News for March 13

This week the children finished their animal research posters, finished learning cursive writing and even wrote a basic computer-type program!

We also said farewell to two of our students who are moving over the break and going to new schools. Good luck to them both!

Math -   The survey posters are now on display on the bulletin board in our classroom. The students practised how to sort items. They used Venn diagrams to sort things into what is different and what is the same. They also reviewed how to graph data and solve word problems. The students also had a chance to learn about and solve different "codes".

At the end of the week, the class had some time to explore some higher-level thinking math ideas. First the class learned how to play the strategy game "Dots" (also known as "Squares"). Next, the children analyzed how the game "20 Questions" works. Our class often plays this game orally and this week I introduced a small computer device that plays this game. This led to a discussion of "How did the little computer know what I was thinking about?". So we talked about how a computer works, using on/off binary decisions. Computers use "binary code" or on/off electronic pulses to give information. The code uses a series of zeros and ones to give information. The game "20 Questions" uses answers to yes/no questions to guide the deduction of the final answer. So we used that format to create a type of computer program and made a decision tree diagram to figure out any student name in our class. This "program" is now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.

The students also learned about the life of Leonard Fibonacci. He is responsible for bringing the Hindu-Arabic place value system of numbers (0 to 9) to the Western world, replacing the Roman Numeral system. He also popularized the number pattern 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8..., known as "Fibonacci Numbers" where each new term in the pattern is the sum of the previous two terms. These numbers are also often found in nature (for example, the 5 arms of a starfish, 13 petals on a daisy flower).

Writing -   The students wrote me a letter to let me know their preferences around where they would like to sit in the classroom. I will be moving the desks to create a new seating plan after the break.

Our word wall words this week included how to read, write and use the tricky words could, should and would (wood) and their negative contractions couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't.

The students finished learning cursive writing. They all now know how to write all the lowercase letters of the alphabet and at the end of the week, they practised how to write the capital letters too.

Science -   The animal research posters are now finished! The children worked very hard this week to write the "good copy" of their fact sentences on their posters. The final activity is to produce an animal facts video, but since so many children were away on Friday, we will make the video when everyone returns to class. The posters will also be displayed in the hall outside of our classroom. Did you know that even though sloths are slow on land, they are actually very good swimmers?

Social Studies -   The class learned about the spring Hindu holiday of Holi, on March 9th and 10th this week. During this time people throw powdered colours on each other to help welcome spring. Here are the links to two videos we watched about Holi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hs5FO_Oqk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wYsmU5IpGM

Later in the week, the children learned about history, symbols and activities associated with the Irish holiday of St. Patrick's Day (March 17th).

Art -    The children wrote reflections on the Andy Warhol inspired art they created last week. The art and reflections are now on display in the hall outside of our classroom.

Media Literacy/Oral Communication -   Our guest on The Room 222 Interview Show was Ms. Chang. She is a teacher at our school. This video can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

Holi - We Throw Colour on Each Other by Kavita G. Sahai
Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire
Blockhead - The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese
Hooray for St. Patrick's Day - Joan Holub
Life-size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya
More Life-size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya