Gardening!

Our class has been given a gardening bin, located off of the primary playground, to plant in for these sunny two months before school ends. Tomorrow, we will be putting in fresh soil on top, adding bone meal for fertilizer, and planting seeds and small starter plants. We hope to have some kale, radishes, lettuce, strawberries, and more before we go to break.

If any student has their own pair of gardening gloves, or a small gardening shovel, please feel free to bring them for tomorrow.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Ms. D

Thank You for Student Leds & Weekend Reminders – April 29

Hello Everyone!

I told the students today I was very proud of how articulate they all were while describing their work to their parents during our student led conferences. You all did a great job!! Thank you to parents for coming to see our student work. Our Wonderings Board is now full of so many great questions!

We are now moving forward working on our product to sell for MACC Mall. As a reminder to students, this project does not involve buying new stuff from the store. You may use recyclables or nature items that do not involve hurting nature (sticks, rocks from the beach, etc.) Any other item you use outside of recyclables will cost you for your budget. The budget is $100, and today we talked about general costs that will apply to supplies you use in the classroom. You need to remember to budget funds for renting mall space, advertising, patent fees, a business license, and a fee to the MACC Safety Committee that will determine your product is safe for use by children. Please work on your idea over the weekend.

We are also moving forward with our Literature Circle Final Project. I provided students with a list of project ideas. They can work individually or with their whole group. Ideally, you are working with a group only if you chose the skit/drama option. Please have your idea in mind for Monday so we can get started.

Dragon Boating forms and money were due today. Most people have paid, but a few still need to get in their forms. Thank you to Gary, Sylvia’s Dad, and Candace, Michael’s Mom, who will be our steerers for the two boats we will be using. We are traveling in parent vehicles and my own — all parent drivers need to have an insurance waiver form from Suncrest on file. Please bring these in as soon as possible.

Math — Compound Interest: Please finish this worksheet so we can go over it and continue our talk about bank accounts and how they work on Monday.

SAVE THE DATES:

  • Caribou Test:  Next week on May 4 and 5
  • Abel/Gauss Testing at School:  May 11
  • Dragon Boating:  May 25, June 1, June 8
  • School Musical: Our night is May 18, Wednesday (cast, crew, Greek Chorus are both nights on May 18 and 19)
  • No School on May 13 for Curriculum Day

Have a good weekend!

Student Led Conferences

Hello Everyone!

Please note that tomorrow are student led conferences. They will be completely student led, and there will be stations to take part in (Parents get to do some work, too, so be prepared to participate!  But it will be fun!)

In order to make everything run smoothly, please note that you have about 30-45 minutes to be at the conference. At 4:00 PM I have to shut the doors so I can get some dinner before the evening session, so if you show up at 3:30, please take into mind that I will need to ask you to be done by 4PM.

As this is student-led and there are many people in the room, I ask that if you need to have a longer conversation with me, let’s set up a private time to talk. Thank you!

Finally, there will be some snacks. Some of the students offered to help with this by bringing something, but it is not required! So, if you see “chips and popcorn” in the agenda, it is likely they were copying down what others offered to bring to share.

Don’t forget to respond to the previous blog posts if you can.

Many thanks and see you tomorrow!

Ms. D

Update April 26 — Please post to blog

Hello Everyone!

See you tomorrow at school! In the meantime, please take some time to do a blog entry about our Friday trip to the BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre. Respond to my last blog entry — not this one! Some of you also need to respond to the previous blog entry about an article you would recommend we all read. These are assignments, so make sure you take the time to post!

April 27 — Full Day

April 28 — Early Dismissal 2PM; students who have student leds and have a parent with them can stay in the room. Conferences take 30-45 minutes. Room has to close between 4-5 PM, but will re-open 5-7 PM that evening.

April 29 — Early Dismissal 2PM; Special Visitor to talk about Natural Resources/Geology!

Have a good evening,

Ms. D

Visit to the Genome Sciences Centre!

Hello Everyone!

Today we had a great field trip to the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre called Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Science Centre. Rather than Ms. D telling you all about this trip, today everyone will make a comment during class detailing what we learned. Thank you to Daniel’s dad for making us aware of this trip and coming with us today, and thank you to Naomi’s and Sophia’s moms for joining us, as well!

Students, in order to get your comment (an assignment, too) approved, it will need: appropriate detail, show you were paying attention during our visit, have unique information, and also be properly edited prior to posting. Please check over your posts before pressing submit!

Reminders: No school Monday and Tuesday; Early Dismissal Thursday and Friday; Student-Led Conferences on April 28th; Dragon Boat Forms & Payment due April 29. If you are driving please reconfirm and I will provide you with a driver’s form that needs to be on file with the Suncrest office. I will hand out those forms on Wednesday when we return to school.

Have a great weekend! If anyone is interested, there is a great arts MAKE IT Fair going on at the PNE all weekend, so I will be there! This is not the Maker Faire I spoke of before, and is more focused on artisans versus makers/technology.

Genetics Lab Tomorrow! & Other News April 21st

Hello Everyone!

Tomorrow please be here at 8:45 AM on time to leave for the BC Cancer Agency Genetics Lab via bus. Sophia’s and Naomi’s parents will be joining us, thank you! We will be done at 12:00 – 12:15 PM, then return to school, have a quick lunch, and go to music class at 1PM. Please bring a snack, water bottle, and lunch. You also need closed-toe shoes as we will be in a lab setting.

