Category: Exploration

In Social Emotional Learning, we read the picture book “The Way I Act” by Steve Metzger. Throughout the book we listened to the verses (without seeing the illustrations), and inferred what the characteristics were that were being described. As a follow up discussion to the book we discussed how every individual may show and express their feelings differently. How do you show that you are nervous, excited, disappointed, overjoyed etc? Students then individually completed a worksheet that highlighted different emotions and they described how they showed that particular emotion.

As scientists, we continue our exploration of Matter. Through a hands-on (and taste safe) activity, we explored how root beer floats illustrate various states of matter. During our ‘exploratory lab’ students distinguished the states of matter for the cup, ice cream, root beer and foam. For bonus points, students identified whether the cup was transparent, translucent or opaque. Who knew that science labs could be so fun and delicious!

Later in the week we worked on identifying the various properties of Matter. Can you describe property elements for shape, colour, texture and size? In connection to Language Arts, can you also come up with synonyms for some of the vocabulary? For example, what are some synonyms for the word big, small etc. As a class we are collaboratively making our very own 3D Properties of Matter bulletin board. Stay tuned for our finished product.

A new theme this week was ADST – Applied Design, Skills + Technologies

This week we received a mission to plan and design, collaborate as a group, and execute a marble run structure out of recyclable materials. Our first step was to individually plan out our design for our marble run that must include at least 5 obstacles. Once that was complete, we then came together as a group to share our insights and combine all our ideas to come to a one united idea. Next up, what materials do we need? This week we strictly focused on planning and collaborating. Next week we will begin constructing! Lots of excitement over here!

I spoke too soon, this week’s planning sessions quickly evolved into the beginning of construction. Students were so focused and peacefully collaborated their ideas within their group, that they were ready to begin the building process for their structures. I must apologize to the other classrooms whom we share a hallway with, as our hallway was BUZZING with excitement and communication yesterday and today (Thursday + Friday).

As artists this week, we were inspired by French artist Georges Seurat who developed the technique of Pointillism. Pointillism uses distinct dots, that when viewed from afar the dots appear blended together to create a visible image. Students were free to choose a portrait of their choosing and then be an artistic risk-taker to explore the technique of Pointillism. Students quickly came to realize how time consuming this was and the patience that it required.

In Language Arts, we continue to work on our persuasive writing, employing a strong, authentic author’s voice to persuade and change our readers’/audience’s thinking. This week after reading the story, Can We Save the Tiger? by Martin Jenkins, we discussed various animals that have become extinct and those animals that are deemed high risk for extinction and/or are currently endangered. Students selected an animal of their choosing to write about. The purpose was for students to persuade their reader with reasons for how and or why they should protect and save this animal from endangerment.

Above you will see a draft that a student expanded upon from their ideas that were brainstormed and collected in their graphic organizer. This morning over breakfast, as I read the morning paper I came across an article that outlined how human activity was impacting the songbirds in the tri-cities. I brought in the article and read some highlights to the class. Immediately, hands shot up into the air and I repeatedly heard the word “connection! CONNECTION!” The students quickly recognized and realized the similarities between this article and our writing theme from the week. Another student commented that not only was the tri-cities article persuasive, convincing the reader to be mindful of the bird’s nest, but it also showed elements of instructional writing, as the author outlined ways that humans can be mindful and prevent the destruction of these birds’ nests. This was a beautiful moment to witness the students transferring taught concepts from within the classroom to real-life situations in our surroundings. Can you make more connections to the themes and big ideas that we are discussing in class to your surroundings?

Happy Weekend! Stay safe + healthy!

Little Bear’s Vision Quest by Diane Silvey, illustrated by Joe Silvey 

Before reading Little Bear’s Vision Quest written by Diane Silvey we discussed the importance of stories and how they are an integral part of Indigenous culture. Students learned that stories are not just for entertainment but they are told to teach lessons and these lessons typically focus on ways to overcome a struggle, how to change one’s attitude or behaviour, and how to be our best self. In this particular story, Little Bear learns to be kind, thoughtful and respectful towards others after being banished to a remote island and reflecting upon his behaviour. The students quickly observed that throughout the story, Little Bear’s coat was initially brown (as seen in the cover of the book). Once he had cleansed himself from the bad, negative thoughts and spirits and welcomed the Power Spirit, he was cleansed, and his body was now pure. Once he was pure, the students were in awe when they noticed that his coat was now pure white. The students thoroughly enjoyed this story and the various themes and lessons that they took away from the story.

