Wow, we've done some fun stuff this week!
In poetry with Mlle Bradfield we've already discussed why people write poems, who can write poems, what poets like to write about, and what can be included in a poem. We've made up actions to a poem and we've learned how to write our very own Haiku poems! We learned that Haiku poems are generally about nature, and that there are 3 lines using 5 - 7 - 5 syllables, respectively. We learned a trick for helping us count syllables within words and practiced this before we got started. After writing one as a group, each poet attempted to write their own Haiku. For inspiration, the children are welcome to pick an object from our "petits moments" box - a collection of small trinkets that Mlle Bradfield and I have collected. Sometimes kids come up with ideas quickly, and other times getting to rifle through this collection of treasures gives them a good jumping off point (and, let's face it, it's pretty fun). I was amazed at how quickly students caught on to this type of writing and can't wait to hear them share some of their original poems aloud next week!
Ask your poet what "petit moment" treasure inspired them to write their Haiku poem!
In math, we started estimating and measuring some distances using different units (e.g., a metre stick or toothpick). We made our estimations yesterday using pen (necessary so that predictions don't magically change once we know the correct answer) and today worked in groups to measure each distance using the different units. I want students to learn that estimating means making a guess based on what information we do have. For instance, earlier in the week we had already measured the carpet with a pencil, so now if we are measuring the whole class, it should be more than that number. However, the kids also know that estimations are almost never exactly right, and this is good and normal! I think we succeeded this time in each making our own estimations that were different than our friends' and which we did not alter after measuring for real. Small victories!
Ask your mathematician how many metre sticks it took to measure our hallway and how many footsteps it took us to measure the field (yikes, it was a lot!).
I've also re-measured all the kids. Everyone has grown between October and now. Some as much as 4 centimetres!! Keep eating those veggies!
We also did some predicting in science with Mlle Bradfield. We began a great experiment which will show us, hopefully, how important the sun's energy is to plants. We have two plants (A & B), both in great condition. We made some notes about both (how they look now and what we are doing to them) and drew what we think each will look like after the experiment. One plant is on the window sill and its twin is in the shoe bin cupboard. Both will be watered by the kids every day for two weeks and then we will see if our predictions are correct.
We did another super cool sun energy experiment on Wednesday. In this one, we made predictions about which colour would absorb more heat, black or white. We took the before temperature of two felt t-shirts - they were the same. Then, we turned a light bulb ("the sun") on over both, and within minutes, the black t-shirt had soared up 8 degrees higher than the white one! Such a cool experiment. Please ask your scientist to tell you about both of these great activities!
Today we were lucky to have another visit from our artist mom, Mme Ally. She is helping us with a printmaking project that I have always done with my classes. I can't wait to see how it turns out with an expert art teacher leading the way!
Please note a few dates I've added to the To-Do list: Next Friday, April 15th is a PA Day for students. This PA day was added after school calendars were sent out. Monday the 18th will remain a day 8, as it would have without the PA day. May 18th will be our next (and last major) field trip, so please don't book any appointments for that morning. Also, I'm planning something special for June 24th (tentative). Please save the date!