Our DRAGON BOATING TRIP was approved by the School Board May 25th 9:45-11:45, June 1 9:45-11:45, and June 8 9:45-12:15. Cost is $25, due on April 29th along with the forms. A hard copy of the notice goes home tomorrow, but here is the Dragon Boating Parent Notice MACC and Required Insurance Form Dragon Boating. All students must pay $25 to participate, even if they already plan to not be here for one session, as the payment is based on overall numbers for staffing at the Burnaby Canoe and Kayak Club.

Dragon Boat DRIVERS who told me they could drive need to reconfirm the dates, let me know how many students in the back seats you can take, and then fill out a driver’s form from the office.

Student Led Conferences times on April 28th have been confirmed via your child’s agenda. When you show up, please understand it is an open house setting with multiple people participating. There will be stations, snacks, and a community feeling as your child leads you in some activities and shows a bit of their work. At this time, only students with their parents will be allowed to be in the main classroom space due to the number of people that signed up.

Geology!: If anyone wants to see the PowerPoint we discussed today about BC Geology, you can view it here.

Other Items!

  • ROCKS: Look up the rocks on the list for our rock ID lab, which will be on Wed. Also, read the Rock Cycle handout and see if you have questions.
  • GOVT LEADERS: Please fill in the names of your government leaders! Due Wed.
  • SCALE MODEL: We will have time for painting tomorrow, but if any more work needs to be done, make arrangements with your partner so it is done for Thursday.
  • NO SCHOOL on April 25th and 26th
  • EARLY DISMISSAL on April 28th and 29th at 2PM
  • NO SCHOOL on May 13th
  • MUSICAL on May 18th/19th (our night is the 18th)

Building, Student Leds, Thinking About Our Products – April 19

Hello Everyone,

For April 28th Student Led Conferences, your children have come up with some great ideas of how to share work with you!  In order for it to be successful, though, we need to have less people in one of the sessions — most of you have signed up for 2-4 PM, which at this point is now over full. If any of you who said you were coming in from 2-4 can volunteer to come in the 5-7 PM timeframe, that is helpful; just let me know via email. If you know you are coming at a specific time, please let your child know or tell me via email so I know if we are spaced out enough for attendance. Thank you for your help accommodating your children’s creative student-led ideas!

Also, we have had an item go missing from class and we are trying very hard to find it. A student brought in a precious rock to share — it is an egg-shaped and sized, polished shiny stone with a cracked center. I have asked all students to please help me look for the item. Thank you for your help!

Tonight, students are looking up cheap crafty ideas for items they can sell at our MACC MALL. We are still finishing activities from this unit, including rocks and minerals and government, but I have asked them to begin thinking about our end project, which will be to produce their own product. To make the product, they need to get a patent for their idea, have the product safety-tested by our government committee, make a budget for costs and set a price, do market research using a survey, and advertise the item using a poster, mini movie, or simple skit. We will be inviting other classes to come in and spend tickets to purchase the items when they are complete.

Please ensure all work is turned in — some people have not turned in the Fishing Log from last week, and others are missing Lit Circle assignments. Ms. D has returned a lot of work and will be giving more tomorrow. If you want to improve your mark, you are welcome to re-do the work or add to it to receive an upgrade — just please do it before we finish this unit so we can move on to our next set of activities.

Have a great night!

Ms. D

April 14th Update

Hello Everyone,

Today we talked about rocks and minerals, looking at more local, BC rock samples from Eastern Vancouver Island and Pender Island, Gowland Point, and deciding if they were sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous rock. On Monday, we will talk about our lab to test the characteristics of rocks.

We worked on our household budgets using Excel and almost everyone has finished. On Monday, everyone can google drive the documents to me. We also had our last Lit Circle meeting! Our next step with our books is a mini project —  more details to come!

Last thing we did was finish our maps on resources of the world, and we also discussed Fair Trade, watching a quick animation from The Economist called Fair Trade (scroll down to see the video link in the middle of the web page.) 

Tonight’s agenda:

  • Student Led Conferences will be an open house going from 2-4 PM and 5-7 PM on April 28th. A notice will be coming soon with details for you about this, but it will be student led, and the MACC students are planning out a list of things they will show you during your time here. You may show up at any time, and there will be multiple groups here at a time, with Ms. D here for any guidance needed.
  • Dragon Boating has been approved by the Board! Now I need to get a lot of logistics sorted out. Please mark May 25th, June 1, and June 8 as our dates. More information to come later.
  • Article: Please post a link to an article on trade or economy that you find on the web in response to this blog entry. Or, you can cut an article out of the newspaper and bring it on Monday.
  • Lit Circle: Our meetings are finished, so make sure you have turned in all lit circle assignments. Some of you have items overdue. I will be passing these back to you either today or on Monday.

 

Thank you and have a good evening!

Just for fun post-Jay

I found this cool video on youtube here and it shows a lot of math tricks. (Well not including the cube roots, but I figured out how to do it) I had tried to make the square from the two circles and it actually works. P.S. I think it is scary to have a cube falling on your head.

Who ever figures out the cube root puzzle you get a prize from Ms. D, maybe.

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