Tinkering with curriculum to make learning fun!
To everyone celebrating Chinese New Year, I hope you are enjoying the weekend!
Here is a lovely handblown glass rooster made in honour of this year by the glass blowers at Corning’s Museum of Glass , an amazing place in Corning, New York that I was fortunate to visit. If you love glass, check out their link, and Happy New Year!
Hello Everyone!
CSI Forensics: This week, we had exciting labs about fingerprinting, fibre identification, and bone identification.
Thank you to Laura, our guest from the B.C. Coroner’s Office that services the province out of the SFU campus, for coming to the classroom and sharing details about her work and a recent case! We talked about DNA, how people are located, Missing Person’s reports, and more. Everyone asked great questions!
Also, we completed our fibre identification lab, which involved testing six different types of fabric (cotton, polyester, rayon, acrylic, spandex, and nylon) using flame, looking for smoke colour, burning behaviour, and smell. Each fabric has unique characteristics that allow forensic scientists to identify fibres found at a crime scene. It was great to see everyone learning scientific skills related to lab safety, careful observation, and the use of specific tools to handle items you are investigating (tongs, safety gloves, etc.)
Today, we used math to calculate whether or not a found set of bones belonged a specific male or female suspect! Next week, we will continue by dusting for fingerprints and looking at how tool impressions are used in the lab, as well. We will have a quiz on what we have learned from our labs during the week of February 6th. Students should have turned in and received back their labs so they can review them, unless they turned them in today. Please check your binders to ensure all labs have marks and have been submitted.
LA, Mysteries, Debate:
Next Friday, we will have a quiz on the editing work we have been doing around the book Phunny Enuf, looking at quotations, dialogue, verb tenses, and more. Students will receive an example for editing similar to the practice ones we do every day.
We have continued our discussion of ethics, and our most recent book to analyze was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. We had an interesting conversation about what the true meaning of love is and whether or not the main characters in the book truly care about one another.
Our next step is to do an ETHICAL DEBATE! We will talk about persuasive language and arguments to help us, and then we will debate in teams of 3 people. Our debates will be over three different fairy tales that have some big, essential questions to ponder. Use the following links to review the stories. First, we have Jack and the Beanstalk, which asks whether stealing is ever okay. Should Jack have stolen from the Giant? Was that right? Then, we have The Master Cat (Puss in Boots) in which the key question is, is trickery (lying) ever justified? Finally, we have a Tibetan story called From the Elephant Pit which asks whether or not compassion or caring for others is practical (a good idea.) Students have told me which story they prefer to debate, and I will give teams next week. Teams will need to research further to find evidence to support a particular position around those questions. These will be shorter debates, and then we can do more if the class would like to do other topics!
We have identified the parts of an engaging mystery and analyzed Scooby Doo for these mystery elements. Ms. D will be reading short mysteries to you, but I also encourage you to find any of your own to read as examples. We will start our writing process for these mysteries next week.
ART: We are working on a special 3D sculpture with the dual themes of nature and games (by class vote) over the next three weeks. Be aware we will be using paint in class when you are choosing what to wear every day!
MATH: Everyone should be done with Applied Math Packet 1. We have been delayed on some of our math due to FSA testing, but we should be done by Tuesday afternoon. In the meantime, keep working on independent math goals. Make sure to ask Ms. D if anything is not clear on independent math homework. Next week we will mark applied math and discuss.
SOCIALS: We have talked about discrimination, Japanese Internment, and some of the history of immigration into Canada. Our next step is to discuss words like Canada Mosaic, pluralism, and multiculturalism. We will also learn about the Komagata Maru Incident. If you are interested in the Short History of Immigration Video we watched, here is the link. If you continue from that video to the second link that says part 2, you will be able to view the whole video.
SIX WEEKS until break and end of term two. Time is truly flying! No homework this weekend at all. Have a great weekend and get outside to enjoy the milder weather!
Ms. D
Hello Everyone!
Consensus! We used the consensus flow chart today to explore one tool that can be used for group decision making and/or problem solving. Everyone was given $1,000 (not for real, sorry!) and they had to come to consensus about how to spend all of it for our class. Tonight, everyone was asked to go over the consensus flow chart with someone at home and get it signed. If it is possible, try to use consensus in some way for family decision making. Talk about what it means to block, stand aside, have reservations, or come to an agreement. Here is a copy of the chart from Seeds of Consensus that we used today:
Analyzing a Mystery! We started talking about mystery stories and their structure today. To better understand them, we took some time to analyze a quick Scooby Doo episode, looking for story structure, setting, characters and their alibis, clues, distractions, red herrings, suspects, and other elements that make a story specifically a mystery. We will finish this in class tomorrow.
