A celebration....

I am... from Lisa Michaluk on Vimeo.

Our Crop Gardens 2013

Crop Gardens 2013 from Lisa Michaluk on Vimeo.

written by Anika and Keenan

The grade 2s and 3s planted the grain in the spring.  We used a grid system to make sure the seeds had room to grow.  As the seasons changed, the crop went from lime green to golden brown.  Now we are in grade 3 and 4!  In the fall, we cut the wheat heads off with our scissors.  We collected the wheat heads in the bottom half of a milk jug.    We used a stone to thresh the wheat heads.  Next we winnowed the grain.  This helps remove the chaff from the grain.  When we were done winnowing, we were left with grain.  It takes 2 and 1/2 cups of grain to make 4 cups of flour.  This makes one loaf of bread and it took 4 hours to bake.  We used all of our own whole wheat flour and a little bit of white flour from the store.  It smelled delicious!  We had honey and margarine on our bread.

We enjoyed harvesting the crop.  We learned about the stages of growing wheat ~ the wheat life cycle. We had never done anything like this before.  It was very fun!  We had to work together through each of the stages.

Thank you Mrs. Chapnick for doing this project with us.

Documenting with iPads!

 

written by Mrs. Michaluk's class

 

Our school is so lucky!!!  Each class at SSES now has an iPad mini!  We are very excited!

 

We are using the iPads to document our learning and thinking.  We document what we are doing during Explorations, Literacy time and Math Explorations.  We do this by using the video camera and by taking photos.  We are also using an app that lets us write about our photos and record our voice. 

We use the iPad to figure out what we need to do next or what we need to change.  The iPad saves the things we build and create.  We would run out of space in our classroom if we saved everything we created or designed!  Sometimes it takes us a few times to get just the right video or photo.  When we watch the video we can make changes to our story or our design and then try again.  We are using the iPads with our documentation books!

 

Documenting the stages of a design at nature building

 

 

Storytelling

 

Working together to create a "how-to create plastecine figures" video

 

Storytelling using plastecine figures

 

We are very appreciative to our school division ~ our iPads were purchased through an Evergreen ICT Innovative Project Grant and our Technology Budget.  The iPads are being used as a tool to foster and build our documentation culture at SSES.  Documentation is a process that "makes thinking and learning visible."  It is a very important process that not only encourages the collaboration and reflection process, but enables students to create and develop a deeper understanding of their learning.

Happy Fall!

 

Wishing all of our SSES families a wonderful holiday weekend filled with warm memories, family and friends!

Our Community Walk ~ Grade 1/2

 

written by Ellery, Nolan, Owen, Olivia and Brody  Grade 1/2

 

Our classes went for a community walk.  We brought our cameras, sketch boards and pencils.  We sketched what we saw and our teachers took lots of pictures.  There are many interesting things to see in our community!

 

I saw the fountain by the boats.  A boat got lifted!  The Subway restaurant was my fav!

 

We walked by Super A.  We stopped at a lot of benches.  I liked seeing a boat.

 

I saw the Rec Center.  We also saw the Red Apple.  I saw houses.

 

I saw the police station.  I saw Red Apple.  I saw the post office and the beach.  The waves were flowing from the water.  The wind was blowing so hard, it made me feel like I was going to fall down!

 

We wondered what made these tiny footprints on the new boardwalk.

 

 

We went on a community walk.  I saw leaves and Super A.  We had to go back early because it started to rain.