I found that a cool idea for the school to have was that in order to increase the steps for the students the staff duct taped various hop scotch layouts on the floor. Students use these to increase the amount of steps they take in a day in a fun and creative way. The staff decided to do this for the students because many students are not getting enough steps in a day. To track the number of steps taken by students, they were given step trackers and found an increased number of steps after the hop scotch layouts were put down. I observed students walking down the hallways and constantly using the hopscotch layouts.
At Barrie Wilson they have small rooms located next to the actual classrooms called "Breakout Rooms". These rooms are used for students to break up into a small group or individually and concentrate on a project. It is useful for collaboration.
Barrie Wilson also has a very neat sensory room. A sensory room is a place for students to go when they are struggling. It includes light projections on the walls and stars on the ceiling. There is big lava lamp like figure and light up strings and bean bag chairs inside. Movies can also be played in this room. This room is designed for students that may not have come from a great home or for special needs students. The most common time for students to enter this room is the morning, when they can release all of their energy and get a good start to their day.
The grade five students at Barrie Wilson are able to broadcast the school news just like any other news channel would. They have a room that is set up much like a TV station. Here they can record their news just as a news channel would do. The show is then able to be seen by all classrooms. I think this is a very cool way to do the morning announcements.
Some classrooms are split up between two teachers. I was put in the grade one classroom to observe. The grade one teachers at Barrie Wilson are Mr. Perry Mason and Mrs. Tawnee Kilpatrick. Their room is one that is split down the middle. There is a fine barrier between the two, but at the same time if the teachers wished to collaborate and do group work they are able to.
I was able to attend the outdoor gym class with the grade ones. At Barrie Wilson they have a full time Phys. ed teacher, Mrs. Mckeage. She is a very good and patient with the kids during gym class. At Barrie Wilson each grade is able to attend gym class for half an hour each day. While I was observing the main focus of the gym class was hockey. Students were taught the different parts of a hockey stick and where to put your hands on the hockey stick. Students did drills around pylons stick handling first, then headed into shooting the balls and knocking down pylons and finally did the most complicated drill, playing against a partner and trying to get the ball away from each other. It was a very well planned lesson and the students enjoyed it and it was not too hard for any of them.
The last half of my stay at Barrie Wilson was math class with Mrs. Kilpatrick. During math the students were learning about counting. The students were able to count using tens frames. Tens frames is a magnetic frame with ten placements for magnets. This way students are able to see the actual amount of numbers.
It was a great day at Barrie Wilson and I was very impressed with the school. It a was a great opportunity.
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