Reader Rock Garden

Yesterday, we walked to Reader Rock Garden. It is SO beautiful there! We took time to do scientific sketches of some of the flowers. There were so many different types of flowers; you could take two steps and see ten different kinds. We saw a big variety of flower colours, a huge bee, and a caterpillar. The caterpillar was on its way to become a beautiful moth. Everyone should visit the Reader Rock Garden this summer!

"It was impossible to not see one flower colour." ~ Oliver

"My Grade Three teacher Ms Harris said that nature is never just one colour and I believe it!" ~ Cora

"More than half the garden is just flowers." ~ HC

"We had a lot of fun and I noticed that the caterpillar was soft and smooth." ~ Ekagra

"I observed that none of the flowers looked the same. Some had jagged leaves, some had smooth leaves, some had simple petals and some had compound petals." ~ Wynn

"Everywhere I walked, there was flowers everywhere. You couldn't walk anywhere without seeing so many different kinds." ~ Effie

"Everywhere you go, there was wildlife: mosquitos, bees, and more." ~ AA

"The caterpillar that we found had fluff that makes you itchy and it's supposed to protect the caterpillar." ~ Gillian

"I had so much fun looking at the flowers but I got like 20 mosquito bites and now I'm very itchy." ~ EF

"I noticed that an ant crawled out of a small hole so I'm guessing there was an ant colony." ~ Viaan

"My favourite part was the waterfall." ~ Davyd

Back at school today, we sorted our visual journal sketches into different categories based on the features of the plants. For example, we came up with sorting rules like: petal colour, smooth and jagged leaves, value of the colour of the leaves, simple and compound leaves or flowers, and thorns/no thorns.

In all, this was a great final Community Walk!

Optional Homework

Today, we discussed the parts of the plant. We identified examples of parts of plants we eat (ex: asparagus are stems, kidney beans are seeds). 

Our Optional Homework Challenge (for fun) is to try to eat one of each of these plant parts before next Wednesday: seed, root, leaf, flower, stem, fruit. 

Students are also encouraged to retell the story we read in class, Tops and Bottoms.

Poetry and Earth Day

 Poetry

Another belated blog entry. Better late than never?

1. Poetry is very different from other types of writing. What was interesting about it?

• I liked that there werent any rules it was free - Jackson
• there are so many different types of poetry its a lot of fun to explore them all. - EF
• I liked that there wasn't a strict way to write. - Wynn

2. Together, we did a writing workshop to revise and put together parts of our poem into our Earth Day poem "Sometimes we feel like the earth and all it's creatures." What did you like about this?

• The workshop thing was cool because i got to listen to other peoples work and that was kinda cool. - CL

3. Explain why you chose the animal you chose to represent you.

• Why i choose a lion is because it gets angry and hungry hangry and it represent a few other things - Fatima

4. We all made art to represent our poems. What did you like about the art project?

• I liked the art we did with our poem because it showed our animal and what it is, it also gave a hint on what our poem is about. - GH

5. Why is Earth day important?

• Earth day reminds us about  what we have done to the earth and it teaches us what to do to help the earth - Oliver 

• Earth day is important because we live on the earth so we need to understand the importants of helping and cleaning the place we live on - Wynn

• Earth day is important  to me because it is a day to thank the EARTH for what it has done for us for a trillion years! And so on earth day every body should give something back to nature that it would like so like cleaning up. - Effie

Each line in our class poem came from a line in a students' individual poem.

Sometimes we feel like the earth and all of its creatures.

We eat like animals.

Tigers can be ferocious when they eat, just like we eagerly gobble up pizza, cheese smearing all over our faces, pepperoni all over the walls. 

We have skills like animals.

We quickly slide the puck down the slippery ice and slap it into the net, like a beaver smacks their cool designed tails across the water, cheering us on.

Like a cat lurking in the night with its glimmering eyes, our eyes navigate and peer through the blackness of our deep dark basements.

We communicate like animals.

For the sake of our family, we love shouting so loud, scaring our siblings out of our rooms, like a tiger roaring to keep others off its territory.

