Grade 1 & 2 Writing at Boxwood

"Writing is an essential skill can benefit students for the rest of their lives. Writing exercises in elementary school support development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students also learn the writing process, from outline to finished product, which translates into other aspects of life and learning." Today I had the pleasure of observing our grade 1 and 2 students writing. 

Grade 1

Today our grade ones were exploring what makes people important. After talking about this as a group, they had an opportunity to write about what makes them important. This activity gave them an opportunity to write about a topic that was personally relevant to them and to include details in their writing (e.g., providing reasons why they are important). They also had an anchor chart in the classroom to support them to create "Good" sentences. Well done grade 1s!

Grade 2

Our Grade 2s have been working on creating recounts. Recounts are a form of writing that retells past events. They aim to inform or entertain the reader. They have learned the different parts of a recount, created a checklist of what makes a good recount (i.e., Success Criteria), and created recounts together. Now they are creating their own recount using a graphic organizer to support them. Graphic organizers are a series of visual charts and tools used to represent and organize a student's knowledge or ideas. Graphic organizers are often used as part of the writing process to help students map out ideas. Keep up the great work!

Analyzing Media

Now more than any time throughout history children are bombarded with images and messages in the media. To prepare them to for this new world, we need to prepare them to be critical thinkers that don't automatically assume what they read is true. For the past few weeks, our grade 7 & 8 students in Mr. McCall's and Mrs. Fitzgerald's class have been studying that media are constructions. They have learned to identify the parts of a media product and the possible purposes of a media creator in making a media product (e.g., logo, slogans...). Their task is to find find an ad in the form of PSA (Public Service Announcement), commercial, print ad, or online ad and analyze it to determine the message, the purpose, the elements of the add, and who the target audience is. They are doing great work! Here are some pictures of our students at work.

Remembrance Day @ Boxwood

Last Wednesday, we held our Remembrance Day Assembly. Our student council was responsible for organizing the event. They created the agenda, communicated with teachers, and ran the assembly (e.g., operating the sound system and slide show, acting as MC's, supporting the dress rehearsal...). We are so happy that our Student Council is contributing to our school in such meaningful ways. The assembly was a great success. There were a variety of performances and our audience was fantastic and respectful. Thank you to our teachers who prepared our students for their amazing performances and our community members who attended.

Another wonderful activity that happened at this time is that Ms. Breckenridge's students created a display of Canada's fallen heroes. Lest we forget!

Math Games at Boxwood

Math games and puzzles give students meaningful, enjoyable contexts for doing math. While playing, students deepen understandings, develop new strategies, and increase computational fluency. When choosing a math game, our teachers keep in mind the following considerations:

• What mathematical ideas or strategies is the game developing?
• Would the game be best played competitively or cooperatively?
• Does the game emphasize thinking rather than speed

Practice is more than reviewing to memorize – it is about increasing fluency and identifying relationships and mathematical ideas. Purposeful practice is valuable when students understand what they are doing, make connections to what they know, and find it meaningful.

Purposeful practice:

• ​develops skills, problem solving and thinking
• should include a variety of forms (orally, written, using online tools and games, through problems, etc.)   

Here are some pictures from one of our grade 6 classes showing students engaging in math games and purposeful practice

When used properly, math games support student's understanding of mathematical concepts and provides them an opportunity to experiment with different strategies.