Class Learning


Projects




















March 2017 Field Trip to Museo Pambata

Our intended goal for the field trip today was to gain some more information about the human body. While we did reach this goal, we also had many other learning experiences as well.

The first lesson we learn was about patience. Due to an unforeseen traffic jam, it took us 2 hours to get to the museum. We know waiting is hard, but the Blazing Peacocks did a great job being patient and not complaining (much). We also learned about making the most of a not so great situation. Friends on the bus took this opportunity to see things out the window that we don't normally notice, chat, play hand games, and sing. Here is a video of some friends singing on the bus...


When we finally got to the museum, we explored the Old Manila Room, Ocean Room, and Rainforest Room. We learned a lot about what the Philippines used to be like, and about different ecosystems in the Philippines.

Next we went to the Human Body Room, where we looked for information about the body topic we are researching, and then explored the room.

We finished the day with dramatic play in the Market Room and some active play on the playground before heading back on the bus.

It was an exhausting, but very productive day! Here are some of our photos...



Sports Day 2017

What a great day the Blazing Peacocks had today being active and showing good sportsmanship! They participated fully and energetically in every activity and still had energy at the end of the day. Here are lots of photos from the day...


















Blazing Peacocks Fall 2016




Cardboard Expo


We were inspired to take the Cardboard Challenge after watching a video (Caine's Arcade) about a 9 year old boy who made an entire arcade out of cardboard. We followed the design process to think of ideas, 



make a plan, 




construct a prototype, 




test, and improve on our designs. When we thought our creations were ready to share, we wrote and distributed invitations to classes and adults around the school to invite them to our special event- the Kindergarten Cardboard Expo. 






On the day of our Expo, we brought out our cardboard creations, along with the rest of the Kindergarten classes. We had created a soccer goal game, a music box, a cat school, a soccer court game, a robot, an airplane, a sword fighting game, and a cupcake bakery. We set things up so that the visiting classes would be able to play with and enjoy our creations. During the Expo, our cardboard creations were really put to the test. We added many things last minute to make it more fun to play (tables for the cafe, ticketing and passport table for the airplane, a gate to wait for your flight). We also had to make several emergency repairs as we found out that our creations were maybe not quite as sturdy as we had thought they were. 



After the Expo, we reflected on our experience and discussed the unanticipated issues that arose during the Expo and how we solved the problems on the fly. The Blazing Peacocks said that overall, they were a bit shy at first, but happy and really proud of themselves. 


Bounce or Break?


This week we have been making predictions about whether certain objects will bounce or break if we drop them from two floors high up. We discussed different properties of materials that would cause them to either bounce or break, such as whether they are hard or soft, strong or weak, flexible or rigid, heavy or light. Then all of Kindergarten got together to see what actually happened when Mr. Patrick dropped all of these objects onto the bus road from the second level. It was so exciting to watch and record the actual results on our recording sheets. Afterwards, we discussed the results and wrote reflections about what we saw. Below are a video and some photos from this learning experience.








Visit To High School Design Technology Class


We also went to visit the high school advanced design technology class, where we got to see high school students working on their own creations. They had designed and were constructing a variety of things made out of wood that had useful purposes. Ms Joanne's son is working a a whale shark toy eater for our classroom, and we got to see him cutting the wood to create his design. All of the students had made plans for their designs, were using different tools to measure and construct, and were happy to share all of these with us. It was inspiring to see how even big kids make lots of things!





Filipiniana 2016

What a great day it was!

We started off with our assembly, where we sang some Filipino songs together and watched  a wonderful performance of a Filipino story put on by our amazing teaching assistants and Mr. Steve.

Our first activity was Filipino games, and we got to try out Tinikling, walking on coconuts, and some other fun games.

Next, we got to ride a jeepney! When we got off, we ate some refreshing ice cream from a traditional Filipino ice cream cart.

Then we learned about the Masskara Festival and made our own Masskara masks.

After that we heard two stories about the traditional Filipino marketplace and Filipino vegetables and participated in activities related to the stories.

Our final activity was learning some Filipino language- "Magano po?" (How much?) and "Salamat po." (Thank you) while buying things from a Sari Sari store.

In between, we watched the middle and high school parade while we waved our flags.

During our reflection on the day, the children's overwhelming favorite was the jeepney ride and ice cream, but they all said that they really did enjoy all of the activities today. It was a very full, fun day of culture!





And here is the Kindergarten video about what we love about the Philippines...










This year the children have been engaging in the writing process during our writing workshops. They have been learning how to generate ideas, put ideas on pages using detailed illustrations, and how to add words in any way they know how. They have been writing about things that are important or interesting to them and have written stories about friendship, superheroes, problems being solved, and topics of interest, such as how flowers grow, airplanes, cars, and different animals. And most importantly, they have really begun to see themselves as capable "authors."

Their skills will continue to develop over the year, and to encourage them, we let them know that their writing has a place in the world and will affect people who read it. With this in mind they chose Preschoolers as their first audience.

After having written many books, they chose the one that they thought would be most suitable for Preschoolers. If they did not have one that they thought fit the bill, they created a new one. Knowing that many Preschoolers cannot read yet, they focused their efforts on making their illustrations detailed and attractive to look at. They shared their books with each other first and gave each other ideas on how they could improve them. After they had sufficiently revised and fancied up their books, we took them to the Golden Giraffe's Preschool class and read them to the children there.

The Preschool children were in awe of the "big" kids and what they had to share and showed great interest in the books we made. It was a great start to a year of sharing our writing and growing as writers!







This week we got a special visit from our 9th grade buddies, who came to interview us for stories they will write for us with each child as the main character in the book. The children have been so excited about this, and it is great opportunity for the grade 9 students to be writing for a purpose and with an authentic audience. It is equally beneficial to the Blazing Peacocks, who are seeing the grade 9 students model the process of writing for an audience. English language learners were supported by 9th grade students who were able to speak to them in their native languages. We had buddies who were able to speak Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, and Spanish. 

This experience provided a good reference point for the class as we began writing for an audience this week as well. After collecting many pieces of writing in our writing folders, the class decided that they want to share a piece of writing with the Preschool students. With this specific audience in mind, they each chose or created a piece that they thought the Preschool students would enjoy. 

We discussed revision strategies- how to make your writing even better. They gave advice to each other about what we could add to make our writing clearer and the illustrations better- add words, add more details, add parts that were left out, add color to illustrations, draw a cover picture to match what they book is about, etc. They took each others' advice and began making their writing the best they could make it. 

As they complete their writing projects, we will begin taking these published pieces down to Preschool to read our books to Preschool friends. It will be the first time that we share our writing as published authors in Kindergarten!


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