Beach Drive Learning Commons a Hub of Exploration and Connection

December 2, 2022

Academics

GNS

First Steps – Our littlest Gryphons are now making their way to the Learning Commons on Monday mornings! We have been looking at different ways to share information. We have read fiction and non-fiction books, sung songs and enjoyed poems about a frisky neighbourhood creature—the squirrel! It was a pleasure to see the students scamper in with fancy squirrel tails and whiskers this past Monday! Thanks to Ms. Deb and Ms. Karen for this lovely surprise.

Junior Kindergarten – We have been continuing our study of local animals and learning more about owls and eagles. Some of the questions we are exploring are: ‘Do we see and hear these during the day or the night? Are they in our parks, gardens, beaches and/or playgrounds? What do these creatures have in common?’. Stay tuned as ravens and crows will be explored soon!

Kindergarten – It has been an exciting month in the Learning Commons for our Kindergarteners! They finished making their special book bags in art and on Thursday mornings are now choosing a book from our library! We have kicked off this special time with a Mo Williams author study (‘Mo-vember’). Mo is best known for his series, ‘Elephant and Piggie’ and ‘Pigeon Rides the Bus.’ We have been sharing our thoughts and connections to these stories.

Grade 1 – Ask our Grade 1s about ‘metacognition’! We have been exploring ‘thinking about our thinking’ while reading stories in the LLC. Strategies such as making connections, asking questions, visualizing, and inferring have been modelled and discussed. Recently, all Grade 1s also received the book, ‘Fast Friends,’ by Heather M. O’Connor through the TD Grade 1 Book Give Away program.

Grade 2 – Excitement is building about our Grade 2 participation in the Salmon Enhancement program! With this in mind, we have been reading, discussing and making connections to stories about salmon by Indigenous authors (e.g.,.‘Dipnetting With Dad’ and ‘Gift of the Salmon’); the journey of the salmon teaches strength and determination.

Grade 3 – Signs and Symbols? What better way to explore Canada than using a massive floor map from the RBCM! The Grade 3s took their knowledge to the test while exploring the map, looking at its features and doing a scavenger hunt to find out more. The final thoughts ended with, ‘There is so much to see in Canada’ and, ‘wow, Canada is really big!’ The Grade 3s are also exploring historical fiction series this past month such as, ‘Disaster Strikes’ and are fortunate to have local author, Penny Draper, visit next week.

Grade 4 – We have been exploring the author’s purpose. What characteristics do books have that are to entertain, persuade, inform or instruct? We took a look at the following, ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret‘ by Brian Selznick and ‘Lost Words’ by Robert Macfarlane. Both are fantastic examples that we used to analyze an author’s purpose (and excellent gift books for our young readers).

Grade 5 – We are diving deeper into topics such as Africville and the Komagata Maru, gathering ideas and connecting information found in print, media and digital resources.

The big question is, how did these government decisions influence people’s lives and affect citizens?

Library Squad is excited to announce the 1000 x 5 Book Drive for board books and picture books. This will run next week from December 5 to 9. Thank you in advance for supporting Library Squad and this local initiative.

Titles and series of books that are currently loved by our Beach Drive Gryphons:

Keeper of the Lost Cities series;
The Last Kids on Earth series;
I Survived series;
Heidi Hecklebeck series;
Beast Quest series;
Guinness Book of World Records;
Picturepedia;
and of course, anything to do with Minecraft, Fairies and Harry Potter!

Board games in the learning commons have also been a huge success. Students have been coming on their lunch recess to play the many games we have on hand!