Month: November 2017

Charting Technology’s Impact! Update Wednesday, November 28th

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday was very exciting! We worked with tools, measured our stuffed animals, collaborated with peers, and did some great learning together.

Unit: Socials

We are continuing our conversation about technology’s impact on humanity and our world. Each student has chosen an area of technology, such as communications, entertainment, transportation, or health, to research further. With their findings, students will create a timeline of technology developments! We have looked at some timeline examples in class, and a wide range of non-fiction books on inventions and machines are available to use. We discussed strategies for using non-fiction resources, such as using synonyms for our topic as we look through the table of contents or the index. 

Timeline criteria includes:

  • Use no more than 4 pieces of legal-sized paper to create the timeline,
  • Use a ruler to make the “line” for your timeline down the center, and then mark off specific dates. I showed examples in class.
  • Use both words and coloured pictures to illustrate the changes in technology. Limit any words to the name of a technology, the date, and 1-2 sentences about the technology or change in history.
  • Make sure to focus on machines, technology, and devices. We don’t need the whole history of your topic area. Our focus is machines.
  • Write words in pencil, then go over it in fine liner at the end so it is visible.
  • We will display these in the hallway, so make sure all words and pictures are appropriate.
  • We will have one week, and you may use time in class and at home.

Unit: Science and Art

As we talked about simple machines, we discussed how the WEDGE makes work easier because it helps us split things with less effort. We looked at sandpaper and its purpose, and we talked about how the edges of sand particles (the small rocks and minerals in sand) act as tiny wedges, splitting away the wood slowly to smooth it down.

Each student received a piece of wood to sand down, and everyone said it was hard work! Then, we used another machine, the hammer, to put nails into our wood piece in a pattern. This will become a lovely piece of art after everyone finishes connecting the nails with coloured yarn and string! I look forward to the finished product. And I enjoyed watching everyone work with hammers and learn how to use simple levers successfully — for some it was the first time! Stay tuned for more making projects during the month of December! And thank you to all parents who donated hammers for us to use. They will be returned shortly, as soon as students finish up.

Language Arts

About half of the class has finished their TED Talks. During the delivery of these speeches, students are practicing their communication skills from the BC Core Competencies by listening attentively, providing positive feedback afterwards, and practicing the gentle ways to give and to receive constructive criticism to improve for next time. With every project, we are exercising our self-assessment muscles, and hearing feedback from peers helps students find the words to fill out their assessment rubrics.

French

Thank you to everyone who has completed their French quizzes online. Ms. D will start doing the oral quizzes today and over the next couple of days, as it will take time to get through everyone.

Math

Thank you to everyone who did their homework and brought in a stuffed animal yesterday! We had a wide variety of interesting critters! The purpose was to have something to measure and to begin our new unit Math Makes It Work. We talked about the differences between the imperial and metric measuring systems, and then discussed how it is important to know how to use both! Students used both systems to measure the height, width, and breadth of their animals. Meanwhile, we also created a measuring wall, where we put down the measurements of all students in the classroom, along with the heights of our stuffed animals. It will be interesting to see if everyone’s height changes as the year goes on!

Math quizzes were completed, and I will hopefully have marks from these by the end of the week. 

Math Survey projects are due next week on Tuesday. Use your time wisely in class to get your data from the surveys organized and to talk with your partner about how you will display the data on one poster in an interesting way. Remember you have a rubric with criteria on it in your math binders!

Reminders!

  • If any parent knows of an engineer or science-based person who would like to come in and talk — or anyone who works with technology (digital or any kind of machines) — then please let Ms. D know! We are looking for visitors!
  • Please save recycled items, particularly tubes and interesting bits for building. The students will be doing a project next week that involves a need for parts!
  • Library on Wednesday, so reminder to bring in your books!
  • Please return signed work back to the classroom as soon as possible, so we can put it in our black portfolios!
  • Break does not start until Dec. 22nd. If you are planning on leaving early, please let me know ASAP, as we will be doing unit activities until the end. Thank you!

Have a great day! I look forward to December, as we will have Hour of Code next week and lots of maker things to do leading up to the break!

Ms. D

Working away on machines and technology! Update Nov. 23rd

Hello Everyone!

