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