Ms. Lavallee's Blog
Updates for Humanities, Math and Science for 4E
This will be the last update for 2018 as classes finish tomorrow, Friday, December 21 at 12:40 for the winter break! Classes resume Monday, January 7, 2019.
We tried to wrap up our units before the break and students had a Humanities quiz and Science test this week. The fossil quiz will go home with students on Thursday and the Science test will go home Friday. Remember to check PowerSchool for some new mark entries tomorrow as well. To wrap up Science, we discussed why objects appear a certain colour, more on how light effects the things we see and shadows. Students used iPads to take pictures of shadows of each other and items outside and then we discussed what they noticed. In Math, students continued to work on their "Snowmen Construction Project." They created a two page spread in their creative journal and were shown how to create a basic chart to record their totals and the items they used. In Humanities, we finished up learning about fossils and paleontology with a few reading comprehensions, videos and looked at six different viewpoints people have on owning fossils. Students also wrote in their journals about the viewpoints and which ones they agreed and disagreed with. There are also pictures below of the q-tip dinosaur skeletons students made last week and our "fossils."
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We started the week with a fun little activity where students pretended to be paleontologists and dug out chocolate chips from cookies using toothpicks! The rest of the week was spent using laptops to research various questions about paleontology and fossils. They all chose a dinosaur that used to live in Alberta to research more fully and on Friday they will be replicating it's skeleton using q-tips and glue. Students also completed two reading comprehensions on fossils that will help them prepare for their Humanities quiz on Wednesday, December 19.
We did tons of learning about some complicated concepts in Science this week! We started by talking about convex and concave lenses. Students were given each lens and were asked to explore and compare the difference between the two lenses. They correctly identified all the differences and important things to note about each lens! Above is the chart they came up with based on their observations. We took a few notes on the two lenses and then students did an experiment that demonstrated how light bends when it enters a more dense material like water when traveling from air. They looked through a cup of water at an arrow that appeared to change direction! This is called refraction and means when light is bent. Finally we discussed prisms. Students were shown how a strong white light (from our projector) can split light into the rainbow or colour spectrum. We listened to the Roy G. Biv song and talked about the various colours and their wavelengths. Here is a link to the song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf33ueRXMzQ
Students will have a test on Light and Shadow on Thursday, December 20. The study guide was sent home on Wednesday, Dec. 12 and is posted below: You will have a test on our Science unit “Light and Shadows” on Thursday, December 20. Below are some things you should study. Don’t forget to look in your duotangs and Science journals.
We worked on the "left to right" addition strategy this week. This strategy focuses on place value and involves no regrouping which some students find easier. Here is an example of how you would add using this method.
8623 + 3144 = ?? 8000 +3000 11 000 600 + 100 700 20 + 40 60 4 + 3 7 Then you need to add up all the individual numbers. So 11 000 + 700 = 11 700 60 + 7 = 67 11 700 + 67 = 11 767 Therefore, 8623 + 3144 = 11 767 This strategy involves a lot more addition and showing of work but doesn't involve regrouping or carrying so it is harder to make mistake as you are always working with small numbers and basic facts! Students worked on two problem solving questions as well as 6 equations to show their understanding of this strategy. On Thursday, we started the "Snowman Construction Company" project that they will work on until the break. Below is this project the students each got a copy of to keep in their Math and Science duotangs. We lost a few Humanities classes this week due to the mobile escape room. On Monday, students worked on typing up their paragraphs on the questions around Banff National Park that were posted on the blog last week. On Tuesday, all students presented their viewpoint to the class. The rubric for this assignment will go home on Monday and the marks will go "live" on PowerSchool on Friday, December 21.
We started our next topic on Wednesday which will continue until the Winter Break which is on Alberta's fossil heritage. We had a discussion about what the kids already know and what experiences they have related to dinosaurs and fossils. They were very keen to share and lots of them have been to The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller and could share or make a personal connection! They will be starting a research assignment on Monday and we will be creating an art piece to accompany their research next week! We continued to work on building mental math and computation skills with our "making pairs" activity. Students were given 3 numbers at the start of each class and they had to make at least 4 pairs (two numbers that when added together give you the given number) for each number. This week, students were given one of the pairs and they had to figure out the other number that would go with it. If students finished the required 4, they were encouraged to add their own pairs focusing on more challenging combinations. For example, if the number was 125 then 125 + 0 or 120 + 5, are not challenging combinations.
Each class we also looked at at least one problem solving question that students were able to solve with a partner. Below are a few examples of questions we worked on. We also started subtraction "Mad Minutes" this week. Subtraction is usually harder than addition for students but the results on the "Mad Minutes" show the students had more correct answers then when they first started the addition "Mad Minutes!" Hopefully this means their basic facts knowledge is increasing! Last week the kids were also introduced to a variety of Math board games that are focused on building spatial awareness and problem solving abilities. Students worked with a partner on one puzzle to solve levels as they increased in difficulty. On Thursday, we spent some time re-visiting these games. This week students had 4 blocks to work on and build our mobile escape room. Our theme was "Robot Rocket Launch" and our clues were centered around our current Science topic of "Light and Shadow." We had LOTS of families come out on Thursday night to "escape" our room!
This week students did a written reflection of their learning on how light passes through objects and how it is reflected. We read the book "The Darkest Dark," about astronaut Chris Hadfield and how he was inspired by the dark to become an astronaut. Students discussed their dreams for the future. They were also given two more periods to finish up their creative journal pages answering these 3 things: - Explain how our eyes work. - Give 3 examples of how you can damage your eyes. - Give 5 ways you can PREVENT damaging your eyes. If their pages were not finished, their creative journals were sent home for homework and are due back on Monday, December 10. We also talked more in-depth about reflections and how shiny, smooth surfaces give off better reflections than rough, dark surfaces. Students were able to come up with many examples of good and poor reflectors. |
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June 2019
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