Grade 7s have been learning about natural selection – also known as survival of the fittest. We’ve discovered that in order to survive and produce more offspring, organisms need to adapt. Adaptation is a change in the organism’s body or behaviour such as developing a thicker coat to protect themselves from the cold or learning to defend themselves against predators. We all chose a specific species and we gathered information about how that species has evolved over time. We discovered that pandas have developed stronger stomachs to digest a diet of primarily bamboo and polar bears now have shorter legs to better retain heat in cold weather. One of our tasks was also to create a realistic adaptation that our species could go through in order to better survive challenges that they face. Photo credit: By National Human Genome Research Institute's Talking Glossary, via Wikimedia Commons While grade 7s were busy researching natural selection, grade 6s have been busy learning about the internal body systems that are needed for survival. We’ve focused on the nervous system – and have learned that it’s a very complex body system! Humans, mammals, birds and all other vertebrates have a brain and a spinal cord. Human brains have much larger frontal lobes than those of animals so are capable of higher-level functions, such as abstract thinking, logic, planning and self-control. We’re more than half way through our class novel, Pax, and have had some good discussions about the characters and themes. One of the main themes is the damaging impact of war. From Pax’s perspective we’re seeing the damage that war has on the environment whereas Peter himself is realizing the impact of war on people – both physically and emotionally. Vola, one of the characters, shares her personal experience as a medic in the war. She explains that ”you’re there to kill people. Kill or be killed – that’s the contract in war” (p.148). Peter sees how Vola was deeply impacted by her experience. The damaging impact of war allowed for good class discussion. To extend our thinking we reflected on a quote from Vola and shared our thinking on a virtual wall called Padlet: https://padlet.com/howden_b/3wd087g5liv3 This week we got to share our learning with our parents during student-led conferences. It was a perfect opportunity to reflect on our goals and the successes/challenges we’ve had with meeting those goals. We also shared our progress in the Core Competencies, including Thinking, Communication, Personal & Social Responsibilities.
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March 2020
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