MS. DETERRA'S MAKER STUDIO

Hello Everyone!

We have had an exciting week back! Building challenges, discussions about the ring of fire, a rock classification lab, and a trade simulation!

Trade Simulation: In connection with our unit, we are learning about resources, global trade, fair/free trade, and economics. To begin the discussion, everyone participated in The International Trade Game simulation, which was invited by a professor of economics. Students were assigned to one of six countries, labeled A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. Each team/country received a folder full of resources, but not every folder had an equal amount of tools and consumable materials! The goal was to create paper shapes of specific sizes, sell them to the international market/bank for money, and then make the most money! But, of course, this game was not entirely fair, which Ms. D explained to everyone up front. Overall, it was a great learning simulation to introduce students to supply and demand, as well as other concepts about global trade we will continue discussion next week.

Rock Classification: Students were put in teams and given 15 mystery rocks to identify! They had books, the iPads, and tools to do tests on the rocks in order to classify them. The rocks will be available during student led conferences to see the tests we did.

Trade War: Today we did a simulation about trade, pretending again to be different countries trading specific resources in high demand such as oil, gold, lumber, and electronics. Then we watched a short video by The Economist on global trade.  I also invite students to try the Trading Around the World game by the International Monetary Fund, which I will introduce in class next week.

Dendrochronology! As part of the UBC MEED program, we were fortunate to have Vanessa Comeau come to visit us. She is a graduate student of dendrochronology, and she explained how we use scientific knowledge to not only find out how old trees are, but to look for clues that help us with managing our natural resources and forests in British Columbia. She brought in tree slice samples of local trees that had grown in Burns Bog and students had an opportunity to learn about how tree rings are counted, what rings can tell us about a tree’s health, and how to tell if the tree was involved in a forest fire! It was a fun and informative session.

Dragon Boating Notice: Please see the dragon boating notice sent home today. Waivers, permission forms, and payment are due April 13th. Dragon Boating is on May 23, 28, and June 1. We are really needing parents to help drive!!

Walking on Monday! We are participating in the Walk Burnaby activities starting next Monday, April 9th, during our PE times. Each student is already registered as part of Division 5. Please see the bookmark sent home today for more information. Everyone receives a reflector strap which we will wear while walking, and then when we are finished with the challenge, the straps can go home. On May 12th, there is a celebration with food, prizes, and speakers to celebrate everyone’s performance. You can register as a family or individual, too, but do it soon as the competition begins April 9th. The minutes I will track are those done at school with the class, but if you want to do it on your own, go for it!

Musical: As a heads up, please note our class will be performing in the musical during the evening of May 16th, Wednesday. Please keep that evening free so students can join their classmates in this special presentation at 7PM. More details to come as they develop. Students are currently working on their musical performance pieces during music class.

Student Leds Wednesday April 11th! I confirmed times with each student. Let me know if you did not receive your time. Please do not come early and use your assigned time, as we can only have eight people in here at a time due to space and the number of stations set up. I look forward to seeing you then!

Have a great weekend!

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a restful spring break!

We have some exciting things coming up as we dive into our unit work for term three. Here are some things to be aware of as we get going!

Do you have a glass jar here? We plan on making Borax crystals as we continue to talk about rocks, minerals, and elements. Please find a glass jar and bring it in for tomorrow.

Learning about making questions! Independent Project! Before break, we began talking about our independent project for the end of the year, musing about topics. Please begin thinking about possible areas of study. Today we did a Question Technique activity to help us think about brainstorming and forming questions for research. What is a closed and an open question? How do you think an open question will better help you with research? We will continue practicing questioning during our unit, especially as we thinking about our critical-thinking skills from the core competencies.

Choose Kindness: We will be working on being caring in our classroom community and beyond. Today we read the book Be a Unicorn & Live Life on the Bright Side. Remember, as it said in the book, “On Wednesday, Unicorn just went around complimenting everyone.” How does receiving or giving a compliment make you feel? We talked about how caring for others actually makes you feel good at the same time — it is just brain science!

Student Led Conference April 11th! Please return the notice sent out today with your preferred times. Please do indicate at least two choices of times, as each session can only have eight students. Division five is planning some great activities for parents to participate in! Plan to be there for an entire hour to get the most out of the experience. 

Walking in Burnaby! As part of our physical education and health learning this term, we are signed up to participate in the Walk 30 Burnaby. This means walking 30 minutes a day, or at least our three times of physical education each week, then recording our minutes as a class team. Each student will receive a reflector band for participating and is invited to participate in the May 12th ending celebration with prizes, food, and health activities. Schools across the District are invited to participate, along with those in New West. See their website for detailed information.

Report Card Envelopes: Please return signed report card envelopes as soon as possible. Thank you!

Library Tomorrow (Wed!) So, don’t forget your books! Ms. D has brought some new books and added them to the classroom library, too, such as Smile, Project 1065, and Escape from Syria. Hope you enjoy!

Annnnnnddddd……the gerbils are back! Hello again to Squeak and Little Grey. They are currently chewing on cardboard as we speak.

Have a good evening,

Ms. D

Hello Everyone (especially parents!)

