Month: November 2020

In French, we are working on learning the vocabulary to express dates. We already know our numbers 1-100 and have now learned months of the year, days of the week, and the seasons. We are starting to recognize that by listening and viewing with intent and with the knowledge of common, high-frequency vocabulary and sentence structure, we can begin to understand French. With the help of visual cues, we can now ask and answer the questions:

• Quelle est la date? – What is the date?
• C’est quel jour aujourd-hui? – What day is it today?
• Ce sera quel jour demain? – What day will it be tomorrow?
• C’etait quel jour hier? – What day was it yesterday?
• Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire? – What is the date of your birthday?

We practice with our French calendar everyday and today we created our class birthday board by asking each other about our birth dates. En francais, s’il vous plait!

In Division 7, we know it is important to think positive thoughts about ourselves. This is part of the Positive Personal and Cultural Identity core competency. Sometimes it feels strange to talk about the things you are good at or your positive character traits because it can feel like you are bragging, but practicing this builds confidence and self awareness.

We asked each other for some help to brainstorm some positive traits about ourselves. Student sent a compliment sheet around the room and their classmates each wrote one positive thing about them. At the end, everybody had a big list of the positive traits their classmates see in them. I highly recommend this group activity whenever you need a mood booster!

We used the ideas of our classmates and our own ideas to write an I Am poem. Then we wrote our poem on our colourful art that we had painted the day before. They really brighten up our room and serve as reminders to think positive!

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Inspired by the book I Am a Story by Dan Yaccarino, Division 7 made a timeline showing how stories have been shared throughout history. I gave the class a big challenge of using a website called Sutori to create this digital timeline. This was a brand new tool for all of us and we really had to use our critical thinking and collaboration skills to figure it out! I was very impressed with their efforts and am proud that they could work together to create the end product.

Click here to check out our digital timeline!

We are continuing to practice using the scientific method to answer questions about the world around us. Today we found ourselves investigating the mystery of dancing raisins.

We learned that fizzy drinks have bubbles because of the carbon dioxide gas that is in them. When you put raisins into a cup of fizzy liquid, bubbles will attach themselves to the surface of the raisins and act like a flotation device, causing them to rise up to the surface! When they reach the surface, the bubbles escape and the raisin sinks back down again. We experimented with three different liquids – club soda, Sprite, and club soda mixed with baking soda and vinegar.

Which liquid do you think made the raisins dance the most? What does this mean about the carbon dioxide in that liquid? Ask your scientist what they discovered!

When we do experiment write-ups in our science notebooks we follow the following criteria:

• title and date at the top of a new page
• include all the following sections with titles: question, hypothesis, materials, procedure, results, conclusion
• writing is neat and legible
• data tables are drawn with a ruler and have headings

It is important to follow all instructions and criteria neatly and carefully… in the name of science!

This week, Division 7 is exploring how stories have been told since the beginning of time, all around the world.

Today we read the book I Am a Story by Dan Yaccarino. It shows the history of stories from oral storytelling and cave paintings to libraries and e-books. We will be spending some time this week researching the different ways stories have been told throughout history and making our own timeline of story.

On Friday, we will be starting an art project connected to a very important point on the timeline of story: Egyptian hieroglyphs. These picture symbols were one of the earliest forms of writing. We will be learning how to write our names in hieroglyphs and making our very own papyrus (paper used in ancient times). Originally, papyrus was made from the pith of the papyrus plant but we will be making ours from paper bags and paste. I am asking for donations of brown paper bags that we can use for our art project. The bags can be used, but should be clean. Any size of paper bag will work, as we will be cutting them into strips. It is fine if the bags have writing on the outside. If you are anything like me, you may have some Starbucks take-away bags laying around…

Thank you for supporting Division 7’s foray into ancient Egyptian paper-making! If you would like to learn how to write your own name in hieroglyphs, click here!

Today we read the picture book Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester. It connects to our theme about sharing our story. Our race is part of our story. It is part of our identity. It is something that we should be proud to share with others.

Unfortunately, many stories are told about race that are simply not true. The book gives examples of some of the ways race is used to tell untrue stories.

I encourage you to talk to your child about race and racism. It is something they are already hearing about from the world around them and they may have questions. Click here to listen to the book we read in class today. If you have any questions for me or would like help talking to your child about this topic, please reach out at any time.

Wednesday, November 11th is Remembrance Day, a day where we take time to remember the sacrifices that have been made for us to live in peace. Last week, Division 7 spent some time thinking about what it means to contribute to a peaceful world.

We read the book Peace by Wendy Anderson Halperin. It is a beautiful book with a simple message: peace starts with you. Every page is filled with quotes about peace. We used the following quote found in the book for our quote response this week:

Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and it’s something you give away.”

• “I feel like I can change a lot of the world if someone comes up with a brilliant idea…”
• “I feel inspired to give away peace by helping people in need…”
• “It’s kind of like trust because you can’t just wish for it, you have to work hard for it…”
• “Peace is everywhere, we have to make peace…”

After getting inspired to make peace, we read the book When I Grow Up, I Will Win the Nobel Peace Prize by Isabel Pin. It is a book about a boy who has ideas about what he can do to spread peace – some big and some small.

We brainstormed our own ideas in order to create our display, Peace Is In Our Hands. Click the picture below to watch a short video presentation on the display that will be featured in our virtual Remembrance Day assembly on Tuesday, November 10th.

Students will be given a poppy to wear on Tuesday. Please consider sending a donation to the Poppy Trust Fund which supports veterans and their families.

A reminder that there is no school on Wednesday, November 11th.

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Please enjoy the stories that Division 7 wrote about their names along with their symmetrical name art:

Can you see the names hidden in the art? See below for a closer look:

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