Machines and Technology!

We had a great week talking about technology! We have discussed the different simple machines, identified them in some common kitchen tools, and watched the Disney Imagineers video on Levers and Pulleys, which allowed us to see how simple machines are used when thinking about engineering challenges!

From a Social Studies perspective, we have been talking about how technology impacts us, how the use of technology is connected to so many aspects of our lives, and whether technology changes have been positive or negative in our lives. We watched an older animation called Paul Bunyan to talk about how technology improvements have a large impact, and how animation, perceptions of technology, and ways of doing things have changed over time. We will continue to read short books together to add to our discussion. Coming up next, each student will choose an area of technology and talk about how it has changed over time by constructing a timeline. We will also be doing research on the pros and cons of technology, such as video games, so we can have classroom debates!

From a Science perspective, we had fun putting Ms. D on a giant wooden lever in the classroom last week, which started our conversation about levers. By changing distance of the load to the fulcrum, we change the amount of effort needed to do the same kind of work. We looked at examples of first, second, and third class levers together. Then, on Wednesday, everyone was given a catapult construction challenge! Students worked in partners to construct a catapult and then launch marshmallows across the room. I challenged everyone to use the engineering design process during construction. The last step of this process is reflecting on what went well and what you would do differently next time. Perhaps next week we can create better catapults! Next week we will continue with experiments to learn about the power of simple machines, which will lead into creating a Rube Goldberg contraption!

Language Arts — Greek and Latin & TED Talks!

Everyone finished their TED talks using a five paragraph essay format, and today we began presenting them to the class. Thank you to the brave risk-takers who went first! While we presented, we learned how to give positive feedback and practiced the art of constructive criticism, and we practiced being excellent audience members. The talks are quite interesting and persuasive!

We have also been working on Green and Latin beginnings and endings. In our journals, we are creating made-up words to describe a new monster, an invented phobia, a magical spell, and more. As we become more familiar with the beginnings and endings, we are also starting to recognize them when we encounter new words and need to understand their meanings.

Math!

On Monday, we will have a quiz for our first unit. The quiz will have different levels of math, and you are welcome to try all of them. I will indicate for you which parts apply to your grade level of math understanding so you can make sure to show your knowledge. Please review these things from unit one. We went over the complete list in class and you wrote it in your binder. Hopefully you took the binder home to review as I asked you to for the weekend!:

  • Basic fractions and knowing the difference between the numerator and denominator,
  • Knowing place values of decimals (tenths, hundredths, thousandths)
  • Adding and subtracting decimals without a calculator
  • Multiplying simple decimals or more complicated decimals without a calculator
  • Making a decimal from a fraction; fraction from a decimal
  • Probability fractions and words
  • Graphs and data collection
  • Median, Mode, Mean
  • Higher Level: Finding percentages from a decimal, Adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator, changing a mixed number into an improper fraction and vice versa, simplifying fractions

We will close the surveys Friday and finish that project next week. Please bring a stuffie on Monday to begin our next math unit. If you were missing any math assignments, please get them in as soon as possible. Ms. D went over what you were missing today in class.

Art:

Thank you to everyone for making lovely mandala rocks with our special tools and acrylic paint! If you want to make more, please find additional rocks and I can make the tools available to you during a free choice time. Our next activity involves SUMI art with Chinese ink! Plus, we will continue our great discussions about creative thinking, not only in art, but in engineering design and technology, as well.

French:

Some of you still need to complete French-Games.net quizzes, and due to time, I am allowing you to do them at home. Please report to me your scores afterwards. On Tuesday, we will begin doing quizzes on French. You need to be able to say your ABCs, say your numbers 1-20, and recall human body words in French. 

French Immersion students will be asked next week to come up with a writing topic about either a French holiday tradition or something about French culture. You will write five paragraphs about this topic and present to one another in our smaller French Club of past Immersion students in our class. Thank you for doing the writing summaries from the French magazines and texts I provided the last two weeks! I will look for those in your journal.

Holiday Fun!

On our last day of school before the break, we will have pajamas all day and a pancake breakfast! Yum!

We have a student committee planning a holiday activity/party for the last day, too! And, everyone voted to have a Secret Santa and White Elephant activity, so more details coming on how this is done.

