The butterflies are free!

Our butterflies are now free! By Thursday, all of the butterflies had come out of the chrysalises.

On Friday, at 2:00PM, the students went outside to the playground and watched the butterflies take off into the skies. It was amazing to watch how they could fly up and over the top of the school! One butterfly landed on Ms. R's jeans and didn't want to leave!

The class talked about the "red stuff" seen on the walls of the butterfly house. This liquid is used to help pump out and unfold the wings when the butterfly comes out of the chrysalis. Since it doesn't need the liquid after that the butterfly gets rid of it.

The class discussed why there was orange Gatorade in the butterfly house. Why not a burger and fries? The students thought that Gatorade was more like the sweet liquid (nectar) in flowers and maybe they could only drink liquid as an adult. Each student had a chance to drink some orange Gatorade to experience what the butterflies liked to drink.

The students figured out the 4-stage life cycle of the butterfly by reviewing and putting together what they had learned. First the egg (stage 1), next the caterpillar or larva (stage 2), then the chrysalis or pupa (stage 3) and finally the butterfly or adult (stage 4).

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to teach an adult the math game that was designed, made and taken home on Friday. Then, write about the experience on the question sheet. Homework is due on Friday, June 4th.

Important Dates

June 5 - 11:00 to 3:00 - Fun Fair
June 7 -11 - EQAO testing week (grade 3 students only)
June 14 - OISE videotaping in our classroom (permission form goes home May 31)
June 25 - at lunchtime - Speed Stacking Contest 2010
June 28 - Report cards go home.
June 29 - Last day of school!

News for May 28

News for May 28

It was a 4-day week but the class was very busy! Tuesday morning started off with a "Jump Rope For Heart" assembly. This was to talk about fundraising for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The event will be next Friday morning (June 4). Collection envelopes were sent home this week. More information can be seen at:

http://www.jumpropeforheart.ca/ .

In math, the students are doing a lot of review work. They worked on pattern types and pattern rules, time and number facts. At the end of the week each students created a math game to help them with addtion, subtraction and (for grade 3) multiplication facts. The children then wrote out the instructions for the game. These games were sent home on Friday as part of the homework assignment.

In science, the students discussed how the sun is important and how all life can be connected back to the sun. The class watched a DVD about butterflies and moths. There was a lot of exciting news with our butterflies. Please see the update in a separate posting.

The students did a procedural writing task about how to get ready for school in the morning. We talked about how to design a poster to advertise the release of our butterflies, and the children each created a poster with the appropriate information.

The sock creature project is coming along nicely. The students are on their way to finishing them up. The students are working on planning a story featuring these creatures.

Darryl came by to deliver the finished pottery the children made. They are all beautiful! The glaze colours were much darker after going in the kiln (at 1000 degrees Celsius for 8 hours!). The class now has a greater appreciation of the number of steps and the amount of time to create a finished piece of pottery.

In computers, the students practised their speed, colour and number recognition using the following game:

http://www.primarygames.com/math/topsyturvy/

(One student made it to level 13!)

Caterpillar Update

Each caterpillar is now in a chrysalis!

This week the students saw how a caterpillar "turns" into a chrysalis.

First the caterpillar attached itself to the lid or paper on the top of the container. Then the caterpillar went into a "J" shape. After wiggling out of the skin for the last time, the chrysalis appears. (In the chrysalis photo, the last skin layer can be seen near the top.)

The chrysalis is light brown with metallic gold spots.

The students felt what it is like to be wrapped up by wrapping paper around one hand and doing a "thought experiment" and thinking about how the black, spiky, crawling caterpillar changes inside the chyrsalis to a colourful flying insect. One student was wrapped up completely to show how difficult it must be to make such big changes inside a thin covering without breaking through!

The children had some amazing theories on what actually happens inside the chrysalis. This helped them to make sense of what they knew about the caterpillars from their direct observations and what they knew was going to happen when the chrysalis opens up.

Next the students used research books to investigate what actually happens inside the chrysalis. These are the facts they found out:

A butterfly makes a chrysalis not a cocoon (moths make cocoons).

A chrysalis is also called a pupa.

The caterpillar does not eat, drink or move while it is in the chrysalis.

