Tinkering with curriculum to make learning fun!
Hello again!
I am bringing in a tree for our classroom we can decorate. I have some lights and tinsel, but I will need everyone’s help with making ornaments. If you have ideas we can use for making ornaments together, then please post your link to those ideas here so I can check them out!
I look forward to your arts and crafty ideas! Have a good weekend!
Ms. D
Hello everyone!
It was a full day of Rube Goldberg building in the morning, and then TED Talk presentations in the afternoon!
This morning, we began by reading two books about what people do with IDEAS. The first is a great picture book I found at Kids Books called What Do You Do With An Idea?, which has excellent illustrations using the art principle of emphasis. Both books we read talked about what people do with their creative ideas, even when other people around them think the idea may not be the best. We also read a book about a woman from Africa who found a way to clean up her village of plastic bags by creating complicated art accessories with them. We discussed how ideas that may have seemed silly at first can soon become powerful ways to make change in the world around us.
With that in mind, we then went back to business, building and creating. Our classroom became a giant maker lab as just about every square inch of space was being used for building Rube Goldberg machines. I asked students to keep journal entries of their design process and how they are using at least four simple machines. The simple machines they use should be in active use, not just attached randomly to the machine. For example, if someone is using a wedge, the wedge should be doing work, not just sitting there, attached for aesthetic reasons. Day 2 entry for homework should be one page long and talk about how the building went today, what you would change, what new adjustments did you make today, what materials will you need to finish, etc., and also include a quick sketch of your machine as it is right now. Tomorrow, we will have a final building session together to wrap up this creative project.
Many students had an opportunity to present their TED TALK speeches today. Students had the option of either presenting in front of the class or recording them on the iPads. We were finding it difficult to record today due to noise inside or out, and so tomorrow, students who have not presented can either record their speeches in a quiet space in the school building or present in front of the class. Either way, we will complete them by end of day tomorrow and everyone should ensure they have turned in their written copy.
Today, we also had some thinking questions on the technology articles we read, and the Think, Pair, Share sheet is due tomorrow to the inbox. Students also continued working on their math for distance, speed, and time. If anyone has completed the word problems already and finds them easy, please let me know, as I have another sheet of challenge problems which involve higher math and some basic algebra thinking related to D=RxT. This is only for students who want the extension, as the problems come from higher level math and are not required.
Tomorrow, don’t be late! We will have a special presentation from 9-10 AM tomorrow by an engineer from the Association of Professional Engineers in BC. He will be doing a brief activity with us and showing a PowerPoint about engineering!
Next Monday, we will construct our fuel cell cars, and Tuesday we will try running them. I say this because I have had several students asking every day about it! I am glad you are excited.
I also have a fake X-Mas Tree I hope the students will help me put up in the classroom on Monday so we can put some of our creations on it! If anyone has an extra string of lights or tinsel you could offer us for the three weeks, please let me know via email!
For tonight, please take the time to reflect on how our Rube Goldberg building went today! Write one page in your red journal. Tell me how it went, what went well, what you would change for tomorrow, and what new materials you may need to complete the task. Also, please tell me about what four simple machines you have used in your building.
Please also practice your Ted Talk, and I will give you some time in class to practice with a peer again before we go forward and hear your speeches. When you complete your speech, you should have a printed copy to give to me so I can evaluate it, as well as the rubric for both speaking and writing.
Just a reminder, no school on Friday due to a Professional Development Day.
There were lots of overdue library books today for our library period, so please mark Tuesdays on your calendar as the day when library books must be returned.
A pink notice went home today about the Poinsettia fundraiser. Also, the Holidays Scholastic, for those who wanted it, went out. Orders are due on Thursday of this week, please. Sorry for the short timeline, but if items are wanted before Break, we need to make sure to order as soon as possible. Please take into mind when you order that you never can know how long orders will take to arrive, as that is up to Scholastic!
Thanks and have a good evening!
Hello everyone,
Quick update this evening just in terms of homework and ongoing projects:
Thanks, and have a good night!
