This blog post is long overdue but one that I'm excited to be sharing nonetheless! Our Movie Theatre Inquiry continues to be an engaging and exciting learning space in our classroom! Prior to our March Break, we had the incredible opportunity of visiting The Roxy Theatre; a historically restored movie theatre located in Uxbridge, Ontario.

Image from Google Images

The planning and purpose of this field trip was to support our students' understanding of what movie theatre's look like and what roles are needed, but also extend their learning beyond the surface to develop a deeper understanding around how they operate! Little did we know as an educator team, that the morning itself would be full of surprises!

Enjoy the show! - Part 2

Keeping the momentum of a socio-dramatic play area has been at the forefront of my thinking since the co-creation of our classroom airport two years ago (click "Airplane and Airport Inquiry" under "Categories" to read posts pertaining to this incredible inquiry). I often find that these learning spaces within the classroom change the most frequently as students' interests and experiences change quite rapidly from week to week, month to month.  

When looking at the high interest and level of engagement within our current dramatic play inquiry of our classroom's movie theatre, I couldn't help but wonder if it was an appropriate time to seek out a real-world excursion to support our students' interest in movie theatres. For me, field trips are an opportunity to take the learning outside the walls of our classroom, provide a real-world context and experience that students may not be exposed too previously. Furthermore, field trips provide students with the opportunities to verify their understandings and wonderings, and most importantly, drive their thinking and learning forward when back in the classroom. In my experiences and speaking from previous years, my old partner Heidi Theis and I used field trips at various points in our inquiries; 1) to meet the "experts" as a way of supporting our inquiry question and give us a new "spark" when back in the classroom to further explore or, 2) to act as a celebration of our learning and seeing firsthand what is was we've been learning about in action (e.g. visiting an airport and sitting in the cockpit). I feel both opportunities give students an authentic experience that is meaningful when purposefully planned and well thought-out.

Image from Google Images

To support "Room 109 Movies," we began discussing with students who has in fact been to a real-life movie theatre and who might not yet have had that experience. To me, this was a perfect entry point to see if an excursion would be meaningful for my students at this time and for the purpose of driving our students' interests further. I'm happy to announce that we have an exciting field trip booked with the Roxy Theatre in Uxbridge, Ontario whereby students will get a firsthand look into how a movie theatre operates, how popcorn is made, where they play the movies from (projection room) and the different roles movie theatres need in order to work. We will not be seeing a movie, but rather focusing on the inner workings of this type of entertainment our students and families enjoy with hopes that it will allow us to dive deeper into our role-playing, understanding and knowledge within the walls of our classroom.

Image from: http://roxytheatres.com/gallery/listpics.asp

To share this exciting news with our class, I wanted to showcase images of the Roxy Theatre and that of a movie theatre our students might have more familiar with (e.g. a more commercialized and modern SilverCity) and see what they notice and perhaps draw some comparisons. The special thing about the Roxy Theatre, is that it has that "old-time flare" of what movies theatres used to look like and I anticipated students being quite shocked with its outside appearance. 

Here is what they had to say:

What do you see? What do you think this is?

A.O.: "A movie theatre!"
E.R.: "I agree with A.O. - it is a movie theatre because I know movie theatres look big like that."
C.M.: "I think it's a movie theatre too because I see pictures of movies."

What makes you think that? 

A.O.: "Because it looks like one!"
E.R.: "Movie theatres are big places."
C.M.: "Movie theatres always have pictures of movies outside."

What clues from the picture are you using to help you?

A.O.: "Because it has two movie posters there that you can watch on the outside."
C.L.: "There's a sign called "The Roxy" and I think  that's the name of the place." 
O.S.: "I see people lining up and coming in."
M.K.: "I see words on top and numbers."
E.E.: "I see lots of lights."
I.C.: "I see traffic lights and roads - maybe it's on a street?"

I wonder what the people are doing that are lining up?

A.O.: "I think they're going to buy tickets because you need tickets in order to go to the movies."

