Inquiring Minds

Huskies U-10 Soccer Tournament

richlandadmin — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:02 +0000

On May 15th, some of Richland’s Grade 3 and 4 students participated in an S.S.A.F. Under-10 tournament at Sheppard’s Bush in Aurora, with 24 teams participating! The Richland Huskies showed great dedication, spirit and sportsmanship throughout the tournament and should be very proud of themselves. You made Coach Almeida and the entire School Community proud!

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The Many Forms of Structure

richlandadmin — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:50 +0000

Our Grade 4 students have been exploring the many forms of ‘Structure’ through Science, Math, Literacy and Investigative Research.The students have primarily explored the stability and movement of the Skeletal System in order to build their own strong and stable skeletal structures. They have also looked at structures existing in literacy (paragraphs, story elements, character development), created an atmosphere using a physical structure, created a containment unit for fog, explored structure at the Toronto Zoo through Mathematics, investigated the physical structure and fortification of castles, and examined societal structure.

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Birdfeeder Dilemma

richlandadmin — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:42:22 +0000

Our SK’s noticed that the squirrels have been stealing all of the birdseed! What can we do?

“We could cover the birdseeds with other seeds the squirrels don’t like, then they won’t know where to find them.” (William)
“We could plant seeds under the birdfeeder, like sunflowers. The squirrels can then eat the plant instead.” (Jerry)
“Find out whatever the squirrels are scared of, and whatever they are scared of we could make.” (Alexia)
“Make a scarecrow.” (Daniel) “That will scare the birds too!” (Caden)
“We could put a big microphone at the window and someone can sleep here. When morning comes he sees the squirrel, and does the noise and scares it away.” (Jerry)

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Mother’s Day Celebration

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:12:02 +0000

On the sunny afternoon of May 11th, Richland students honoured their special Moms at our annual ‘Mother’s Day Celebration.’ It was a truly memorable event, where students and their Moms enjoyed the outdoors and beautifying our gardens together.

We hope that each and every one of our special Mothers had an enjoyable experience. Thank you to all of our Richland children for their love in sharing this most special afternoon with their Moms!

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What’s a Dollar Worth?

richlandadmin — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:22:23 +0000

Our Grade 6 students have been investigating this very question through their number sense inquiry into decimals and fractions. Through their inquiry, they learned that math is everywhere, even in food! They recently worked with fractions to convert one of their teacher’s favourite recipes into one that worked for 10 people, and in the process, enjoyed a delicious smoothie together.

More than food though, they started to think about budgeting! After their initial foray into cooking, they took a step back to think about what it takes to budget for food, considering all of the other aspects of a budget. After considering the difference between a want and a need, and armed with a list of some of the costs of living, students created a personal budget for themselves, calculating their cost of living per month and per year. They were then asked to do the same exercise with an average budget and then on a minimum wage budget. With a day’s worth of their minimum wage food budget, students headed to the grocery store to create a healthy meal to feed the class!

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Experiential Learning Beyond the Classroom

richlandadmin — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Richland parents are actively involved with Reggio experiential learning in their own backyards! Recently, one JK parent shared an image of “something magical” that she and her son saw right outside of their kitchen window:

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PK’s Use Technology to Practice Math Skills

richlandadmin — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:00:06 +0000

The PK children have been actively engaged in practicing their math skills using the interactive white board.

In these activities, using the interactive pen, the children have worked on recognition, matching, and sequencing of numerals from 1-10.

“I will pop two balloons!” said Leo. “Number 10 comes after 9,” declared Matthew. “4 is bigger than 3,” added Vanessa excitedly!

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Exploring Structures in Grade 3

richlandadmin — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:19:22 +0000

Following their initial investigations into ‘Structures,’ our Grade 3 class hypothesized about: “What do you think a structure is?” “What is needed to support the structure?” “What materials and shapes will give it strength?” and “What shapes will be best for the function of the structure?”

After observing and sketching structures from the school property, and researching structures from around the world, the students made plans to design and construct their own structures, using carefully-selected materials to stabilize and strengthen their collaborative creations.

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“The Flowers are Beautiful!”

richlandadmin — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:12 +0000

This week, our PK class had a wonderful opportunity to visit Valleyview Gardens, where they observed many kinds of flowers and saw several machines which are used in the process of seeding, growing and transplanting the plants.

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Sharing Documentation (part 2)

richlandadmin — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:20:41 +0000

One JK student proudly shares his ‘identity panel‘ with his Dad, and his Teacher: “I wanted my Daddy to see my pictures because I wanted to show him what I made. I wanted him to see the beautiful work I did!”

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