Month: March 2017

Nature Challenge Month of April

 

As announced in class today, as part of our new unit on interconnectedness with nature (another post on that to come Monday), Ms. DeTerra has challenged everyone to try and visit as many green, nature spaces as possible during the month of April.

To help provide incentive, Ms. D will give a prize to the person who visits the most green spaces by April 30th!

 

Here are the requirements for the challenge:

  • Green spaces include Burnaby or other Lower Mainland parks, lakes, beaches, trails, eco-sculptures, playgrounds, conservation areas, golf courses, or other public outdoor spaces (for example, a courtyard park between buildings, as long as we can tell where it is, would be okay.)
  • You must take a picture of yourself (a selfie or have your parents/friends take it) at the green space to prove you were there. The picture must include something that makes the space recognizable. For example, a sign, a recognizable building, or a street sign.
  • Each space can only be counted once. For example, if you take pictures in different areas of the same park, it does not count. 
  • Save your photos until the end of the month, then bring them to school on a USB or have them uploaded to Google Drive so you can put them in a slideshow to show me.
  • The prize will be worth it, so do your best! Many of you have lots of green spaces around you to explore.
  • Yes, our park next to Suncrest Elementary counts, if you get a picture of yourself in it.

If you have any questions, post them in the comments below for everyone to see!

Good luck! 

Mini Motors Explanation?

Yesterday, for science, we followed up on previous explanations about electricity and made a mini motor with LEDs! I asked you to try and figure out yourself how it worked. Some parts of the explanation are complicated, but I only want you to get the basic idea. See if you can figure it out with your peers in class today and then we will discuss.

See these websites for more information about mini motors:

How to make simple motors

Ducksters Physics for Kids Motors

Explain that stuff magnetism

Sciencing Info on Electromagnetism

Homopolar motors and how they work

Steve Spangler’s Motors

 

Welcome Back! Literacy Week Starts Tomorrow

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back and I hope you had a restful, relaxing break! We are already busy preparing for new activities as we begin term three. Here are some quick notes of things coming up.

  • Literacy Week: Literacy Week celebrating the fantasy genre of literature will be from March 29 – April 4. Thank you to the students for making the Literacy Week bulletin board, which looks great! We are preparing four different reader’s theatre skits to perform for other classes on April 3rd. Everyone should practice their scripts at home (parts do not have to be memorized, but well practiced.) Look for props at home, and we will make others in class.
  • Student Led Conferences: Please mark calendars! Student Leds on April 6th, Thursday. Notice to go home soon to sign up for one of two sessions. Please reserve extra time as the students want to share many great activities with you!
  • Reading Around the World!: Congratulations to Patricia and Anisha who finished the Reading Around the World challenge! If you are interested in joining them and celebrating in a prize at the end of the year you have three months left!
  • Battle of the Books: For our language arts in term three, we will be doing a Battle of the Books in our own class. Teams of four will read a list of eleven books and compete for a prize by answering comprehension questions. We will form teams later this week so reading can begin! Competition will be in June.
  • Independent Project: The process of the independent project will be documented on the E-Portfolio. Right now, we are forming questions to help drive our research. We will work on these alongside our units through June, with a presentation of our projects to parents and community on approximately June 23rd.
  • End of Year Kayaking: The District approved our kayaking trip for an end-of-year celebration on June 20th. A notice is coming April 5th with details.
  • Watershed Field Trip: Please remember we have the trip to Lower Seymour Watershed on April 18th, the day we get back from the four-day Easter Break.
  • O.W.L. Conservation Group: This group will be visiting us soon as part of our new nature unit. Stay tuned for details in a notice at the end of this week.
  • Dragon Boating: Dragon boating is confirmed for May 16, 23, and 26. Notice and fees collection will come out beginning of May.
  • Math Competitions: More information on the Gauss and Abel Burnaby Math competitions will be coming out in mid-April. Stay tuned if you are interested in participating.
  • Nature Supplies: Please find an egg carton and a glass, 12 oz jar with a lid. Save them at home, as we will use them for nature activities coming up.

