We LOVED our field trip to Science World this week. Even though the Sky Train was packed with passengers we had lots of fun squishing in…and making room for new passengers! We greatly enjoyed exploring the many different exhibits at Science World and participating in a lab. Science World’s feature exhibition is Numbers in Nature A Mirror Maze and we found it fascinating to learn about the different mathematical patterns that surround us in nature. We also loved getting lost in the mirror maze – it was filled with tessellations and symmetry! It was a great day filled with lots of learning…and fun!! A big thank you to the staff at Science World 😊 We’re sure you’ve heard us talking about Creation Lab, as it’s a highlight of the week for many of us. Creation Lab is a time for us to be ADST thinkers by coming up with a plan, making changes to that plan and improving ideas along the way. It’s also an opportunity to work collaboratively with others and to come up with solutions for problems we face along the way. It’s a great opportunity to develop our Communication and Thinking Core Competencies. Our book talks are underway and we’ve been enjoying sharing our connections, predictions and new words with our peers. Many of us have gotten really good at carrying on the conversations by asking each other questions and by sharing our thinking. Curious about how our photography summative tasks turned out? Click here, here and here to see what an awesome job we did!! It's hard to believe that this was the last full week of May! These last few weeks have flown by!
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Did you know that we get energy from the food we eat? Or that the sun and wind create energy? Or that there are many kinds of energy? These were a few of the many facts we learned from a non-fiction picture book about energy. While listening to the story we gathered and recorded information about energy that was new to us and then we shared it as a class. A simple introduction to note-taking. We then had lots of fun making wind turbines out of paper and straws. When we took our finished turbines outside, we noticed the wind made the turbine move …a simple but clear way to see that the kinetic energy in the wind can be used to create different forms of energy. Fascinating. This week we also learned how to use Office 365 Sway. Before getting started we got some helpful tips on how Sway works and then we signed into our Office 365 Education accounts and began experimenting. We inserted text and images into sections called cards and then played around with the design. We loved the “remix!” button that randomly changed the design. There were so many different options! After having fun playing around on Sway, we were ready to use it for other purposes. Over the past few weeks we have been learning about photography techniques and how to include elements & principals in our photos. We captured photos for our summative task and now have a great tool – Sway! – to share our learning. Here's our task: LEARNING INTENTION: I can capture photos that include elements & principals in art CRITERIA: Capture photographs that include texture and line Use the “rule of thirds” photography technique in at least one of your photos (the subject shouldn’t be centered) Include a theme of social responsibility (examples: caring for the environment, helping others in need, building relationships, valuing diversity, solving problems) Include descriptive words that connect to your theme Share your photographs in an engaging way (with Office 365 Sway) It was another great week of learning in divisions 6 & 7...hard to believe only 6 weeks left before summer break!! 😥
Track and Field season is upon us and the beautiful sunny weather has made it easy for us to get outside and practice! This week we kicked off with long jump and triple jump. Both are new for a few of us, so we’ve learned the steps and have practiced, practiced, and practiced! We’ve all been working really hard at improving our steps, knowing that we can’t step over the foul line and knowing that we need to build our speed. Sometimes it’s hard to know what we need to work on so to help us see a different perspective, we captured a quick video of us jumping. Our task will be to watch the video and to look for something that we can work on, such as jumping with one foot or jumping before the foul line. This week we also read a lovely picture book by Kate Jean Neal called Words and Your Heart. It’s a story about the incredible power of words and how what we say can be either positive…or negative. That led to a discussion about how good it feels to be the giver or the recipient of positive words and that we need to do it more often. And of course, with it being Mother’s Day on Sunday, we couldn’t resist making cards for our moms. We’re already looking forward to welcoming our parents into our classroom for a combined Mother’s & Father’s Day tea. 😊
So, you know how last week we watched a video of group discussion in action and then used that to co-create criteria for our own reading group discussions? Well this past week it was discussion time for us! We brainstormed our own ideas (about a recent novel study) first and then met with our group to discuss. Each of us had a device to record our conversations so that we could listen to and reflect on the discussion afterwards. That was more powerful than expected! Some of us listened to our recording several times, enjoying hearing our voices and reflecting on ideas shared. But how did those conversations go? We knew that there were strengths (we all shared) and stretches (some of us spoke too much, some not enough). To dig a little deeper on how the conversations went, we did a self-assessment. This week’s self-assessment is a new style for us, so our teacher modelled how to use it. As a class we listened to a volunteer student’s recorded discussions and then our teacher took us through how to use this style of self-assessment. When it came time for us to reflect on our own, we knew what was expected so our self-assessments were thoughtful and accurate. We also set some goals to work on to better meet criteria next time. It’s been a busy past few weeks finishing up and sharing our Science Fair projects. A few of us patiently waited for our investigations to finish while others were busy recording data on tables or drawing conclusions from their findings. It was great to see lots of collaboration when we faced challenges (including dried up plants or burnt out light bulbs) during our experiments. We did a great job persevering when the experiment didn’t go our way or results weren’t what we expected. While wandering around the classroom watching students put finishing touches on their experiments, I overheard student discussions about chemical reactions and the impact of physical activity on your heart rate. That was a clear reminder to me that inquiry-based activities are not only motivating and engaging for kids, but they also involve important critical thinking skills! The final part of our Science Fair was to share our learning – first with our peers and then with the school. We co-created the criteria for our presentations by brainstorming what makes a good oral presentation and then voting on which criteria we wanted to include. We loved sharing our projects with other classes in the school, staff and students. That was a big highlight of the week for many of us. Over the past few weeks we’ve been learning a bit about photography. Have you ever heard of the rule of thirds? The rule of thirds is one of the first techniques beginner photographers learn about because it helps create stronger images. It’s is a basic composition technique that involves positioning the focal point off-centre. We’ve gotten really good at it! We also learned how to include line (an element of design) and texture (principle of design) in our photos. After learning about the rule of thirds, line and texture, we took our devices outside and captured some great shots that we shared with classmates. With Ramadan about to begin, it was a great opportunity to learn more about the most holy month in the Muslim calendar. We read a picture book called My First Ramadan and learned about fasting during daylight hours, the importance of prayer, reflection and helping those in need. Doing good deeds for others is also important during Ramadan, so we each chose a simple one to focus on during the month. We each wrote our good deed on a strip of paper that we chained together and hung from our ceiling. 30 days of good deeds. 😊 Ramadan Mubarak!
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AuthorWe are a curious group of kids who are excited to share our learning with you! Archives
March 2020
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