Busy Bees

Here are some things we've been working on.

In math, we are all working really hard to truly understand decimals and fractions.

Here are some things we know to be true:

1. Numbers to the left of the decimal are whole numbers. Numbers to the right are pieces. The different positions of the numbers mean different sizes (whole, tens, tenths, hundredths, etc.)
2. One tenth, 1/10, and 0.1 all mean the same thing.
3. One hundredth, 1/100, and 0.01 all mean the same thing.
4. It is called a tenth because it takes ten of those same sized pieces to make one whole.
5. It is called one hundredth because it takes one hundred of those same sized pieces to make one whole.
6. Ten hundredths is equal to one tenth.
7. When counting by tenths, you go from 9 tenths to 10 tenths. 10 tenths is equal to one whole so after 0.9 comes 1.0, not 0.10.

For this artwork, we were working on creating different shades and tints to create depth. We were also working on brush control by anchoring our arms as we painted and by treating our paint brush bristles with care (loading paint, painting in one direction, looking at the edge of the paintbrush as we paint).

We are now moving on to fractions. We are working on understanding what the bottom number means and how it is different from the top number. We are going to use these flags that we made with 3 non-congruent shapes to help us understand this concept.

In writing, we are going to be making brochures for specific audiences to tell them about Churchill. We are hoping that they will get used by the school.

Next week, we will have some sing a longs, do some crafts, continue math, write brochures, and go on a fancy shmancy field trip. Yay!

Hour of Code

Anti bullying in Ontario

Students in grade 5 are creating action plans at the three levels of government to help tackle bullying. Here is Ontario's plan.




Here is the federal government's action plan in a radio commercial.

Updates and Fresh Starts

Social Studies

Grade 4s are learning about why different provinces have different industries and recreational activities and what those differences have to do with geographic location. 

Grade 5s have been assessing and creating action plans that different levels of governments put in place to deal with child poverty and anti-bullying.

Math

We are working on our understanding of tenths and hundredths. I am focusing on slowing down and making sure that students have a concept of numbers to the right of the decimal representing parts of a whole and numbers to the left of the decimal representing wholes. 

Grade 4s need to represent, compare, and order tenths. Grade 5s are working with hundredths. We have been using money to try and understand this concept.

Dance

Ask students what the elements of dance are. Try looking up a dance on YouTube and asking them to assess it.

Monday will be a bit of a fresh start. With Makarena finishing up her placement tomorrow, I will be back at the helm of the ship. I have been to many workshops as of late and look forward to trying some new methods that I have been learning about.

I hope to see some of you at the Holiday Craft Fair this Saturday.

Catch Up

Wondering what we've been up to lately?

In math, we made this delicious sounding fictitious menu to go with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. We've been using it to practice our mental math. How does your brain add up a few of these amounts? Is it different from how my brain does it?

This week, we also tried our second SOLE question. 

Grade 4: Why do we not always help Mother Earth?

Grade 5: What is government? Why do we need one?

In the arts, Makarena has been teaching us about the elements of dance. We are gearing up to give useful feedback as we judge dances from So You Think You Can Dance.

Today, we learned about Michelangelo. We also talked about warm and cool colour scheme and long and short brush strokes. We put all of these together to try and create the same drawing twice with two different colour schemes. Just for fun, we did this lying down, just like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.

In Language this week, we took a break from POW and we did some small reading groups to see how we Text Bust (break a text apart to understand it better). We will have more practice with this soon.

In social studies, we were looking at our wants versus our needs. Tomorrow, Paul Dewar is coming to answer some of our questions. We are really excited to meet him.

Cardboard Carnival!

I could not have been more impressed with the creativity, adaptability, and perseverance of these Awesome Geniuses. Their Cardboard Carnival was a HUGE success! We had quite a few classes come through and play our games. We got some excellent feedback, even from those big grade 6s!

Congratulations everyone!

Cardboard Arcade

Yesterday was a magical day for the Awesome Geniuses. After a meeting with our Tree Families, the students watched this video about Caine and his arcade. We saw how creative and passionate Caine was about his cardboard arcade.
The rest of the day was spent on the stage getting creative, designing, and building.
What did we make? We made a photobooth, a dancing game, a sensory guessing game, a drawing machine, a pinball machine, a boat racing game, a ticket booth equipped with Fun Passes, a claw game, and a few target games. The process from designs to final machines was incredible. Students were able to reflect that they needed to persevere and be adaptable when plans didn't turn out. Some reflected that they got sidetracked and others noticed that they either excelled as leaders or as supporters. It was an awesome day. Tomorrow we will be inviting some classes to come and play at our arcade. We can't wait!

What did we do? We designed and built cardboard arcade attractions.
Why did we do it? We practiced our design skills and addressed Learning Skills needs such as perseverance, passion, collaboration, and creativity. We also did some self-reflection. It helped us to feel like a team too.