In math this week, the class continued studying the properties of three dimensional (3D) figures. The students sorted figures by different attributes. Using toothpicks (for the edges) and plasticine spheres (for the vertices) the children made "skeletons" of prisms and pyramids. The children wrote about how to make 3D skeletons in their writing journals. They also made figures out of "nets" or flat paper patterns that are cut out and taped together. The students made cubes, rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, pentagonal prisms, square based pyramids, triangular based pyramids, pentagon based pyramids and...a few brave children even made dodecahedrons (12 faces with all pentagon shaped faces)!
In writing, the students learned how to use quotation marks. By using quotation marks at the beginning and end of the words that are spoken in a story, the writer makes it clear who is speaking.
The children made a lot of progress on their chapter book projects this week. They are writing a series of short adventures about their glovetopuses to create different chapters in a book. After self editing and editing with the teacher, these stories will be typed. The class discussed the different parts of a book and we listed what always needed to finish their books ( front and back covers, table of contents, chapters, author biography).
The class visited the Spectrum (grades 7 and 8) art show. The children wrote down the art they liked and later wrote letters to the Spectrum students thanking them for inviting our class and telling them what they liked about their art show.
In art, the students used what they know about two elements of design, line and colour, to create the front and back covers and end papers for their chapter books. Using straight lines and warm colours (red/orange/yellow) on one side and curved lines and cool colours (green/blue/purple) on the other, they designs colourful book covers.
In science, all the students finished their research on famous structures. The students also did an experiment with straws and pipe cleaners to prove that triangles are the strongest shapes in a structure.
The class learned about the tradition of an advent calendar. In Latin, the word advent means arrival. These calendars are usually used to count the days until Christmas. However, in Room 204, we created our own advent calendar to count the days until the winter holidays. The students decorated bags and filled them with little gifts. One student each day gets one of the advent gifts. We also planted a pine tree seed. We are observing how it and our amaryllis are growing.
Books read aloud this week:
The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (chapter book)
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