March 2017

Bonjour chers Parents,

It was wonderful meeting you all again during the student-led conference.  Your child was able to share many important aspects of his/her learning with you. They were so proud of their accomplishments and being able to celebrate it with you.  Hopefully, through the Student-Led Conferences you where able to pinpoint strengths and areas for continued growth.  The next reporting period will be at the end of June.  

Spring

Yes, it is here!  And we have so many wonderful learning experiences coming up.  We will be starting to talk about the signs of spring this week and go on nature walks around the school.  We love going outside to learn about nature and make discovering that can inspire some fun projects.

Some exciting things have taken place since the end of February. We have had a special visitor come to talk to our students as well as an artist demonstrate painting techniques and work with the children on improving their skills. All of this has taken place in the middle our our "Je suis unique" unit as students learn about how they are different from everyone else.

When constable Ron stepped in the classroom, the children's eyes widened and their mouths turned up in the widest grins...

"I learned about what police officers do and how they help people."

The students were very engaged in learning more about the duties of police officers. The constable was sure to tell students that he doesn't like to use the words "bad guy" to describe those who break the law. He told them that people sometimes make poor choices but that they are not "bad guys" or bad people. This is also something we like to reinforce with the children. No student is "bad" but sometimes we can make poor choices. When we have discussed strategies, students are encouraged to think of ways to make better choices as they learn how to solve their problems independently.



This month, we were also very lucky to have an artist named Michelle Austen join us in Kindergarten. Many of you would have seen her work with Chinook Park students visible throughout the school if you had a chance to do a gallery walk during student-led conferences.

"We learned new ways to paint using water colours".

"I paint using warm colours and cool colours". 

Children also expressed themselves through art in creating a unique spring piece using water colour paints. Although the colours and technique were similar for each child, each work of art turned out very differently. We have been learning that "je suis unique" and the poppy painting truly demonstrates this is a beautifully artistic way. 

Crafts and theatre combined

As a class, we discussed what makes us unique. We talked about our families, our friends as well as what interests us inside and outside the classroom. Many children were excited to share about their favourite centres and the theatre centre was one that made the list. The photo above is a prime example of students using their imagination and creativity to work together and make sense of the world around them. At first glance, it appears the children are simply putting on a puppet show. Prior to this moment, students were at the craft centre making little costumes for the animals who were the characters, putting their fine-motor skills to task. "Serious play" might sound like an oxymoron but that's exactly what this centre became! The students were very quiet and focused as they made their costumes and created a storyline for the animals. All the materials were provided for this to happen, but all the ideas came from the students which allowed the learning to be much more authentic. Everyday, students add their unique perspectives and ideas to their play and it happens so naturally.

Thank you for reading our blog.

Corine Mazerolle-Heppell
Britanny Larochelle