November 9 Update

This morning students had open time to complete their math projects and ask any questions. If projects were completed, they had open time to complete french tests online, as 10 french tests need to be completed before end of week, when a mini-project on one vocabulary area will be assigned.

Everyone turned in their paragraphs all about the poppies and Remembrance Day, and I asked anyone interested in presenting for the assembly to read their paragraphs in front of the class. Of those who volunteered, I picked 6 students to read portions of their paragraphs at assembly. Everyone from class is being asked to dress nicely and preferably in black and white colours. We will all be going forward with our poppy paintings, the six speakers will present, and then we will turn our paintings over for all to see. We also made a poppy wreath for the assembly out of quilled paper, which two students will present tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing our presentation as well as presentations from other divisions! Just a reminder that poppy donations are being collected tomorrow, so please bring in any donation you can contribute.

Today we also did a group activity designed to illustrate the connections between the machines and technology we use, ourselves, and the environment around us. Everyone was assigned a card with a title on it. Four students had SOIL, AIR, WATER and LIGHT (sun), and then everyone else had cards such as HUMANS, PLANTS, ANIMALS, FOOD, CLOTHING, SHELTER, STORES, RESTAURANTS, TRANSPORTATION MACHINES, FUEL, ELECTRICITY, FACTORIES, etc. One person received a ball of yarn, held on to an end, and then tossed the ball to another person in the circle who had a card with an item related to them (an example would be water tosses to electricity.) We kept doing this until we had quite the web of connections, and then I asked students to think and reflect on what this could mean for technology in our world. Everyone received an assignment to reflect by writing down 10 machines and putting their positive and negative impact on the world, which is due on Thursday.

Following this, we watched a short film on simple machines and discussed mechanical advantage and the equation for work = force (effort) x time. Each student received a sheet to do a scavenger hunt for simple machines at home. Tomorrow we will discuss LEVERS in more detail and do a hands-on activity I hope will be fun for everyone!

At the end of the day, we had some free choice time (as promised, since we were unable to do it on Friday), while some students finished their art projects in preparation for tomorrow’s assembly.

Have a great night! Reminders: No School On Wednesday, Library Books for Tomorrow, Poppy Money, and Scholastic Orders due Friday.