This past Friday marked the start of a new and exciting chapter in our program: "Forest Friday's!" After the incredible learning experience last Spring as part of the Ministry of Education's Pilot Project entitled "A Week in the Forest," (click here if you have yet to read that post), I couldn't help but get excited to launch this part of our program every Friday! 

Our students' love for the outdoors is contagious and we are so fortunate to have our magical forest within walking distance from our school. It truly has become a "magical" place for learning and one that our students have a genuine love and care for! 

As a teaching team, we want our "Forest Friday's" to be an opportunity that extends on the learning happening within the walls of our classroom while at the same time, help our students foster a loving connection with nature. From "Sit Spots" and experiments to exploration and more, our "Forest Friday's" continues to be a natural recipe for fun! 

Chapter Three of "We Can See" has begun!

 Our "We Can See" Project continues with this exciting new chapter of learning! 

The slant this year is to harness the outdoors and to take our learning beyond the four walls of our classrooms! We encourage classes to go outside and look closely at their natural environment and take photos of their outdoor areas since they too are a canvas for learning. 

Do you have an outdoor classroom? 

Is there a forest nearby? 

Do you walk to a local pond? 

Can you see a lake from your yard? What can you see?

We invite you to meet with your class and share the ways you use the outdoors as a learning space! The opportunities are truly endless. We have a Google Drive Folder available for sharing and we will post some of our new books on this blog.

What can you see? How can you help? - Our First Skype Call!

A few weeks ago, our class had the wonderful opportunity of connecting with another Full Day Kindergarten class from Keswick, Ontario as part of our "What can you see?" global inquiry project! 

This was most certainly an exciting announcement since our students have had very little exposure to what "Skype" is all about and seemed quite puzzled by the fact that they would actually be able to see, hear and talk to another class over the computer!

In preparation for our very first Skype call, we wanted our students to come up with three questions that they would like the students in Mrs. Harrison's and Miss Sanders' class to answer so that we could gain a deeper understanding of their school and where they live! Here is what we came up with:

1. Why are there so many "graders?"
2. What are the workers building near your school?
3. What are milkweeds?

Here is what we learned about their school, Lake Simcoe Public School:

1. We learned that graders are scrappers and their job is to go across the ground the scrape the dirt. It goes inside the truck and later goes out the truck.
2. We learned that the workers are building houses! Lots of houses! So far there will be 4 new roads and lots of new houses.
3. We learned that milkweeds were near their pond and monarch butterflies need milkweeds because they live on them. They are a type of plant and help with the life cycle of butterflies.

Here are the three questions Mrs. Harrison and Miss Sanders' class asked us about our school yard:

1. Why is your school called Robert Munsch Public School?
2. Why is your school look like ours?
3. Why do you have a park?

We had a lot of fun answering these questions and teaching our new kindergarten friends all about our school, where we live and what we can see! To conclude our Skype call, Mrs. Harrison and Miss Sanders' class came up with "compliments" for our class. Here are what some of her students had to say:

"I really liked your class."
"I want to compliment your class for talking to us."
"I would like to compliment your class for your book so we can read it."

Some other interesting facts we learned about our friends at Lake Simcoe Public School was that their school is 13 years old even though it looks a lot like our new school. We also learned that they have a new highway that goes to their school and more and more people will start living near their school in all those new houses. 

As a way of consolidating our new learning about Lake Simcoe Public School and our first Skype call, we asked our students what they enjoyed about this experience! Here are some of their thoughts:

"I liked how we could see them on the screen and talk to them!" - C.L. (SK)
"I liked when I got to ask them a question." - A.O. (SK)
"I liked how they reached us about their school." - C.D. (JK)
"I like how they have a pond too!" - E.B. (SK)

This first experience and exposure to what Skype is all about not only gave our students the opportunity to connect with other students their age, but also allowed them to begin to gain an understanding of different communities and how they can be similar to our own. We truly look forward to connecting with Mrs. Harrison and Miss Sanders' class again over Skype very soon as we hope to compare our ponds and the changes that we observe! 

