Good Afternoon :)
Monday: We focused our day around learning about Circuits & Electricity to prepare ourselves for our special presentation on Wednesday. We learned how batteries work and how electrons flow out from the negative side to the positive. The intensity of an electrical current is measured in amperes and electrical tension is measured in volts. We discovered what conductors are and how water may or may not be a conductor. After viewing this interesting youtube video, we found that the power of electrical current has a big impact on how electricity travels! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvbvMT-ieTw Tuesday: The big takeaway from today was how to be persuasive. We examined how are we going to connect with our parents and people in our learning community to persuade them in coming to view our arcade games. Through the teaching of Aristole in Rhetoric, we discovered the 3 means of persuasion: Logos, Ethos & Pathos. We are working on persuasive invitation letters to invite parents and community members to become more aware of other people in our community! https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-aristotle-and-joshua-bell-can-teach-us-about-persuasion-conor-neill Wednesday: TREC workshop was in today! We started the day with a quick presentation on electricity and alternate ways of creating it. We then started building our own series versus parallel circuits. Students discovered that series circuits require all parts to be connected and parallel circuits can access the electrical energy source even if a part of the circuit is disconnected. After we looked at wind turbines and how the blade size and length affects how much energy is produced. Surface area is key here. We also discovered that there is a fine balance needed between the size of blades and the number of blades used. We measured the voltage produced from our wind turbines and used this knowledge to create our own. We designed and tested these models and began thinking of different ways to implement and better our designs. Thursday: The majority of the day was focused around measurement and scale for our blueprints. We also looked at perimeter and area in a Key Challenge. Ask your child to share this puzzle with you :) Friday: Through Beakerhead, we are working on an Ingenuity Challenge. We have been gifted with a box of cardboard tiles and we are currently ideating and voting to see what to build! Check out the link below for previous winners. https://beakerhead.com/media-archives/stories/2016-ingenuity-challenge-winners Updates: -Our Winter Concert will be on Wednesday December the 13th. Please come support your child's performance. -We have a field trip coming up on Monday December 18th. We need volunteers. Please let me know if you are able to come! Enjoy the lovely weather and don't forget to bring in more cardboard for our arcades :)
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Good Afternoon :)
Another whirlwind of a week! Literacy: We have continued to master our great beginnings. We have introduced some more strategies to start our stories: -shocking statements (something surprising or out of the ordinary) -list (complex list about the main character or the setting) Please encourage students to continue practicing these strategies when writing their beginnings in their creative stories. Science: We are tying up loose end for Simple Machines and moving onto Circuits & Electricity. We will be using this knowledge and applying it to our Caine's Arcade blueprints. Mathematics: This week, we continued to master our skills around perimeter and have began exploring area. Area is a space that a shape occupies. The area will equal the length multiplied by the width. Using this knowledge, students will begin calculating the perimeter and area needed for their arcade games. Updates: -Thank you for supporting your child's learning and coming to Parent Teacher Conferences! If you still have not yet met with me, please find an alternative time to meet. -We have an in class presentation on Wednesday on Wind Energy & Electricity. -We are going to start our building phase for our arcade games, please continue to encourage students to bring in recycled cardboard as well as any other recycled materials for our Maker Space. -Please ensure you have filled out your police clearance forms at the office so you can volunteer when we go on our next field trip! Parent(s) are responsible to volunteer at least three times this year. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Good Afternoon Everyone :)
As the weather gets colder, cold and flu viruses are spreading around. Please ensure students are washing their hands and coughing into their elbows. Also make sure your child is coming to school dressed for the weather. Literacy: We've been continuing to work on adding suspense to our writing. This week in particular, we are looking at creating great beginnings in our stories. We practiced using some of these effective strategies to start our stories: -using an action (a main character doing something) -using dialogue (a character or characters speaking) -using a reaction (a character thinking) -using onomatopoeias (sound associated with an action) Please encourage students to continue practicing these strategies when writing their beginnings in their creative stories. Science: We have been focusing our attention around simple machines. We have visited concepts around levers, wheels and levers, pulleys and inclined planes. We are hoping to use this information to better prepare ourselves in blueprinting for our arcade designs. We will be tapping into electricity and how circuits work in this upcoming week. Mathematics: Asides from practicing NCTM problems and TED puzzles, we have begun looking at measurement. We talked about standard versus non-standard measurement and the importance of units. We also started looking at perimeter and what that means. We are developing accurate measuring skills to determine the perimeter around our classroom. As review, we have been practicing 3-digits by 2-digits multiplication using box strategy, lattice strategy and traditional arithmetic strategy. Technology: We have discovered a new program called “Bloxels”. This program allows students to create their own video games using colored blocks on a 13 by 13 grid. Connections to Mathematics and Science will be made to ensure this isn’t solely a technology activity. Updates: -There is school on Monday November the 13th. -There are Parent Teacher Conferences happening on Thursday November the 16th and Friday November the 17th. Please head to the school website and click on my CBE account to sign up. -Please encourage students to bring in recycled cardboard for the building of our arcade games as well as any other recycled materials for our Maker Space. -Please ensure you have filled out your police clearance forms at the office so you can volunteer when we go on our next field trip! Parent(s) are responsible to volunteer at least three times this year. All the best. Take care everyone :) Good Afternoon Everyone :)
Hope everyone stays warm over this snowy weekend. Please remember to dress for the weather! MIttens, toques, scarves, snowpants and jackets - the whole deal. Literacy: We've been working on adding suspense to our writing. We looked at initiating mini problems, stretching our reader's interest and slowly sharing the solution. Next week, we will be examining great beginnings and hooking our reader's attention! Mathematics: Over the week, we have been practicing 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication using both the box strategy mentioned last week as well as the traditional arithmetic strategy. We have also touched on measurement as this is assisting us in our blueprint designs for our arcade games. Science: Asides from observations on vermicomposting, we have discovered pumpkin plant growth in our worms' homes! Some students have come to the conclusion that the moist worm bed mixture mixed with the light exposure from the breathing holes is a great environment for seed growth. We will continue to observe this over the next few weeks. Caine's Arcade: Students have decided it would be helpful to look at some exemplars of blueprints. We came to the conclusion that blueprints are plans that assist the builders or constructors in building the object to scale. It is important to label accurately and have proper measurements. We created a blueprint checklist to remind us of the key items we need to include. We are also learning about levers, wheels and axels, other simple machines and electrical circuits to ensure we have all the skills to needed in creating our arcade games! Here is an updated list of our upcoming field studies: Field studies completed in Aug/Sept/Oct: Valley View Park Science Center December: 18th - Ralph Klein Park: Miss Paddon & Miss Miao January: 24th - Glenbow Museum: Mrs. Kear & Miss Miao February: 1st - National Music Center: All 3 Classes 20th - Calgary Humane Society (In School): All 3 classes March: TBA (awaiting confirmation from NLC) - Nose Hill Park with NLC: All 3 Classes April: 12th - Aggie Days: All 3 Classes 16th - Ralph Klein Park: Miss Miao & Mrs Kear 23rd - National Geographic Live: All 3 classes May: 8th - 11th - Outdoor School (Grade 5’s Only): Teachers TBA 14th - Calgary Zoo: All 3 Classes 29th - Fort Calgary: Miss Miao June: 5th - Grow Calgary: All 3 Classes 13th - Jumpingpound Forest: All 3 Classes 19th - Fish Creek Park: All 3 Classes Stay warm all. |