During December, we will be doing the Hour of Code, several tech experiments, and some maker activities to decorate our class tree or to give as gifts to others for this festive season. I look forward to all of the festive fun!!

Have a great weekend!

Kindly,

Ms. D

Quick Update on Friday, November 17th

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick update of what we are doing as we head into the weekend!

  • TED TALK: Everyone has finished writing these, and we will print them in class on Monday. Please practice your speech over the weekend, as we will present them on Thursday, November 23rd.
  • UNIT-TECHNOLOGY: We began our unit by defining technology and creating a poster to document our current feelings on whether technology is a benefit for humanity overall, or not. We began talking about technology pros and cons, and we read two great parodies by Ayn Droyd to talk about the impact social media and personal tech devices have had on our lives.
  • UNIT-SIMPLE MACHINES: We identified the types of simple machines, and we have begun trying to identify where we see them in the more complex machines around us. We discussed how a machine is something that was designed to make work easier — we hope! Today, students lifted Ms. D with a large wood lever to discuss how levers work! We discussed LOAD, FULCRUM, and EFFORT, and how the distance of the load from the fulcrum can make work easier or harder. Please finish the Simple Machines Handout for Monday.
  • MATH: We are finishing up some math material from unit one, reviewing types of graphs, practicing some more with decimals, and we even talked about probability using Monopoly and Yahtzee games today. Some students are still working on making their Google Form Survey online for our math project, and hopefully the surveys will all be ready early next week to send out!
  • ART: If you haven’t brought a rock yet, please bring one for Monday!
  • FRENCH: Please finish all French quizzes on Human Body, Numbers 1-20, and Foods from French-Games.net before Thursday, November 23rd. Some of you may need to catch up at home with the lessons, so you can do the quizzes more quickly in class and show results to Ms. D. We will have a formal quiz on Dec. 1st on saying the ABCs in French, saying your numbers 1-20, and writing the basic human body parts. Everyone is making a vocabulary list for themselves using the website to study. French Immersion students are working in the French Literature Books on French summaries, as well as reading Debrouillards Magazine for further French practice.
  • BUILDING! Please bring in any tubes you have at home in the recycling!!
  • NO SCHOOL NEXT FRIDAY NOV. 24th
  • CARIBOU Results Posted, please check online

That’s all for tonight. Have a great weekend!

Ms. D

New Unit! Machines and Technology!

Hello Everyone!

We started a new unit last week, so here are some details to share at home!

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

Areas of Inquiry Nov-Dec:

  • Scientific forces behind machines
  • The role machines play in our lives
  • Social change as a result of technology and machines
  • Innovation and creative thinking
  • Math Makes It Work: Measurement, Perimeter, Area, Mechanical Advantage
  • Using technology to learn languages and to share physical education ideas

We also have some continued work going on!

  • Thank you to everyone for the beautiful Remembrance Day POPPY art made with charcoal and acrylic paint. They are hanging in both the primary and intermediate hallways of the school, and Ms. D is planning to put pictures of some of them on the blog soon. Thank you, too, for our wonderful poppy wreath made with a quilling paper technique! We will use this art technique again!
  • TED TALKS! Everyone began transferring their written drafts to Google Docs today. After typing, self-editing, and peer editing, then the final drafts will be due to Ms. D on Friday afternoon. Presentations will be Thursday, November 23rd, so start practicing as soon as yours is written.
  • MATH SURVEYS! Everyone has their questions 1-10 done, and tomorrow we will transfer them to Google Forms if anyone is not already finished. Once complete, groups will share a link with Ms. D for distribution of the surveys. This project will allow everyone to show their data collection and analysis skills from the first unit for assessment.
  • BC Core Competencies — COMMUNICATION: This week you will see a form come home for students and parents to reflect on communication skills, so stay tuned!
  • CLASS MEETING: As we continue to work on class communication, we had a meeting to revisit the essential agreements we made together at the beginning of the year. We chose to rewrite them after a group reflection on how the first two months in MACC have been, so we can strengthen our community overall. Everyone created stickman drawings of the 12 agreements, which are now posted in the classroom to remind us of what kind of class community we want to have in MACC 4/5.
  • MATH FROM UBC: Ms. Melania Alvarez from UBC Mathematics came to visit today and taught us a lesson on pentaminoes (which was really a fun activity to begin learning about things like perimeter, area, geometry, and more.) We had a great time and the end activity was very challenging! Thank you to everyone for your enthusiasm.