It takes 1-2 weeks before the butterfly comes out.

The chrysalis will become clear just before the butterfly comes out.

Inside the chrysalis, most of the caterpillar turns into a kind of "soup" and the rest forms the parts of the butterfly.

The change inside the chrysalis is called "metamorphosis".

Each chrysalis has now been put in the butterfly house.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction story of your choice in the homework writing journal. This homework is due next Friday (May 28).

Important Dates:

May 24 - Victoria Day - holiday
June 7 - 11 - EQAO testing week (grade 3 only)
June 27 - report cards go home
June 28 - last day of school for the year

News for May 21

News for May 21
On Thursday evening, the school presented our spring concert. The children did an excellent job! It was wonderful to see all the families in attendance.

This week the students spent a lot of time researching and talking about the big changes that have happened to the painted lady caterpillars. Look for the details in a separate posting.

In math, the class continued to fold paper tetrahedrons (tetrahedra) and created wonderful multi-unit sculptures that are now hanging in our classroom. They also learned how to take the basic folded unit to make an octahedron (8 faces) and icosahedron (20 faces). Some students linked 8 units together to make a "torus ring", a movable sculpture that turns around itself. See a video of these at the end of this posting.

In preparation for a number of activities, including the next fiction story writing, the students began to sew and stuff creatures out of socks using the sewing machine and hand sewing on button eyes, arms and tails.

The students used what they know about symmetry and cursive writing to create a colourful pieces of art that looks like a bunch of insects or aliens. These are now on display in our hallway.
The children are making a lot of progress with their corking! One student (see photo) measured her corking at almost 2 metres.

The students learned about the sport of "speed stacking". This is a popular activity all around the world. The goal is to stack and unstack plastic cups as fast as possible. There is now a speed stacking club that meets every Friday at lunchtime in Room 5. Check out the world champion at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyU5v0ZYMjI .

On Wednesday, half of the class went to York University to participate in a full day track and field event.

In computers, the students reviewed geometry using the following online game:
http://www.coolmath-games.com/O-shapezoid/index.com

The caterpillars are growing!

The caterpillars are growing! The research teams measured the caterpillars and they are around 3 cm long now. As you can see from the photos, the caterpillars now have stripes and dots patterning their bodies. They also have lots of spikes. When asked "why do you think these caterpillars have spikes?", these are some of the theories:

"They have spikes to make them look scary to animals that want to eat them."

"The spikes make them taste bad."

"The spikes help them make the webs (in the containers)."

After reading information about caterpillars using their research books, the groups learned and shared the following:

Butterflies lay eggs.
Caterpillars hatch out of the eggs.

Caterpillars are very hungry and eat all the time.

When they grow, their skin does not grow and it splits and the caterpillars crawls out of it.

A caterpillar is also called a larvae.

Now the students are working on their theories about how each caterpillar will make the chyrsalis.

Update from Ms, R

The homework for this week is to practise the two songs that we are performing at the Spring Concert. The lyrics were sent home with the children on Friday.

Important Dates:

May 19 - Track and Field Day at York University (selected students only)
May 20 - Spring Concert - 6:00 - kindergarten only 7:00 - grades 1 to 6
May 24 - Victoria Day - no classes on this day
June 7 to 11 - EQAO testing week (grade 3 only)

News for May 14

News for May 14

On Monday of this week all the students were involved in a school-wide Track and Field Day. The children ran, jumped hurdles and much more.

In math, the students finished the unit on probability. They are now working on reviewing geometry concepts. To begin this review, they began a project creating tetrahedrons from paper circles and they are now working to use these units to build larger structures.

The class is working hard to prepare for next week's Spring Concert (May 20th). They will be performing two songs that evening.

The students went to the gym to see the mime actor Chris Walsh perform. He combined mime, clowning and magic into a wonderful and funny show.

The pottery plates and bowls the students made have gone through the first firing in the kiln. Darryl brought them in this week and taught the students how to glaze (paint) them. Did you know that this glaze has ground glass in it and when the pottery goes into the kiln again at 1000 degrees Celsius, the glass pieces melt and there will be a thin layer of glass on the pottery?