Today the MACC 4/5 group had a good day of both work and constructive free time activities.
During the morning, they were given time in class with our laptops and iPads to work on their French PowerPoint presentations. We went over the criteria again and everyone was asked to do a peer and self assessment on their presentation when finished. These presentations are due on Monday by end of day, but many students are almost done or already finished given the amount of time that has been given in class.
If the PowerPoints were complete, then they worked on their TED TALKS. The written version of this project is also due by Monday end of day. I will give some more time on Monday to finish up. The final draft should involve taking the paragraphs from the outline we did in class and putting them into a finished essay. It should be done on lined paper or on the computer. When working at home, students should complete their drafts on their own, as it is a marked project. They should refer to the rubric I provided. We will begin working on the speaking part Monday.
If anyone is wanting to type, and they are still using the “hunt and peck” method of typing with two fingers, then I have suggested to everyone that typing practice is probably something to focus on for the year so they have this skill and can produce work more quickly. If you want a fun game for practicing typing with two hands, please see the BBC Kids Dance Mat Typing.
We also had open time to continue working on Rube Goldberg research, which is a short sheet provided yesterday. It is due on Monday by end of day. On Monday, we will start planning our own Rube Goldberg machines by writing out our plan and making drawings.
In the week ahead, we will have opportunities to share our PowerPoints, build our machines, and do a short quiz on simple machines (Wednesday.) We will also talk more in Math about word problems related to work and speed, while also beginning to look at some review of standard skill areas, as well as geometry. Hopefully by Thursday, students will be ready to present their TED Talks. We will be recording them using the iPads, but before we do, we will do more talking about effective speaking. Finally, as promised, I will be bringing out the fuel cell cars, and we will also have opportunities to share the hydraulic robotic arms which some of our students built for the class during Free Choice Time today.
Free Choice was great today! Some students focused on art projects using embroidery thread and pearler beads. Others build independent projects using supplies available, adding to their catapults or making small toys. Some were building the hydraulic robotic arms, while others began making meccano machines or worked with the large set of lego borrowed from the District Library. Overall, it was a positive way to end the day, and before beginning our activities, we all took a moment to share something positive about others in the classroom, acknowledging what each of us brings to our small MACC community. Thank you for your positive, caring thoughts!
I hope you have a good weekend!
Good evening!
The last two days we have been focusing on math and physics combined by working on problems related to speed, distance and time. For those with more advanced math, it was optional to practice word problems related to acceleration. Then, we read about how work is measured in joules and practiced using the formula of work = distance x force.
Yesterday, I introduced students to Rube Tube which is a website dedicated to Rube Goldberg and his contraptions! Two particular favourite videos of these machines are the music video and the Honda Commercial. I encourage students to watch the other videos on the Rube Tube site that we haven’t seen yet or any others they find! Tonight’s homework is to complete some research on Rube Goldberg and to investigate whether he was a serious scientist or an eccentric innovator. I will give some time tomorrow, but this is due by end of day Friday. Our next step will be to design a Rube Goldberg machines of our own (a mini version) using the simple machines we have been looking at, so I am asking everyone to think about what task they have in mind for their machine and what kinds of materials they think they may need.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Caribou Math Competition! Results should be available shortly, most likely by tomorrow. Just as a reminder, this competition is completely optional and not required. While I encourage it as an extension of math in our class, these exercises and scores are not something I look at for evaluation of the student or for marks. Best of luck to all who completed the test!
Students are finishing up their French PowerPoints, as well as their TED Talks. I will provide some final work time on these tomorrow. Most students are close to being finished with the PowerPoint. Both are due on Monday and students can work on them at home as well as in school.
Half of the day today was dedicated to the Young People’s Concert Series, and we attended the show Pied Piper of Hamlin by Axis Theatre. We enjoyed the production and I look forward to seeing our next one in January.
Have a good evening!
