Kolam in our SK/1 Class

Today, Ms. Forth's SK/1 class had the good fortune to have a parent volunteer instruct the students in creating a Kolam art piece to recognize Tamil Heritage Month. Kolam is a form of drawing that is drawn by using rice flour, chalk, chalk powder or rock powder, often using naturally or synthetically colored powders, in Sri Lanka, the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and some parts of Goa, Maharashtra as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries. A Kolam is a geometrical line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots (Wikipedia.com). We are so fortunate to have amazing parent volunteers to provide new experiences to our students. Thank you!

Learning in the Intermediate Division

Last Friday afternoon, I observed the learning that the intermediate students were engaged in. While they were working on a variety of tasks, they were all working on rigorous tasks that worked on various necessary skills.

Our grade 7 were working on their math project. They have to design the grounds and attractions for an adventure park. In this task, they have to use a variety of computational strategies (e.g., multiplication) and use their understanding of various math concepts (e.g., area).

 In our grade 8 class, they are getting ready for Black History Month by doing a diagnostic assessment to see what they currently know about Black History in North America.

In our grade 7/8 class, students were working on their "Novel in an Hour" assignment. This is a one page summary of the chapter that they read. This includes identifying, explaining, and representing the key themes, characters, quotations, and settings.

Keeping Active

 As you know, we were challenged with some cold temperatures this week.  On some days we were able to go outside while on other days we had to stay inside. We also had another challenge in that our outside play areas were iced over. After two days inside we decided to have the whole school engage in physical activity instead of being in their classrooms. The kids had fun and got some exercise by power walking in the halls. As daily physical activity and fresh air is good for us, we are hoping that we have better conditions for students to go outside this week.

Happy Thai Pongal!

Happy Thai Pongal!

Today many within our community are celebrating Thai Pongal. Thai Pongal is one of the most important festivals celebrated by Tamil people.  Thai Pongal is a harvest festival dedicated to the Sun God. It is a four-day festival which according to the Tamil calendar is usually celebrated from January 14 to January 17.Thai Pongal corresponds to Makara Sankranthi, the harvest festival celebrated throughout India.

In 2016, the Federal Government of Canada proclaimed January as Tamil Heritage Month. Tamil Heritage Month aims to celebrate the richness of the Tamil language and its literature, as well as to highlight the vibrant traditions, histories, arts, and cultures of Tamil Canadians. In addition, it seeks to recognize the significant contributions of Tamil Canadians in key areas of social, cultural, economic, and political spheres. 

To recognize this month Ms. Calverley and one of our parent volunteers, Ms. Paramasamy, created a display to celebrate Tamil culture in our display case by our library. Thank you so much! It looks amazing. To further recognize Tamil Heritage month, we are going to read quotes each day from the Thirukural. The Thirukural is a classic Tamil text consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals, dealing with the everyday virtues of an individual. It is one of the two oldest works of Tamil literature.

Patterning in the Grade 7/8 Class

Today, our grade 7 & 8 students in Ms. Royce's class were working on visual patterns. This is when you represent a pattern rule (e.g., Add 2 to a number) using a picture/diagram. Below are some pictures for you to see their work.