REMINDERS:

  • Caribou Math on Thursday afternoon. Everyone has paid, so we are all set for everyone to participate.
  • Please bring runners on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, even when there is bad weather, so we can do gym inside!
  • Library Books are always due on Wednesdays, our library day.
  • Optional math activities I gave you to do over the weekend are due by Friday if you want a prize. The Diseases challenge is due tomorrow morning, though, as we will mark it together.
  • We will definitely still do the rock art as planned (we just took a break to do Remembrance Day art activities) so give your rock to Ms. D if you have it so she knows we have enough. We will plan to do this on Monday.
  • FYI, if you have paper towel and toilet paper rolls, please save them in a bag and bring them in when Ms. D asks for them in next two weeks. We are going to be doing a lot of building!
  • FYI, we will be doing messy art over next little while, so please bring a paint shirt on Mondays if it is a concern for you. Some of the black ink we will use 2 weeks from now is hard to get out of clothes.
  • PRO-D Day on Friday, November 24th. 

Have a great week!

Ms. D

What a great unit! Finishing up and reflecting….

Hello Everyone!

FINISHING UP OUR FIRST UNIT!

We are almost at the end of our first large unit! Today we spent a lot of time working on our end-of-unit project — creating a fun game to help educate others about how personal choices impact the health of the human body! I have been impressed with how students have been working together and look forward to seeing the end products tomorrow!

We will also be honing our writing skills and creating a TED Talk to share on a topic of passion. Last week, we wrote a practice paragraph on our favourite game, identifying the qualities of a strong paragraph. Today, we began the steps toward writing our first, five-paragraph essay. Ms. D will be taking everyone through it a step at a time! Tonight, make sure you have written your introduction, with a thesis statement. Also, please make a quick outline of what you will talk about under the three points of your thesis statement. I look forward to your interesting talks! A rubric for the essay was distributed today.

Thank you for taking the end-of-unit quiz online. I will go over these with students tomorrow and pass out marks in agendas. As the quiz is online and to conserve paper, I won’t print out the quizzes; however, I will go over them with students one-on-one.

Finally, we will be working on a math survey project, using Google Forms, to apply our math skills we have learned. Everyone experimented with Google Forms last week, and today everyone met with partners to begin discussing topics. More work on this tomorrow! I provided a handout and rubric for the project today for your binders.

LOOKING BACK!

When I think of all the learning that has happened the last two months, it is amazing! Let’s take a look back at a few things we did together. What kinds of skills have we learned? Ms. D will write them in “I can” statements, like those from our Core Competencies.

At Science World….What a fun trip!

We went to a Human Body IMAX, we participated in a fun math workshop all about proportions and ratios, and we enjoyed the many exhibits, including one on math and another on Body Works!

I can communicate well with my peers while enjoying fun, experiential activities designed to learn about the human body and other science concepts.

I can express my personal interests by independently choosing activities in Science World that reflect my passions.

I can collaborate with others to do hands-on, inquiry challenges in mathematics around proportions and ratios.

      

Germ Lab!

We had a great time learning as we did a GERM LAB! Our question was: On what surface in the school would you have the greatest chance of touching a pathogen? We wrote a lab, made observations, and used math to make some conclusions!

I can organize my lab materials in a safe and accurate way.
I can record my experiment and investigation using the proper scientific method format.
I can make careful observations and record the data.
I can use critical thinking skills to choose locations for testing in the school where I think there may be the most traffic, and as a result, more pathogens.
I can look at my data in a table and analyze it using fractions, decimals, and/or percentages.
I can think about and record conclusions based on my data.

  

Strawberry DNA Lab!

