Lea is becoming increasingly confident with the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. As she consolidates this knowledge, she is beginning to apply it to her independent writing. In this activity, Lea sorted the sounds 'c' and 'd' using picture cards in her word study notebook.
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 Lea's explanation of how and why she grew:
During our unit of inquiry into how we move, Lea started a personal inquiry project on how to improve her cartwheels. Since then, she has been working every day on getting her legs higher in the air and keeping her arms straight. Her hard work has paid off and Lea's cartwheels are now looking like an expert's! Well done Lea! You are very committed.
As a class, we read stories about the numbers one through 10. Through the stories we learned about symbols that represent the numbers and how to form the numbers. Lea loved these stories and wanted the review work to be included in her portfolio. She selected this piece because: "We got to draw what matched the numbers and we practiced the numbers. I did a good job of the number seven."
Lea has been working on identifying the numbers before and after a given number and forming numbers correctly in writing. Today she worked independently to fill in the missing numbers in sequences. This is an example of Lea's best work because she concentrated well, used the number line to support her thinking, and corrected some of her number reversals.
Lea worked with a small group to retell the Rapunzel story in two different ways. She thinks this is an example of her best work because: "I liked being Rapunzel and I did a good job of acting." Ms. Alison agreed that these activities are examples of Lea's best work because she supported her group in remembering details about the story as they rehearsed their dramatic performance.
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 Lea's reflection on her Student-led Conference:
"I loved everything! It was so special because my mum came so early and we did everything together."
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. Lea can confidently name squares, circles, and rectangles independently. In this piece of work she practiced tracing and drawing circles and squares. She chose this piece for her portfolio because: "You can trace it and draw it yourself. I did a right circle."
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 Lea's conference using the 'Explain Everything' iPad app: