The learning continues!

In the Spring, when schools weren't open, I spent more time than I wanted to on

Google Meets and Zoom calls.  They have followed me into this school year!

Here is how the students were presented with their virtual field trip on Monday.

The man in the corner of the SMARTBoard was our presenter and he was

explaining how bees work and live together.  The connection was to how people 

sometimes live together in apartment buildings.  

Here are the diligent busy little beavers (yep, we talked about their homes too!)

trying to put together the little wooden houses.  They look easy enough,

but little students cannot always find which way is up!

Just when the sides are connected to the foundation,

the students are then to add the fronts and backs.

It was an exercise in patience and 'try, try again'

or 'wait, I'll be right there'

In the end, all the houses were constructed!

The little architects drew up a plan (blueprint) on how they wanted

their yard to look.  Once the plan was finished, the students (OOPS! architects)

became  builders and they added those details onto the box bottom which

became the yard.  They added colour, along with the smaller crafted items

which included 2 bushes, a teeter tooter, a picnic bench and 6 walkway stones.

Each one was the students' own creation.

In the end, each and every one was well done

and the students were very proud!

The students are working very hard on being able to 'stretch the sounds'

in words.  In table pairs, the students were playing a game to work on

CVC words (that stands for consonant-vowel-consonant)

Examples would be: pot, put, hat, bit and cut

I try to get the students to work on some type of 'Hands on' activity every

3 or 4 days.  If I can't sanitize the items (I can spray the dice and markers),

then I have to let them sit for 72 hours before they can be used again.

If you would have told me that I would have Grade One students logging 

into Chrome books and finding Google Classroom independently in November,

I would NEVER have believed you.  Thank you for assisting your

child with knowing how to find the letters and numbers on the keyboards.

It's not without hassle and I will need to colour the grey again in December (ha! ha!)

but they are quite proficient with the process.  Everyone can log in and almost all

can get to our Google Classroom.  Four students now have a computer mouse (purchased

through PowerSchool) and I think they liked using them today for the first time.

Right now, I am dedicating 4 class periods a week to using the Chrome books.

You know what they say "Practice makes perfect!"

Guess what tomorrow is!