Thursday February 19th was Asian New Year and we had a great time celebrating here at school. We learned a lot about how it is celebrated and the customs surrounding it. We learned a song, watched a dragon dance, ate noodles with 'chopsticks', discovered our fortunes in fortune cookies, and made lanterns, fans and dragon puppets. This is the 'Year of the Goat'. Mrs. Nilo celebrates this holiday, perhaps some of our families do as well.
It is always fun and beneficial to learn about other cultures. We are not all the same and that's o.k.! This helps to foster acceptance and peace in our community. If you have something about your culture you'd like to share, we'd LOVE to welcome you into our classroom. Can you bring in something to show us? Read a book about your culture? Do a craft? Teach us a dance? Play some music? Share some food? Please let us know!
2 Comments
Children quite often build symmetrically, but it's exciting to both them and me when they recognize it. I've been hearing a lot of, "Mrs. C.! Mrs. C.! This is symmetrical! Take a picture!" Many of the kids have "got" the concept when it comes to this context. Using the SMARTboard, we explored different lines of symmetry as well as multiple lines of symmetry. This creates a kaleidoscope effect. One link (it's on our "Links for Fun and Learning" page - check it out!) created a great deal of excitement. The kids were creating beautiful designs using the 'Symmetry Artist'. I allowed each person who made one to print ONE out each day. I was hoping to make a book, but I couldn't get anyone to part with their creation! I should have taken photos. I finally did get the camera out for the three pictured below. The one on the left shows multiple lines of symmetry and Ethan used the 'line' feature to distribute his name symmetrically around the edge of the design. The one in the middle is Nolan's. He had one line of symmetry and carefully drew the left side of the bat while the computer generated the right side symmetrically. I thought that was pretty amazing, since kids this age have difficulty cutting a symmetrical shape on a folded piece of paper and visualizing the half that they can't see, let alone doing it virtually. The one on the right is representative of the many intricate designs that were created!
The kids are really 'into' symmetry, which is not a surprise since humans naturally find symmetry pleasing! We spent some time on the SMARTboard this morning playing some of the symmetry games from our "Links for Fun and Learning" page. They were immediately hooked! I could have printed out dozens of beautiful symmetrical creations that they then made on the classroom computer (but the amount of ink used would be astronomical and well. . . if you print ONE you have to print them all). When they couldn't be on the computer, many kids took to using shapes and blocks to create symmetry. Here are a couple of good examples:
The kids' interest in snow just naturally lead to discovering about snowy environments and the animals that live there. We viewed short video clips and read a lot about Antarctica. Everyone enjoyed all of our learning, but Emily astounded me with this mural she drew. It depicts Antarctica's position on the globe, penguins playing, a male penguin watching a chick hatch, and the penguins' predators. Click on each picture to enlarge it and read Emily's dialogue.Truly amazing!
Symmetry occurs everywhere in nature and in manmade environments! Human beings respond well to symmetry, and you can see from the snowflake pictures in previous posts that children just naturally build and draw using symmetry. This week, we've been paying more attention to symmetry and we've been deciding where the line of symmetry occurs. Asa has really grasped the concept well, as illustrated by the toy he constructed and the painting he created. Try looking for symmetry with your child, it's surprising how many things you can find.
|
About Mrs. C.Mrs. Cuckovic, or "Mrs. C." as she's called, is a retired educator who spent a long and varied career with the Greater Essex County District School Board in Windsor, Ontario. Archives
November 2020
Categories |