Fingerprinting! Today we talked about how fingerprints can be used for identification, looking at whether the prints have arches, loops, or whorls. By putting an ink fingerprint of our own on a partially-filled, white balloon, and then blowing it up to full size, we were able to look at our fingerprints as if they were under a microscope. Everyone was asked to analyze their fingerprint for specific characteristics and to solve the case provided in the handout.
Math: While grade four students took the Online Language Arts FSA, the rest of us worked on math. Students are working on a combination of independent and applied math. Almost everyone has taken a first unit test, and some people have even moved on to number three or four. If you have taken two unit tests already, then you did not have homework tonight; otherwise, please do 15-30 minutes of math to keep on track.
French: We have made flashcards for our body words, and there will be a quiz on Friday that has MATCHING and FILL IN THE BLANK questions. The matching part will be all the vocabulary in English matched with the vocabulary in French. The fill in the blank will allow students to put the correct French possessive in the blank with each word. We will practice as a group again tomorrow.
Tomorrow! More fingerprinting, more mystery writing discussion, and a guest from UBC Math will be coming in to do a short workshop in the afternoon! This is a free workshop provided by the UBC Math Department as well as the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. They will present a set of interesting and challenging problems to students in groups, of varying difficulty, to students in groups of 3-4 people each. Along with the workshop leader they will work collaboratively to find solutions.
Have a great night!
Hello Everyone!
Lots going on this week! Today we went to the Young People’s Concert, practiced our French body vocabulary, finished our CSI Truth and Deception Lab (about interviewing witnesses), and talked about discrimination by looking into the Japanese Internment during World War 2.
Coming up:
I look forward to more postings during the week! If you have anything you would like to share related to the unit, please let me know.
Ms. D
Hello Everyone! Another update from our CSI group!
CSI Forensic Fun: Today we had to figure out the Cake Caper using chemical analysis in our forensics lab. Betty Crocker had a cake competition, and the regular winner of the competition lost this year for the first time ever! When she went to taste her cake entry, however, she found out the cake tasted terrible! It had way too much baking soda! Security was called, and three fellow competitors were discovered with mysterious vials of white powder in their aprons. By looking at the physical and chemical properties of these substances, we analyzed which one was baking soda and solved the crime! Don’t forget to turn in your Case Closed notes and chart, detailing your evidence of who was guilty!
Ethics: We also continued our discussion on the book Mufaro’s Daughters, which is an African tale from Zimbabwe. The big questions in the text deal with human nature — are we caring because we are genuinely good, or are we caring because it is expected of us? Also, are there situations in which it is okay to deceive someone or lie? It turned out these questions were very complicated and stirred up some great discussion. Students were asked to respond to some questions, and then we had a brief class debate. Some of our thoughts were definitely connected to what is happening in the world and politics we hear about in the news. Everyone needed to finish their journal response to the questions, which can be completed in class:
1. Do you think someone who is selfish is worse than someone who is kind or altruistic? Why or why not?
2. What do Kings, Queens, or leaders with power have that ordinary people do not?
3. Is Nyasha’s personality GOOD for being a good or effective queen? Why or why not?
4. Is beauty important for being a queen or leader?
5. The king deceives (lies to) the girls to test them. Was this okay? Is it sometimes okay to deceive people? Why or why not?
Discrimination and Racism: As we talk about ethics, we will begin to relate it to situations that have occurred in BC or world history related to discrimination and racism. Students brainstormed the meaning of the words, and we discussed how talking about this topic is serious and requires a certain maturity and thoughtfulness. I encourage you to have this discussion at home, as well, guiding students to be thoughtful in their questions and assisting them in finding out more information about some of the situations we discuss should they want to know more. We will do the same here in class, while focusing on three case studies from BC. Our first will be the Japanese Internment in BC during World War 2, and students received a handout to read to better understand the history behind it.
French: We went over packet one, practicing pronunciation today for vocabulary related to parts of the body, as well as possessives in French. Students with French Immersion background will be thinking of fun ways we can review the vocabulary as a class. We will have a quiz on packet one Friday, January 27th, so I recommend practicing at home to supplement what we do in class.
Thank you, everyone, for all of your thinking today! See you tomorrow!
Ms. D
Hello Everyone!
CSI TRAINING! During our unit time, we have continued to look at some of the tools CSI agents and forensic scientists have at their disposal to solve crimes! How do we identify the suspect?
Yesterday, we talked about how everyone’s handwriting has distinct characteristics, such as line quality, spacing, height and width of letters, how letters connect, unusual letter formation, pen/pencil pressure, slant, and flourishes. With these characteristics, we can analyze someone’s handwriting and then perhaps match their writing to evidence found at the scene of the crime. Each student analyzed their own handwriting (some students had to learn cursive with Ms. D to do this, as we went through all of the capital and lowercase cursive letters), and then they did a guessing game, trying to discern between the genuine and fake signatures of their classmates. Don’t forget to turn in both handwriting handouts!
