Starting Strong!
The theme of the first unit of Grade 1 was "How we organize ourselves." Moving up from kindergarten to first grade is a big step, and can make students feel nervous and lack confidence in their new environment. However, after spending some time getting to know their new classrooms and new teachers, the kids began to understand and connect with the new routines of elementary school as well.
The central idea of “Rules and procedures help create a functional community,” helped to guide the students in their inquiry of why the rules and procedures are useful to our class and why it is necessary for everyone to participate in following school rules and procedures. Digging deeper into this central idea was a lot of fun when the kids began collaborating with a partner on the summative assessment --
Students were asked to choose a place in the community that required rules and procedures to be followed for the place to be functional. Student chose locations such as a café, a restaurant, a movie theater, a library, and even a swimming pool. After experiencing first-hand what it was like to see rules and procedures in action at the nearby post office, students began brainstorming what rules and procedures they needed to have for their desired place.
After making their final lists of rules and procedures for their functional place, students illustrated the interior and exterior of their location in action. After spending some time reflecting on what they learned from their collaboration, they wrote a few sentences in Chinese expressing their final thoughts on the project. Students were then given the opportunity to present to each other in class in both English and Chinese, practicing their presentation skills and building up confidence in public speaking. It was truly exciting for the teachers to see the kids being open-minded to their partners ideas and showing a caring attitude towards their classmates through their cooperation and patience.
The first graders produced lovely posters, had phenomenal teamwork, and demonstrated an eagerness to do their best to communicate their ideas! Well done, first graders!
