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Showing posts from September, 2016

The House With 13 Stories

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In a discussion about where we live and who we live with, my students decided to use the language of numbers, something they already knew a bit about, to have a silly conversation. We drew our homes and families, created homes with loose parts, described them, what we had in them and talked about the differences between homes and apartments. A Family  A House An Apartment How many families live there? How many people live in your home?   Do you have neighbors? How do you get to your home? What floor do you live on, what number? "100, I do"  declared, Kseniia "No, no 1million, soooo tall!" yelled Gennady "Five MILLION!! We see the plane and clouds. "lLaughed Alex We laughed together and I showed my surprise and I asked: "How long does the elevator take? How many stairs are there? If you walk up and down how will you feel? What can you see out your window?" We acted out walking up the stairs panting, b...

First Loose Parts/Light Table Story of the Year!

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This school year I have the pleasure to work with some of the students I worked with last year.  They have moved on to Grade 1 and new EAL students have joined them. Some have a confidence and ease about them that they did have last year. When I asked students to explore and play in the room after our time as a new EAL group, Sophie was comfortable in the classroom and went straight to the light table and new loose parts. This is her creation. "This is a caterpillar obstacle course. See The one is going in the tunnel and the others is climbing." - Sophie These rubbery caterpillars have been a hit! They have been found by each of my students at some point in the first few weeks. They have been sorted, organized, used in block play, light table and maths. Who knew?