Month: November 2020

Sharing Our Form and Function E-Books With You!

Hello Everyone,

Use these links to see the books published by students in Division 5. Again the task was to select a building, object, or animal for further research, and then discuss how form follows function. As a reminder, not everyone did an e-book, as some students chose to do speeches instead. Great work learning new technology from Book Creator and discussing how to display research information in a new way. Enjoy!

Hanoks by Victoria

Golden Gate Bridge by Ninad

Sea Stars by Anya

Zebra Finches by Ella

Sino-Steel Building by Michael

Giant Pacific Octopus by Stephanie

Piano by Walter

Sino-Steel Tower by Yichen

Great Wall of China by Charles

Sea Otters by Piper

The Louvre by Aaratrika

Curiosity Rover by Jake

Great Wall of China by Cici

Igloos by Luke

Pelicans by Melly

International Space Station by Owen

Emperor Penguin by Howard

Burj Khalifa by Abhinanda

New Unit: Solving the Conundrum! December 2020

Hello Everyone!

We are now done with our first unit on STRUCTURE, although we will continue to talk about some of the things we were learning about. For example, we are going to do in-class presentations about Your World, and I am looking forward to seeing the different planets we can go visit! We will also continue working on our math games, which are not due until the day before break. Finally, we will keep practicing our writing skills, looking at structure of sentences, using transition words, and organizing our ideas into solid paragraphs.

Everyone did a great job this term, whether it was creating mixed media art through quilling and other new techniques, building towers in critical-thinking challenges, learning about animal adaptations, discussing how form follows function, learning how to use Book Creator, making speeches, doing experiments, making a planet…… Wow! We did a lot! Congratulations to all of Division 5 for their hard work.

Now it is time to move on to a new unit, which will last through the beginning of February.

Title:  Solving the Conundrum

Key Concepts: Perspective, Problem-solving

Unit Focus Statement:

Problem solving involves careful observation, critical thinking, and consideration of multiple perspectives.

An Inquiry Into:

  • Tools for problem solving (consensus building, “7 Norms of Collaboration”, the “Ladder of Inference)
  • Math and Science used in forensics to solve crimes
  • Problem solving in math, which will include discussions about proportionate reasoning
  • Elements of a good story, perspective taking in writing, and writing a mystery
  • Using perspective to make art, and using art to find perspective
  • Ethics
  • Human rights (Personal, Children, Aboriginal, International)
  • Why racism and discrimination happen
  • Past discrimination in Canada (Japanese Internment, Chinese Head Tax, Residential Schools, Komagata Maru)
  • Reparation and Reconciliation

Some (But Not All!) of Our Upcoming Activities:

  • Crime Scene Investigation experiments
  • Hour of Code and Ozobots week of Dec. 7th
  • Burnaby Art Gallery Virtual Workshop on Dec. 8th, First Nations’ Collections
  • Discussion of ethics through pictures books, followed by class debates around hard questions
  • Discussion about culture, our own identities, and how those things colour our beliefs about the world, and our perspective
  • My Culture Presentations Week of Dec. 14th
  • Writing a mystery story!
  • Reading and discussion of My Name is Seepeetza
  • Looking at the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of a Child, and comparing it to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • and more!

More to come as we start to unpack the unit! Stay tuned on Twitter to see some of the things we are doing in class and talk at home about some of the hard questions we bring up during the unit.

Have a good week!

Ms. D

Create Your Own Math Game

Hello Everyone!

We are now moving on to a new unit, but we want to finish up our discussions from the math we were doing. As discussed already in class, we will be making our own math games! We will work on these games leading up

Learning Intention: Create a game for a specific audience that will teach or practice specific math skills from the structure of math tasks we did, or the conjectures we discussed during term one. Use your creative, critical-thinking, and ADST skills, as well as communication and collaboration skills if you choose to work with a partner!

Due: We will work on these off and on up until December 18th. Our hope is that we can play your game no later than December 18th, Friday.

Requirements:

  • Choose to work either on your own or with a partner. If you choose to work on your own, be careful that your game is not too complex, so you can finish the requirements.
  • Choose an audience for your game. It could be our class, intermediate students, or primary students, such as our buddy class.
  • Choose a format for your game. It does not have to be something complicated. Think about all the games we experimented with during our unit. This can be a dice, card, board, or trivia game, for example. Get creative!
  • Think about what will make a game appealing. When you compared games, what kinds of things did you notice will make an interesting game?
  • Many of you said you enjoyed critical-thinking games that involve strategy. What strategy will you need to use to win your game?
  • Think about a unique idea. Avoid playing another version of a pre-existing card or board game. You can use elements of games you have played, but we are not copying games.
  • Determine what materials you will need. Either create or gather what you will need to play the game. Ask Ms. D for any materials you need at school. Do not buy anything new — think reuse and recycle from what you already have!
  • Write a set of rules for the game on the computer in size 12 font  OR write the rules by hand on paper provided by Ms. D. Rules need to have the game title, game objective, game materials, game strategy, the math you are practicing through the game, and the steps you will need to play the game.
  • Have someone play your game.
  • Evaluate your own game for its success!

Last year, we made complicated board games for the human body unit. The purpose of those games was to practice specific knowledge from the unit. For this project, however, the intention is to use math actively, and to involve critical-thinking skills and strategy!

I will provide you with a handout in class, in addition to this blog entry, but it says the same things. Many of you have already started working on your ideas and plans. Great work!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Ms. D