We had an incredibly busy week in room 10! From practicing interview skills as we learn to be journalists to designing a prototype to separate cornstarch from water students have been living as professionals in the field. Please see the attached PDF as a snapshot of our classroom.
As we continue to become fluent and flexible with large numbers, students were challenged to consider what the shape and size of numbers would be using base 10 blocks. Students know the small cube as having a value of 1, the rod 10, the flat 100 and the large cube 1000. What size and shape comes next? Above graphics found at: blog.nathanielraley.com/2014/06/base-ten-blocks-to-billion.html
Please find the attached document outlining some of the exciting work we undertook this week! Check out our field study page for photos from our day at Weaselhead.
How many pennies are there in a pyramid of pennies stacked 13 high with a base of 40 by 40 pennies? This problem challenged students to extract information, come up with a plan and work through complex calculations involving very large numbers. Each day as class came to an end and recess was to begin I heard " No, can we stay in" or "For the first time ever I don't want math to end and your telling me I have to stop"... music to my ears! Stay tuned for drawings and explanations of the students solutions. Students have been uncovering the characteristics of our most precious resource. They have come to understand water's special qualities including it's significant cohesive bonds. As we prepare for our upcoming field study we are embarking on an inquiry into how we might deal with contaminated water. Tomorrow we will be investigating surface tension and the effects contaminates might have on surface tension. Our hope is that on Wednesday we will see some of these invertebrates using surface tension to stride on the Elbow River. We had a full week of exploration. The grade 5/6's have been asked to be share their voice in the creation of interpretive signage for our new school. The interpretive signs focus specifically on environmental qualifications in order to certify as a LEED building. Elbow Park School will have interpretive signs on the walls in the foyer and learning commons. In order to take on this work students have embarked on an authentic journey of uncovering what each of these environmental themes are and what visitors might want to read. The nature of this task has engendered students to develop their research, and communication skills through this work. As they work interpersonally they are also learning the difference between genuinely helpful feedback and feedback that is superficial. Stay tuned as we continue our journey. We also had the incredible opportunity of hearing author Aaron Paquette speak on Friday as part of Wordfest. Check out Mr. Burima's summary here.
The document attached does not include many of the exciting learning opportunities of our students this past week. Some highlights include our historic walk (See Room 1 Mr.Burima's Blog) and sharing our learning with our grade 1/2 school mates. We had a great week! Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
The Jedi Knight Problem asks students to use their reasoning skills to transport Jedi Knights and Storm Troopers between two planets using only one spaceship. The students approached this problem as a Think-Pair-Share. First they spent time individually thinking about how they might solve the problem. Once they had tried a few solutions they then paired with a classmate and compared answers, trying to prove to each other that they had found a plan that worked. Once the pairs had come to an agreement, they then prepared to share their thinking with the rest of the class focusing on how to clearly communicate their thinking and their strategies. I wonder...
Today students evaluated whether their hypotheses were correct and contemplated what happened, proposing several testable questions: "What if there was water in the middle glass?" "What if we connected all the glasses?" "What if we used kleenex instead of paper towel?" "What if we used hydrogen peroxide instead of water?" On Thursday morning Mr. Backwell excitedly shared an experiment his grade 1/2 class was doing about mixing colour. This excitement served as an incredible opportunity to build a community of learners across the grades. The grade 1/2's have many questions about what happened and why. Our young scientists made many observations about the movement of water and fortunately our grade 5/6's have been learning about particles and molecules, specifically water molecules (H20). Friday morning we set out to re-create the experiment and make our own observations. Monday morning we will check the status of our experiment and embark on a quest to understand and ultimately share our discoveries to our grade 1/2 counterparts.
Also be sure to check out Room 1 Mr. Burima's blog for video and resources about the Franklin Expedition and our discoveries last week. |
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