Musicfest at Sommerville Manor School!

What a lovely music concert which Music Teacher, Ms. Gurnham led at Sommerville Manor School this week! The primary students performed on Wednesday and they were absolutely fantastic! Bravo especially to both Sabrina and Alicia who had beautiful solos. Everyone from Junior Kindergarten to grade three performed with a variety of instruments including sticks and blocks, xylophones, drums, guitar and there were lovely voices all round! Special mention goes to the teachers who put on a surprise performance with a touching melody written particularly with 'Sommerville Manor School' inserted where appropriate! Excellent! My sister-in-law, my daughter and I really enjoyed it!!

Activity requiring Intrinsic Motivation

In order to pursue a particular goal one requires motivation; likewise in order to fulfill the requirements that guide actions toward the particular goal is called volition. It was the built in emotional associations that a student has toward photographs and beautiful pictures that engaged the student in the activity today which was making posters out of inspriational quotes on pictures/photographs. Then it was the volition that followed the activity through to the completed piece of work. The volition of using glue and pasting it onto a background at exactly the right spot either to the top/bottom/right/left of the background; and using glue and sparkles to decorated the background which led the students to a beautiful piece of work. Take a look!

Natalie's inspirational quote

Lovely poster by Andrei, SK

Beautiful poster by William, SK

Creative posters by Daniel, Joshua, Natalie, and Andrei

Artistic posters by Joshua,  Natalie, Andrei

Progressivist Indirect Teaching Strategy

The Guided Inquiry approach to teaching students how to make a puzzle was key in getting the idea across. I used small cubes which when put together can create a picture. I demonstrated a basic picture on four by four cubes. The students were expected to make observations and draw inferences. For example, students were to make observations about how the cubes connect and to infer what the student could draw on them. I encouraged the learning with guided questions such as "have you ever seen anything like it?"  "Do you know how it was made?" "Look closely..can you see that there are lines touching each cube?" "what can you make?" Afterward, I asked one of the students to identify the pattern of the sequence of events that he used to comprise the content of the puzzle. He said that it is an 'eyball with arms and legs,' and he developed it based on my example of a 'smiley face' puzzle.

Eyeball puzzle by Benedict gr. 3

I used guided questioning such as 'how many cubes would you like to use to make up your puzzle?' I encouraged social interaction between Natalie and Serina and active exploration so that the students could develop something meaningful. They furthered their puzzle into more meaningful creations, one was linked to an abstract drawing. Guided Inquiry is definitely an active approach to learning. Take a look at how one of the student's cube puzzle was used in a piece of work.

Colourful Creation by Serina, gr. 2

Play Based Learning!!

What a great way to learn - especially for the early learners in JK and SK and even for the 'kid' in all of them who are growing into the later grades such as up to grade three. The new  Play Based Learning  curriculum that some of the schools are following is a great idea. I find that it peaks the students' curiosity, gives them a chance to make friends, gives them an opportunity to learn how to express themselves and how to experience the world around them. When the students in my After School Programme made cloth heads I called them 'Bunchie Heads' to be creative and this is one way that I use Play Based Learning. For example, when they heard the name 'Bunchie Head' it made them laugh and hence it became a social learning experience right off the bat because they looked around at each other and made a funny connection with others in the programme. It gave them an opportunity to make a new friend. The students worked in buzz groups that they created themselves and they learned that cutting fabric/cloth was more difficult than cutting paper so I assisted them with this part. Then came the fun part when they got the chance to 'bunch' up a piece of newspaper into a ball and place it in the centre of the square of fabric that had been cut. Next they learned to gather all the edges around the bunch of newspaper and most of them were able to hold the edges together at the top in order to wrap a string around it to tie a knot. They got the opportunity to learn how to tie a knot too. Then they glued the googlie eyes and a mouth onto the fabric. It was a wonderful learning experience!! Take a look at the results!!

By Jefferson, SK student

By William, Daniel, and Jefferson, SK students

By Serina, gr 2 student

By Daniel, Jefferson, William, and Hayden - JK and SK students

Parlez vous en Francais?

Moi?...un peu!! I taught grade 5, 7, and 8 French today - following lesson plans, of course. I love teaching! Thank you for the opportunity to lead a few classes today. One of the classes was differentiated as they are in most cases. The most notable thing is that there can be 'beginners' in every class!

Deductive Teaching Approach!!

Creating Daffodils using a colouring, painting and cut and paste method is a good example of how I sometimes use a Deductive approach to teaching. It is teacher centred where I model each step using verbal and nonverbal gestures. I also use timing prompts such as "First," "and Then," "Next," etc. to indicate that one thing happens after the next and to let them know that it is a process to follow. The best way to use deductive teaching strategy is to group the students based on ability and instruct them accordingly. Here are some of the results of the Daffodils which were made of a painted egg carton, glued to a coloured flower petal base which is glued to a construction paper stem with coloured leaves attached.

Lovely daffodil by Andrei

Beautiful daffodils by Hayden, Jefferson, Joshua, and Andrei with William and Natalie to complete theirs.

Inductive Teaching!

I used an inductive teaching strategy to get the students to create images using pieces of macaroni. The students who experimented with this activity were mostly Senior Kindergarten students who just wandered over to the craft table and said "hmmm... what it this doing here?" I introduced the things in the bowls as pieces of macaroni and made a suggestion to use the glue and the paper with the macaroni. The students learned inductively how the macaroni works with glue on the paper through self discovery. Some of the students liked the kinesthetic element of feeling the macaroni and others liked the challenge to create something out of the macaroni. Take a look at the results:

This is a skunk by Joshua, SK.

Designs by Natalie, Joshua, and Sasha using macaroni and glue.