Terry Fox Run

This morning the students learned about Terry Fox. Since the early 1980's he has been considered a Canadian Hero.

As a young man he was diagnosed with cancer and had to have his leg amputated. He decided to use his experience to raise awareness and money so that children across Canada would not have to suffer like he did. 

He set out to run across Canada and raise $1 for every Canadian. He ran for 143 days and 5,373 kilometres before he was forced to stop because of cancer in his lungs. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age of 22.

Today we run to continue his Marathon of Hope and to help raise money to find a cure for cancer.

A couple of years ago I created a simple slide show to help teach students about Terry Fox. You can see it here.

I asked the students what they learned today and this is what they said:
He was running fast - Camilo
He was very brave - Dylan
He ran all the way to Ontario -Zakary
He ran very far away - Keira
I was running very fast - Ruth
He ran over 5000 kilometres - Kian
Terry Fox had cancer in his leg - Alessa

We also talked a lot about being a hero today. This is what we think a hero is:

Terry Fox - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

What Did You Roll?

Today we had another wonderful visitor! Her name was Mrs. Page and she works as a Numeracy Enrichment Resource Teacher in our school division.

She taught us a great new game.  The game is called What Did You Roll.

All you need is:

• dice
• game board (you can print them from this link)
• washable markers
• plastic sheet protectors

Each player rolls the die and then crosses off the picture of their roll. The first player with all of their pictures crossed off is the winner!

This game enhances skills including recognizing dot patterns (subitizing), counting and taking turns.

How do we know they are learning?

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As most of you know, our Kindergarten class is play-based. That means that we are committed to spending a lot of time each day playing!!

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The good news is that when children are playing, they are actually learning a lot. It's how their brains process new information.

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While the children are playing, it is my job to come alongside them and help to elevate the play by adding new vocabulary or challenges, without taking over. In our classroom I set out interesting materials that will invite the children to discover something new or practice a skill we have been working on. I also spend time observing what they are doing during play.

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I use a great app called Notability to collect all of my notes. I have explained to the students that I am writing a book about each of them and the book is about how smart they are. The app allows me to take photos of the students work and make notes by speaking into my iPad. This also gives confirmation to the child that they are capable learners!

Here are some examples of the types of notes I write:

This child is able to write his name independently.

This child is able to count to 13 while pointing at each block.

This child is able to create and extend a simple pattern.

Throughout the year I collect all of these notes and am able to use them to plan for future lessons and see how far we have come.  These notes also give me lots of information when it comes time to write report cards.