Today we did 3 cool science experiments all investigating heat energy. At one centre we were wondering whether heat can make things move at all. We tested this by warming up our hands and holding a bottle dipped in soap. What happened? What was in the bottle? Did heat make something move?
At another centre we were wondering if colours really absorb heat differently. We tested this by measuring the temperature of a white and black shirt and then leaving them under a light bulb for a few minutes and taking their temperature again. What happened to the temperature of the white shirt? What happened to the temperature of the black shirt? What can we learn from this and how can we protect our skin from the sun?
I hope you have fun discussing our discoveries and thanks to the parents who helped out!
Last week, students had a 4-part math challenge to see how we are doing individually with communicating our thinking in math. We have done lots of practice of this sort of question in class over the last month, both individually and with partners. I am sending home a rubric and your child's work so that you can get an idea of how they're doing in this area.
In this task we discussed the importance of showing our strategies. Students know that a number on a page - even if it happens to be the right answer - can be no more than a level 2, because there is no communication of how that answer was reached. On the other hand, if a student shows that they were on the right track with an appropriate strategy, they can earn a level 3 even if the answer is wrong.To the right, you can see some of the strategies our mathematicians came up with during our work periods over the last while. You can see that many of them focus on drawing the problem, or groups. These are appropriate strategies for grade 1 and is what I expect to see most often. To earn a level 4, students would have to communicate their thinking very clearly, perhaps adding a number sentence to their drawing, or showing multiple steps that went into solving a problem. Students also had a chance to show if they could think a bit beyond what we have practiced in class with a beginning division question. They will do more of this in grade 2. A level 2 indicates that the student needs a bit of teacher support to think of a helpful strategy, or put it into action.
Please remember that a mark is never based on 1 thing. This rubric alone is based on all 4 different challenge questions, each increasing in difficulty. I've tried to circle the average level for each child. Their final mark in Number Sense will reflect all the work they did in the unit.
We are now beginning a unit on measurement, but our addition and subtraction skills will come in very handy, so it's always great to keep practicing at home!
Here we are today measuring our desks and the carpet using different units. We figured out that the smaller the unit, the more we need. How many pencils did it take to measure a desk? How many toothpicks did it take?
This week we also had another theme day. This one was for Chiara and Shawna, who like rainbows and stars. Among our activities was a choose-you-own-adventure writing challenge. Each Club de Lecture wrote a short story about Princesse Étoile who goes on an adventure down one colour path of a rainbow. What happened in the different adventures?
Words of the Week
Which day of the week does not end with ‘i’? Between last week and this week we
have covered them all. Ask your child to sing you the song that helps us
remember the order of the days in a week! Note: In the word “fille” (like
“famille”), the final ‘lle’ are not really heard.
souris, gentil, fille, triste, tigre,
lundi,
mardi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche
Bonus words: coccinelle, je lis un livre