Lets check the next picture and hear what you're thinking. 
(Students were shown a more close-up image of the "ticket booth" from the Roxy Theatre)

Image from: http://roxytheatres.com/gallery/listpics.asp

D.C.: "I see a radio inside there. I think it's for talking."
I.M.: "They had to go there to get inside to watch the movies."
E.E.: "I think that's where they get the tickets from because it has that radio thing."
C.L.: "It says 'TICKETS' so it has to be where they get the tickets from."
E.R.: "This reminds me of our ticket agents and our tickets in our movie theatre. Maybe this is where they go if someone forgets their ticket."

If we're thinking this is a movie theatre...what do we think this is? (Students were then shown a side-by-side image of the two movie theatres)

E.E.: "They're really different. They have different colours."
E.B.: "That blue one is small and the other one is really big. I've been there before and it's big inside."
A.O.: "That's the SilverCity in Newmarket - I've been there before too. I saw Big Hero Six there!"

After our discussion, I revealed that we will be visiting the Roxy Theatre and that it is a really old theatre but I've yet to disclose what we will see inside the theatre. It was obvious from their reactions that our students are VERY excited to be seeing firsthand how movie theatre's operate! 

Stay tuned!

Enjoy the show!

Over the last few weeks, our socio-dramatic play area in our classroom has undergone a transformation from a very successful bakery to a movie theatre! The reason I wanted to highlight this on the blog was because it has truly allowed for our students to build on their imagination through play, incorporate rich and meaningful learning opportunities for both literacy and mathematics, and lastly, "spark" our students' ownership over their learning space! It is truly inspiring to witness our youngest learners so eager and excited to take charge in their learning and, as an educator, it couldn't feel more rewarding to support them throughout the process!

Here are some highlights from our transformation; all of which have been led by students' interests and ideas and supported by us as a teaching team:

After brainstorming ideas for our dramatic play area, students then voted on the one they wanted! 

Movie Theatre was a clear win! Students enjoyed analyzing our collected data and even made a list of students who had yet to vote due to their absence! It was wonderful to watch them take such pride on ensuring the decision-making process was inclusive of all students!

Students began brainstorming as a team what our movie theatre needs and what sorts of materials we will need to create! A list of movies that they wanted to have playing in our theatre was also co-created!

After posing this question to students: 

"What special jobs does our movie theatre need?" 

students came up with the following:

1. Ticket Agent

2. Ticket Taker

3. Popcorn and Drink Maker

4. Customer

5. Poster Maker

Afterwards, we brainstormed what materials we could use that were already in our classroom that could help our movie theatre feel more "real"! Our students' imagination continues to amaze us as they thought of 

some of the following materials:

- small cups and large cups

- variety of cubes (linking cubes and wooden cubes)

- baking trays

- tissue for the napkins

- clipboards

A special thank you to Jennifer Tompkins, an FDK Teacher at Bond Lake Public School, for inspiring us to use linking cubes for our popcorn! Our students have easily named the "yellow" ones as buttery popcorn and the "white" ones as plain popcorn!

Students have truly taken on the various roles throughout our movie theatre! Their dialogue, exchanging of ideas, teamwork and oral language skills have really helped make our theatre come to life!

So much so, that it has officially been named "Room 109 Movies!" and has a list of "rules" that we follow based on our prior knowledge!

 As part of showcasing each movie at our theatre, we really make it official by watching a short clip of the "featured" movie using our classroom's tech cart! This has really made our theatre feel real since once the clip is over, students practice leaving the theatre and tidy up as a team before 

the start of the next movie! 

Since our movie theatre was becoming so busy and popular in our classroom, we problem-solved as a team and came up with the solution that the movie space has room for only 6 chairs! In doing so, one SK decided that by keeping track of who has bought tickets (using tally marks), we can tell people when the show is "SOLD OUT!" - how awesome is that! Whoever is the "Ticket Agent" now has this responsibility added to their job! Moreover, our "Popcorn and Drink Maker" is in charge of reading each ticket order and choosing the correct size container (small or large) which has given us the opportunity to begin to explore mass and capacity!

