Airplanes

Dear Parents,

We're hard at work planning the Teddy Bear Picnic for June 23rd (Rain Date: June 24th). We hope you'll join us and that the afternoon will be an opportunity to spend time together as a cohort, eating and playing and celebrating the hard work that both you and the students have put into this year. Expect to see a potluck request and a little more detail on what this will look like very soon (this week!), as we nail down final details.

On that front, if you've been involved in the classroom this year, please be aware of the volunteer potluck in the gym on Monday June 15th, from 3:00 pm  to 4:00 pm. And do come! I plan to bake something special for it in order to help honour all the amazing support you've given our classroom this year.

We're also looking forward to next year, with the new JK parent welcome evening on Tuesday. This is also the final parent council meeting of the year and a good opportunity to set yourself up for being involved in the school community.

At the same time,  learning continues in the classroom. We've taken down the tent and have revived our drama centre area. Students decided to turn it into an airplane. We decorated an outline of the airplane for the outside:

 Made dials and controls for the pilot:

 Then set up the chairs like an airplane. Students have been taking turns being pilots, passengers, and serving each other food like flight attendants.

We've also set up a "security gate" to pass through and have been working hard on making passports and tickets. These are allowing us many opportunities to write authentically and to talk about different purposes for reading and writing.

 In other areas of the classroom, we've also been looking at airplane design. What types of materials and shapes will help a plane fly farther?

Students have been measuring and testing their creations.

We've also seen a resurgence of interest in mapping as a result of this drama centre. Students are looking at the world map and deciding where to go on "vacation" and what countries they have to pass through to get there. 

A lot can grow out of a simple interest. As we move towards the end of the school year, I hope you've seen how play based curriculum can be responsive to students' needs. 

As a final note, I'm really enjoying the free for all Show and Share theme. So far, we've had students teach us about rocks and minerals, learned songs, read books, and enjoyed being surprised (by a jack-in-the-box).  I look forward to more surprises!

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan

P.S. The circulation computer was down last week, so students did not get new books. Library will be winding down soon, but we have a week or two left.