 

More to come as we get going with our next unit! Have a great evening.

Ms. D

Almost at Spring Break! March 7th, Tuesday

Hello Everyone!

Only three days until Spring Break! Everyone has been doing great work and projects are almost done. Here are some announcements before we go:

1.  Socials Interview: Due Wednesday EOD

2.  Playground Project & Explanation: Due Wednesday EOD

3.  French Trivia Game: Due Friday EOD

4.  Art Sculpture Contribution:  Due Friday EOD

5.  Independent Project: Start thinking about questions to ask, using the Wonderings Board as a guide.

6.  Blog and E-Portfolios Off-Line: We won’t be able to use both the blog and e-ports from Wednesday – Friday of this week due to maintenance. This will be my last post before the break.

7. Jump Rope for Heart: Fundraising Reminder if you are doing it, and we will have our jump rope event on Friday during our regular gym time.

8. Upcoming Field Trips: April 18th – Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve; May 16,23 and 26th Dragon Boating at Burnaby Lake (notice to come in April); June 20th Kayaking and End of Year Celebration at Deep Cove in North Vancouver.

9. CONGRATS!!! — Congrats to Science Games Team (Jay, Michael, Vlad, Jonathan and Daniel) who took the GOLD MEDAL at Saturday’s Science Games. Two years in a row with a gold medal! Congrats! Thank you for your hard work.

10. Heads Up – Student Leds: Hold the date, April 6th, 2-7 PM Student Leds. More info to come after break to sign up for a specific time.

Have a restful break, everyone!! My goal by end of March is to post more pictures, because I have lots to put up from our CSI unit and the playground work!

Ms. D

Great Work Going On! Thursday, March 2nd

Hello Everyone,

Great work today on all of our projects! Here is a quick update of where we are at for today:

Playground Project: They are starting to really come together! More work time tomorrow. We are doing all the work on this project IN CLASS please, not at home. Remember, when you are done with your equipment, you will need to do a write up on each one to explain why we should have that equipment on the playground. Use persuasive language! Provide detail about how it works and why you chose it. When all partners are done, you will be covering the base with either sand or paint. Deadline to complete is Wednesday, March 8th.

Mysteries and Debates: A few of you still need to get mysteries in, so please do so as soon as possible. All debates are finished and some rubrics have been marked. As soon as you receive yours, please get it signed.

Math: Part of the class is doing a re-take. We did not do it today given how well everyone was working on their projects, but it will be ready to go for tomorrow. If you received your quiz back today, because you do not need a re-take, please get it signed and return.

Socials: Please see the previous blog entry about primary research and complete an interview. Your questions and the answers from the interview need to be typed on Google Drive and turned in by Wednesday, March 8th.

French: We are doing all of the culture research at school, and students are recording what they find out on a Google Doc. Packets 3 and 4 were handed back today. Please study the vocabulary presented, how to make singular/plural words, how to conjugate PORTER, and about male/female adjectives.  

E-Portfolio and Independent Project: Please write a paragraph on e-portfolio by end of day tomorrow about the topic you want to do and why you want to do it. Time has been given in class to do this, and more time is available tomorrow. Due EOD March 3rd.

Art: Great job painting! More time to get these finished up tomorrow in class. Hopefully they are all done so we can stack the cards up by March 10th, Friday.

Thanks and have a great night! 

Primary Research: Doing an Interview! Due March 8

Secondary research involves receiving information through a book, an encyclopaedia, the Internet, or another written source. Someone else found out the information, and then they published the information for you to read.

Primary research involves finding out the information yourself! You do a survey, make observations, conduct an experiment, do an interview, experience something, create a journal entry, travel somewhere, take photographs yourself, collect specimens to study, etc.

