An Amazing Teacher/An Amazing Class

Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit an exceptional grade 1/2 teacher by the name of Jodi Barrett. She follows an inquiry-based approach to teaching and runs a solid program through the use of centres. These centres enable her to differentiate her instruction and allow students to work independently while she sits with small groups for such things as Guided Reading and close support in Math and other areas.

Believe it or not, underneath this gorgeous display from the natural world is her teacher desk. Jodi has put it to better use. I hate my desk. It seems to be fairly useless. I never sit down when the kids are in the class and I tend to just use it for my day planner and paper and book depository.
Her room may be fairly small, but just as Jodi packs a lot of learning into a short amount of time, she packs a lot of things into a small space. Posters hang from strings stretched across the room. Sometimes you have to swish the anchor charts away with your hand, like a beaded curtain.
Here is the cozy reading area you find when you first walk in.


Jodi allows the kids to use the rainstick to transition between centres.

The Art area, strategically located near the sink.


Hands-on learning is evident at the Math centre.

Guess, Write, Check cleverly stored in a duotang. The acetate is used inside for spelling practice. Kids use a dry erase marker. Great idea!
The damp Science station. Here, students are investigating buoyancy. As luck would have it, my Grade 5s are learning buoyancy in Forces right now.


Icons for centres. Jodi said it took a good two months at the beginning of the year to teach the kids how to learn through centres.

There are no traditional desks in the room. The students sit at small table groups as they move through the day.
There work is stored in these dollar store baskets which sit on the table.
Ugly filing cabinet does double duty as it becomes a display counter/extra Art table.
Jodi scavenges for junk for the class. I believe she got the velour arm chair from her hairdresser, who was throwing it out.
Water scenes used to teach symmetry.

Pictures taken and selected by the Grade 1/2s. They wrote captions underneath.

Thanks for the inspiring visit, Jodi!

Exploring Nature at Riverdale Farm

Riverdale Farm is bursting with so much life and beauty that my husband and I have found ourselves taking Duncan there twice within the last week. It's fun, free, and educational. Here's what we saw...

Piglets being fed by a worn-out mother pig.

Ducks mating.

I asked Duncan what he thought this was. He called it an old lighthouse and then we talked it over and he figured it more likely was a silo.

A grumpy new mother.

A turkey about to fan out its back feathers.

An egg size comparison chart with real eggshells.

A beautiful horse.

Loud sheep.

Down the hill away from the farm, we found a swampy pond that fascinated us. We were surprised by the amount of animals illustrated that we actually saw.

A tranquil moment taking it all in. The air was fragrant with earth and flowering trees.

It's good to be a stick in the mud - or at least be playing with one.

Teaching in the outdoor classroom: What happened to this tree? It died. What do you think caused it to die?

Should I?

Yes!

Tulips in bloom all around.

Great blue heron.

Toads galore.

Turtles everywhere, bathing in the sun.

Sadly, we discovered this turtle who had died. Duncan turned it over with a stick to have a look at its underbelly. I briefly considered bringing it home, but we decided it was best to leave it where it was. Perhaps it would become food for another animal. I think it's good to see the whole life cycle and talk about it - even with a young child.

Everyday sunshine.