Learning in Ms. Sen's Gr. 1/2 Class

During one of my recent walks, I visited Ms. Sen's class. The artifacts on the wall demonstrated the learning that is taking place in the class. The first picture shows journal writing that the students completed with a picture to help them communicate their ideas.

Journal Writing Samples

In reading, students are learning to make connections to texts that they read. The class has a learning goal and success criteria to show them what they need to do to be successful with this task. They have also discussed how making connections helps them to better understand what they are reading.

Making Connections

In math, they are learning about numbers using ten frames. A ten frame is a simple graphic tool that allows people to “see” numbers. Understanding that numbers are composed of tens and ones is an important foundational concept, setting the stage for work with larger numbers. A strong sense of "ten" is a prerequisite for place-value understanding and mental calculations. This You Tube Video introduces the ten frame and explains how this tool is useful for students just beginning to learn about numbers:

Ten Frame

Physical Activity at Boxwood

Along with supporting your children's academic achievement, another important task that we have as educators is promoting a healthy lifestyle. It is important for students to develop healthy habits such as eating properly and engaging in physical activity daily. This is important to their physical health and mental well being throughout their lives. We do this through our physical education classes and a variety of whole school activities. Ms. Smith has been working hard to increase the physical activity of our students. This includes organizing "Walking Wednesdays". This is when all of our students walk around our school for 20 minutes. Recently, our 5K Club began in which our students, on a voluntary basis, jog and walk during a recess. The goal is to run 5 kilometres. We also provide different activities in our gym classes. Now many classes are learning to play badminton and some of our primary classes had the opportunity to play curling. We encourage our students to keep fit and active by engaging in physical activity on a frequent basis.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On Wednesday, March 22nd, Boxwood recognized the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This event was planned and hosted by our student council. This day commemorates the lives that have been lost to fight for democracy and equal human rights in South Africa during the Apartheid regime (a regime which embraced racial discrimination). The focus for our presentation was to educate our students about what racism and shadeism are and to emphasize the message that all shades are beautiful. We had students present a powerful spoken word poem, students provided information to the school, and we had a public speaker, Sean Mauricette, discuss the impact of racism. Diversity, equity, and equality are important concepts at Boxwood!

Math Night at Boxwood

On Thursday, March 31st, we had our second community math night. The focus of this evening was to immerse our parents in solving problems. It was simply fantastic. We had many parents of students from different divisions participate. We provided a problem for parents to solve. Then we had teachers demonstrate how they use responses to these problems to teach students mathematical concepts. Great learning!

Parent Telus Presentation

In addition to our student presentations, our School Council also arranged for Telus to provide a presentation to our parent community. This was a well attended event. The Telus ambassador spoke on a variety of topics that included: password protection, supporting children to use their technology effectively, the increasing and widespread use of the Internet, and maintaining your privacy. Thanks again to our School Council for their work in arranging this informative opportunity  for the Boxwood Community!

Student Telus Presentations

To support students to engage in safe behaviour on the Internet,  Telus Ambassadors came to our school to speak to our junior and intermediate students. The Ambassador provided some important information regarding safe Internet and smartphone practises. This included discussion on the topics of cyberbullying, keeping your password safe, and the dangers of posting inappropriate content online. Special thanks to our School Council for organising these sessions for our students.

Media Literacy

One of our goals is to create students who think critically and question the messages and images they see. The world of advertising is one area that we want students to be more aware and critical. We want students to understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product or service and the messages are constructed. We want students to carefully consider how truthful the advertisements are and understand the message that they are sending. Here are some samples of work of work that some of our grade 8 students are engaged in.