News for May 23

News for May 23

This four-day week had the children spending a lot of time learning and thinking about our caterpillar/butterfly project!

The caterpillars have now all changed into the chyrsalis (or pupa) stage of the life cycle. The children had a chance to examine the chyrsalids and explain their hypotheses about what was happening inside as the caterpillars change (metamorphosis) into butterflies. We learned that inside there is sort of a "caterpillar soup" as the cells change their function, shape and colour. Using 20 lego bricks the students made a long shape, then inside a bag, they took the bricks apart and reassembled them into a different shape to help them understand what was happening inside the chyrsalids.

In math, the class learned about mass and weight and how to measure them. The students used a scale and plastic cubes to measure the mass of various objects they chose from around the classroom. They also compared the masses of different objects. They held a one kilogram bag of sugar to help them understand how heavy a kilogram is. Students have an average mass of 22 kilograms or 22 bags of sugar!

Our class has started a project on the artist Pablo Picasso. We read books about his life and art. One of the things Picasso liked to do was to make beautiful art using ordinary things. So, the students had a chance to do just that. The children were challenged to create faces using materials they found around the classroom. I took photographs of these faces and now the students are writing about these characters they created. The students also wrote down their questions about Picasso and these questions will help to guide our research about his art and his life.

In our guided reading time, the students have begun the second round of testing for the year. (Students are tested in October and May each year.) This testing will continue next week.

In science, the children learned about another simple machine called the lever. They learned that the scissors, staplers and even their arms and elbows are examples of  levers.

The children helped Ms. Mantello get ready for the visit of the author Joyce Grant by putting the stories and art they made last week into a binder to give to her on June 3rd. They also painted a huge sign to hang in the gym, welcoming her to our school.

On Friday morning, all the students in our school went outside to participate in the Jump Rope for Heart event to raise money for the Canadian Heart and Stroke foundation. The children jumped and jumped and jumped to remind us to exercise to keep our hearts healthy.

Books read aloud this week:

My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil by Hanoch Piven
Weight by Henry Pluckrose
Lumpito and the Painter From Spain by Monica Kulling
Pablo Picasso by True Kelley
Picasso and the Girl With the Ponytail by Laurence Anholt
The Boy Who Bit Picasso by Antony Penrose