A Tower and a Fairy Trail
“We need to find a better way to get the sticks in the ground.”
“Our first attempt didn’t work. We had to choose better materials.”
“Choosing the right sticks made our tower higher and we won!”
This week the first graders enjoyed a forest adventure. The trip included a trail with 23 fairies to discover and a stem challenge. STEM challenges are typically activities where students design and build solutions to problems using a combination of science, technology, engineering and math skills.
The forest challenge included natural materials, those already on the ground, such as leaves and sticks, as well as scissors, tape and rope. The children worked in groups of four to design their own tower in a height contest. Speaking with students from 3 different groups I learned how first attempts often failed and the groups had to problem solve to achieve positive results. The students worked well as separate teams, with individual members assuming different roles.
Congratulations to the first grade teachers, Mrs. McWhirr and Ms Bolton, for giving their students this wonderful opportunity to enhance their learning in an outdoor setting. The children had a great time, even though the weather wasn’t very co-operative. As well as developing problem solving skills the trip gave students a chance to discover for themselves the benefits of working in a team.
First Quarter Progress Reports
From Friday, October 29th parents will be able to view the progress reports from kindergarten through fifth grade on Power School from our first quarter. In the Elementary School, we use a range of assessment strategies that are on-going and both informal and formal. We believe that assessment must be a non-threatening and enlightening process that informs teaching, learning and goal setting.
The information contained in this progress report is a summary of your child’s learning progress for the first quarter of the school year. The report is one of a number of strategies used by our school to communicate with you about your child’s achievements, attitude, behaviour and effort throughout the year. Additional progress reports are provided in January and March, with a final report on student achievement uploaded in June at the end of the school year. Through the reports and, of course, formal and informal parent conferences, we strive to provide pertinent information about specific areas in need of improvement, the degree of progress/development being made in identified areas, and/or strategies for improvement that can be made by students.
Please review this report with your child.
Don Newbury
Elementary Principal
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