While not directly in the curriculum, through depth and complexity, and through direct student questions gathered during the unit, we discussed GENETICS! We talked about common genetic traits in humans (rolling your tongue, eye colour, hair lines, etc.) and did a survey of these traits in our class. We watched a video by Bill Nye and Discovery Channel talking about how the study of genetics began through observations of peas! We discussed how some diseases are genetic and non-communicable, while others, like chicken pox, are communicable diseases. Finally, we did an experiment to separate the DNA from a strawberry! Again, we wrote a lab, made careful observations, and used our critical thinking skills to discuss results.

Classroom Visits!

To add to our unit, we had a neurologist come to tell us all about the brain! Thank you to Patricia’s family for making that connection for us! We also had a team of community health nurse students from Douglas College present on personal hygiene and immunizations. 

HALLOWEEN!

Part of using our core competency skills in COMMUNICATION during our first unit involved the student planning of a Halloween Party! Thank you to our Halloween committee for meeting during recess and lunch outside to plan a successful afternoon party. Here are some fun photos to enjoy of our classroom community!

Have a great evening! New unit coming soon. 

Ms. D

Thinking About Assessment — Some thoughts to consider

Hello Students and Parents:

What is the purpose of assessment (tests, projects, quizzes, etc.)? As I explain to the students, assessment is about two things. First, it helps the teacher find out about a class’s learning needs and to better address them through planning of activities. Second, it helps the student and parents know areas of strength and areas of growth so they know what to work on next!

Marks can cause a lot of stress, but the stress is counterproductive. What I mean is, if a student is so preoccupied with the single mark, they end up not reading any of the feedback. If they worry about how the mark will be perceived, then they take less risks, which results, overall, in less creativity and learning. This is why I try NOT to have as many marks in MACC, because students have been trained to work for the mark as opposed to working for their own learning, joy, and personal development.

So, when you bring home a mark, please take the time to read the feedback. If you can’t read my writing, please let me know. If something doesn’t make sense, please ask and I will explain. Do reflect on your learning and think about what you can do to improve, but don’t beat yourself up for a single mark. The single mark itself does not tell the whole story of your learning!

Also, for those in grade four, we talked about what marks mean. On your grade three report card, you received marks that somewhat translate like this in grade four:

  • Exceeding Expectations — Is like receiving an A
  • Fully Meeting Expectations — Is like receiving a B
  • Meeting Expectations — Is like a C+

If you were hoping for an “A” on everything, then ask yourself: On the grade three report card, did you receive exceeding expectations on everything?

Rubrics will show how projects are broken down into parts. You may receive an overall mark, but the project had separate parts in different subject areas you see on report cards.

If you were hoping for a higher mark, don’t worry, this one assignment or project is not the only way I find out marks. We have a TED TALK coming up, a math project we started today, our unit health game, and then a whole other unit to start! Plus all the daily participation and work you do. I look at the whole picture — not just one assignment.

Everyone is at a different point in their learning. We CAN all do things and all have strengths and areas of growth. You will see me refer to what a student is ABLE to do, what they CAN do, rather than the things they cannot. We all work better looking at what we can do and changing our language about our performance to more positive terms.

Reprogram your thinking, kind of like we program a computer! For example, instead of saying:

  • I can’t do something — say, I can do that with some practice or guidance.
  • I am terrible at something — say, I find this more challenging, and with practice I will develop a new skill.
  • I will never be good at that — say: Everyone has different strengths, and I will focus on how my strengths will best get a project done
  • I am awesome at that — say, I’m on the right track. I think I will take on some new challenges to stretch my thinking.
  • I won’t ever need to do that. I am not interested in that because it is boring. — say, I wonder how this is connected to something I am passionate about? I wonder why they teach this? Why might it be important?
  • I made a mistake — say, Mistakes are how I improve, so I can get feedback.
  • It’s good enough. I can’t ever make it better than that. — say, Is this really my best work? 

Self-Assessment, not self-punishment, is the key. It isn’t helpful for any student to perseverate on what went wrong. As educators and parents we need to help young students focus on their strengths and what went right, first! Then, we need to guide them in using positive and realistic language as they make personal goals for how to improve. I hope every student grows in their ability to recognize their strengths AND talk about their areas of growth in a positive way that helps rather than hurts their progress.

Thank you for listening and thinking about assessment with me. If you have any questions about this, please do let me know. 

Kindly,

Ms. D