Horse Lake Elementary

2017-2018: Kristi Pecor continues as the PLC Facilitator at Horse Lake this year. Staff is investigating the following area of focus:

• Focus: Sense of belonging and community
• Checking: Although we have made some impact throughout the year for some students, we are hoping that when we continue this inquiry next year and implement all our wonderful ideas then we will have a more significant impact on a greater number of students next year.

For the primary grades we gave them a simple, one page, sixteen question survey part way through the year then again at the end of the year. There were slight improvements in some of the categories in a few of the classes. One class in particular had great improvement in the questions regarding friendship – at the end of the year most of the students that felt they did not have a friend and/or anyone to play with at recess and lunch at the beginning of the year did by the end. By the end of the year most of the classes had at least one or two more students who liked being at school and had a friend or someone to play with at recess or lunch.

We had the intermediate teachers reflect on improvements they had noticed in specific students. These anecdotes provided evidence that our focus on belonging and community made a difference for many of our vulnerable students.

• Reflection: We plan to continue working on this inquiry next year. It is a vast topic and we have come up with so many great ideas, but we simply did not have enough time this year to even make a small dent in everything we wanted to do.

It is very satisfying to know that even though we did not get to many of the things we wanted to, we still helped some students feel as though they belong more to the school community. Hopefully next year our impact will be even greater.

Our advice to any other schools with this interest is that it is a really big undertaking. However, the potential positive impact that we could have on students’ life is immeasurable.

2016-2017: Kristi Pecor will take on the role of PLC Facilitator at Horse Lake this year. Staff is investigating the following question:

• How will our students increase their understanding of local Aboriginal culture and our local natural environment through exploration of the seasonal round?
• Analysis: Using the seasonal round as a teaching tool greatly increased students’ knowledge of the Secwepemc (our local first nation) culture and the natural environment. We know this because the students orally and/or visually showed their knowledge in a variety of ways. As there is such a range of levels in an elementary school assessment was presented differently in various classes.

Our Kindergarten and grade 1 students were assessed simply, but effectively. They initially drew a picture of “us” and what they thought the Secwepemc would do in a specific season. After their teacher had taught them about that season and the Secwepemc culture and lifestyle they then coloured another picture of the same season. The teacher could see in the difference of the pictures that they had a deeper understanding of aboriginal culture in that particular season and they displayed a more accurate representation of the Secwepemc culture and lifestyle. These students would also associate what they had learned about aboriginal culture into other stories and conversations they had in class. There were many rich conversations around First Nations culture in the classroom.

The grade 2-4 classes, as a pre assessment, were presented with an empty seasonal round and tried to fill in what they knew in the empty sections. One class did this as a group, with a large seasonal round on the wall of the classroom. Another class worked on this as an individual activity. All of the three classes in this group did many hands on activities to learn about Secwepemc culture and the natural environment. They spent time outside finding and identifying plants that the Secwepemc used. They then discovered what the plants were used for. The grade ¾ class did this first, then took the grade 2 class outside and taught them what they had learned. Linking plant identification with aboriginal use and stories has given these students a context to remember the plants in. These three classes, in their own ways, created pit houses for the winter season. Then, for the spring season, they coloured and assembled teepees. A final hands-on activity they completed was to create earth ovens. One of the teachers had the students complete a self-assessment of their pit house and their earth oven. Students were also quizzed orally on their knowledge of the Secwepemc culture and there were many class discussions as they studied the topic. Another teacher used the seasonal round itself as a formative and summative assessment tool. The students were able to compare what they knew at the beginning of the school year with what they knew at the end of the school year, and were also able to identify gaps in their knowledge at the end of the year.

Our intermediate students were given a seasonal round at the beginning of the year to fill in. For the majority of students the section on the Secwepemc was virtually empty. Throughout the year the students filled in the round with different colours to show what they had learned. These classes used text resources, websites and presenters to fill in their round. By the end of the year the seasonal round was filled in and complete. One class also created a collage of a season that accurately represented Secwepemc lifestyle in that particular season. The filling in of the seasonal round and/or the creation of a collage showed that the students were learning about Secwepemc culture.