Since this year's "What can you see?" project also extends to "How can you help?", this month, our class decided to get our school registered for the York Regional Police's "Holiday Heroes" Campaign and donate non-perishable food items to our local community for the holiday season! This is one way we are showing kindness and making a difference in our community!

Photo from: http://rmpsyr.com

A sincere thank you to Mrs. Harrison, Miss Sanders' and their students for opening up their classroom and school yard to us and teaching us something new about the world around us! From our class to yours, we look forward to growing and learning together this year! 

Please be sure to visit our "What can you see? How can you help?" collaborative blog to read more on this exciting project! #WCYseehelp

http://whatcanyouseehowcanyouhelp.blogspot.ca

What can you see? How can you help? - Fall 2014

Our first book as part of the "What can you see? How can you help" collaborative inquiry project has now been posted on our shared blog: 

http://whatcanyouseehowcanyouhelp.blogspot.ca/2014/11/what-can-you-see-fall-2014.html

Our class had a lot of fun walking around the edges of our new school yard and capturing all the wonderful things that we saw that help make up our school community. As part of the collaborative project this year, unlike the previous year, is that we've extended the project to include ways our students can help make a difference in our classroom, school, community and world! 

Since September, our class has been working hard at being the best "bucket fillers" they can be by saying and doing nice things to their peers and teachers within the school each and everyday. This continues to be a large focus for us and we look forward to helping others in different ways and learning about how other people help us. 

Here is our "What can you see?" video that captures the fall changes in 2014 we observed! We welcome any comments, questions and connections on our collaborative blog to extend our discussion in the classroom! 

#WCYseehelp

What can you see? Who can you help?

This post will highlight, with great excitement, an invitation to play for the 2014-2015 school year with the launch of a second chapter of our "What Can You See?" collaborative inquiry project! 

For those of you new to my blog or perhaps unaware of what the "What Can You See?" project was all about, here is a snapshot of how it began and where it took us! Last year, some teachers within our Professional Learning Network (PLN), came together over a simple inquiry question that encouraged classes to compare their environments: "What can you see when you look out of your classroom window?" Classes photographed what they could see (e.g. park, basketball nets, tarmac, etc) and created a way to share their view. iBooks, Quicktime movies, comics, and blog posts were ways that classes displayed the things students could see within their schoolyard and these multimedia presentations were used to compare and discuss the similarities and differences between school environments! Over the course of the school year, some classes connected even further in conversation by engaging in SKYPE calls to further their questions and comparisons of their schoolyards. As the seasons changed, students learned about the differences in a schoolyard in Ontario versus schoolyards in Mexico, Hawaii and other locations. Safe to say, it was an incredibly rewarding project for both teachers and students involved! Teachers tweeted and blogged and students talked and shared their comparisons. Some of the interactions are posted on the collaborative blog space created for this inquiry project. You can read all about our journey by clicking on the link: http://wecanseeprojectsharingspace.blogspot.ca/

To shed light on how the second chapter of this project emerged, a reflective discussion was had between some close friends, Heidi Theis, Angie Harrison, Carmela Sita and myself whereby we reviewed how the project went and noted the benefits it had on our learners in a multitude of ways. Within our conversation, we discussed how we wanted to engage in the project again with our new group of students in the Fall. However, we feel a need to take this concept one step further - in doing so, we discussed ways to include a social justice lens that is appropriate for young learners. 

So here is our proposal to act as an invitation to play for this upcoming school year (2014-2015):

Join us in a collaborative project that will engage your students and make a difference.

Details: 
At different points throughout the year, ask your students to create something that will show others what they see in their schoolyard. Use a format that works for your learners. eBooks, Quicktime Movies, Comics, picture books, audio files or any other method that is easily shared virtually.

