A field trip before the break

Dear Parents, 

Thank you so much for the cards and gifts some of you sent in this past week. It always means a lot to know that you appreciate the work I do. I'm especially excited to try some of the treats kids have made...I like to think about the next generation of bakers. 

Yesterday's trip was a smashing success. I cannot recommend the High Park Nature Centre enough to you all. We had a lovely exploratory session in the morning, looking at different signs animals leave in the wild and then taking a hike to see what we could find. Because we had so many excellent parent volunteers, my job was mostly to take photos. 

Students did some centre based work: making pinecone feeders, molding clay to look like different types of animal scat, matching animal shelters, and connecting parts of animals to their wholes. 

Put the lard over the pinecone, then roll it in sunflower seeds

 

Match the animal to its tracks

The faces from this centre are really the best. I had a hard time winnowing them down:

The Moose

What kind of feather?

In the afternoon, we talked about different kinds of owls and the special features these kinds of birds have. For example:

Sharp beaks

Binocular vision

 And then we got to take apart some owl pellets. Owl pellets are kind of like hairballs from owls: they cough up all the things they can't digest in these little balls of fur and bone. When you pick them apart, you can tell the kinds of animals owls may have been eating. All the germs were gone thanks to irradiation with UV light, but it was still a little gruesome (for some of the parents more than the kids). You can see from the pictures below how enthralled and engaged they were.

After that, we played an owl trivia race game and role played as hunters seeking food in the forest--half the class hid the prey in one area, then the other half hunted for the tags (and vice versa). 

All in all it was a fantastic day. Thanks to all the parents who slogged through the snow with us. And a very special thanks to Jackson D's mom, Jenny, who showed up with hot chocolate at lunch (and coffee for the grown ups). 

Following up on Forms

Dear Parents,

1. I'm still missing the majority of trip forms and money for our trip to High Park Nature Centre on December 22. I know that it's a busy time of year, but one form I got back today was a NO because that student will be out of town the week before Christmas.

 Unfortunately, the entire class booked for the trip still has to pay once the reservation is set, so please let me know as soon as possible if you a) are also out of town and will miss the trip. b) need another trip form.

2. I sent home two pages of math today. If you would be so good as to send it back whether or not it's done, that would be ideal.

There was a bit of a mix up with the supply and the sheet that went home yesterday was best done in class, so we finished estimating together. I've sent it home so you can review it together if you get a chance. We measured using a paperclip as a non-standard measure. It's good for students to have a concrete sense of units, so we're using paperclips, blocks, and finger lengths as well as centimeters and meters to measure.

  "Using a Grid to Measure Length" was the sheet that should have gone home yesterday. Some kids got more done than others on this sheet. I hope it's a little more clear how to follow the directions on it. Students are simply comparing different lengths to each other and there's a coded message if you get it right.

3. Taking up our "Activist Checklists" inspired some good conversations in class about what we think is right, why we make different choices, and how working towards our goals is important. There was some spirited debate about zoos and vegetarianism. This one made me laugh:

"What does that mean? "I don't know. My dad just told me to write it."

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Project Wild

Dear Parents,

Some service announcements:

1. I've sent home checklists based on Environmental and Animal Rights activism, which are two areas students indicated they were interested in following up on. Some of the items are probably controversial, but they're based on my conversations with activists in those arenas and our class discussions. Your checkmarks and conversation will facilitate ours, so please do return for Thursday, if at all possible.

2. We are really excited about the upcoming book fair, hosted by Another Story bookstore. I personally love this bookstore because they have high quality books and look for a range of perspectives and voices. This will run on Monday from 2:30 - 6:00 pm and Tuesday from 2:30-6:00 pm and after the Grade 2-6 concert from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.

3. Another issue students cared deeply about was Poverty and Homelessness. Coincidentally, we are asking the community to help us decorate a Giving Tree, with socks, mittens and/or gloves for those less fortunate.

4. The deadline for school letters to Santa is ...tomorrow, so I fear that this will not be happening as a school based activity. However, if you're interested, Santa takes letters from individual families up until December 14th. All the information you need to get started is right here. 

On an academic note, I reconnected with one of my favourite teacher resources today (Project Wild is a great conservation focused education program if you're a teacher looking for ideas). We had a nice think/pair/share discussion of several dilemmas. Sample topics today: How to approach a family who litters in the picnic area, What to do with a baby deer you find stranded in the woods, and What to do about the bald eagle next where you want to build a house. It's great to see the little minds solving problems and beginning to think more deeply about their relationship with nature. I'm leading them towards a more complicated role-playing scenario in the next few weeks.