Since all the students in the school were taught about the seasonal round this year and have a baseline of knowledge on the topic, teachers may have to take the lessons they developed this year to a higher level in future years. Although, obviously, every teacher has their own way of teaching and conveying knowledge, the fact remains that many teachers taught the same thing to different grades. How will our grade 3 teachers teach the seasonal round next year if they developed their lessons with the grade 2 teacher this year? The same situation holds true at the intermediate level where our grades 4-7 teachers worked together developing their lessons on the seasonal round and used the same resources with their students to find answers. How will they take it to a higher level? Or, as a school, do we determine which grades or teachers should teach the seasonal round or certain aspects of it in order to keep the overlap to a minimum. All of the teachers, with possibly the exception of the youngest grades, will definitely have to consider this before they teach the seasonal round again.

One pattern that occurred across all classes was that prior knowledge of Secwepemc culture was very limited across the board and everybody learned something.

• Reflection: Through the PLC process this year our teachers learned a variety of things. Different teachers and groups had different ways of approaching the topic, as such, answering our inquiry question manifested itself differently in different classes, grades, and with different teachers. Perhaps most importantly many teachers realized the value of having time to collaborate with other teachers on a topic. They learned to view the purpose of teaching and learning from different perspectives. Many of the teachers valued being able to share their ideas with other teachers teaching similar grades, and come up with lesson ideas together.

Another important observation made was that projects evolve. The intentions we had at the beginning of the process changed throughout the inquiry for some groups. Teachers discovered new resources during their meetings. These new resources resulted in the development of a new graphic organizer for the seasonal round. These new resources changed how the teachers working on the inquiry with their students as well.

The topic of Secwepemc culture and local natural environment is a very large topic. Some teachers found it very useful to focus on a few ideas and topics to make it more manageable, especially in the younger grades. The younger groups found it less daunting to just focus on a few topics of the seasonal round, such as animals, homes, plants and activities. These were topics that the students could relate more easily to.

As with any topic there were variations in the level of engagement and knowledge gained with the students. That being said, there was a significant and obvious increase in their understanding of the Secwepemc culture and the natural environment. The students had a more thorough and substantial understanding than at the beginning of the year, when they had virtually no knowledge of the topic. Many students became more observant of their own environment after being specifically taught about certain aspects of it. Finally, the students understood, at the conclusion of the inquiry, how the seasons affect everything the Secwepemc did – where they lived, what they ate, what they did, etc.

Most of the teachers enjoyed teaching the seasonal round and will continue to do so in future years. However, most will make some changes to the way they did things this year. In the younger grades teachers may use more visual representations of unfamiliar terms for their students to enhance their understanding of these terms. Some teachers may take certain aspects of the inquiry and use it again such as nature journaling and plant use. Finally, some teachers found the time frame too cumbersome and when they teach the seasonal round again would condense the unit into a 1-2 week time frame.

Overall we had a very successful inquiry this year. There was a lot of learning done by both teachers and students throughout the school.

2015-2016: Kyra Hopson will take on the role of PLC Facilitator at Horse Lake this year.

• To what extent will following principles of outdoor education improve the student’s descriptive writing?
• Analysis: Individualizing instruction has greatly improved students’ descriptive writing skills. Teachers reported better enjoyment and engagement by going outside at least once a week for lessons. All teachers report more descriptive language and use of adjectives in their writing. Focusing on the senses was a theme throughout the teachers input.

Teacher A: I have noticed a significant improvement in the use of adjectives with my children’s writing! They are so much more aware of enriching; descriptive language and their writing samples show so many more descriptive words! They even listen for all the describing words during story time and tell me! I have noticed that my children loved being outside for all of our various activities and were very engaged in our lessons. Greater compassion for Mother Earth!

Teacher B: The students understand adjectives better in the context of describing in their sentences or phrases. The students were fully engaged and interested in describing their nature walks especially in the spring. They also brought a greater enthusiasm to their projects that were part of the outdoors, such as how to build a snowman and pioneer village.