Bees buzz loudly like us. We love to engage but are shy when it comes to new people. Weaving through the grass, we cautiously approach the new Queen Bee.

We protect like animals.

As lions are protective of their cubs, we hover over our stuffies and books, claws out, never letting anyone touch or go near them.

We use our deadly spikes to scare enemies and protect our friends. As we grow up, our spikes get sharper, learning more about how to resolve conflict.

We learn like animals.

Our minds are as long as a rat's tail, there is always room to grow. We're always expanding until our thoughts reach from head to toe, full of knowledge. 

We rest like animals.

When the sun shimmers above, we are lazy. We like to sit back and relax, as a cheetah lies down in the grass, sheltered in the shade of a tree.

We are extremely idle when it’s winter, cuddling in our den of blankets, recharging, just like a lion sleeping for 20 hours a day after a big long hunt.

We love nature like animals.

Green anacondas love the color green like us! So, they must love nature, warming up in its heat, while we’re enjoying the warmth of melting snow, the smell of flowers blooming in the spring.

We frolic like animals.

We are as playful as a tiger cub. Just how a tiger cub wrestles with its siblings, scratching and pouncing, rolling around, we like to tackle as we play football.

Dolphins are playful like us. We're silly and creative like them when they do stunts. We dive under the water, not scared of what’s underneath.

We’re resilient like animals.

Our hearts can grow as big and fierce as a cougar in our little bodies. They reach up to 5 meters, always getting us up when things get hard. We shred the uncomfortable  feelings that come with not doing well on a test.

Tardigrades can survive ferocious environments without water, so they can conquer anything earth throws at ‘em. We are also small but very tough.  When people tear us down, we roll up into a protective ball and get back up.

We’re caring like animals

Just like dogs we are warm blooded, but even when our heart becomes closed, the warmth of friendship seeps in for life’s warm hug, reviving us.

Sloths climb trees but for me, I don't climb trees like so many would expect. We are the trees, strong and embracing many animals like the sloth. We surround our friends, but most importantly our roots reach down grounding us.

That’s why we feel like the earth and all of its fuzzy, smooth, scaly, feathery creatures.

Homework: Prepare for Division Quiz

Hi Students,

This is a friendly remind that you have a Division Quiz on: Thursday, June 11. 

On the quiz, you may be asked to: 

• Represent a division equation using a picture

• Write a division equation to match a given picture

• Solve division equations up to 3-digit by 1-digit using strategies, such as "Drawing Groups", "Long Algorithm", or "Short Algorithm" 

• Solve a division word problem in pictures, numbers, and words (a sentence answer)

• Create a division word problem

• Solve questions that include remainders

The "Drawing Groups" strategy

Since this strategy is unfamiliar to many parents, I am going to describe it here using the language we used in class: 

1. Think about the problem. An example of what 48 / 4 means is that you have 48 of something, and you are sharing that out equally between 4 people.

2. Draw circles or stick people to represent the number of the divisor (4).

3. Use a number you can skip count by easily (like, 100, 10, 5, 2...). Share out the same amount to each person/group. For example, in the picture below, the student started by giving each person 3. 

4. Calculate how many you just gave out in total (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12).

5. Subtract 12 from your dividend to see how much you have left to give (48-12 = 36).

6. Do steps 3 & 4 again until you have shared out all that you have. 

Count up how many you have in one of the groups. This is your quotient (answer). If you have any leftover, write that as your remainder (R = ___).

Animal Field Study

Yesterday, we used our scientific skills to identify what the creatures are that are on our hillside. Ms Elder showed us some information about the differences between groundhogs, gophers, and ground squirrels. We had to use our observation skills to determine which they are. 

If we sat quietly on the hill, we could see the animals more easily because they weren't scared. We observed in our journals. We drew scientific diagrams and added information to help us identify them. We have concluded that these animals are: ground squirrels!

We know because they have thin, furry tails with a black tip. Also, you can't see their teeth sticking out of their mouths. We can see their necks. Ground squirrels have lots of entrances and exits, which we could see. They are very social; you will see many together. We also measured the size of their entrances and exits to determine which rodent they were. 