The caterpillars are growing and changing! The students did a lot of drawing, writing, discussing and book research. Read what the children are thinking in a separate posting on this blog.

Caterpillar research update

Our research teams have been busy observing their caterpillars and thinking about what is happening to them as they are growing (bottom photo). Here are some of their theories and questions about the light brown spheres and the dark spots that are now in the growing containers:

"The caterpillars have some stripes and white dots and spikes. We think the beige dots are part of their food. We wonder why is their poo beige and the exact colour of the food?" - The Caterpillar Team

"The caterpillar skin is black. The black dots might be leftover skin, but maybe they eat some of it. The spheres may be crumbs from after they eat or it may be poop. We wonder why the caterpillar flips over so fast when it falls on it's back?" - The A Team

"The black dots may be part of the tail because we saw spikes on it. The spheres may be food rolled into a ball or some poop. We wonder why there is so much food in the container?" - The Pink Team

"The black dots are probably the skin because we saw lots of spike on it like on the caterpillar. We wonder why the caterpillar makes a web in the container?" The CLS Team

"We think the black dots are skin because it is the same colour as the caterpillar's skin. We also saw spikes on it. We wonder how the caterpillar makes the web thing in the container?" The Discovery Team

"Maybe the black dots are eggs or maybe it's skin. We see the caterpillars crawling around under the webs. We wonder why the spikes seem to be getting bigger?" The Awesome team

From our observations and book research, the students are sure that the black dots are the skin that the caterpillars sheds as it grows bigger, especially after the A Team saw a really big skin piece (top photo).

The beige spheres are the caterpillar's poop because the Pink Team actually saw the caterpillar do this (photo second from the top).

Our book research also told us that the caterpillar comes out of an egg and eats a lot. Because the skin does not grow it splits and the caterpillar sheds it off. This happens 4 or 5 times. The caterpillar is also called a "larvae".

Butterfly Project

This week our class got a box filled with caterpillars. Each student is looking after his/her own caterpillar. They are now in research teams and are working on looking at what the caterpillar looks like and how it is changing. Many caterpillars were light brown when we got them and now are black and about one centimetre long.
The work of our teams will be posted on the blog in separate entries.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write about what the students learned in our pioneer unit. This is to be written in the homework writing journal.

Important Dates:

May 10 - Track and Field Day (all day) ***Please make sure your child dresses appropriately with a hat, sunscreen and a water bottle.

May 10 - 17 - Scholastic Book Fair

May 20 - Spring Concert (evening)

News for May 7

The big news this week was our Pioneer Day on Tuesday. We pretended it was May 4, 1810. We did not use electricity (although there were some exceptions - like our fish tank!) The students helped to prepare a lunch of homemade butter, cornbread pancakes with maple syrup, baked beans, carrots, pickles and cheese. The students learned how to use quill pens (feather pens) with ink and practised their cursive writing. They worked with a partner, using blackboards to practise their addition and subtraction facts. We had a "spelling bee" using our word wall words. There were two teams, The Blacksmiths and The Millers. The children sowed (or planted) oat seeds to represent how pioneers would plant grains in the spring. The children learned about why twisting yarn makes it stroner and how to spin wool and how to use a spinning wheel. A video of the "power of the twist" is at the end of this posting. Please note that fleece (sheep wool) is easily pulled apart, but when it is twisted, it is very strong!

The students worked hard to create cards and gifts for Mother's Day.

The class finished up the good copies of their book reports on the "Martha" series of books. They learned about portraits and then created a portrait of Martha the dog. These are now on display in our hallway.

In math, we continued the unit on probability. The students did a variety of experiments to learn about the chance or probability of something happening. We flipped coins, used spinners, rolled dice, picked cards out of a cup and looked at coloured blocks in a "peep box".

As a class, we started to read aloud the Canadian classic, "Owls In The Family" by Farley Mowat.

Our bean plants are growing beautifully! The children took very good care of their plants and took them home this week.

In science, we started our investigation of life cycles by observing caterpillars. These updates will be posted separately.

In computers, the students practised figuring out lines of symmetry at:

http://innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/symmetry/shape_game.asp

"The Power Of The Twist" video