Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Wondering About...

Hello Awesome Geniuses! It's time to be curious. Take some time to explore these "wonders". To show that your brains are turned on, please click on the comment button down below and comment with questions you are wondering about yourself as you explore these questions.

Your comment needs to be written in sentences and include your name.

What is four wheel drive?

Why are there revolving doors?

How do you build a log cabin?

Why are brick houses so strong?

How long is the longest bridge?

What is a waterwheel?

How do roller coasters work?

How do you ollie?

How fast can a tank move?

How do boats float?

Is design a science or an art?

Friday, September 26, 2014

Seed Harvesting

Let's be honest, we caught a big of the grumps today and boy did it spread. Have no fear, a little bit of sunshine and some sleep will take care of that in no time. Hooray for a fresh start on Monday!
Despite the grumps, we got a lot done today.

We had a Mystery Skype with Mr. Flory's class in Wichita, Kansas! They are a K-5 school that plays lots of sports on their yard. They were a very quiet class that stayed nicely in their seats! We asked a lot of good questions and told them about our school. We both have snow during winter!

Allisa from Growing Up Organic came to talk to us about seed harvesting. If we didn't harvest seeds, we might lose some varieties of vegetables that you can't find in the grocery store like our Speckled Lettuce and our Red Oak Lettuce. We went out to the garden and explored gently with our hands. We pulled up entire plants and now they're hanging to dry in our class. Next, we will take the seeds and put them in seed packets that we will carefully label with all of the important information.
















This is a picture from our student run Leadership Club. Did you go to today's meeting?

 Here are our little seedlings that we started just last week? Some of us are wondering why one column of kale seeds grew but the other column did not. Hmmmm...




We learned about a really amazing project we will be doing with a class from San Diego, California that we are starting soon. Ask us more about it!

Yesterday we went to the lab with Heather, our guest teacher. We got on the drive. It will take some of us some more practice logging in. This is something we should practice at home. It would be best if we could all try and memorize our logins and passwords. 

Next week we will continue to look at the seven habitudes: Perseverance, Courage, Imagination, Adaptibility, Curiosity, Self-Awareness, and Passion. Do you know what each of these words mean?

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Terry Fox

The Terry Fox run was a great day full of spirit! We loved running with our Tree Families and spending some time outside together. What stuck with us from the day? We learned that Terry must have really persevered because some of us were tired from running laps. We can't imagine running a marathon a day! Some of us learned more about the people in our Tree Families. Some of us learned that Dovercourt is about 1Km away from school (in case you weren't sure how far a Km is). Some of us learned that wasps eat really small bugs, not people, but they will sting if they feel like they are being attacked.

























Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Tired

Wordle: Untitled

Love to see so many people are feeling happy and excited. We're wondering why so many are feeling tired. It might be a good idea to do some brainstorming and problem solving. Why not try changing something to see if it makes a difference. Here are some suggestions from the students.

  • Set your alarm a little bit earlier than normal
  • Try going to be just a little bit earlier
  • Try eating a healthy snack right before bed so you don't go to be hungry
  • Try a new pair of pyjamas
  • Rearrange your furniture
  • Try a new pillow
  • Pick a routine and stick with it (ex: turn the lights lower, read a book for 15 minutes, turn all the lights off)
  • No screen time for at least 20 minutes before you go to bed.
  • Don't go to bed too full of food
  • Try not reading if you are used to reading before bed
  • If a program that you are watching is keeping your brain going, stop watching it
  • Keep a notebook and pencil beside your bed. If you have a thought that's keeping you up, write it down for thinking about later
Here was today's math challenge:
Choose two whole numbers less than 100. One should be really big and the other pretty small. Tell how many of the small numbers it would take to make the big one. How do you know?

Don't forget about Terry Fox tomorrow.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Causal Maps

Causal maps helps us to find and make new connections in our brain. When we quickly write down or share ideas that come right to us, we aren't necessarily making any new connections or "growing our brains". Causal maps are a way to exercise our brains and come up with some new thoughts. 
Here we are practicing this strategy by thinking about our bike trip.

WWKPD

What would Kid President do?

We are going to use that questions in times where we are flummoxed, frustrated, stuck, or just looking for inspiration.

Today, we asked ourselves, if we are truly going to be Awesome Geniuses, what does that actually mean? To answer that question, we are going to look to our hero Kid President. Is he a genius? What makes him a genius? We hope to answer this and more.

We realized that genius is more than just being intelligent. Some people (and dogs) are geniuses without having a really high IQ. We also think that being a genius doesn't necessarily mean that you are infamous. We decided that everyone is a genius. It just may be that we haven't had the time to develop our genius.

Today we boiled down genius to these seven words: curiosity, passionate, perseverance, adaptability, imaginative, self-aware, and courageous. Over the next few days, we are going to figure out what these words actually mean.


What makes Kid President a genius?





We also learned what an even number is and why 1.50 is not an even number even though you could share it evenly between two people. Do you know what an even number actually is? We've been playing a simple but challenging game called "Guess My Number". Students have been figuring out which "yes/no" questions are the most helpful. Try playing at home? We have been picking whole number between 0-10 000 but some have been playing with a smaller range as well.

Terry Fox Run is this Wednesday and the school continues to collect Toonies for Terry. Please help us reach our goal and bring in your donations to school tomorrow.


Friday, September 19, 2014

A great week!

This is a padlet we worked on today. Not everyone got a chance to finish it though. We've been talking about what our brains need to do to think more deeply and make connections.



Wordle: Untitled

Gym Class! Pin Zone.



Teeny tiny lettuce seeds we are starting for our aquaponics.
 Peat pods for seeds.
 Growing: kale, two varieties of lettuce, and peppers.

 Reading Buddies!






Things we're collecting right now:
Pizza
Subway
Terry Fox permission forms
Toonies for Terry each day

You can also do an online order for Pitas if you'd like.