Shapes, Snow, and Guinea Pigs Galore!

One of the best things about Project Based Learning is that you can learn so many things while working towards a common project. Our project's driving question is: "How can we make a happy and healthy home for our pet guinea pig?"

We looked at what living things need to live (food, shelter, water) and what that would look like for a guinea pig. We looked at responsibility - taking care of something even if we didn't feel like it. We had to commit to that before bringing a pet into our class. We looked at the habitat, including online shopping to decide if certain cages would work or not. 

With this project, I was very much wanting the students to not only discover the answers to our questions, but also how to find the answers. We talked about books and videos being good sources of information, and asking one of our volunteers questions because we had met her guinea pigs (she was kind enough to come in again this week for a more dedicated session with students to answer questions. Thanks Mrs. D.!)

We also used this to grow a learning skill - Beautiful Work. Beautiful Work is work that you have intentionally worked very hard on, maybe even changing things to make it better. We watched a video about Austin's Butterfly, made a bulletin board, Our Wonder Wall, with dedicated space for every student's beautiful work, and practiced. Beautiful Work is so valuable because it is a vehicle to introduce feedback, both giving and receiving. After practicing this how to give helpful feedback, we started working on our guinea pig book to share what we knew about these pets. First, we made a plan (Habit 2) and made a first draft.

  

Then, we got to sit in the colourful, feather-ful Beautiful Work chair. We held up our work, looked at it, and our friends used I Likes and I Wonders to give feedback (ie. I like the shape. I wonder if you could add a detail of...). Miss K acted as secretary to write the feedback down, and later that week, we made a good copy on special paper, showed everyone, and celebrated our hard work! Our next step will be to add the words on our good copy. 

(A teacher note: I know that these students are capable of amazing, creative, thoughtful work, so it doesn't surprise me when they make incredible things. But still I was blown away with how hard they worked on their good copies and how they integrated their classmate's feedback! This book will be something to be extra-proud of!)

Now, while it may seem that this project completely took over, we are Kindergarten which means our minds run a mile a minute! Shapes and snow, often integrated, also featured heavily this week.

Two triangles together, with one flipped, makes a rectangle!

We've been working on 2D shapes, and have made some cool discoveries...

Shapes are in everything - even zambonis!

We can look at the snowflakes God made, and use shapes to make our own. We made sure our's had six sides, like the way God makes snowflakes. All different, all special.

We also used shapes at our new snow centre, where we made snowman and snowflakes - sometimes both together!

LA practices cutting when he makes a \
snowman beard!

I know this is getting long, I'm sorry, but one more story. One of the special things about our school is that we teach students 7 Habits for leadership - so that they can grow and be effective in whatever gifts God has given them. I saw a really great example of this taking place, on Wednesday. 

I heard loud noises, not happy tones, coming from the building centre. Three boys come to me each explaining their point of view (there was a difference of opinion as to how the building blocks be used and whose idea should win). I had them stop, and asked them if they were leaders. They all said yes, so I asked if they knew habits to work with eachother. One of them said Habit 4: Think Win-Win. So I encouraged them to find a quiet corner, listen to eachother, and find a win-win.

This is the discussion starting...

I eavesdropped from the other side of the classroom, and heard each of them quietly say what they were hoping to do, in a proactive, neutral tone. A little more discussion, then JA had an idea that merged with KI's idea. And KI had an idea of how to include CA's idea, who agreed! 

They gave me the thumbs up sign, asked if they could build on a round table instead of the rectangle one, and were off! Building tracks, and plowing snow from the "avalanche" you see!

I watched their faces visibly turn from frustration to shared excitement as they problem solved. Best of all, they are realizing that they are leaders who can resolve these things. I as teacher am available always to help, but quite often, as the foundation of leadership is setting in, they just need a reminder of the tools we have learned, and away they go!

If you have stories of this at home, I'd love to hear them!

Also, a reminder, if you have friends with children turning 4 or 5 this year, spread the word about Ready, Set, Read! I'm excited to meet new families with children ready to explore the wonder of God's world.