A very active term continues. Here's the rundown:
The focus for both Kindergarten classes continues to be on positive play and developing good social skills. The students are practicing their Habits of Mind as they interact and problem solve together. They are also working to listen with empathy, persist and manage impulsivity. A particular focus is on friendship—exploring what being a good friend looks like, sounds like and feels like. The students continue to develop the skills needed to solve conflicts, compromise, negotiate and share. Says Susan, "It's a big part of our program and what we do."
In Junior Kindergarten, small group Language instruction is underway. The students are focussing on a knowledge of the alphabet, rhyming and alliteration. Whole group instruction continues with JollyPhonics, exposure to print and phonemic awareness. The class has also created a syllable graph using their names and animal cards.
Listening comprehension is also an emphasis. The students are encouraged to express their ideas and ask good questions about the stories they hear or topics raised in group discussions. Says Susan, "We had a great talk about the crystal ball in our classroom and why it projects the sunlight as it does. The students shared great ideas and theories."
The class has just begun their personal portfolios. The children have decorated their folder and made one piece of work to go inside. 
These portfolios are a place to keep samples of their work so that they can be shared with moms and dads at their Student-Led Conference. These samples will include examples of things they are practicing, getting better at, good at and proud of. An important aspect of this process will be learning to reflect on their work and play, helping them to become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
In Senior Kindergarten, the students have buried themselves in leaves. Discovering that the leaves falling from the trees in the school backyard have giant black spots and warty bumps, the students are keen to figure out why. The class is busy compiling collected samples for observation and holding discussions in CSI (Computers, Science and Inquiry) around what might be causing the phenomena and if they can help stop it. More research and experiments are on tap.
The other big interest for the class is African animals. Each student has committed to doing research about an animal they want to know more about. They are holding crosstalks to share their wonderings and theories and recording their questions on the computer using the Knowledge Forum software in order to develop a database of knowledge. They are also drawing their various animals on the computer using KidPix.
A recent visit by the environmental organization The Earth Rangers could not have been better timed for our Grade 1 students who are immersed in a deep study of water. 
Much of the Ranger's presentation detailed ways to save water—one of the suggestions being to put a "space saver" in the toilet tank. This idea intrigued the students. They wanted to understand more about how filling a bottle with rocks and sand and placing it in the tank could ultimately mean using less water. In CSI, the students are learning about what toilet tanks look like on the inside and how they work. They are recording their ideas in the Knowledge Forum database and in their science journals, hypothesizing how a space saver might work. Once a clearer understanding of water displacement has been established, the students plan to make their own space savers and take them home for testing in their own toilet tanks.
The children are also becoming well established in their water animal research groups. Each student has chosen which water animal he or she would like to study and are sharing what they know about their water creature and what they wonder. Some children are working independently, others with a partner, and some in small groups to collect information. Future discussions will involve brainstorming the specific information they would like to collect and then how best to display and present the information.
In Math, the current focus is on number sense and numeration. The students are learning more about why numbers are important, discussing why we use numbers and where we find them. In partners, the children ventured out on a number hunt around the school and discovered numbers could be found in some very unusual places! The children are now busy counting groups of objects and recording their findings, filling in missing numbers in a sequence, learning about the difference between ordinal and cardinal numbers and odd and even numbers, and developing strategies for addition and subtraction.
A recent visit to the Royal Winter Fair provided our Grade 2 class with an opportunity to learn more about Ontario's farmers and the farming process. While at the fair, the students spoke to the farmers displaying their crops and livestock, finding out just what kind of farmers they were and what they farmed. One farmer alone will feed 125 people they discovered. After a class discussion, they decided farmers need more support from the public and government to keep their industry healthy.
The class has now moved on to exploring food—where our food comes from, how it is produced and more about the different food groups. The class is examining the food they buy at home, noting from where it originates and recording this data for analysis.
Having looked at Ontario's farms, the class is extending their study to include farming all over Canada, looking at the different agricultural areas across the country. This is also an ideal opportunity to take a closer look at the provinces, cities and bodies of water in Canada. The next step will be a global study of countries and continents.
Webkinz have captivated our Grade 2's and they are finishing up their non-fiction books all about their favourite characters. Writing and illustrating the books themselves, the students also learned how to organize and order a book using what they deemed "common sense." The process included learning how to compile information for a book and developing non-fiction writing skills plus spelling, grammar and printing practice. Complete with photographs, the books also include a table of contents and a comments sheet at the end for readers.
