Langevin Grade One

We had a beautiful day at Ralph Klein Park.  Students participated in a program called "Surviving the Seasons".  We talked about how animals adapt to colder weather: hibernation, migration or body adaptations. They participated in various stations looking for clues to help them decide how certain animals survive winter in their habitat. We also went on a nature walk through the park and in the interpretive centre.

The Grade Ones worked very hard to bring together their Community Building Project at the end of February.  Our field studies throughout the winter months led us to designing our own community for the city of Calgary. We discussed the needs and wants of a community, mapping skills, and building design.  We were lucky enough to have guest speakers come in to help us explore the expertise required for city planning and architecture. Once students selected the building that they would want to create and then designed blueprints, critiqued their ideas, and focused on making a unique structure.  Once our blueprints were established, we had an artist work with our students to build models out of plasticine.  They explored with 3D shape, texture and details.  Almost all of our plasticine buildings have been sent to our schools 3D printer, where they will be made into models.  Lastly, we created the base of our map using student ideas for water, land and roadways. Students were asked think cri

East Village and Central Library Students have been working hard for the past few months learning about community and buildings! Our trip to the East Village was a research mission to observe and record different buildings that we saw and whether we would classify them as a NEED or WANT within the community. There have been some wonderful conversations in our classroom and in the field while deciding which was the best fit: need or want.  Over the weekend you may want to discuss this same thing when you're in the car or out and about!

Calgary Tower Field Study Last week, we had an exciting visit to the Calgary Tower! This was a wonderful opportunity for students to see many places that they already knew about from a new perspective.  When we arrived, students were captivated by the glass floor and everyone was brave enough to walk out! The rest of our day was split into two activities.  First, we looked north, east, south and west and created a map of important landmarks, with the Calgary Tower in the middle.  Next, students used tablets to answer questions about the history of the Calgary Tower as well as local buildings.  Here are few fun facts that we learned throughout the day! Do you know the answer? The Calgary Tower is the ____ tallest building in Calgary. How may floors are in the Calgary Tower's superstructure? What was the original name of the Calgary Tower? How many pounds can the glass floor hold? Which animal has come up the elevator at the Calgary Tower? What did the Cal

In November, we took two days to explore the community of Bridgeland and Downtown Calgary. Bridgeland Walk On our walk through Bridgeland, we followed a map leading each group on one of three different routes, all ending at the community centre.  Along the way, students stopped at three locations to make their own map.  We have been talking about landmarks and mapping in the classroom so this was a good opportunity to put their knowledge into action.  Once we arrived at the community centre, we shared different landmarks that we had chosen along the way to represent Bridgeland.  Next we continued our walk together to Tom Campbell's Hill where we had a great view in all directions.  Students focused on looking either North, South, East or West and sketched three landmarks they saw.  Students used the iPads to take photos on the way back and will be using these photos as the background of an upcoming coding task. Downtown Walk On opposite days, students