Teacher C: Writing similar poems on the same topic showed when the students went outside they added more descriptive words by using all of their senses. They could see, hear, smell, and touch nature! I noticed that the students loved using the outside as their classroom. They were excited and engaged in the various lessons. The children would just tell you all the things they could hear see, smell, touch without prompting. Descriptive language improved – not just a green tree, but a lime green poplar tree. Amazing! What surprised me was how easy it was to use the outside as a lesson/classroom.

Teacher D: Students who struggled with getting started and writing anything didn’t have a problem when we do write outside. Overall, using more descriptive words and sentences. Writing longer pieces of better quality. Actively participating in an outdoor activity increased ability to write more descriptively and have something to actually write about. Students loved when we went outside to do writing. Was seen as much more fun than doing it inside. They can actually stay on task while outside and enjoyed exploring nature.

Teacher E: I did a lot of pre-writing (indoors) and followed up with adding description to writing- using 5 senses often as a focus, when going outdoors. The descriptive writing always seemed much more impressive when we did that (and students agreed). When focused on something they could specifically write about when actually experience the topic (tree, pine cone, snow etc.) I’d say yes, it improved student writing. Just doing a general descriptive writing piece, and going outside to do it, not sure what results would be.

Teacher F: Students are able to describe in more detail/ descriptive images. The length of writing increased. Engagement in writing was up. Improvements in observational skills of the world around students.

• Reflection:

Teacher A: Outdoor education is exciting and that there is a direct correlation to improvement with descriptive writing in the class! Enjoyment of writing, greater awareness/focus on describing words and greater compassion for Mother Earth. I will try to always get my kids outside more and try harder to integrate outdoor education into all of our themes. I will try to get outside more often and try to do some art activities outside.

Teacher B: Students want to be engaged and be a participant in their learning, although they may not be able to say this themselves. Their direct action makes them better learners. Children always learn better by doing and the more that they are totally involved in the process, they will love learning. Next year, I will continue, but do more. Weather held us back at times. I would begin bringing the outdoors into the classroom sooner in September!

Teacher C: I’ve learned that engaging students is so important and that having the students focus on their senses outside in many different activities helps with their descriptive writing across the curriculum. Drawing the kids’ attention to using their 5 senses while outside helped them focus their writing and use great descriptive words! Next year, I plan to continue to make a commitment to go outside in all seasons and perhaps do more activities with another class. I’d like to have PLC time on a different day.

Teacher D: I learned that the students enjoy being outside to work and that there are a lot of different activities to do outside that are hands on/fun but still follow curriculum. They’re able to write with more details and add description. They’re able to write more sentences of better quality. Next year I will try to go outside on a weekly basis to do outdoor activities/learning. I would like to have students writing nature journals throughout the seasons and go x-country skiing! Next year, I would like to collaborate more with other teaches to see what they’re doing in their classes and not have it Friday afternoon.

Teacher E: I learned that I really need to make a point of bringing the class outside to work more frequently. They get more interested and engaged too. This won’t happen if it is not planned though. Students had a more heightened awareness of descriptive writing especially focusing on 5 senses, when writing outdoors (after first writing in class). Next year, I need to actually plan to go outside a minimum once per week and try to broaden it to more subject areas.

Teacher F: I learned the value of “place” in developing writing skills/ observational skills. Students showed an increased desire to write/explore nature and share their observations with their peers- both while in nature and once we are developing their observations and skills in the classroom. Finding other “specific” ways to incorporate nature into learning curriculum more regularly is a focus for next time and being intentional about incorporating it into my schedule regularly.

2014-2015: The new PLC Facilitator at Horse Lake Elementary is Sheena Stenerson. She is also the Learning Support Teacher at the school. Horse Lake staff is working together on this inquiry:

• To what extent will our students’ nonfiction reading and writing skills improve if we demonstrate an explicit focus on current reading and writing instruction practices utilizing ‘Nonfiction Reading Power’ and ‘Nonfiction Writing Power’ by A. Gear.
• Analysis: Students were tested in January to see how successful students would be in identifying which books in a chosen display were fiction or nonfiction. In the beginning of the school year the K and K/1 students had no clue as to the difference. By January, the students demonstrated a very good understanding and even more so by the end of May. In May, a test to assess students’ knowledge of some text features was also included by quizzing students using books in a one-to-one environment. The results were amazing (see charts).

