Science 

Habitats and Communities

What is a habitat?
What is a community?
How are animals, humans, plants, and habitats connected?
This is what we will be exploring in science this term.

Watch the following videos to learn about habitats.

ART

We are learning about using shapes and colour in art by enjoying some of the wonderful pieces by Wassily Kandinsky. He could see the colours of the music he listened to, and produced his art from the visualizations that formed in his mind when he listened to music. He is known as the father of abstract art. Please view the videos below about his life and view his impressionistic and abstract art.

The students are working on concentric circles, copying one of Kandinsky's well-known abstract pieces. You will see an example of this piece in the video below.

Now find out more about Wassily Kandinsky.

Cursive Writing

Why should we learn cursive writing?
Here are some of the reasons why I will take the time to teach cursive writing in my classroom.

1. Students learn better through movement and using their senses. Vital hand/brain connections forge new pathways in the brain. (Printing and cursive writing activate different parts of the brain.)

Cursive writing compared to printing is even more beneficial because the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical, and visual recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation.   (Neurologist, Dr. William Klemm)

2. Cursive writing helps students retain information as letters are connected and words are thought of as wholes. Taking notes by hand helps students to digest and reframe information.
3. Research suggests that cursive can serve as a teaching aid for students with learning impairments like dyslexia.
4. Most people like to develop their own pleasing personal style of cursive and perfect their signatures. (A printed signature is not secure and easily copied.)

Below you will find the lessons we are using to practise our cursive skills. Feel free to watch them many times and practise along with the demonstrator. (Lessons from the HEV project blogspot.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Lesson 1 (Short & Long Wave Strokes)

                                                                                                                                                                    Lesson 2 (Letters i, s, r, t)       

   

Lesson 3 (Words with the letters already studied.)

                                         

                                       Lesson 4  ( Small Curved Wave Stroke)                                                                                      

                                        Lesson 5  (Using the Curve Stroke to write a, o, d, g, c)

Lesson 6  (Write words using the strokes and letters learned. - dog, toad, got, coat, cod, rag)

Lesson 7  (Hill Cursive Stroke)

Lesson 8 (above) (Turn Hill Stroke into m and n)
Lesson 9 (Write words using the strokes and letters learned - man, noon, moon, moan)

Lesson 10  (Use the Short Wave Stroke to learn the letters u and w)

Lesson 11  (Write words using the strokes and letters learned - mug, wag, straw, us)

Lesson 12  (Short Loop Stroke, Long Loop Stroke)