Today we began by working on our TED TALK and looking up evidence (facts) to back up our opinions. Students had time in class to work on support paragraph #1, and tonight they should work on support paragraph #2. Part of the criteria (they have a rubric) is supporting their position with persuasive arguments and facts, so ask them if they have done any research to find information that supports their position. The written speech is due on Monday, and we will have some more class time to continue working on it.
Later we worked on HOT WHEELS and INCLINED PLANES, doing running trials of hot wheels cars down inclined planes to find their speed. By the end of the day, most groups had recorded data from three trials, and then they will answer questions using math to find speed by dividing distance by time. r=d/t
We used our FRENCH vocabulary and sentences to begin making a PowerPoint presentation. Some students are new to this tool, so we spent a bit of time talking about what makes a good PowerPoint and what kinds of features the program has to play with as they construct a presentation. If your child does not have a USB, please have them bring it to school, as it is best to have a USB back up of documents worked on at school. Students are making a presentation to teach and test other students on the French vocabulary they have chosen. The presentation is due on Monday afternoon.
The Cariboo Math Test is coming up tomorrow — it runs over two days, so we will be going to the computer lab on Thursday morning to do the test as a group. The test must be done at school for it to count, as the contest site registers our school IP address and a teacher must be present during the testing. Last chance to purchase codes if you are in grade five is tonight!
Science Games money and permission forms filed online are due Friday. There are people on the wait list, so to secure your spot, please bring this in on Friday.
Homework also included two articles on social-emotional learning, How to Respectfully Disagree and How to Be Aware of Emotions. Today, during our cooperative work, some students had difficulty expressing their feelings and communicating their needs or wants. Please have a discussion at home about how valuable cooperative work can be and what strategies you can use when you disagree with someone. As I like to say in class, you can only control YOU, not what other people do. So, when someone is not doing what you want, or reacts to something you said, or says something that bothers you, then be a THINKER, be CARING and be OPEN MINDED. Think about what you can control and what you can do about the situation, not what you can make the other person do or about what you wish they would do. If you want others to care about things, you, too, must be caring about how you say things and how you work with others. Be open minded, that people, even with opinions and beliefs that are very different than yours, could also be right.
I also noted today that several students did not pick up the articles. If your child doesn’t have them, you may want to review how important the agenda and getting handouts is at the end of the school day.
Tuning In article booklets have been marked, and overall students did a good job. I went through and interviewed each student about the readings to find out if they felt the articles were too challenging, just right, or too easy. For most, the articles fell in the just right category. We also identified that articles from Science Alert (DNA, Stress), written at a grade 5/6 level, were preferred, as opposed to the articles from Eureka that are written at the grade 5-8 level (Ebola, Synthetic Blood). I was impressed with student reflections, questions, and their use of the glossaries included, or the internet, when they felt they did not know the meanings of words. We are still working on highlighting skills, focusing on not painting and only emphasizing the main ideas and key words.
Projects from Unit One are also completely marked. I wait until I have all of them done before handing them out, and I ask you to review them at home, sign, and return them to school. Overall, well done, everyone! If you have two marks on the sheet, I explained this means content from the project fell over two categories in the rubric. The first mark is the stronger of the two.
By the way, if you are sick or have a fever, please don’t feel badly about staying home. You are doing the right thing! You can email me, and if I can, I will send you assignments. Some can’t be sent as I work with hard copies, so when you return, I will give you copies we save for you. You can also have some extra time to catch up.
Please be safe out in the strong winds! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Today we began by talking about the simple machine called the inclined plane! We involved some physics and math as we looked at the concepts of acceleration and velocity, and talked about how distance=rate x time. Tomorrow, we will be doing an experiment using inclined planes and hot wheel cars, racing them to determine their rate of speed and velocity over time. We will need to use past math skills of mean/average in order to find our data. We will also learn how to find the rate by using a stop watch and marking the distance traveled each second by the cars. Students were to complete their questions on acceleration for homework if not done already.
