A House is a Home, but not All Homes are Houses

 This week we began to dig into our central idea, People around the world construct structures differently for different reasons. To do so, the students shared what they already knew about our three lines of inquiry:

- Different types of structures around the world

- How structures are built and designed has change

- Why structures are built the way they are

In a connection to our last unit of inquiry, the students identified the different types of materials that we use for building - wood, brick, concrete, glass, metal, etc. We looked at different images of homes from around the world and completed a See, Think, Wonder chart and shared some of our thoughts orally with the rest of the class.

We also did some reading and comprehension work about the different types of homes, and discussed the differences between a house and a home, as well as the meaning of the word structures and how all buildings are structures, but not all structures are buildings.

We even had the chance to experiment with an unconventional building material…paper! Using only paper and paper clips, the students tried to build the tallest paper tower that they could.

In PE, our focus has been on athletics as we practiced javelin throwing, ball throwing, long jumping, skipping, hurdles, and running. Our sports day will be Friday, April 28th and we are looking forward to showing off our athletic abilities.

Book and Culture Week

 What a wonderfully busy week it was for only 4 days of school! We were so lucky to have had the chance to celebrate several of the different cultures that make up our class and the school! We also managed to do a bit of learning as we reflected on our forces unit and got started on our next unit which is all about the types of different shelters people make. 

On Monday, we wore our silly hats and enjoyed a special Japanese cooking lesson with Ayumi and many volunteer moms as we made some miso soup with seasonal vegetables. It was really yummy and many students asked for extra helpings until it was all gone!

On Tuesday, we just rolled out of bed and came to school in our nice, comfortable pajamas! We explored Japanese and Korean cultures through traditional games and toys with some of the volunteer parents. Students also had a chance to create their own bookmarks with Mr Lubin. 

Wednesday was Character Day so we all came to school dressed as our favourite storybook characters! In class we had two very special guest teachers join us, Ms Rausch and Ms Rashidova!! Ms Rausch came to teach us how to make traditional Korean clothing called Hanbok out of origami paper. Then, Ms Rashidova joined us during our library visit and read us a Russian fairytale that was very similar to Sleeping Beauty. Thank you both so much, and to all of the others who came in to help throughout the week or donated items to the cultural displays.

On Thursday morning we marched to the beat of a different drum in our national costumes as we paraded around the island celebrating all of the nations that make up DSKI and then we enjoyed some delicious onigiri burgers from the Sawada family’s Onigiri food truck. In the afternoon we did some swing dancing with Daria. Some of the Grade 1 students from Australia also came by to share a favourite from the land down under, Vegemite!

Aside from all of the cultural activities, we also had a bit of time in class to wrap up our unit on forces and begin our new unit on structures. We also wrote up character comparisons of our favourite characters and made posters of them. 

In PE, we have started training for one of our next big events, Sports Day which will be held on April 28.

We also sadly had to say goodbye to Ellie this week. We will really miss her and wish her good luck at her new school.