As we wrap up term two, I want to provide a recap of our activities! Enjoy!

We had two great units, one focusing on technology, and the other investigating migration! One of the new things about our revised curriculum is how we approach our learning. Students focus more on big ideas, which means investigating not only content, but also thinking about curriculum from a conceptual point of view. As I have explained in the past, this is why we do larger units with a broad inquiry statement we can investigate!

Another new part of our curriculum is the way we refer to skills in each subject area, our curricular competencies. Students had opportunities to use research, thinking, metacognitive, observation, writing, and other skills as they explored the content of the curriculum.

Finally, we also are focusing on core competencies, which means looking closely at the skills related to lifelong learning and all aspects of our lives — for both kids and adults! So far, we have talked about communication, creative thinking, and positive personal and cultural identity. Next unit, we will focus on critical thinking.

Our first unit focus statement was: People use their understanding of natural laws to create technologies that have an impact on our world. We looked at simple machines, the relationship between technology use and health, and how technology has impacted our world. The larger concept of our unit was CHANGE — how has our world changed as a result of new technology? We had class debates, we built Rube Goldberg Machines, we learned math related to work and machines, we played with catapults, and we shared research in slideshows to prove which machine had the greatest impact on humanity.

Our second unit focus statement was: Human migration is a response to challenges, risks, survival, and a natural need to explore. We tried to answer a big question, related to the concept of EXPLORATION — How did we get here? Not how we came to be in MACC, but how did we come to be in Canada, right here, right now?? We made a timeline of Canadian history, we looked at early exploration and challenges, discussed how humans came to North America, and looked at early First Nations who were here before us. Students chose a historical figure, did further research, and created a dramatic monologue on the person, complete with costume and props! We talked about migration of people, the restless gene scientists discovered that makes us want to move, and immigration into Canada. We compared the human need to move with that of animals and learned our triggers and cues to migrate are very similar. Students created Puppet Pal presentations on a migrating animal of choice. We also created a giant map in our room charting the paths of animals and our migrating families! 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While investigating animal migration, we visited the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta! We learned about estuaries, why we need protected areas for animals, and migratory bird facts. We also fed many red-wing blackbirds and chickadees who ate right out of our hands!

 

We worked together doing many critical and creative challenges, including math games to explore deeper concepts behind multiplication, and the “Not a Box” activity which asked teams to create something new out of a plain, cardboard box!

 

Using our creative thinking, applied design skills, and math knowledge of area and perimeter, students created tiny house models! We are looking forward to your seeing the entire village of houses when you come to student led conferences on April 11th! Below see two of the tiny houses converted into a taco food truck and a sushi bar!

 

 

As part of our physical education classes, we went on outdoor hikes, played aerobic games, talking about technology and our health, and played tennis with a visiting coach!congrats 

 

 

 

We looked at the Canadian Quilt of Belonging that has a quilt square representing each culture present in Canada, and then we made our own class quilt, with paper squares representing each of our cultures. Students are adding a picture of their quilt square to their e-portfolios and explaining the symbols and layout they used to represent their culture. Through this activity, we looked closely at the core competency of positive personal and cultural identity.

      

 

During our class meetings, we planned our Valentine’s Party, talked about our interests, and worked on our social and communication skills. We practiced THINK, which means “Think before you speak” and pause to consider whether what you are saying is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind. This is something we are all continuing to work on to improve our relationships with one another in term three.

 

 

To start our migration unit, we put the question “HOW DID WE GET HERE?” on the board. We went through piles and piles of book resources and websites on early Canadian history to make a timeline of the events we thought were important to the story of how we all ended up here. We included things like First Nations coming to North America via Beringia, European explorations, the fur trade, and large migrations of people to Canada for a variety of push and pull factors, whether war, the building of the CPR, the gold rush, or for land, among other reasons. Everyone put cards on the board for our giant class timeline, seen in the picture! Then, each student chose a historical character from the timeline to research further. They had to pretend the person was still alive, write a monologue in the first person, make costumes and props that would represent the person, and then present it in front of the class. Here are some pictures of our historical figures.

In order from left to right: a Russian immigrant, an Italian CPR worker, a Syrian refugee, a German farmer coming to the prairies, Capt. James Cook, Henry Hudson, the Viking Leif Erikkson, and John Cabot. There were many more great photos! Students are video taping their performances to show you at Student Led Conferences on April 11th!

     

There are so many more photos and projects to show! Please join us on April 11th for our Student Led Conference.

We will have a longer slideshow of photos, activities you can do with your children (like making a catapult or doing cookie mining!), and lots of great work to show like Puppet Pal presentations on migratory animals, our class migration map, and character speeches! A letter to sign up for a time will go out as soon as we get back from vacation.

Students have also begun using their E-Portfolios, beginning with documentation of art and our tiny house project. We will use this tool more during term three. It is not a personal blog and is meant to only be worked on at school as a documentation and reflection tool.

Have a great Spring Break! More to come after break about our field trip to Britannia Mines and activities from our new unit on how humans make systems to get their needs and wants met.

Ms. D