I also sent home a graph based on November's weather. Most students said they wanted to see more snow this month. I'm not sure I agree. I also scaled back on how much framing I did: some students did well, but others had difficulty using the scale or titles effectively. It's a work in progress.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Supporting Youth Activism

Dear Parents,

Today we watched part of Hannah's Story, a short documentary about a girl from Winnipeg, who was passionate about helping homeless people. As we finish up our unit on Roles and Responsibilities, I'm doing my best to encourage students to do a little inquiry about what they can do to create positive change in their communities.

You can stream Hannah's Story online (along with a whole host of other films by NFB--this is an amazing resource!). Here's the link: Hannah's Story

What you can do to help is help your child wrap their heads around a social issue in our community. Perhaps one that your family is already passionate about, so we can begin to brainstorm as a class about our next steps.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Friday performance note

Dear Parents ,
We are baking banana bread in honor of our measurement unit and Mr. Eloi's last day tomorrow. I'm sending home the recipe in lieu of a student letter.

We are also performing in tomorrow's assembly after afternoon recess. Sorry for the late notice ,  but we'll be doing much the same stuff in our upcoming December concert.

(Apologies in advance for any typographical errors as this is being written on my phone.)

Sincerely ,

Ms. Goegan

Bracelet Patterns

Dear Parents,

Tomorrow is our field trip. Mr. Eloi is my +1, but I look forward to doing more trips this year and hope that we'll be able to use your support then. The students were really excited today about the trip and I hope they enjoy the show tomorrow.  We should be back by lunchtime, so lunch will follow as normal and students will also have library tomorrow afternoon. Return those books if you can find them!

Last week was short but full. I've managed to see all but a few of the parents in the classroom to touch base about student progress.

We were also lucky enough last week to be able to see some Native North American Powwow dancing. The Men's fancy style was students' hands-down favourite, but they also appreciated the Jingle Dancing.

Men's Fancy Style

And we finished our math unit on Patterning. In case you wondered why your child came home with a new bracelet over the weekend, this was why. Each bracelet has a core of 5, which repeats in a circle. It's nice to consolidate learning in fun ways when we can.

Friday is Mr. Eloi's last day with us. It's also Pizza Day, so I suspect I may have some volunteers in the afternoon and we hope to make a mini-learning celebration out of it. 

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

First Nations Picture Books

Dear Parents,

I spent my Friday afternoon at the Spadina branch of the Toronto Public Library. They've got a really great collection of Aboriginal resources that I was happy to be able to pick through and bring back to the classroom for Monday. In looking at books, I'm trying to access resources that represent different Native groups from across Canada, so that students understand that Native culture isn't monolithic--Native peoples from different regions have cultures and traditions that may look quite different.

Here are some authors of picture books I personally like and the communities they talk about. (As teachers, sometimes these resources are tricky to come by, so it's nice to have a list) It's by no means exhaustive and not all of these authors are themselves from the communities whose stories they are telling, but they are all beautifully written and illustrated:



Paul Goble (connected to the Yakima and Oglala Sioux)

Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd (connected to various Northwest Coast Native communities, like Haida, Tsimshian, and Heiltsuk peoples in British Columbia) 

Paul Owen Lewis (connected to Northwest Coast First Nations)

Chad Solomon (connected to the Henvey Inlet Ojibwe First Nation in Ontario)

Tomson Highway (connected to Cree First Nations from the Prairies)

Rachel  and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley (connected to Inuit peoples)

Jose Angutinngirniq (connected to Inuit peoples in Nunavut)

Qaunaq Mikkigak and Joanne Schwartz (connected to Inuit peoples in Nunavut)

I'm also really cautious about giving an exclusively historical look at Native cultures, so I was lucky enough to find several books talking about the way life looks on different modern reserves in the Northern Territories by Fifth House Publishers: Come and Learn with Me.

As we continue to explore Roles and Responsibilities and move into our next science unit on Living Things, we'll also continue to talk about some of the challenges facing Native peoples, especially looking at how many Native peoples have taken on a role in championing land and water rights. For good reason, too, I mean, we hear about the pipeline blockade at Standing Rock and the issues with pipelines in British Columbia in recent news stories, but the ongoing issues of safe water fly under the radar. For example, this is a map I hope to share with my students showing that over three quarter (84%) of Native reservations in Ontario have drinkable water issues:

Ontario Water System Risk map from National Assessment of First Nations Water and Wastewater Systems (2011)

Forgive me if this particular post seems a little more academic, but I promise pictures of smiling children in my next post, demonstrating our recent math adventures. Enjoy your weekend.

Sincerely,

Lisa Goegan