During our 'How We Express Ourselves' unit of inquiry, Henry worked on creating his own stories. Here is one that he created in his stories journal:

Ms. Alison thinks this is an example of Henry's best work best he took risks to invent stories using his creativity and imagination.

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 Henry's explanation of how and why he grew:

Henry's favourite part of our 'How We Express Ourselves' unit of inquiry was creating his Lego Adventure film using the Smoovie and Garage Band iPad apps. He explained that he enjoyed it because "the black guy didn't have two eyes and one had magic and one was just a door." 

One of Henry's favourite number games is 'Toss the Chips'. He wanted this work to be included in his portfolio because: "The chips have two colours and I counted and I did a good job of making the numbers." 

Henry has also practiced a more challenging version of 'Toss the Chips' where he tosses 10 chips to discover different number combinations to 10. This activity showed that Henry is knowledgeable because he applied his knowledge of numbers to make new combinations.  

Henry has a strong concept of number and can order numbers up to about 15 with confidence. He has been working on consolidating his knowledge of numbers in the teens, including their sequences and how they are pronounced. Here he is working with Denzil to decide what numbers come before and after a given number in the teens. This is an example of his best work because he challenged himself with enthusiasm to explore accurate sequences of numbers beyond 15. The boys used the 0 to 20 Number Line when they needed it for support.  

Henry is becoming more and more confident with the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. As he consolidates this knowledge he is beginning to apply it to his independent writing. In this activity, Henry sorted the sounds 'm' and 'r' using picture cards in his word study notebook and learned a few new words in the process. 

Henry created this 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 Henry's reflection on his Student-led Conference: 


"I like Compare [card game]."

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. Henry can now name the common shapes -- circle, triangle, square and rectangle -- all by himself. Henry loves making different designs with 2D and 3D shapes and often incorporates them into his play. He chose this piece of work for his portfolio because: "It's in the sky and I used triangle and square." With this work, Henry shows how he can manipulate shapes and put them together to make new shapes.