In science last week, we finished up our soil inquiry that we did collaboratively with Mrs. DeRivera's class. We looked at the rate of absorption of 100ml of water, filled jars with 5 different types of soils and water and then shook them. We waited patiently for them to settle and after a few days, we had a relook. They had indeed settled and many different layers were visible within each type of soil. Some clearly had more sand, some clearly had more clay and others were quite equally distributed in their layers. We learned about those layers were and how they affected water drainage. It turns out the amount of sand in a soil type affects water absorption. Students were then asked to choose a type of soil that they thought would be the best for planting an Eldorado garden and support their choice with reasons and evidence. As expected students to be able to draw upon the various soil text that we had read, the hands on experiments we conducted, the conversations and investigations we did and combine those with their own predictions and thoughts to fully back up their choice. Students also started to film their imovies using greenscreen technology. They are turning out great. As students finish up, I have been posting them on Seesaw for you to have a sneak peek! Enjoy.
Grade 3 students got use the pic collage app last week to make collages of plants that come from seeds, plants that come from shoots and plants that grow from bulbs. Grade 2 students continued to work on their life cycle projects of the animal of their choice. They were expected to read text, watch video, gather jot notes and collect research information. They are just about finished their projects and move onto the habitat creation and plasticene sculpture of their animal. Stay tuned. I am sure that this group of grade 2 students will do an outstanding job of this piece of their project.
Our math focus continued to be on comparing and ordering large numbers but also on how we effectively communicate our thinking when we talk about or write about our work. This will be an ongoing focus as it is important for student to effectively represent and communicate their strategies and ideas to others. We came up with the following:
Our ideas should be relevant or related to the math problem
Our ideas should use a picture, word or symbols to partner or work together to explain
Our ideas should answer why? how? what?
Our ideas should be organized using charts, tables, titles, labels, diagrams or pictures, webs, lists, etc.
Our ideas should use colours or labels to clearly represent important information (not for art and pretty work!)
Our shared writing experiences through the Golden Eagle of the Day have been helping us develop ourselves (collectively) as very thoughtful writers. Students are moving beyond merely stating the objects and their importance and beginning to make connections, group things categorically and asking deep questions of the presenter so that they have some very interesting things to write about. Aryan's paragraph saw students writing about how force affected the speed of his hot wheels car as well as how the angle of his cricket bat affected how the ball would be hit. What a giant step from our very early paragraphs! Overtime, students will begin to use these deeper, more critical thinking ideas in their own writing. Students are also becoming very good editors. They quickly realize when we are using certain words too repetitively or when our sentences are too simple. Many times throughout the shared writing experience, students will say, "Can we go back and make a change in the second paragraph...." or "I notice we have used the word 'you' 7 times in only this paragraph. I think we need to change some of them." Wonderful talk comes from this daily experience.
We will be beginning to form 'book clubs' with our peers (groups chosen by me!) as we work on developing various skills in our reading. I will group students occasionally by reading level, occasionally by reading interest, occasionally by skill specific needs and occasionally just for FUN! We are working on developing ourselves as readers and look forward to big growth ahead. Grade 3 students have just completed our first reading assessment CASI. This assessment was given to all grade 3 students at Eldorado and looked at their ability to read grade level text, retell main ideas, make connections and inferences. These are new skills for them. Many can discuss and think about these concepts but writing them down in coherent answers is difficult. We will improve! It was our first attempt. Many of us are at the beginning stages of this but as a class we will graph our collective results, make criteria for each of those skill sets and set some goals for improvement through purposeful instruction and practice. Students will play a big part in planning for this instruction and practice plan! I find it is much more powerful when they see a gap, make a plan and follow through! Stay tuned to this ongoing piece.
RAZ kids account information was sent home on Friday. Your child may read or listen to ANY book within the app. There is much value in reading at level material but also in listening to text about our interests or passions. As a class, we work a lot on what skills we are developing as we read and how the skills that we are working on developing are different when we listen to reading by others. This app will be used from time to time as homework. I will assign particular books that will relate to concepts or skills to support or partner with our classroom learning. Stay tuned.
We are continuing our read aloud. We are halfway done Night of the New Magicians. We have met two of those 'magicians' already at the Paris World's Fair. They are Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. We are predicting that the other two magicians will also be scientists or inventors of some kind! We will see..........
As always, if you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me through the agenda, email or stop me on the tarmac! We will have more formal meetings next month as we discuss your child's progress report. Together we will use this time to discuss your child's learning skills, their classroom strengths and set some goals for moving forward. I look forward to continuing that journey together.
Dress warmly and enjoy the week ahead!
Mrs. Cooke
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