Thursday, October 25, 2012

Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom and Mathematical Patterns

Four of the primary teachers and myself are working together this fall on what in teacher talk is called a "professional learning community". We are looking at ways of using children's literature to inspire and provoke mathematical thinking and problem solving. Each week, the four classes (divisions 6, 7, 8 and 9) will be read a picture book during their library block and then follow up with a mathematical task.
Throughout the term, the teachers and I will be meeting to talk about what we've noticed and learned and make plans for future lessons.

This week we read the book Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom by Stuart J. Murphy which introduces repeating patterns using a child's set of toy cars.

As I read the story, the students "read" the patterns created with the cars. They "read" or labeled the patterns using colours, letters, numbers, shapes or actions (clap, snap, tap, etc). We had tubs of math materials (tiles, cubes, blocks) out on the tables and when the story was finished, we posed the following problem to the students:
Using three colours, how many different patterns can you make?
The students were so focused and came up with so many different patterns. Some repeating, some increasing, some decreasing and some circular!






















As the students were working on their patterns, we were asking the students to describe, label, compare and extend their patterns - checking for understanding about the mathematical skills and concepts appropriate to their grade level. The students had a chance to see some of the patterns created by their classmates and then we asked the students to "record" their patterns on a piece of paper using colours and labels or "codes". There was such a variety of patterns created and different ways that the students came up with to record their patterns.

Next week, there'll be another math adventure in the library!
~Ms Novakowski

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

DEAR at Blair 2012

For the second year, Blair participated in the province-wide DEAR event. All across British Columbia, students and staffs Dropped Everything And Read (DEAR) for twenty minutes, starting at 11:00am. This event is held to support literacy, a love of books and reading and to create awareness for the role of school libraries. October 22 was declared National School Library Day!

All across the school, staff and over 300 Blair students could be found reading. The photographs below include as many divisions reading as I could catch within the twenty minutes of DEAR!

Division 9 (grade 1) pulled out fun reading glasses, the grade 5 band class pulled out novels instead of their instruments, Division 2 (grades 6/7) read together as part of their novel study, Division 10 (kindergarten and grade 1) read with their stuffed animals, Division 1 (grade seven) found all sorts of cozy spots in the library to read, Division 12 read together in a circle, Division 5 got in some quality reading time before having their school photos taken, Division 11 read together on the carpet and then read along to a Tumblebooks ebook on the computer and Divisions 3 and 6 enjoyed reading some favourite books.


































It was so inspiring and heart-warming to see all our students enjoying reading all over the school!

~Ms Novakowski

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Scholastic Book Fair

This week the Blair PAC hosted another very successful Scholastic Book Fair in the Blair Library! The students were so excited that a teacher commented that if they were this excited for the book fair, he couldn't imagine what their excitement for Christmas must be like!

A very special and BIG thank you to Sabrina and all the moms who pull this book fair together. They arrive on Monday morning and within an hour the tables are moved and covered with red tablecloths, the book shelves are moved and opened, books are displayed, signs are up and the posters are hung and labelled.


The book fair builds an excitement for books and reading but it is also an amazing fundraiser for our school. We are able to choose lots of new books for the library as well as purchase extra resources for classrooms.

Thanks again to Sabrina and the Blair Book Fair Team!
~Ms Novakowski