First Grade: Understanding personal and cultural events of families in "Who We Are"

First Grade has been learning about personal and cultural events in their “Who We Are” unit. Throughout the unit of inquiry, students examined the personal and cultural events of families. Through comparison, students also explored customs and celebrations in each other’s families and families around the world.

Various learning experiences helped the students make connections to gain intercultural understanding and respect. Here are a few of the wonderful opportunities the students had the opportunity to engage in:

·         “Long ago, people found a way to light the darkness . . . Light was so important in their lives that they came to use it in worship and in celebrations” (from “Celebrations of Light” by Nancy Luenn).

o    Students had the opportunity to explore holidays that shared a common element . . . LIGHT!!! The students were able to select the holiday they wanted to inquire into (from a list). They then went to the teacher responsible for that holiday, learned more about it and then returned to their class to share their knowledge with their classmates.

Students who chose to go to Ms. Fitch’s class learned about the Japanese festival “Obon Matsuri.” This is a festival that honors the dead; each student created a lantern to honor a loved one, keeping in line with an Obon Matsuri tradition.

o    Students also had the opportunity to learn about traditions from community members. The volunteers who agreed to speak with the children shared how their culture has impacted the traditions that they have in their family, as well as challenges and/or positive ways their culture/ traditions have changed.

Volunteer speaker shares the traditions from her culture (Chile) with Frist Grade students.

Throughout the exploration of this unit of inquiry, the students were asked to consider what they were learning from multiple perspectives. This is a powerful tool for learning about other people and cultures; thus helping students gain an understanding that the importance of family and community beliefs, customs, language, and traditions are universal. Way to go First Grade!!!

Poetry Slam.......Students explore and present wide variety of poetry

Third graders at COES elementary school rock! Their poetry slam on Thursday evening was amazing.  After studying poetry in music and the regular classroom, they performed a wide range of poetry for parents and teachers.  Each class set up their own “Poetry Café” .  Poetry recited included everything from their own poetry, limericks and funny rhymes to the classics and even included a selection from Hamlet.   Each grade had their own MC who kept the show moving with some adlibs and a lot of laughter and fun.  Parents and students enjoyed the performances and the cozy atmosphere with plenty of hot chocolate.  A Spanish song sung by all participants rounded off the evening in each poetry café proving there are no limits to this group of international learners.  

Hour of Code

Kids love to play games.... and computer games are no exception.

So it's hardly surprising that our students (and the parent  volunteers)  had so much fun at the "Hour of Coding" event on Monday. As educators, we know that we want our students to learn how to think logically, how to solve problems and how to stick with a project until they are finished without simply giving up because it's too hard.  During the Hour of Code activities, students developed those very skills while playing computer games.   They had to figure out how to make the Angry Bird get through the maze to the pig or they had work out how to allow the zombie to get to the sunflower despite the obstacles in his path. If they didn't get it right, they simply had to "debug" their program and run it again.  And they kept at it until they got it right.  They worked together, helping each other and in pairs when necessary.  In fact, they were having so much fun that our "Hour of Code" turned into more than an hour... and many of the students were making plans to continue at home.

Anyone can access the Hour of code.org activities and have fun learning the basic concepts.  We're hoping that there will be enough interest to start a technology club after the Winter Break.

Students can still sign up through the link on the COES website for the Thursday event.  

Jumping right into coding.... and having fun

How do you teach a group of 5th graders about computer coding and how to write code?   Not an easy task for even the most experienced of teachers!!!!

Mrs. Walker's 5th graders at COES today jumped right in using their Samsung Notes and an app callled Lightbot One Hour coding.  There are lots of programs and apps out there that will help to make this easier but Mrs. Walker's behind the scenes research in deciding which one to select paid off.  It seems that the students really enjoyed the chance  to make a robot walk around, turn corners and jump up and down steps.   While playing, they were learning some important concepts.  A computer will only do what it is told to do, and you cannot skip a single step or instruction if you want it to work well.  Paying attention to details and thinking a problem through from start to finish are definitely skills we want our students to develop... and judging by their engagement, it seems like a little time for fun is just the way to get started.  Check out more fun ways to learn about coding at hourofcode.com.

5th grade use technology to learn about the past

Mrs. Birrel's 5th grade class are engaged in learning about the tools and technology from the past. They are learning how the past has influenced the present by using computers to view photos of medical and other equipment from the 19th and 20th Centuries. Working together in small groups, they are able to talk about the old fashioned equipment and compare it with the tools and technology of today and realize that what we have today has evolved from the things that were used in the past.

Partnering with Community Members to Enhance Our Understanding of the World

Last week our 1st grade was fortunate to have guest speakers from our community; a firefighter, state trooper, lawyer & middle school principal connected to a unit of inquiry they are exploring under Sharing the Planet. Our school counselor, Mrs. Mutscher, also contributed to this unit with a counselor lesson.

The central idea is: “Citizens can work together to create a peaceful and organized community.” In this unit 1st grade investigates characteristics of good citizens before discussing how cooperation leads to a peaceful community, and resolving conflicts peacefully. This is an important unit for students, as it helps in the establishment of a collaborative classroom, illustrates different perspectives on cooperation and provides opportunities for the children to practice peaceful conflict resolution.  In their presentations, our community representatives talked about how they work with others to “keep the peace.”

One of the benefits of teaching and learning in the PYP is how it strives to provide students with a way to connect to their learning. It does this by making that learning relevant. By bringing in members of the community, 1^st grade teachers were able to support students as they made these connections. The opportunity to ask questions of the speakers allows our students to engage in meaningful conversation and deepen their knowledge of the concepts they are studying.

Using technology to learn about other countries and cultures...

Mrs. Walker’s 5th Grade Class uses technology to chat with students from a school in Guadalajara, Mexico…

Mrs. Walker’s class had fun today.  Its only the 4th day of school, but they are already hard at work learning about other cultures. The 5th graders talked with the students from Mrs. Dyer’s 6th Grade class in Guadalajara, Mexico using Google hangouts.  Student’s from both classes asked questions and got answers about common everyday things such as school lunches, favorite hobbies, school subjects, local geography and even the weather.  Using digital tablets allowed them to take notes easily during the conversation.