What we took away from the story:

– Reflect on your actions and problem solve

– Treat others like you want to be treated

– People can change

– Be in control of your emotions

– Be respectful to others

– You always have good inside of you

– How to take responsibility for your own actions

– How to understand consequences

Our art work was inspired by Little Bear’s Vision Quest. Students drew their background, then applied water colour paint and then decided how they wanted to represent Little Bear. If you look closely you can see how the students chose to represent Little Bear, some decided to represent Little Bear being entirely pure, others wanted to portray him as he transformed towards his purity self. I believe these turned out beautifully. Underneath we wrote about what lesson we took away from this story.

Math:

The Gr 2s continue to power through their addition and subtraction unit focusing on numbers 1-18, next up comes working with numbers 1 – 100! Stay tuned to learn about some strategies that we will learn and employ to support us with our solving problem abilities.

The Gr 3s continue to work on their multiplication facts. As we become more familiar we have been relying on a multiplication chart to support our operations.

Social Studies: 

As we continue to learn about our Earth, we have been discussing pollution and the effects that contaminants have upon our air, land and water. Look at the images below, with your family, can you brainstorm and discuss the affects that the pollutants in the images have upon the environment?

In the images below you can see we did a similar activity in class. The students reflected upon the images of pollution and determined how these actions affect our planet.

Happy Friday + see everyone on Monday!

Happy Earth Day!

In honour of Earth Day we had the opportunity to participate in some special activities on Thursday.

To start off the day, we got to participate in a live reading from author Evelyn Bookless.  With the beauty of technology we were able to participate in this virtual author visit all the way from the Netherlands! Evelyn read her newly released picture book called Captain Green and the Plastic Scene.

In the afternoon we had the privilege of participating in a directed drawing lesson over Zoom with an Indigenous artist from the Squamish nation, Gordon Dick. Now, technology can be our best friend and worst enemy simultaneously. Unfortunately, by the afternoon, technology was not our friend at all. During our Zoom session with Gordon, our internet connection became very poor and we received a lag in our video stream. Next, we lost our sound so we unfortunately could not follow along with Gordon’s verbal cues. Not to fret! This was a perfect opportunity for us to practice a) our patience b) our flexibility by going with the flow when something planned does not go as expected and c) our inferencing skills. We continued to persevere with the art lesson and we practiced our inferencing skills based on what we could view while not being able to hear the instructions. Students continued to be risk-takers and attempted to explore various shapes and lines that Gordon was demonstrating. We inferred that Gordon was showing us different techniques for how to use different line strokes to produce different effects that we would then later incorporate into our own drawing. I was pleased to see many students show grit and perseverance during this difficult and unexpected time when our technology disappointed us.

We continue to see growth from our pea seedlings! Ask your scientist how our experimental seedlings are doing – is there any growth from the seedling with no sunlight; no water; no soil? Were your initial predictions correct or incorrect?

In Math, the Grade 3s continue to learn and practice new mathematical skills. We have moved on from our unit on fractions and have now dived into the world of multiplication! This past week, students began to understand the concepts of multiplication as groups of, arrays and repeated addition. For example, 5+5+5+5=20 is the same as 4 x 5 = 20 and also the same as having 4 groups of 5. Students are developing their skill-set in showing their mathematical thinking in both pictorial and concrete representation.

Can you answer the following questions?

a) Doughnuts are sold in packages of 5. On the weekend, Mrs. Ralph bought 3 packages. How many doughnuts did she have altogether?

b) There were 4 sheep in the field and 3 cows in the field. How many sheep were there altogether?

c) Can you draw 2 groups of 6? What is the product (the answer)?

d) Can you draw 3 groups of 5? What is the product?

Grade 2s continue to explore the world of addition and subtraction. We continue to primarily focused on number bonds and number sentences, using both operations of addition and subtraction. It can be tricky at times to recognize that the number sentences contain the same numbers, however they are just in a different order. I encourage everyone to continue practicing writing their number sentences to become more familiar and confident with these skills.