We hope that this transformation leaves you feeling inspired to think about the ways you integrate literacy and mathematics into your dramatic play areas of your classroom! 

We hope you enjoyed the show! 

Lego Airport

Thanks to one of our SK students (L.D.) and their parents for sharing this creative representation of an airplane, an air traffic control tower and a runway out of lego! When L.D. shared his creations from home today during our Morning Meeting this is what he had to say:

J.S. (SK): "How did you know how to build all that?"

L.D.: "Well, I looked in a book and it inspired me and teached me how it should look like and how to make it." 

Ms. Theis and I truly love hearing about our students' learning extending beyond the walls of our classroom. It makes our hearts so happy to know that our students are making such meaningful connections between home and school and sharing all that they know with their families! Thank you to L.D. and his family for letting us share these pictures and your creations on our blog! 

Lorna Jackson Airline Update

Airport 126 has been quite a busy space in our classroom over the past few weeks! With flights going to Florida, China, Germany, Australia and beyond, our students have not only adopted particular roles which they felt were important (e.g. ticket agent, flight announcer, pilot, co-pilot, passenger, security guard, flight attendant), but they have truly shown eagerness and enthusiasm towards participating in this new transformed learning space.

Thank you to my wonderful Aunt who is a Travel Agent, for visiting our classroom and teaching us about what travel agents do, what belongs and doesn't belong in a suitcase, and surprising us with luggage tags, ticket holders and our very own airplane model! Your visit sparked lots of conversation around vacations and the steps to take once you arrive at an airport. Many of our students enjoyed sharing their own personal experiences from visiting places around the world and drawing and writing about them.  

This post highlights the student-led advancements within our dramatic play area as we continue to learn more 

about airplanes and airports! 

Here are some of the exciting additions to our learning space:

1. "Role Tags": Students decided that in order for everyone to know what role they are playing, they need a tag (e.g. ticket agent, pilot, co-pilot, etc). These are just simple clip-on plastic tag sleeves whereby students have written down each role.

2. Personal Passports: L.D. mentioned during a mini lesson that he needed a passport in order to go on his trip with his family. That comment led to much excitement as other students were able to make connections to having passports also. To support their idea, my DECE and I created a simple template for them to use. Each student filled out their passport and whenever they visit a new place, they get a sticker inside their passport to symbolize where they've been! It's been a hit!

3. Seat numbers: After reading many books about airplanes during our shared reading and read-aloud time, A.C., I.D., and C.M. decided that it was important for passengers to know what seat to sit in so they created seat numbers for the backs of our chairs. This also made it easier to fill in our Airline tickets!

T.B. (JK) decided to sort the airport word cards
around the carpet based on the first letter of
every word! Students saw and began reading all the
different vocabulary cards and making connections
to our airport! 

4. Luggage Scanner: After sharing A.C.'s creative representation of an "x-ray machine" at the Building and Constructing area to the class, she inspired a few students to make a plan for our giant cardboard box. R.L., T.B., I.D., J.S., and A.C. worked together to draw what they wanted our scanner to look like and what materials we would need to make it work. As a result, black streamers, tape and scissors were used to give it that realistic look! 

5. Security Computer and Checklists: I.D. brought in a book from home to share with the class that was all about airports. She noticed in the middle of the book that there was a picture of a luggage scanner! She also noticed that it needed a computer to see inside the luggage so she decided to create one to add to our airport. Similarly, a small group of SK's came up with the idea to make a checklist of "safe" and "not safe" items so that when luggage goes through the scanner, they can use the computer to check off what they see. Amazing!

This transformation of our dramatic play area has allowed us as educators to integrate, document and assess many curriculum expectations! Below are two short videos of three of our SK students (I.D., A.C., and S.M.) engaged at our ticket counter: 

(I apologize for the video being so small...it was much better quality on iMovie)

Oral Communication

BIG IDEA: Children are effective communicators.

