Literacy: 
Fun, Fascinating and Fabulous!

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In Literacy, Clients completed reading about Canada with a quick road trip across the country learning about Vancouver, Banff,  Niagara Falls and Quebec City.

 

Venturing outside of Canada has proven to be fun, fascinating and fabulous! Everyone loved reading and writing about two of the largest countries in the world, Australia and China. 

 

An interesting discussion led a lot of the Clients to realize how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful country! With so many more topics still to be discussed about Canada, your local Library is a wonderful resource for Summer Activities to read more.

 

The time before ‘Morning Circle’ has given everyone a great opportunity to have discussions about the upcoming countries we’d like to learn about and to preview book selections. The next few weeks we will focus on a smaller country, the United Kingdom. The opportunity to learn about four countries in one was of great interest to some of the Clients.

 

Writing continues to be an important part of Literacy and in addition to the curriculum, the ‘Check-In’ sheet has been incorporated into the rotation. Sending this home every week to you, allows Clients to recall and share the topics that all of the rotations are focused on.

 

Thank you for the positive feedback you have given!  We are thrilled that it is generating outside conversations at home.  The Inside learning is venturing Outside, just like everyone's adventures this Semester in Literacy. 

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Math / DPA: 
Comparing Currency
 

For the second part of our Spring Semester, the Clients have travelled across the border into the USA and have begun exploring the currency there. From looking at differences between Canadian and American money, to doing a fun coin-cleaning activity and looking at foreign exchange, we have been having a great time in Math!  We will be preparing for our final ‘Store’ in the last few weeks.

DPA has been awesome! The Clients have played lots of basketball in support of the Raptors, focused on our breathing with meditation and stretching sessions, and have bonded through group activities like Detective and Follow-the-Leader.

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Science and Geography: 
We’re Eating Again!

 

With our passports in hand, we have spent the past few weeks in Science and Geography travelling to various countries around the world. At each stop, we have had the opportunity to learn about flags, climates, and unique facts. Filling out country 'information pages' to document our travels has been a great reading and writing exercise.

 

In addition, we have also experimented hands-on with many local foods. We have juiced oranges and grapefruits from Florida, tasted snacks and spices from India, and compared plantains (eaten in the Ivory Coast) to more familiar bananas. Our final stop will be a trip to Italy!  We can't forget about pizza!

 

These engaging activities allow us to use all of our senses and fully experience the similarities and differences in food and culture around the world. We have gained a better understanding of the sources of some of the foods we eat on a regular basis. This semester has truly opened our eyes to the world around us!

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Art: 
Electrifying Creations

 

These past weeks, we experimented with salad spinners and paint producing unique discs of vibrant colour. We then transformed the one-of-a-kind discs into spiral twirlers. The Clients are all delighted with their one-of-a-kind creations!

 

Our third Canadian Artist is Ted Harrison. We replicated his electrifying ‘Whale Frolic’.  It has been a wonderful journey for us all! We have walked the Clients through detailed, step-by-step pencil drawings and subsequent painting, colour by colour, on large canvases. The results are stunning! The Clients are so proud and can’t wait to show them off on Celebration Day!

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Skills-at-Will: 
Different Trips to Travel

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Last week in Skills-at-Will, we travelled to the country of the Clients’ choice. We used the skills that we learned last week to plan our trips.  What should we pack?  How will we get there? What will we do?  Clients have enjoyed “travelling” to different places and using their new skills.

Next week, we will be learning about another very important Life Skill, grocery shopping!  Clients have explored how to go grocery shopping. We named grocery stores, what we need to bring for a grocery shopping ‘trip’ and what we should buy. We made a meal plan for the week and figured out what we would need to complete it.  We also used the iPads to figure out the prices of different items.

We are looking forward to our last few weeks to revisit our goals and have our Celebration Party with family and friends!