As promised, the students were out in full force this morning getting new snow measurements in the playground following the blizzard that occurred the past couple of days.
In our previous blog post students found an average depth of 7.5cm in a certain area in the playground. Today, they took 4 additional readings in approximately the same places and found a new average of 14cm. They also re-measured the snow bank near the playground and the measurements all increased as well.
We're tracking storms again!
In anticipation of tomorrow's blizzard, we've done some tracking and measuring.
We couldn't believe the length of the weather forecast on Environment Canada's site! Some of us had some turns reading the forecast in our best meteorologist voices from TV. All I can say is
Some grade 5 students taking on the role as TV weather people!
Currently, Max & Kristina are measuring the amount of snow outside in the school yard / playground area. The average depth of the snow there is 7.5cm (the 4 readings they took were 7cm, 7cm, 6cm, 10cm).
Innis & Jamey measured the height of the snowbank near the playground area. Currently, as of today March 25th, 2PM, the height is approximately 110cm in one area & 60cm in another area.
Making sure their snow bank measurements are precise.
Tune in in the coming days to see how our data has changed!!!!!!!!!
(special thanks to Mairi for being the photographer!)
What happens when we do a writing workshop on a baboon?!?!
As part of grade 6 language arts, students are required to research and report on a specific topic. So, as part of our science unit on flight, the students have all been assigned a famous person pertaining to flight to research and write their biography (biographies are a grade 5 outcome).
Our writing workshops the next couple of weeks concentrate on various skills needed to research, compiling a bibliography, and writing a well-written and interesting biography.
We've looked at the book Barack as an example text.
Now students are looking at researching information about one of our bookshelf friends, Cheeks.
"Cheeks." Baboon. Isn't he cute?
The writing process was furious. There were so many questions to answer and they had to be based in fact with some creativity thrown in.
to read the final copy, come check it out on the wall at the front of our classroom, or email for the pics!
We spent a good amount of time today working hands-on with many pieces of electrical equipment trying to make complete circuits, testing out materials and determining whether they were insulators or conductors, etc. It was a fun day! Some groups even self-discovered series circuits and how an increase in voltage can mean much brighter light bulbs!
Perhaps one of the best moments of today, though, came from one of my "brightest" students:
photo used with Logan's astounding permission
While I praised Logan for being one of my "brightest" (wink, wink) students with his electric necklace invention thingy, he trumped me... He exclaimed he was,
"a shining, creative gangster... the battery's in da hood!"
Oh the chuckles we had about that one! Good one, Logan!
We read an article about the forces that are all around us. Each student group was responsible for explaining an everyday force as indicated in the article. Here are some snippets from their presentations:
The importance of wheels.
This group started their presentation by trying to roll the large green box.
"It would be much easier to roll this box if it was circular in shape."
The they explained why the bin table at the front of the room had wheels, showing how much easier it was to move. The wheels help reduce the amount of friction between the item being moved and the surface it's being moved on.
"When you take a step, your foot is pushing down on the floor."
If the ground is cement, and you just step on it, it's not going to make a movement.
We had to voice record Logan's explanation:
Size matters. Gravity.
This group worked hard to explain and show what gravity does. They demonstrated dropping articles of different sizes and weights to show how gravity works on the various items. The interesting part was when they added a makeshift parachute to an item. How do parachutes work against gravity?
Friction
The girls presenting the section on friction thought this video and song best outlined the concepts from the article.
Push or Pull
A push and a pull is something everyone is familiar with. Have you ever considered it like this?
Please complete the following form based on our science experiment the past few days. Reports are due Monday, Jan. 28th by 3PM. Please state your name at the end of your conclusion.
As part of our science unit on Space and the Planets, we're beginning to explore vocabulary associated with these topics and also some cultural beliefs.
Here are the vocabulary graphic organizers we created. Using an organizer like this helps us to keep track of the information we researched. Students used dictionaries, books from the classroom science library or the internet to gather the information on the word they were assigned.
As this unit continues, we are also looking at understanding the sky, stars, and constellations. Students are reminded to use these websites to guide their nightly sky viewing:
We are also lucky to have a Mi'kmaq elder coming into our class this week to share Mi'kmaq beliefs about the stars and space. Here is the Mi'kmaq tale of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters, which we are exploring in class:
Wow! Have we been busy working on this challenge! Everything from a logo contest within our own classroom, to researching types of energy, tracking our trash, calculating our water usage, and simply turning things off... we've been immersed in energy use awareness!
Here are the logos designed by our class, with the class' chosen winning logo for our site in the Challenge, designed by Emily! Way to go, guys!
Perhaps the most exciting step thus far in the Challenge has been creating a script for a infomercial on reducing energy. We submitted our script to the contest, and, low and behold, our script was chosen as one of 50 semi-finalists across Canada! That means, we won a video recorder to shoot our infomercial!
We're going to start shooting before March Break, and , hopefully finish the week after March Break! Once it is finished, we will be needing your help, as the video will be posted on the Energy Diet's Facebook page, and we'll need your "Likes" to win!
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