Taking a Gallery Walk of Our Journey

As the school year comes to a close in the coming week, we decided to recount our favourite memories of the year together as a class! From the garbage pick-up and our Roots of Empathy baby to our field trip to McMichael Art Gallery and Pizza Pizza, the most popular memory, however, was related to our Tree Timeline! In order to make our students’ recounts authentic and purposeful, we asked them how we could best reflect on our journey! One student suggested that "We could go out and look at the pictures" and the rest of the class agreed...so we decided to bring them back to the start of the timeline and have them "walk the walls." It was a wonderful opportunity for students to discuss their memories, their learning, and their peers. Some students even came up with new "wonderings" that we later took back to our sharing circle which gave students the opportunity to answer their peers. 

Here is what they had to say:

“I see old friends that aren’t here anymore.” – I.D.

“J.S. is building a snowman and A.D. and me rolled a big snowman too.” – A.M.

“I see a bird nest which is a good home for a bird.” – A.Z.

“We were using tape measures to measure the trunk of the tree.” – A.L.

“I see all the months of the year!” – A.T.

“I see R.L. I wonder what he’s thinking? Maybe he’s looking at the tree’s shadow.” – E.C.

"Our tree is living in a cloudy day." - D.M.

"I see me making a snowman!" - V.V.

"I see the leaf buried in the ice!" - R.D

"I wonder if the snow felt cold in their hands?" - M.D.

Ms. Schmidt: “I wonder why we call these seeds helicopters?” [pointing to a picture of a branch with seeds hanging down from it]

Student Response: “I think because they have wings and helicopters have wings and both spin round and round.” – I.D.