"We came up with a new name for the ground squirrels: g.s.'s." ~ AA

"Most of the holes were 11 cm wide. It helped us figure out which animal it was." ~ Viaan
"Everything looked the same until we figured out how big or small they were." ~ HC
"At the beginning, we thought they were gophers but using all of our information, we figured out they are ground squirrels." ~ Oliver
"They were so cute and they have human like ears and that freaked me out but overall amazingly cute." ~ EF
"THEY ARE SO ADORABLE!" ~ Cora
"I was observing a hole and one ground squirrel popped out and ran away." ~ Jackson
"It took me a while to find a ground squirrel that would stay. Once I finally found one, it stayed for a really long time." ~ Gillian
"They hypnotized me!" ~ Wynn

More Magnets!

We have continued exploring magnets in Science. We tested objects to see if they are magnetic or non-magnetic. We learned that magnetic materials are made out of cobalt, iron, or nickel. 

We also tested the strength of the magnetic force by measuring the distance objects needed to be from the magnet to attract. We used our rulers to measure the distance in millimetres (mm). 

  

Today, Ms Elder gave us the challenge of trying to make a paper clip float. We used magnetic force to make it work!

Then, we tested the strength of magnetic force by putting objects in between the paper clip and the magnet. We first predicted whether the paper clip would "fall" or "float" and then we tested!

We will be having a Quiz on magnets on Thursday, May 21. There are videos we can watch and games we can play on Google Classroom under "Science" if we want to practice at home.

"Everything is possible except a big thick book between the magnet and the paperclip." ~ HC

"It was really fun experimenting to try to make the paperclip float with Oscar." ~ Jackson

"When we were testing, I thought it was crazy that you could put your hand through and it would still float." ~ Effie

"If you put a piece of thread and taped it up, then tie the paper clip, and then get any kind of magnet, it will start floating. It's just like Science" ~ Ekagra

"If things aren't magnetic, you can put a magnetic field around it and it can stick to other magnetic things." ~ Cora

"When we started this unit, I thought we were going to be sitting and writing notes but instead, we had a lot of fun experimenting and stuff." ~ EF

"I really liked experimenting because it's trial and error and when you fail, you can try it again. When you get it, it's so rewarding!" ~ Wynn

"I like how there's so many different ways to make your paperclip float. I like experimenting." ~ Gillian

"I thought it was bizarre how strong the magnets are." ~ Oliver

"When me and my partner were putting the paperclip in the cup, and then we were moving the cardboard, the magnet was spinning." ~ Fatima

"You get the thing you want to go through, then put the magnet on top, and then take the paperclips out so you don't have to shove it through." ~ Davyd

"Some magnets are really weak while some are really strong." ~ Viaan 

Conflict Resolution

Skits!

Strategies we learned.

1. What was your favourite part of your conflict learning and why? 

• My favourite part of conflict was the skits because it was fun to get to act out a conflict - Jackson
• my favrouite thing by far was the skits all though i loved every thing the skits were amazing because it gave me and my group creativity of how we could learn. - EF
• My favourite part was the game. we would have a piece of paper with a conflict then we write the conflict and how they can solve it. then run to the carpet to get a other one.
• My favourite part of conflict was that i would be prepared for in the future if when i have a conflict and i need to be the one to resolve it. I liked grabbing the papers from the carpet because i love games that are connected with learning in school. - Effie
• liked the conflict skit the most because it was fun to make a kind of funny act and doing the acting was also fun. - Viaan

2. What conflict resolution strategies do you think are most helpful in resolving conflict and why? 

• tell them to stop - SA
• I think saying sorry  or how you feel is the best way because you can do it for every conflict. - Cora 
• I think the best resolution strategy is apologizing and finding a win win solution because you say sorry and then you find a way to sit with them play or anything!!! - Oliver
• It depends on the situation - CL
• I feel like you should get Calm first so you don't punch anybody - Oscar