Category: Current News

Hello Monday! Getting right to work…. January 30th

Hello Everyone!

Some updates on the things we did today AND some websites to check out for tonight!

MATH: We marked the work from Applied Math 1, which meant going over some sample problems on the board about decimals, percentages, and multiplying fractions. If you had any trouble with the problems we did on the board, please let me know! Our applied math dealt with learning BMI, looking at investigator’s data about crime statistics, and using grid coordinates to mark a crime scene. I would recommend using 15 minutes to make up some fraction/decimal/percentage questions for yourself, just like we were doing in class. QUIZ ON PACKET ONE FRIDAY!

DEBATE: Today, everyone received their debate teams and stories. Team captains were chosen. If you were absent, Ms. D placed you on a team so you have a place when you return. Start looking for current events, stories, and evidence that would support the question for your story. We will have time in class to do this.

CSI: You all had some interesting questions about DNA and crime scene investigation for our Wonderings Question Board, and so I thought it may be fun to investigate these further. This is optional and only if you are interested. Rice University has a CSI Forensics unit online and we tried Case #1 for Rookies today, which allowed us to learn more about DNA and the tools used to collect and analyze it. There are more activities under that case to explore. Case #1 is what I am recommending, but if you would like to look at the other ones, please be aware they are made for all ages but do have talk about different kinds of crimes. If you are a mature reader (meaning your parents gave you permission to read mature books at the library), then you are probably okay to view them. All of the cases were designed for education and a wide range of ages. None are particularly graphic, but forensics does involve serious crimes.

LADDER OF INFERENCE/DRAGON’S DEN: Today we watched the TED Talk on the Ladder of Inference, and I recommend viewing the video again. We will be using the ladder to talk about our own experiences. To start the conversation, I asked everyone to do a thinking exercise. Brainstorm the characteristics of a restaurant you thought was particularly terrible. Afterwards, use one of the characteristics and turn it on its head! Look at it from another perspective. How would this characteristic make the restaurant the best, most innovative experience ever? Pitch an idea for your restaurant to Dragon’s Den. Everyone needs to have a list of what their restaurant would be like so they can pitch their idea tomorrow.

FRENCH: We went over infinitives, conjugation and ER verbs today. Please have packet 2 done by Friday if you haven’t done so already. Quiz Monday the 6th as a quick checking in on the verbs and basic use of pronouns. Quizzes from last Friday were passed back today.

ART: Please finish your draft drawings for NATURE and GAMES, our themes for our cards sculpture. We paint cardboard on Thursday, then we will draw and paint on top of it.

WORDS COMPETITION: If you are interested in submitting an entry to the WORDS competition for the District, they are due by February 9th. If you would like Ms. D to edit an entry, please let me know!

FIELD TRIP: I passed out forms for the GVRD Watershed Field Trip on April 18th, which are due back on February 6th. Please fill out both forms. Here is the main field trip form: Metro Vancouver Watershed Trip and then also the Watershed Parent Guardian Consent Form 

Have a good night!

Happy Year of the Rooster!

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!

Solving the Cake Caper!

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

 

Update on our CSI Training, January 17th, 2017

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.)

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Ms. D

Starting to think like CSI detectives!

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?

  • critical thinking skills
  • collaboration with other detectives
  • writing — to make great descriptions of the evidence
  • patience (things have to be done carefully — too fast might damage something, or you might miss a detail)
  • powers of observation
  • photography
  • gross motor skills (to step carefully around the evidence without disturbing it)
  • fine motor skills (to carefully gather evidence without damaging it)
  • math: measurement, graphing, using complicated tools
  • ability to analyze and infer what happened (making a story of the evidence)
  • a sense of ethics

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

New Unit! Solving the Conundrum

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:

  • Consensus, decision making, and the “Ladder of Inference”
  • Math and science used in forensics to solve crimes
  • Mystery writing and analogies
  • Group art creation through sculpture
  • Ethics and debate
  • Canadian multiculturalism and discrimination

Some highlights of things we will do!

  • Math: Applied Math through the book You Do the Math: Solve A Crime, which will focus on math used in solving crimes such as data gathering, decimals, fractions, percentages, area, perimeter, and measurement
  • Science: A variety of experiments around forensic investigations involving chemical reactions, scientific observation, and critical thinking, as well as using the Private Eye Loupe Method to do more careful, magnified observation and scientific description using analogies.
  • LA: Writing mysteries in groups and on our own, discussing the use of analogies and other literary elements such as metaphor and simile, and constructing arguments in oral debates around ethics topics
  • Socials: Discussion of of ethics and discrimination by looking at case studies in BC and the world such as the Chinese Head Tax, the Komagata Maru, and the Japanese Internment
  • Arts: We will discuss history of sculpture and techniques for constructing sculptures with a variety of materials. We will make several group sculptures together using these techniques. Photography will also be discussed (composition, observation, and its relation to scientific observation.)
  • Applied Design: Continued work on our invention we designed, including making a prototype to share the idea with others and discussion about ethical engineering.
  • Career, PE and Health: We are focusing on aerobic exercise, fitness levels, and monitoring a healthy heart rate, as well as body changes and healthy behaviours for this age group. We will also work on collaboration, building creative ideas, consensus, and problem-solving.
  • French: We will continue to work in French Smart and Je French on basic vocabulary, grammar, and phrases. Those with French Immersion background will be given mini projects as appropriate, while still participating in reviewing and assessing basic French with us. 