Next, with your learners think of a way they can help. It can be as simple as helping people in your school or community. It might be participating in a food drive, helping in a seniors’ home or your class might be a part of a global project. One suggestion, your class could write picture books for your local Children’s Hospital. Your class might find an environmental issue to support or your class might respond to a crisis that is happening in your community or in the world.

A blog will be used to share what you see and ways you are helping. If you wish, you can connect with classes and SKYPE and talk about how you are helping others.

Classes could participate in this project once, or several times throughout the year. They could show progress of one way they are helping or they might show different ways they help throughout the year.

Our hope is this project will help students understand that we can all make a difference in the world. (no matter how old we are or where we live)

Here are some resources that might help launch the project.

Resources:

If Everybody Did by Jo Ann Stover

How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer

Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Lily and the Paper Man by Rebecca Upjohn

Lots of other picture books and lessons listed at:
http://www.arteducators.org/news/national-convention/Sarah_Ryder_Using_Children%E2%80%99s_Literature_to_Teach_Ideas_of_Social_Justice.pdf

Resources for helping:

http://www.terryfox.org/

http://www.freethechildren.com/

Next Step: 

Indicate on the blog that you are interested in participating. Use the blog post links to your class’ view of the schoolyard.  

OFFICIAL BLOG LINK:

www.whatcanyouseehowcanyouhelp.blogspot.ca 

Tweet using the hashtag #WCYseehelp

"We Can See" Project - A True Celebration

About a month and a half ago, my good friend and inspiring colleague Angie Harrison (founder of the "We Can See" Project) was contacted by a writer for the Ontario College of Teacher's "Professionally Speaking" magazine who was interested in showcasing this incredible global inquiry that stemmed from one simple question, "What do you see when you look outside your classroom window?" Not only did this project begin with such a simple question, but it resulted in connecting classrooms on a global scale as our youngest learners began to inquire and learn about their communities and the world around them; a truly authentic way of connecting the big ideas in the Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum to the real world. 

(You can read about our involvement in this incredible project by clicking on the "We Can See Project" tab under Categories or by visiting our collaborative blog space: http://wecanseeprojectsharingspace.blogspot.ca)

Safe to say, I was truly honoured when Angie extended the interview opportunity to myself and another good friend and inspiring colleague, Joanne Babalis (http://myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.ca). Not only was this something I had never anticipated, but it was truly a celebration of our learning as a class and as a professional learning network of many educators from the 2012-2013 school year and I couldn't be more honoured, inspired, and thrilled to be a part of this documented journey! 

After checking my mailbox daily for the last week or so, the December issue of "Professionally Speaking" magazine finally arrived and I couldn't be more proud to see our journey documented for other educators to read about and feel inspired by! 

Here is the article for you to enjoy:

I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Angie and Joanne for continuing to inspire me on a daily basis. I feel incredibly fortunate to have you both in my professional learning network and I can't wait to see where our next global inquiry of "Looking Closely" takes us! Here's to new learning and a wonderful journey ahead!  

"We Can See...All Around the World" - ECOO Presentation 2013

Last Thursday, I had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to present at this year's 34th Annual ECOO (Educational Computing Organization of Ontario) Conference in Niagara Falls! 

The conference entitled, "Bring IT Together", is "Ontario's premier educational technology conference. Hundreds of educators from all over the province get together annually to learn and share best practice for the use of computing technology in the classroom."

Co-Chair Doug Peterson

It was truly an honour to present alongside such an inspiring and passionate educator, my colleague and friend Angie Harrison (@TechieAng / http://techieang.edublogs.org). After being involved in the "We Can See" Global Inquiry Project last year with our kindergarten class (please see the "We Can See Project" label on my blog for previous posts), we wasted no time preparing our proposal for sharing our learning and collaborative journey with other educators at this year's conference!

The purpose of our presentation was to take other educators on a journey around what it means to begin your own Global Inquiry and what things you'll need to consider when creating or participating in one. With the concept of Digital Citizenship at the forefront, we wanted to give our audience an understanding of how a simple concept like what you can see out of your classroom window, can be expanded upon in so many different ways and look different across the grades. 

