Month: November 2015

Today was an exciting day of building and making. First, we introduced the new unit and talked about some of the things we will be doing. Then, everyone re-organized their blue binders and put some items they were proud of from unit one into their black portfolios, so we can keep track of our best work over time. Once all of the projects from the unit have been signed by parents, then they, too, will go into the black binder.

Then, I asked everyone to take a yellow sticky and put on it a quick explanation of whether or not technology has had a positive or negative effect on mankind overall. I created a chart for the board to post the sticky representing the spectrum of our opinions on this topic, with positive on the far right and negative on the far left. Some people felt it was both positive and negative, so their posting was in the middle. We will revisit our feelings on this topic at the end of the unit.

We then talked about how great inventions or technology get made and looked at some examples of products invented for the Olympics that took place here in Vancouver in 2010. We also talked about the engineering design process and reviewed how creative thinking occurs. Students were put in groups of two and given the task of building a structure that would be as tall as possible and still be able to support the weight of a small stuffy mouse in the classroom for 15 seconds. The constraints for the project (as we discussed this as part of the design process) involved time and materials (each person was allowed up to 100 index cards and 2 feet of masking tape.) The students created a plan together, showed it to Ms. D, then received their materials for building. They had to make many redesigns and adjustments, and kept testing their structures during the entire time. Everyone had a great time building and it was a good introduction to thinking about design, technology, and the creative thinking process, all of which will play a role in our learning during this unit.

Then I introduced the math assessment. Rather than doing a simple test, I provided students with an opportunity to show what they know while also learning how to do something new. We worked with Survey Monkey, one of many survey making sites that is free, and they created surveys to use with the class and people they know. They are tasked with finding the mean, median, range and mode of the data they collect, as well as making a graph and writing a quick explanation for their data. A rubric was provided for assessing this application of math knowledge. They received time today for working, and tomorrow we will continue, as it may take until Friday to finish.

Finally we did some great running and a game of California Kickball during PE. One of the things we are really working on is cooperative play and learning how to be competitive without being negative or argumentative toward others. We reviewed the rules together carefully, and Ms. D had to play referee closely during the game. It seemed people were enjoying the game and we may continue it on Monday in the gym.

I look forward to continuing the conversation tomorrow! If any of your children ask you to do their survey, I hope you will oblige them, as it will give them more results to tally later for their project. Many thanks for your support! And thank you to the students and Ryan’s Dad for helping me lug things into the classroom this morning, as I am beginning to collect many supplies for this unit!

Have a great night!

Hello everyone,

Today we finished up our unit projects and submitted them with their rubric. We also did a final unit reflection, which some people still needed to finish for tomorrow.

Per students’ request, I did a little bit of Spanish today by writing the schedule in Spanish and teaching them the parts of the body in Spanish. We also had some quick discussion about all the different languages in our room — Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), French, Romanian, Arabic, Korean, Spanish, and English. We did some comparisons of how languages sound by counting from 1-10 in everyone’s different languages. We also talked about how the mouth, teeth, and tongue work differently to produce sound depending on the language. In English, the mouth is more loose, French/Spanish require more tension in the cheeks and less of a loose chin, and when speaking Chinese the mouth does not open very far to produce sounds.

We also did some language arts work by looking at word origins. We brainstormed a list of difficult words to spell from our last unit. (It also gave Ms. D a chance to review some words that she found in student work. For example, the difference between their, there, and they’re.) Everyone chose five words and then looked them up using the iPads for origin, roots, the language the word comes from, and prefix or suffix meanings.

In Math we reviewed probability through a final game of Deal or No Deal. Tomorrow there will be an assessment, as mentioned before.

Library was today, and students had quite a few overdue books. As a reminder, please ensure books are brought back on Tuesdays for either renewal or return. All four books checked out must be brought back before any new books can be taken from the library. Please put a digital reminder or agenda note for yourself to help remember your books on Tuesdays!

Today we had some time to finish the unit project. Those who were finished had two peers evaluate their work, then completed a self-assessment using the rubric for the project. Tomorrow is the last day to have time to work on this, as it is due end of day.

We had a great class meeting, which allowed us to reflect on what went well during the Halloween Party and what we would do differently next time. Overall, everyone thought the party was fun and we all appreciated the work of the Halloween Committee. Everyone thought there was a great selection and variety of snacks. Several people commented how much they enjoyed the movie. We decided for our next party we may decide to structure the eating times differently and that we will look at our clean up process so no one is left cleaning by themselves and people don’t feel as rushed. Overall, there was great reflection about what worked and didn’t, and it was done in a respectful, constructive way. We ended with conversation about the origins of Halloween and how it is different from today’s Mexican/Central American holiday (Nov. 1/2) of Day of the Dead. We noted that Day of the Dead costumes were very popular this season!

Several students are interested in the Science Competition run by the Association for Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC. This is an activity run outside of school, and it requires us to sign up online in mid-November. Teams are 4-5 students, and there are two options for participating. One involves doing a science challenge over time, at school or home, and then presenting this challenge at the competition. Another option is the Mystery Competition, where the team shows up and is given a surprise challenge to solve in a half day’s time. Both options require the team to be present at the location (TBD in mid-November when they put out all the details). We may be limited to only one team as the event is popular. Some students have expressed interest, so please let me know if this is something you would like to do. We should have a parent volunteer, as a coach needs to be present at the event, and we want to ensure either Ms. D or someone else can come. Please let me know if you are interested. More information to come, as we will have to see if we get a spot for a team (as space is limited) and if enough students would like to do this.

Several students have asked me about both French and Spanish. First, some of our students who have been in French Immersion are interested in creating small discussion groups of French. I have answered by asking them to participate in the online work we are doing first. After the online work, we will be doing a project, which will involve student choice and more interactive (writing or oral) options for learning and presenting. If students are interested in forming a French Club, they can definitely do this and consider using our free choice Friday periods for meeting time. Students have also asked me if I can teach them Spanish, which I have a lot of experience doing, so I responded by saying I could definitely do some small lessons as time permits or make this part of free choice, as well. Today we learned a few Spanish words during class meeting, just for fun.

On Tuesday, we will finish our Deal or No Deal probability activity we were doing last Thursday. On Wednesday, we will have a short math assessment on median, mean, mode, range and probability, followed by some extra challenge questions for those students who would like to show me what they know.

Our new unit is called “Our Human Creations” and the focus statement is: 

People use their understanding of natural laws to create technologies that have an impact on our world.    

This will be an inquiry into:

• Scientific forces behind machines
• The role machines (and technology) play in our lives
• Social change as a result of machines

We began this unit today by:

• Brainstorming a huge list of machines and technologies we are aware of
• Labelling each technology with a “+” or “-” to indicate if we think the technology has made a positive or negative impact on humans
• Creating a large mural, whole-group collage on the back wall to express how we feel about the impact technology is making on our world

If anyone has any magazines that could be cut up, we would love to have them!

Also, please see the newsletter for Suncrest that your child should have brought home. Some copies were left in the classroom! Students should also get their project marks signed and bring it back to school tomorrow (the responsibility of doing so is a mark, too!) I have copies of the parent conference participation rubrics, as well, and will hand these to students tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued support. Let me know if you have any questions!