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! 

Update for Monday, October 24th

Hello Everyone!

Some notes from today!

  • Everyone is working very well on their stop motion projects! So much so that our new deadline is end of day Wednesday, October 26th.
  • Book Fair is all this week until Thursday! Come by after school from 3-4 PM.
  • Math Genius Forms (for those who chose to participate — it is an optional school activity) are due Friday for prize draw.
  • We talked about our speech jar today and wrote a funny paragraph together about Mondays. See the blog entry on this topic. Your first speech is on Wednesday, October 26th. You will have time in class to work on your paragraph tomorrow.
  • Applied Math (the Fly A Jet Fighter series) through page 13 should be worked on at home if you haven’t yet finished.
  • French quizzes were today! Please get them signed.

Have a great afternoon!

Ms.  D

Caribou Math Tests – October 19 & 20

Hello Everyone,

The Caribou Math Contest will be held on October 19 and 20, and we will all be participating for the first one, as it is free. Please start practicing tests at the Caribou Link.

Ms. D will be signing you up and getting codes for our participation, so all you need to do before October 19th is practice online. We will talk more about it tomorrow. These tests are math extensions and because there is a fee involved for some students, the tests are not part of your math marks.

I will be asking you if you want to compete at your grade level or a higher grade level, which needs to be decided by end of week. Only the grade four level is free all year, though, so if you choose a higher level, the first contest is free and then you pay $15 as a flat fee for the rest of the year’s contests. It may be a good idea to go online and try different level practice tests to get a sense of how hard they are. If you found last year easy, you may want to challenge yourself at a different level!

Thank you,

Ms. D

Great Field Trip Today! And Change to Office Hours

Great Field Trip Today!
  • Thank you to Max’s, Naomi’s, and Michael’s moms for coming with us on our trip to MOA! We appreciate your help!!
  • We enjoyed the program on the potlatch and then had an opportunity to see the rest of the museum.
  • Tomorrow we will debrief together and continue our work finishing this unit on human rights and action. I am looking forward to our projects!
Change — No Office Hours on Tuesdays:
  • In order to better accommodate changes in my afternoon schedule and to ensure time to talk with everyone, I will no longer be having open office hours on Tuesdays. Please make an appointment to see me if it is something longer than a quick question. I am also always on email and will respond as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your understanding!
Assignments, Agendas, Blog, etc.:
  • Please note the blog is not the daily agenda. There are times I do not update daily. Students are responsible for writing down homework/reminders in their agendas, which I write on the board and discuss at the end of each day.
  • Please check your child’s agenda daily. I found several students leaving agendas in the cloakroom, so I am going to be checking more carefully if the agendas are signed.
  • The blog is a great tool for knowing what we are doing in class for our large units, and I recommend you check it and comment on it, please!
  • If your child is doing something at home that is not on their agenda list, please ask them, “Do you have to do this for the next day?”
  • If your child is unable to do an assignment, please encourage them to talk with me about what their plan is for getting it done. Better to communicate than not do it. Better late than never.
  • Students received back assignments they turned in, except for Tuning In. They received Checks from my quick marking system on this, as explained in my beginning of year handout.
  • Assignments are stored in their blue binders. Students can take them home, but they MUST return back with them to school.
  • We have project work coming up and a specific criteria sheet will be provided for marks. They will be bringing this home for signature soon.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or if there is something I can help clarify.
Thank you!
Ms. D

Global Cardboard Challenge! Class Meeting & Committees

Dear Students and Parents:

For our next class meeting, we will talk about some of the ideas you wanted to do for this year. If you were on any of our committees, please be ready to talk about some of your ideas. Action in our classroom doesn’t happen without your ideas and effort! 🙂 Thank you those taking leadership and being risk-takers, offering their ideas and making our learning environment engaging and fun!

In preparation for our talk, I think it would be a good idea for you to visit and watch the following videos and websites. The links are marked in red, just hover over them! The other 4/5 MACC class ran a Cardboard Casino last year, which inspired our class to do something similar. The idea was inspired by Caine’s Arcade.  Caine’s Arcade became the inspiration for so many events, including the Global Cardboard Challenge run by the Imagination Foundation. The Global Cardboard Challenge is done by students all over the world in September, with events on October 1st, but you can do it any time you want to during the year and post pictures of your work online. This year, Imagination Foundation also provided the link to Caine’s Arcade 2, which is a video talking about the success of Caine’s Arcade and how his idea made big changes in his life and the lives of others by becoming a movement!

So, watch the videos and see if this is something you are interested in. If it is, bring your ideas to class meeting about how you would like this to work!

Have a great Monday,

Ms. D

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