For example, 

5 + 4 = 9

4 + 5 = 9

9 – 4 = 5

9 – 5 = 4

In the number sentences above, all four sentences are using the numbers 4, 5, and 9. It is key to remember that when you are subtracting, you are subtracting from the largest number as you need to be able to take away from it.

Can you answer the questions below?

a)

6 + 3 = ________

3 + ________ = 9

9 – ________ = 6

________ – 6 = 3

b) Please write two addition sentences for the math story below.

There were 8 birds sitting in a tree, 9 more birds joined the tree. How many birds are there altogether?

c) Please write two subtraction sentences for the math story below.

There were 19 cats sitting on the fence. A dog barked and scared away 4. How many cats were left?

d) Please complete the doubles and doubles + 1 below:

• 4 + 4 = _________
• 4 + 5 = _________
• 6 + 6 = _________
• 6 + 7 = _________
• 8 + 8 = _________
• 8 + 9 = _________

Earth Week:

In preparation of Earth week this week we have been discussing about ways that we, as individuals, can make an everlasting impact upon the world by protecting Mother Earth. This morning, the students came up with ways that we can protect our Earth. Some examples include following proper hunting regulations to protect our animals, composting our food scraps and waste, conserving energy, finding alternative forms of power such as solar power panels, electric cars, conserving water by turning off the taps when brushing our teeth and reducing our daily pollution by trying to walk more, carpool etc.

Are there more ways that you can make a difference?

After watching this video below on “Sorry” for future generations for this Earth Day, can you and your scientist + active citizen, discuss what they think and feel after viewing the video. Are you feeling disappointed; sad; shocked? What in particular made you feel this way? Do you think the message of the video is important? Why or why not? Did you feel motivated to make a change or a difference in some capacity after watching this video?

Being the next generation to make a difference and protect our Earth, what can we do? How can we encourage more people to do the same? How can we spread our message? Ultimately, how can we do better, be better?

We have quite a few projects underway this week. Since “The Earth is in our hands” we began working on an Art project that will decorate our halls by spreading the message for different ways that we can take care of our only home, and protect our planet.

Art:

Our Art last week is now on display in our hallway, adding a splash of colour! We were inspired by “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle. As previously mentioned, the students were in awe of this painting project and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Ask your artist about the processes that were used to achieve this textured look.

Science:

This week we worked extremely hard on our display of our Butterfly Unit. In our project we focused on the life cycle of the butterfly, the changes that occur during metamorphosis, body parts of both the caterpillar and butterfly, ways that both the caterpillar and butterfly can protect themselves, what the butterfly eats, distinguishing the differences between a moth and butterfly and so much more!

Why do you think that the butterfly will lay it’s eggs on specific leaves? What is the significance in that? 

From our studies of the butterfly, what was something that you were surprised to learn? What are some facts that stick with you? 

We are seeing GROWTH from our seedlings! Inquire with your scientist how our experimental seedlings are doing. Is there any growth from the seedling that is growing without sunlight; no soil; and no water? So far, are your predictions correct or incorrect?

Friday Math Games – always a delight! Again, students continue to practice their foundational math skills, focusing on various formats of adding and subtracting with numbers 1-10 and 1-20. My favourite quote from today after we cleaned up our math games was “when are we doing math?” I smiled and asked them what they were just doing, the student responded by saying “well I know we were doing mathhhh, but it was so fun and like a game, so that can’t really be math!” SURPRISE! Learning through play can always be fun, that is just one reason why I love math games. Students are practicing and utilizing their number sense and addition and subtraction facts without even noticing. I have also witnessed many students gain confidence within themselves and their ability as they strengthen their mental math strategies and their number facts.

Social Studies: 

To begin, students analyzed the photographs on the board and were encouraged to see if they noticed a pattern or theme amongst the photographs. In a flash, students quickly caught on to the theme that some photographs involved humans and other photographs did not. We decided to categorize the photographs into Human Impact vs Natural Disasters. We then passionately began selecting four topics from Human Impact and four topics from Natural Disasters that we wanted to record in our flapbook. Stay tuned for the final result!

Art: 

Any guesses what we are creating in Art this week? A hint is that we are inspired by the artwork in the story from “The Tiny Seed” by Eric Carle. It was a big task creating our painting, demonstrating patience as it dried and anxiously awaiting to complete our next step which is putting it all together. The students marvelled at the great reveal when they opened up their paper to see the symmetric design that was created. Stay tuned!