We did not want our focus to strictly be on the Full Day Kindergarten lens, even though that was where our journey took place, but rather shifting that lens to any grade and for educators to see the beauty of collaborative, digital learning and how it can elicit such authentic and meaningful connections for our students and their learning of the world around them.

As take-aways, we created "Bookmarks" that highlight those important points to consider when beginning or taking part in a Global Inquiry project:

To top it off...the feedback from our presentation couldn't have been more positive! 

We not only assisted three of our audience members as they joined the Twitterverse, but we had one audience member in particular, Magdalena Front (@TechMagFront) create her very own "We Can See" video from her experience in Niagara Falls while attending the conference! Thank you for letting me share this on my blog and I can't wait to share it with my class! 

Here is the link to her blog: http://upfrontandcentre.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/we-can-see-at-ecoo13/
I truly can't wait to see where this new learning takes you and your school and I look forward to checking back often to read about your own We Can See journey! Here is the video she created:

Thank you again to everyone who attended our session and to our supporters near and far for all of your encouragement and positive energy! I truly can't wait to see where this year takes us! 

We Can See...All Around the World: ECOO 2013

Please join my inspiring colleague Angie Harrison (@TechieAng), a Full Day Kindergarten teacher in York Region, and I as we engage in a conversation about ways to use Global Projects in the classroom at this year's ECOO 2013 Conference!

As mentioned on their website, "ECOO is a voluntary organization for teachers, by teachers. The breadth and scope of workshops make it the perfect destination for self-directed professional development."

The following is a captured description of our session:

In our session, we will highlight our We Can See Project and talk about ways we connected with classrooms and educators around the world.

(http://wecanseeprojectsharingspace.blogspot.ca) 

Come and learn how you can take this simple concept and create an engaging Global Project to meet the needs of your classroom in any grade! 

Feel free to click on the following link to read more about the ECOO 2013: Bring IT Together Conference (http://bringittogether.ca)

What Can You See? and Egypt!

With the "What Can You See?" project, our students have been able to not only develop a greater understanding about the world around them, but in fact, the project has grown to the point where our students can learn about and appreciate different cultures around the world. 

As part of this new and exciting chapter of "We can see" books, one of our JK students (T.B.) recently got back from a trip to Egypt where he was visiting family. He was very excited to share his pictures with us and tell us stories about what he saw there and where he had visited. We had offered to compile his photos and create a digital book to share as part of the project on his families behalf!

We thank T.B. and his family for collecting these wonderful photographs and for letting us put them together into a digital book to share with all of you!

This video, along with our video from A.C. and her family in China, has generated lots of discussion in our classroom as our students have begun to see connections from these "We Can See" books to other books found in our library and at home. T.B. is very proud of where his family comes from and his ability to teach us new things about his culture and country! 

Even though the end of the year is approaching rather quickly, we still encourage our families to participate in this wonderful learning opportunity well into the summer months! If you haven't already, please check out our shared learning space for this incredible project by clicking on the link below:

www.wecanseeprojectsharingspace.blogspot.com

"We're going to send our letters!"

After much hard work, today was the day where our class finally mailed their letters to our friends in New York City! As we began our walk this afternoon, our class was full of song as we sang about our letters and marching to the mailbox! 

Once we got there, our students began to make connections to their own mailboxes and where they go to get their mail. R.F. even posed this question: "How will the mail carrier get our letter?" which led to such a wonderful learning opportunity for our students to understand the process of using mail as a form of communication in our world. 

We even went on a Nature Walk and looked for
signs of Spring!

It's safe to say that our class is already eager to receive letters back from Ms. Callenbach's kindergarten class! Here is a snapshot of some of the letters that our students worked so hard on creating! We look forward to sharing our hopeful response from our new friends very soon as we embrace the wonderful pen-pal tradition!

Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome as we continue on this incredible journey!  

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!