Today, we talked about forensic odontology, which is dental forensics. Everyone has a distinct dental impression when they bite (including identical twins!) and so dental information can help identify both criminals and victims when matched with evidence from the crime scene. Everyone had to analyze their own dental impression, and then we made some samples to use tomorrow, when everyone will try to match the dental impressions of their classmates with the crime scene samples!
On the 26th, we will have a forensic scientist come and visit our class to describe a real case she has been working on recently! Thank you to Sandy, Aaron’s mom, for the contact!
CLOSE OBSERVATION AND ANALOGIES: Today we used our LOUPE magnifiers to examine a range of natural samples; drew pictures of the specimens carefully from multiple perspectives; and described the animals, plants and rocks with adjectives, metaphors, similes, and analogies.
This involved a discussion about ANALOGIES and how scientists use them to help identify and name the items they are investigating. We use analogies all the time to describe something new with something we have already experienced, or to provide greater description about something so people will understand. For example: My room is a mess of snakes. The room is not necessarily full of snakes, but perhaps the mess you have in there is a tangled web of dirty laundry, toys, shoes, and more!
We use analogies in TAXONOMY which is the science of classifying organisms. To better understand this, students looked up an animal of their choice, found the scientific name, and then broke down the Greek and Latin parts. I encourage everyone to continue looking at this, as I think the word taxonomy was new for everyone. Many students had heard of animal classification terms, however, and we talked about species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom, as well.
ETHICS: Yesterday, we read the book Frederick, which will be part of a series of picture books we discuss together this term, with each one being related to philosophy around making choices and ethics. We have talked about how our solutions to problems often depend on our perspective and personal philosophy, and these books will provide an opportunity for thinking about the lens we look through when making decisions. For this book, the question was: When making decisions, whose priorities are the most important? Yours or the community’s? Can there be a mix of the two? I invite you to discuss these books at home and see what you think!
PE/Health: Today we continued to get our hearts pumping with AEROBICS! If you would like to see the video we used today for our aerobics routine, check it out here!
E-Portfolios: The students have noticed a new page on the top menu of the blog for e-portfolios. I will be introducing this soon to everyone. Each person in the class will have their own mini-blog, which will be used to take pictures of what we are doing in class, to reflect on their learning, and to share their knowledge with those at home. It is a great time to introduce this during our unit involving lots of close observation, analysis, and reflection. Each student will receive a user name and password. We will set up essential agreements together on how to use it, postings are only made during class for now, and the password should not be shared with anyone other than parents and guardians, as they are meant to be private blogs that only Ms. D, parents, and the student themselves can see. More on this to come!
Caribou Math Test Tomorrow!
Have a great night! Enjoy this cartoon from ASAP Science, which I think is a great representation of problem solving at its finest! (and is funny, too.)
Ms. D
Hello Everyone,
We started our new unit this week, discussing the building blocks of becoming great forensic scientists. What do you need to work as a CSI? We decided you need a LOT of skills!
CRIME SCENE: Yesterday, there was a robbery in the classroom! (not really, but we had a good time pretending!) Someone had come in to the classroom and stole a precious heirloom from Ms. D’s desk. Boy, did they make a mess! The police were called, the crime scene was marked off with yellow tape, and orange cones were placed in the classroom to mark where evidence had been found. Our CSI detectives came in to collect the evidence, being very careful not to disturb or contaminate the site!
Students took pictures of all the evidence from different angles using an iPad; wrote careful descriptions of what was found; and then documented where the evidence could be found, measuring evidence locations using measuring tapes and two, fixed points in the classroom.
When we finished, we discussed what the evidence said about the crime. What kind of person did it? What was the story? Pictures of our crime investigations to come soon!
We debriefed afterwards: What kinds of skills are needed to be a CSI?
Next week we will be doing a series of forensics experiments. One of our first will have to do with handwriting. If you want to practice your handwriting skills, check out the animations and worksheets on this page.
ETHICS: When solving problems and dealing with difficult situations, ethics can play a role. Which decision is the best decision? We defined ethics as being related to the word principled that we use in the classroom. It is about knowing right from wrong. Where is this right and wrong written down? Is everything a “law” or are some things just understood by society? After brainstorming some ethical situations, we focused on INVENTIONS, as everyone is building one right now. We discussed the atomic bomb, the telephone, and the smart phone, looking at the three inventions for pros and cons and ethical conundrums that have resulted from their creation.
We then took a look at Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2016. Students had to organize the 25 inventions into groups and decide which one was the best. What criteria would we use to determine which one wins? Was each invention useful and accessible to everyone? Is it important that what we make has a useful purpose? Have we thought about how the invention will impact society? Do ethics play a role in engineering?
