Student-Led Conferences at Confederation Park

Yesterday our school held their Student-led Conferences.    

The girls were very excited - especially Sasha.  She's kind of new to all of this school-stuff, you know.  As we walked to school together when Mike got home from work, Sasha was practically jumping out of her skin with anticipation.   She claimed she didn't want to go first, but grade one is where we began our little tour of what our girls have been spending their days doing.

Sasha's teacher has just finished teaching an amazing unit on Vikings.   She's done an awesome job!  The boys were really into the grunting and warrior-like style of the large bearded men, and the girls were all into the cooking and the clothes.  There was something for everyone!

Sasha's tour began with showing us all the Viking Village her class built.  

They even made Viking clothes for all of the Playmobile people who reside there.

Check out the real grass roof on the Viking house!  Miss Collins sprinkled grass seed and covered it with a thin mesh and sprayed it with water.  The houses have all needed their grass cut at least once!

Yes, I'm laughing uproariously.   Yes, my children wish I'd refrain from this in public places.

But I'm reading Sasha's Viking report and loving every minute of it.

I mean how can you not laugh with total delight when you see a picture of this little Viking girl named "Siv Mikesdottir"?  Mikesdottir = Mike's daughter.  Get it?

Miss Collins even made a real replica Viking dress for little Siv to wear.

I love how excited Sasha was to show off her work.  

Being in grade one is pretty great.

Sasha read us her story about Roger the monkey.  She's not finished yet.  

The tale so far left us wanting more, however.

Here's Sasha with one of her favorite people in the whole wide world, Miss Collins.  

Miss Collins has been a perfect fit for Sasha.  She's the kind of teacher who just floats around the room gently like a feather -  touching down when needed.  Her classroom is full of creativity, her voice is soft, and she inspires some great thinking.  

Next stop - Hannah's classroom.

It just so happens that it was Hannah's turn for being the student on the spotlight board in the hallway this week.  We had lots of fun last week choosing pictures and things about Hannah to display on the bulletin board which tell a little bit of Hannah's story.

Hannah designed an add for a contest the "Burnaby Now" newspaper was having a month or so ago.  Her design won, and she had just received a framed copy of her winning entry.  My favorite part about her add is that it featured a female firefighter.  That's what I'm talking about.

Here is Hannah demonstrating a Science experiment....

.... and sharing some parts of her writing portfolio.

And here is Hannah with her beloved Ms. Parmar (on the right), and her student teacher for the year, Mrs. Brown (on the left).  Hannah has been so fortunate to have Ms. Parmar for two years in a row.  She is such a wonderful positive example of a strong, intelligent, interesting, and compassionate woman.  She generates amazing conversations and weaves her own life into those of her students with great generosity.  What a gift she's been for Hannah!

And finally, last but not least, it was Ellie's turn to take us into the 

inner sanctum of her portable classroom.

She began by showing off the research project she did on Cerebral Palsy 

which was part of a unit on exceptional needs.

Then it was time to put Mike through the paces of a multiplication speed drill.  He wasn't messing around, even for a second, and got every single one in his two minute time frame. We all teased him afterward that we would occasionally glance up to make sure Ellie's teacher noticed how very quick and proficient he was.  We were all very impressed.

One of the highlights of this term for Ellie was having a lot of roles to play in her classes reader's theatre presentations.  Here she is with one of the scripts.

We spent some time trying our hand at building some geometric shapes....

... and doing a quick Science experiment using Chromotography.

Here is Ellie and her teacher, Ms. Safarik.  She's been a great partner in Ellie's school experience this year.  She treats her students like they are capable of doing hard things.  She gives them the chance to prove to themselves that they can.  She doesn't spoon-feed them, but gives them a lot of freedom to make their own mistakes.  Ellie would say the best part about Ms. Safarik is that she made them root-beer floats last week.   Let's face it,  that's pretty important too.

There was time for one swing on the monkey bars 

(which is Sasha's favorite place to hang out in the whole wide world).

Only Ellie would think of kissing her "guns".

We're thankful for all of the lessons the girls have been taught at Confederation Park over the past two years.  Mostly we're thankful for the relationships it's given all of us.  It will be hard to say goodbye.