1. Communicate by talking and by listening and speaking to others for a variety of purposes and in a variety of contexts. (1.2, 1.5, 1.7)

4. Communicate in writing, using strategies that are appropriate for beginners (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.5)

Number Sense

NS1.3 Begin to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects

NS1.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the counting concepts of stable order

Stay tuned for another update since we have another surprise visitor coming!

Up, Up and Away!

The phrase "reaching new heights" continues to be evident within the walls of our classroom! Ever since our two Skype sessions with Ms. Callenbach's kindergarten class from New York City, the students in our classroom have not only been very busy writing letters and investigating the similarities and differences between our two communities, but they have used their prior and learned knowledge about the world around them to make incredible connections between our inquiries and their own personal experiences!

But just how far is New York City from Woodbridge?

How could we get there?

These questions led to a rich conversation whereby the following connections were made by some students:

"I went on a plane when I went to Punta Cana." - R.L.

"Me too! I went to Egypt on an airplane." - T.B.

"I went on an airplane to Bahamas with my family." - I.D.

"I went in an airplane and when it closed it moved. Airplanes are really big." - L.D.

"When my Mom went to America she went in a plane." - W.F.

"I watched movies on my plane when I went to Florida." - E.S.

"Airplanes can fly in the clouds because the clouds are air. It looks like fog." - L.D.

"You can fly in the clouds, up in the sky, look outside the window and see houses!"- S.M.

With airplanes becoming the headline of our conversation, our students (with little prompting) came up with the idea to transform our Dramatic Play area into an airport! When asked what we could use our airport for, I.D. replied, "Well, we need airplanes to visit all of the far away places on our "What Can You See?" map because they are just really far." The amazing thing is, our students' thinking didn't stop here. Many of our students began making connections to our Cloud Inquiry and talking about what happens when airplanes fly through clouds. Students also began talking about what airplanes look like and sound like when flying up in the sky and sharing personal experiences with each other! I think it goes without saying that my DECE and I continue to feel inspired by our youngest learners and how they can take their own learning to "new heights!"

Over the past couple weeks, the students in our class have shared many personal experiences and prior knowledge about airplanes, airports and vacations! Below are some of their initial theories around what they see, think and wonder when it comes to airplanes and airports:

What do you see in or on an airplane?

"You put your seatbelt, just like car." - T.B.

"There is a bathroom but it's really small. I saw a place where a conductor steers the plane too. Oh, the pilot is in the cockpit. I know that place because me and my brother we walked right by it." - S.M.

"An airplane has wings." - R.F.

"Windows." - T.D.

"You see lots of things when you see out the window." - J.S. (JK)

"There is like you have a number in your seat, so you know where you sit." - I.D.

"I saw tv's, magazines, books and stuff." - S.M.

"Jets make it go (turbines)." - J.S. (SK)

"To be safe, you have a life jacket and a mask. Something is for the mouth." - T.B.

Signs and posters being made for our airport

Who do you think has special jobs on an airplane or at the airport?

"I think a butler pushes the food carts." - W.F.

"I think people are helping the pilot on the plane." - I.D.

"I think there is another plane but it's called a jet." - L.D.

"I think that when the pilot lands there are people who tells them where to land and helps them where the plane lands." - L.D.

"There are passengers." - S.M.

"I know you need a ticket and bags when you go to the airport." - E.S.

 

As of last week, students have begun to create special job tags, vacation books, airport signs and giant wordles to make their thinking visible around their ongoing learning about airplanes and airports! With the giant donated box, our students have amazing and innovative plans to turn it into either a "baggage scanner" or the side of a giant airplane! Even our cockpit is under construction! Similarly, we have begun to create individual student passports to make being a passenger feel even more real since one of our students enthusiastically shared that you need a passport in order to go on an airplane! We know we are only just scratching the surface right now in our airplane inquiry, but we can't wait to see where we fly off to next with it! 

Our Cockpit under construction

Stay tuned for another update this week as we also have a "Surprise Visitor" coming in to teach us more about airports! 

New York City...China...Germany...Winnipeg...Mexico...British Columbia...and more - the sky is truly the limit in our classroom!