artwork are now hanging in our classroom.
Denzil chose this piece for his portfolio because: "I painted my mummy, my daddy, my sister and my doggy." Ms. Alison chose this piece for Denzil's portfolio because it is an example of how Denzil reflected carefully on the things that are important to him about himself and his family over the course of our unit. Denzil understands different ways he is connected to his family members and how this makes him who is is as an individual. Denzil tells us all about how he has learnt to throw! |