Intermediate Teachers: Teachers were using reading assessments such as Whole Class and School Wide Writes to assess their students. One teacher used Accelerated Reader quizzes on nonfiction text as a baseline for using text features to find the answers to questions on the quizzes.

Primary and Intermediate Teachers (Grade 2 to Grade 7): two tests were made up by the PLC to assess students’ knowledge. A baseline test was given in late January and then again using the same posters and almost the same books (except for 2) in late May.

Test #1: Fiction vs nonfiction books

Students had a paper with the photograph of 13 different books. They had to write F for fiction or NF for nonfiction under each picture. The books were also available for students to scan. There were a couple of tricky nonfiction books in the pile.

Results: Overall most students had a good understanding of the difference between fiction and nonfiction books by January and even more so by the end of May. The only class whose percentage went down was the grade 2 class. This was probably due to the fact that the selection increased by two books and two of the books were substituted as well.

Test #2: Nonfiction text features

Eighteen posters were made with each one depicting various samples of one feature of nonfiction text.

Results: The percentages of every class went up. The most dramatic increase was in the primary grades especially the Kindergartens and Grade ones who had a clean slate in the fall. The Grade twos also had a huge increase but in this case, the posters were used as a review/teaching tool and this undoubtedly affected the results in a positive way.

Other Results: The A.R. scores of the Grade 7 teacher showed an improvement of 11% between the two assessment dates. The Whole Class Reading assessment also showed an increase in both classes that reported to the PLC.

What is the answer to your question? Our data and teacher comments provided proof that students’ nonfiction reading and writing knowledge/skills improved considerably overall across the grades, but especially, for the primary students.

• Reflection:

Teacher 1: The results tell me that explicit teaching of fiction and nonfiction text features really works! My children learned so much and retained this information well – as indicated in the Summary result. It was Adrienne Gear’s books (&the school focus on her books), along with our collaborative meetings, that made me focus on explicitly teaching to these text features. I learned – Don’t assume anything!!! Teach to even the smallest details! The results are amazing!

Teacher 2:

Do not take anything for granted

Repeat over and over

Students always comment when they notice text features in text and same with fiction vs nonfiction

Teacher 3: My results indicate that focused lessons on nonfiction text features make readers more aware of them as they read. Using these features correctly has helped them gain more understanding from nonfiction books. Through guided lessons and independent assignments, students were able to correctly use many of these nonfiction text features within their own writing.

Teacher 4: Our team’s focus was on a collaborative inquiry into the effectiveness of using various lessons from Adrienne Gear’s Non-fiction Reading Power book. After team discussions, we implemented some of Gear’s lessons on summarization, determining importance and questioning using non-fiction texts. We also examined our students’ ability to identify non-fiction text features through various Gear lessons. My assessments and reflections indicated that indeed students showed success in their ability to determine non-fiction text features, and use the skills of summarization and determining importance. I only had time for two lessons on questioning, so I was unable to make a determination of improvement in this area. Most of the assessments were made by comparing a base-line to later tests and by comparing the success over time of graphic organizers from Gear’s book. I believe the collaboration was effective and helped my students to further their knowledge of non-fiction text features and their ability to apply some very difficult skill sets (summarization, questioning and determining importance) to what they read.

Teacher 5: A focus on turning headings/subheadings into questions helped students understand how to use these text features to locate information. (i.e. the text were under these headings for a reason).

Teacher 6: I saw a huge increase in primary students selecting nonfiction titles over fiction titles for their book sign out. Students showed greater familiarity with using text features and were truly engaged in their independent reading.

Teacher 7: This was a very rewarding experience for many reasons:

The results were given to individual teachers so that he/she could see what areas the student were proficient at and where instruction was still needed

Provided purpose for collaboration of teachers

Amazing and measurable student growth

Positive feedback in regards to teachers’ own learning