This is the question everyone was asking after our latest excursion – walking to a local solar farm and a bamboo forest. It was only a short walk from our school so we could spend lots of time studying different environments and even time for some playing in the snow. We also saw lots of animal tracks and enjoyed guessing which animals might have made them.
Our Unit of Inquiry is entitled “Forces”; the transdisciplinary theme is “How the world works” and the central idea is “Natural forces and human activities change the earth.” On our return to school we drew up a table to record our findings. We listed many natural things but most of the things we saw were artificial. Using our computers, our next task was to find pictures of a totally natural environment and then a totally artificial environment and then an environment that is a combination of both types of environments. Students really enjoyed this challenge.
This week students have begun taking home both Japanese study books as well as an English reading book. They are encouraged to think about how they spend their time after school each day so as to find time of around 30 minutes to study.
A surprise this week was when Ryu brought a new series of books to school to share with everyone. The series of 28 books is entitled “Magic Tree House”. We have already begun reading the first book. Thank you Ryu and his family for purchasing these for us to enjoy at ISN.
Every week now Elementary Class will be venturing outside to study as well as to play. Students are encouraged to remember to bring warm snow clothes every day for these adventurous activities.
On the weekend we hope everyone will enjoy identifying things that are natural and things that are artificial. Studying our environment is fun!
