News for March 8

News for March 8

This week the class designed and created board games, researched countries for their social studies projects and made (and ate) pancakes!

In math, we continued the probability unit by doing math experiments to develop and show the understanding of probability. One experiment we did was to use a "peek box" to determine the number and colour of plastic cubes in a sealed box. The children took turns shaking and "peeking" at the open corner of the box to see which colour showed up. We tallied the number of times each colour was seen and using that information the children predicted the number and colour of the cubes in the box. For example, if the colour red had the most tallies, then red was likely to show up so there should be lots of red cubes in the box. The children realized that their predictions got more accurate as we did more and more experiments to get more information.

Later in the week, the students designed and created their own board games, using what they know about probability devices (e. g., dice, spinners, picking chance cards) to include in their games. The children planned their games on scrap paper and then made big game boards with spinners and chance cards, collected playing pieces, paperclip spinners or dice. On Friday, the students worked in groups to play each others board games. (When I said it was time for lunch, the class cried out, "Noooo!" So the class continued playing their games in the afternoon.) These board games were rolled up to take home, for children to teach their parents over the holiday.

In guided reading, the children read and discussed a non-fiction book about flags. Did you know that Greenland is part of Denmark? Did you know that the extinct bird, the dodo, was only found on the island of Mauritius off the east coast of Africa, east of Madagascar?

In writing, the children put the final touches on their glovetopus chapter books. Next, each student read a fellow child's book and then wrote the author a letter telling the author his/her favourite part of the book, what they could do next time to make the book even better and a question for the author about the story. Finally, the authors read their letters and answered the questions. These chapter books are now in binders and are available for the children to read during independent reading times.

In social studies, the class learned how the Earth is divided in half by the equator, creating the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. At the top of the Earth's axis is the North Pole and at the bottom is the South Pole. The students also learned about how the 195 countries on Earth are grouped into seven different continents.

Last week, the class generated questions they had about their research countries and I put these together to make a graphic organizer to help them organize their social studies research information. The children learned how to use encyclopedias to collect information about their research countries.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Pancake Day! March 5th this year was Shrove Tuesday. This day, in the Christian tradition, is also known as Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. The class learned that long ago there were no refrigerators so food had to be eaten up before it spoiled. On Shrove Tuesday, fatty, rich foods are eaten and pancakes, for example, help to use up butter and eggs. The class mixed up the pancake batter and flipped the pancakes and ate them with syrup. Yum! On Friday, the class learned the history and traditions of St. Patrick's Day (March 17).

The class learned to write the cursive letters e, f, h, o. Only six more lowercase letters to learn.

On Friday, after afternoon recess, the class went to the gym for the school's "Dragon Dance Party".

Finally, in response to our kindness project from last week, the caretakers took the time to write a thank you card to the class for the eight glovetopuses the children made for them and the letter we wrote. They really appreciated being recognized for their hard work!

Books read aloud this week:

Curious George Makes Pancakes by H. E. Rey
Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle
Once Upon a Time - Three Barnyard Fairy Tales retold by Marilyn Helmer (This week, The Little Red Hen and The Ugly Duckling were read aloud.)
The Flag Book by Sarah Polin
Hooray For St. Patrick's Day by Joan Holub