You will be doing an interview to practice gathering primary research. We did one in class together. Remember that in an interview, you need to:

  • Know what you want to find out before starting the interview
  • Create questions ahead of time
  • Think about who would be the BEST person to interview
  • Ask permission to interview the person and/or to record their responses
  • Practice active listening through appropriate posture, facing the person, not interrupting, acknowledging responses, and using eye contact.
  • Add questions during the interview as new information comes up
  • Use phrases like, “So, what I hear you saying is….” when you need to clarify what they have said
  • Document the answers thoroughly (recording device, taking notes)
  • Thank the person for the interview
  • Review your notes and make them neat for looking at in the future

Do an interview of a family friend, family member, or someone in the community. Find out from them their experiences coming into Canada and whether or not they had any experiences with discrimination. 

Here are the questions we came up with in class that you can use (choose at least ten that you think are best):

  • What country did you originally live in?
  • What was it like there and why did you choose to leave?
  • Why did you come to Canada?
  • Do you miss anything about your home country?
  • What was your experience like coming to Canada?
  • How did you feel when you arrived in Canada?
  • What was the process like to get permission to come to Canada?
  • Was there anything about the process you did not like?
  • Was it hard to adjust to coming to Canada?
  • What were your first thoughts about living in Canada?
  • When you arrived did you ever feel discriminated against? How specifically?
  • Why do you think you were discriminated against?
  • Did you experience any other difficulties in Canada? Work-related difficulties?
  • Are you glad you came to Canada? Why?
  • Would you ever return to your home country?
  • Do you feel Canadian or still a part of your home culture, or both?
  • How long have you been in Canada?
  • And any other questions you may want to use (limit yourself to 2 that are your own creations and keep them on topic.)

Learning Skills We Need for Independent Work

Hello Everyone,

Sometimes it is helpful to understand the “why” behind what we are doing, so I thought I would explain some of our current tasks in terms of the SKILLS we are learning that will help us be able to do INDEPENDENT PROJECT work.

Project Work: Today, our schedule said “Stuff” — meaning that all day was a work day. We had a list of things to do, and everyone made a priority checklist to get things done. Being able to manage your time is an important skill! So, everyone had to divide up the day into time periods to get things done; prioritize tasks according to due dates; and be aware of focus, changing up what they were working on if they felt their engagement was running low. TIME MANAGEMENT and AWARENESS!

Playground Project: This project means using the DESIGN PROCESS (Ask what the problem is, Consider limitations to the task, Imagine the possibilities, Plan what you will do, Identify materials, Create your design, Improve the design as needed during the process.) You also need COLLABORATION skills to work with your partners and to come to consensus about the playground design.

Art: You need to learn how to USE TOOLS APPROPRIATELY and SAFELY. Use paint without making a huge mess by planning your workspace. Use materials responsibly, only taking what you need. If you use hot glue or other tools that can harm you, be responsible and careful. Work in an appropriate space. Be aware of people around you. Clean up your workspace when done! And, develop FINE MOTOR SKILLS as you manipulate materials to create new things!

E-Portfolio: Learn to REFLECT on your work. Find a way to document your work process, so you can learn what you did well and what you would change for next time! If you only focus on the final product, then you won’t know exactly what part of the process could have been improved. DOCUMENT YOUR WORK!

Debate: Be an effective and persuasive COMMUNICATOR! Back up your opinions with evidence. Practice what you are going to say before presenting. Choose the right kind of words to express your ideas so people remember what you said to them. Communicate with others when you need things. When you feel things (such as frustration or confusion) use your words to tell people about it rather than allowing the emotions to take you over, which leads to bad decisions. 

Creativity: All of the tasks above required CREATIVITY. Remember, though, good ideas do not come out of magic. Be OPEN-MINDED to others’s ideas and look at things from all PERSPECTIVES. The best ideas occur when we build upon others’ ideas. Add to ideas, don’t take them down. Don’t feel like you need to be alone when coming up with ideas. Group think!

All of this will help us as we lead to our independent project. I look forward to seeing how you use these skills in term three!