The dance-a-thon was lots of fun. My favourite part was when all the classes made trains! Yesterday we finished adding up how much money our class raised. Together we collected over $1000 (your dancer can probably tell you exactly). This money goes right back to the kids in the form of special activities and programming provided by the Parent Council. For example, the Artist in the Classroom and Scientist in School programs (which Area 24 has already enjoyed) are paid for by Parent Council. Thanks for your support!
We did a few other exciting things today as well. In science, we set up an experiment to test our idea that plants get energy from the sun. We put one plant in the window where it will get lots of sun, and an identical plant in the shoe bin cupboard where it will be in darkness. We all made predictions about what we think will happen over the next 3 weeks. Ask your scientist what they wrote. We also went outside today and took some pictures of things that were moving. Ask your investigator if they can name 5 different things that we noticed.
In the afternoon, I set up the projector and showed the kids a few websites that have to do with what we're doing in math and science. I strongly encourage you to visit Le Coin des Enfants. It's a great site all about energy. It explains how electricity is made, how it gets to our homes and the difference between renewable (renouvelable) and non-renewable. Click on Jeux and there are lots of fun and interesting games. We started playing the one where you see how long you would have to pedal on a bicycle in order to create enough energy to power a TV for an hour etc. Ask your child what activity needed the most energy (4 hours of pedalling). I'll leave this site under "Science Links" for future reference.
On the computer, we also checked out Google Maps. We talked about how we usually want to get to where we're going quickly, so we take the shortest route, as opposed to the scenic route. We found the best route from Christie Pits to Dewson, and from Toronto to Ottawa. Ask your student how long it would take to drive to Ottawa on the highway and how long it could take if you take lots of twists and turns.
Monday morning we have a special visitor coming to Dewson. Please be on time for school!
Tamara
PS - Check last night's post for info on our upcoming concert.