I reminded students that since we do not use textbooks, it is important to pay attention to the material I hand out in class and keep it safe in their binders. When we do projects, they can use this material directly to make their projects more interesting and add to their thinking. Also, part of being in the MACC program means we look at the curriculum with greater depth and complexity. Some of this depends on students taking the time to be deeper thinkers and to truly try and answer questions posed during class. It also means they should pay attention to adding detail on questions, so I can also hear or see their thinking! Thank you to everyone who is doing their best to be a THINKER in our class!
We also spent time this morning talking about our TED TALK project. I handed out a guideline sheet for writing a five paragraph essay, because really, a speech is like doing a five paragraph essay, with an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Today, our goal was to write a solid thesis statement to express our opinion. In a speech for TED, we are not just doing a report on a topic, we are talking in a persuasive style. For example: I think art is an important part of the curriculum because it teaches fine-motor skills needed for future work, it allows students to learn things that could assist them in the many careers that need the arts, and it provides an outlet for self-expression and stress reduction. Students were asked to express an opinion and then follow it by three supporting ideas. Each of the three supporting ideas will become a paragraph in their essay. Ask your child to share their idea with you!
To further investigate how technology has an impact on our lives, students read from a variety of research books on different types of machines in communications, entertainment, transportation, medicine, and more. They looked for specific machines that have had an impact on our lives and took notes as needed. We also had a journal topic today: What would happen in your life if you did not have any technology (digital technology and electricity) from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed? I asked them to finish this one page entry for Monday.
As a reminder, some students have not been bringing their journals back to go in the green journal box, which means they may not receive marks for that work. Please look and make sure you have turned yours in!
To finish the day, we had PE and then read the book The Dot and did an art activity related to LINE and PERSPECTIVE — not the element of perspective, but being open to another person’s perspective. Each student drew six squiggles in their art book and other students came to change those lines into new things. This is a great perspective game to play when you are bored and waiting somewhere, as I explained to the students.
Please bring library books tomorrow for book exchange!
See the green notice regarding gift card fundraising for the school.
Caribou Math participants, tonight is the last night to purchase a code so you will be ready for the competition this week. The test runs on Wednesday and Thursday, and we will likely be doing it Thursday morning. Also be aware we will be going to the Young People’s Concert that afternoon.
Have a good night!
I will keep today’s update brief, as it is Friday and I am on my way out the door for the weekend! Let’s put it in point form:
Have a great weekend! See you Monday!
Today we began by reading a short article and having a discussion about the three types of levers. You can identify the type of lever by looking at the direction of the force/effort and load and the position of the fulcrum. I invite students to look at home and see if they can find examples of the three types!
Afterwards, students continued working on their catapult models, and then we did a group test session, launching marshmallows across the classroom. Congratulations to the group who had their marshmallow go the farthest! For all groups, we reviewed the engineering design process and reflected on what we would do differently next time. Some students have decided they enjoyed this so much they would like to continue building catapults during free choice time tomorrow with the supplies we have available.
Following recess, we went over some language arts skills to strengthen writing. First, we looked at some of the common symbols used when doing editing, which can be helpful when editing your own work or that of a peer student. This sheet will be kept in the unit binder as a reference. Second, we looked at transition words and phrases, which make writing flow more easily and connect ideas throughout a writing piece. For homework, students have two worksheets to finish which we began in class called Order, Order and Lost in Transition, for practice. We are working on writing skills to help with our TED TALK project, during which we will be writing a speech and presenting it on an idea of our choice. We watched a TED Talk by Sarah Kay today about spoken word poetry. See here for other TED videos appropriate for kids. Students were asked to watch one video for homework tonight.
Finally, we ended the day with music, finishing French quizzes, and open work time to catch up on things and organize our work binders. We also went over the fine arts rubric together, as I passed back some art projects. Students had the choice of taking the projects home or putting them in their black portfolios as records of our work.
Just a reminder to wear boots and/or coats — the weather is getting nasty and it has been cold, so dress appropriately!
See you tomorrow!