We will be coming up with our own “Code of Ethics” but students can look at the National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics to get ideas before our discussion.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION: We are continuing to do fitness development and measurement during our gym time. For example, so far we have done the BEEP TEST, sit up and push up measurement, and high jump. We will focus on aerobic exercise, meaning everything we will do during PE will be high activity, and we will also monitor our heart rate. I have encouraged everyone to ensure they have appropriate runners for class, that they have eaten a healthy snack during recess before we have gym, that they monitor the amount of sleep they are getting, and that they drink enough water during the day.
All of these things will be discussed between now and Spring Break, with the goal of being fit enough to do our outdoor education, hiking field trip on April 18th to the Lower Seymour Conservation area. Hiking outside will require some determination and fitness!
MATH: Everyone should have done their first unit test already. Some people are running behind, so be aware that you need to do a bit more math work at home to catch up. Ms. D is putting “Math 15-30 minutes” on the board daily. Do Independent Math if you are behind. Otherwise, you can choose between Independent or Applied.
Today, we also talked about BMI, which was mentioned in our applied math and relates to fitness from PE. We explained what it means and that it is only one indicator of health (as BMI will need to also take into account the specific build and muscle mass of the person.) The formula for finding BMI in our applied math is for adults, and several BMI calculators are now using a different number, 703 vs 700. Students should use 700, however, in order to find the correct answer. For the students to find their own BMI, they can use this link on Kids Health, which has an automated calculator for kids.
More to come next week! Have an excellent weekend!!
Ms. D
Hello Everyone! New Unit Time!!
We finished our city brochures and submitted them today, and we are jumping in to our new unit!
Unit Focus Statement: The methods we use for investigating and approaching problem-solving can extend creative thinking and the scope of the final solution.
Main Concepts for Unit: Connection, Causation, Problem-Solving, and Ethics
We will inquire into:
Some highlights of things we will do!
In addition to the unit, we will also continue Independent Math. Students should have finished at least one unit test by Friday, January 13th. Everyone is reminded that their homework/lessons from the unit should be turned in to the INBOX after we finish marking them, so that Ms. D can check them off in the marks book!
Term two started with work from the Structures unit, and we will end the term before Spring Break!
Save the Date!! Please be aware that the day after Easter Break we have a very cool field trip planned to the Lower Seymour Conservation Area in connection with our fifth unit of the year on our connection to nature. This is on Tuesday, April 18th all day. A notice will come out to you at the beginning of February. I look forward to this special opportunity to see an area of nature not usually open to the public. Thank you to the PAC and the GVRD for helping support this opportunity. More details to come!
Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a restful, relaxing holiday with friends and family! Make sure you get lots of rest this first week back, getting to bed at a good time, as it is hard to make a transition back after a long break. We have many exciting activities planned!
Looking ahead, we are continuing with term two, which will end just before Spring Break. Soon, we will begin a new unit, and I will post information about its focus next week!
Students have finished their city maps and will now create brochures advertising their cities using the app BOOK CREATOR. Please brainstorm your answers to the following questions about your city, and then use the questions as an outline for your brochure. Remember to show quality thinking and to make sure your brochure information matches with your map!:
This term we will be focusing on writing mystery stories in connection with our upcoming unit. Today, we began some daily proofreading activities from the book Phunny Enough, which will involve reviewing or learning about quotations and dialogue, among other story-writing conventions. Tonight, please re-write Grocery Check with proper quotations and spacing.
Remember to bring in your report card envelope! Thank you for bringing it back so we have it for term 2 and 3. Also, don’t forget to bring runners in a bag on gym days, which are Tuesday and Friday, as it is hard to run in big boots, dangerous for your ankles, and it will mark the gym floor. Especially if you have to do the BEEP TEST that we did today, running 20 metres in quick succession! Also remember that being prepared for gym, fully participating, and not socializing during gym activities are all part of improving your gym marks.
I hope you enjoyed our short Disney film today on Electricity: The Science of Imagineering, as well as our discussion on electricity. We will do some more experiments related to this over the next two weeks, as we finish our science discussion from unit two.
Have a great week and Happy 2017!
Ms. D
Hello Everyone!
Thank you to everyone for your kind gifts and holiday wishes! Also, thank you for your support of the food bank drive, and for bringing in pet items for our class BCSPCA drive. The food bank donations will be delivered by the school to the Food Bank, and I will be taking our pet donations over the weekend to the Burnaby BCSPCA. Thank you again!
We had a great party today, with a fun Secret Santa and White Elephant gift exchange. Thank you to the PAC and parents for hosting the Santa Pancake Breakfast, which was yummy! Everyone played a role in making our last week together fun.
Have a restful, relaxing holiday with family and friends! I look forward to finishing our projects from Unit 2 and starting a brand new unit in 2017!
Just a reminder: Please make sure to return the report card envelopes when you come back in the new year.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Ms. D