Mrs. Zurfluh Archive Blog

During math inquiry, KZE students explored ways to classify (sort) objects into different categories.  Students took off their shoes and Mrs Zurfluh sorted the shoes into various groups.  The children identified why they thought the shoes were in the groups eg Velcro, laces and slip on shoes.

Then students sorted their own shoes into 3 different groups of their own choice and explained the reasons why they had put their shoes into 1 of the 3 groups.

The first group, children reasoned that:
Safiya – “all the shoes are black.”
Amie – “the shoes are all black and have Velcro.”
Gabriela – “the shoes all have Velcro.”
Alexandra – “the shoes are all black and have Velcro.”
Ada – “the shoes are all black and have Velcro.”
Veronika – “the shoes are all black.”

The second group
Alex – “I put my shoes in this group because they are all big shoes”
Tim – “I put my shoes into this group because they have Velcro.”

The third group contained Mrs Zurfluh’s slip on shoes.

Tomasz and Tim were unsure of why they had put their shoes into the second group.  Tim and Gabriela felt that maybe they were all medium sized shoes but the rest of the students did not agree. We then decided to put Tomasz’s crocs into the 3rd group with the slip on shoes.
Alex and Altai said:” the first group was open shoes, the second group was closed shoes with laces and the third group were slip on shoes.

But Tomasz definitely did not think his shoes belonged in that group although they did not have Velcro or laces!  So Mrs. Zurfluh put Tomasz’s and Tim’s shoes into second group and asked: “What about this?”

Children thought for a long time.  Safir then suggested that it will work because the first group was girls’ shoes and the second group was boys’ shoes!  Ada agreed with this.

At the end, students noticed that we can sort things into different groups in many different ways as long as we can explain why.

KZE students all adjusted to the new routines and environment very well.  They did an excellent job during the first full week of school.  Our KZE learning journey is having a great start…

https://animoto.com/play/2O4gRvih0sSpFvXabqfrzQ

Dear Parents of Recent KZE Graduates,

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful summer holiday ad are settling into the new school year.

If you are subscribed to our KZE Blog, you will have received this post as a message in an email. You may now be considering whether or not you want to continue to receive emails from our class each time we post something new on our Blog. You are welcome to at your discretion.  If you have decided you don’t, then simply click on the link near the bottom (in the email) to “Unsubscribe.”

We appreciated your support last year and wish you all the best. I always look forward to hearing about how your child continues to grow and learn in Grade One and beyond!

Best Regards,

Mrs. Zurfluh

Following are photos for our summer field day.

It has been a great year KZE! You have worked hard and played hard. Thank you for all the efforts you have put in your learning. Thank you to all parents for your home support. Most importantly, thank you for allowing us to be part of your child’s learning journey. We truly enjoyed our time together. We will miss Scarlett, Emerson, Lizzy, Lisa and their families as they move onto their next adventures. We wish them all the best.

Wish you all a wonderful summer!

Love,
Mrs. Zurfluh & Ms. Tracey

KZE students spent some time reflecting on how they have grown as writers. They compared a piece of writing completed early in the year with the one completed recently. They identified what they used to do, what they can do now, and what they want to get better at. They took the ownership of setting goals for future improvement. We are all very proud of the progress they have made. Here are some of their reflection:

Daisy: “I used to write messy. I can’t re-read my writing. I didn’t leave spaces. Now I can write neatly, I can understand my writing. I leave finger spaces. I write slowly and carefully. I want to get better at leaving smaller spaces and writing some letters better.”

Emerson: “I did not use spaces and people could not read my writing. I could not write neatly and I could not write words correctly. Now I can use spaces, can write neatly and can write words correctly and people can read my writing. I want to get better at listening to all the sounds in the words and write them down.”

Fatima: “I used to write with details, but I could not re-read what I wrote. Now I use spaces and write good. I want to get better at writing.”

Freddie: “Before, I only used upper case letters, no finger space,and can not sound out words. Now I can use upper and lower case letters, use finger spaces, sound out words and use snap words.”

Hannes: ” I didn’t use labels. Now I add details in my writing. I leave finger spaces. I want to get better at writing by adding more details.”

Kyle: “I used to skip spaces when I write. People can’t read my writing. Now, I can leave spaces between words. I can sound out words so people can read. I use end punctuation at the end of sentences. I want to get better at spell words correctly.”

Liam: “I didn’t used words before. Now I can use lots of words and leave finger spaces. I add lots of details. I want to get better at writing neatly.”

Lisa: “I used to spell plant as ‘plat’. I used less details. I used to scribble scrabble. Now I can spell most words correctly. I also add lots of details. I write neatly. I want to get better at spelling difficult word.”

Lizzy: “I can not re-read my writing. I did not use much details in my writing. Now I can put lots of details.”

Michael: “I used to write not that good. Now I try to spell words, use labels, and leave finger spaces. I want to get better at writing difficult words.”

Scarlett:”Before I could not re-read my writing, I used to write my name and other words in upper case, I used to write ‘plants’ as ‘pla’ and I used to write ‘stem’ as ‘sueso’! Now I sound out all my letters and can spell them correctly. Now I can write better, I use punctuation and write a lot of details. I want to get better at writing and also knowing where to put a silent ‘e’.”

Trace:”I used to write really bad – like I can’t write at all! Now I can write like a writer and I am like the best writer in the class. I want to get better at writing the words right, using finger spaces all the time and also putting more details.”

Math
We reviewed measurement, graphing, and data handling. Students noticed that they are taller than last time we measured them. So we decided to measure how tall they are now and then find out how many centimeters they have grown.  They recorded their results on a graph. Finally, we looked at the graph and interpreted the information from the chart:

• Six people grew 5 cm, three people grew 6 cm, three people grew 4 cm, and one person grew 4 1/2 cm
• Most people have grown about 5 cm
• Everyone in KZE has grown

Writing
During writing workshop, we started a new unit on information writing.We reviewed and sorted fiction and non-fiction (information) books.  Then we looked at real-life samples of different information writings including cookbooks, Lego instruction, “how to” books, and brochures. We had discussions about why people create information writing (to teach others to do things, make things or give information). We all agreed that we should learn from other writers on how to do information writing. After studying some mentor texts and sharing our observations, we created a chart that will help us to do our own.

Unit of Inquiry
During our unit of Inquiry, the concepts and characteristics of living and non-living things have been introduced and emphasized – e.g. living things grow, change, move, eat, use their senses, and produce offspring.  Students were able to distinguish living and non-living things by finding examples in our environment.  We also discussed what living things need to survive.  We learned that they need water, food, sun, air, and shelter.  Our nature walk provided an opportunity for children to make connections between what they have learned and real world experience. Students enjoyed observing various plants, flowers, and small insects.  Conversations of what might happen if we step on a plant or pick the leaves off a plant emerged.  They became more aware of the great impact of their actions on plants and animals around us.

We also observed closely the five crickets in our classroom. We recorded our observation in our journal. On Monday, we noticed that two crickets had died. One was in the water and one on the rock. We thought that the one in the water was drown, and the one on the rock was because either it was too old, or it had no food, or it fought with another cricket because its antenna was broken. We did some research on how to take care of a cricket and found out about putting a tissue in the cup with less water, feed them lettuce and carrot, put soil in the container for them to lay eggs.  We found all the things we need for the crickets.  We are observing them every day to see how they grow and its life cycle.