Using Tables to Solve Problems

We have been working on using tables to keep track of patterns, and using patterns to solve problems. Today, Ms Elder read us the book, One Grain of Rice by Demi. 

In the book, a raja (king) tries to keep the kingdom's rice for himself. A girl outwits him by asking for one grain of rice on the first day, then double that every day after for 30 days. At first, it doesn't seem like this will amount to very much rice. But, when we started to do the calculations, we saw how quickly the number of grains grew!

We needed to work as a team and use many whiteboards
to have enough space for our calculations!

We used a table to keep track of the number of days and number of grains.

Together, as a class, we took up our answers.
We needed to do so much adding!

This also led to a great mini-lesson on how to read large numbers. Many students needed help reading past the thousands place. You can help your child at home by reading these large numbers together. 

As an extension, students have been given an optional challenge to add up every grain of rice that Rani received!

Field Trip to Nose Hill Park

We saw a vole!

"Voles make an underground subway for themselves with different rooms. I was digging and there was a tiny hole. There was a bunch of snow that covered the hole. I think it was trying to stop the snow from coming in. Then it sat on my foot." ~ Olivia
"Voles eat the seeds out of the pinecones." ~ Nico
"A vole is a small rodent and it lives underground." ~ Alice
"Voles eat the meat off of bones from other animals like coyotes. They also make underground tunnels also known as a subway." ~ Keagan
"They're a little bit bigger than a mouse and it was smaller than a rat." ~ Sage

"They burrow under the snow in the winter. I wonder what they do in the summertime." ~ Clover

"They are active both in the day and night." ~ Kashvi

"They are scavengers like vultures." ~ Nolan

"They live in the subnivean zone (which means under the snow). There are little burrows that go to different places like the bedroom, bathroom, closet..." ~ Charlie

"I thought it was really exciting to see the vole, especially since Sherrie, our guide, had never seen one." ~ Ms Elder

"The roots are ten feet/two and a half meters deep." ~ Bono

"When it rains, the water will go into the soil and stick to the roots. If we dig them out, we will have floods in our houses." ~ Abbey

"Grass is like an iceberg. You only see 20% of it. 80% is underground." ~ Sy

"The roots in plants communicate...they send signals to each other. Some plants put out a chemical when there are predators nearby. This connects with last year's learning." ~ Hudson

"There is a connection between grasslands and wetlands. The roots act like wetlands because they are basically a sponge. They hold water and they filter it." ~ Suzi

"Roots are a good food source for voles and other animals." ~ Nolan

"I think it was the bison; it's good for them to eat the stuff and it's also good for the roots. It grows faster than it usually does." ~ Olivia

"Some people call it an underground forest." ~ Alice

"The people that came here wanted to farm here because it had such very good soil. Also, the land acknowledgement...the more we come around and acknowledge the land and give back to the land because the land gives to us, the more we add to our land acknowledgement." ~ Artur

"The soil is so good that we sold it to other countries." ~ Charlie

Here we are taking a challenge. We were screaming while running after taking only one breath." ~ Raj
"We did this to regulate/get warmer." ~ Sage
"Blackfoot people did this to show that they were worthy of hunting the bison." ~ Abbey

"This is a coyote bone that I found on the side of the pathway. We think that a dog picked the bone up and dropped it there." ~ Keagan

"This was a little bit of a copy of sneaky fox. We had to try to get the water bottle (the pinecone) away from Sherrie. We were acting as voles." ~ Mila

"It was a very great game like red light-green light but played with different characters." ~ Kashvi

Public Art

In front of Wolfe and Sparrows, discussing what this statue symbolizes

This week, we shifted our study of art to examine Public Art specifically. We listed public art pieces we are familiar with in our community, like the Rainbow Trout and BUMP murals. We learned a bit about how the city chooses public art pieces and the difference between privately commissioned and publicly commissioned artwork. Ms Elder shared different artists/artwork with us like Nick Cave, the Bridge murals, Wolfe and Sparrows, Rainbow Trout, and more. She told us about our homework assignment due Friday, November 4 (click here for details). 

The Peace Bridge was controversial.
Some people thought it was too expensive.

We also got into groups and learned about controversial art pieces in Calgary like: the Bowfort Towers, the Peace Bridge, the Travelling Light, the Wishing Well, and the Brotherhood of Mankind. We read newspaper articles that explained who didn't like the artwork and why. Then, we shared our learning with the class. 

The Wishing Well group explaining why this artwork was controversial.

The Bowfort Towers group explaining why this artwork was controversial.

Then, yesterday, we did a Community Walk to visit some of the nearby art pieces and talk about the purpose of them. We discussed how they create a sense of belonging and community or don't. This work connects with many areas of the curriculum, such as finding ways to take action in local decisions (Social Studies), finding ways the city cares for its citizens and how we can use art to create a sense of belonging (Wellness), and examining different forms of artwork (Art). We will follow-up next week with a mapping activity, too (Social Studies)!

Exploring the Mindfulness art installation: Ripple

Some of our reflections:

"I liked that we got to go to Wolfe and Sparrows because I never stop by there when I ride my bike by it. I learned that it opened a few years ago." ~ Sage

"I liked walking in Ripple because it was fun and it was a big maze. The path never crossed over each other." ~ Clover

"I liked how we got to see a lot of beautiful art. I had never seen the Wolfe and Sparrows before so I thought it was really special to see it. I learned a lot about it." ~ Abbey

"I liked learning about Wolfe and Sparrows because I would always think that the sparrows were leaves." ~ Alice

"It was a good time when we did a Community Walk. It was my first time to go to Inglewood." ~ Kashvi

"I liked it when I found out that the sign is actually a garbage can." ~ Charlie

"On our walk, we passed an Art Gallery." ~ Arsh

"I enjoyed reading the newspaper articles. Some of the stuff I didn't know like the Travelling Light symbolizes transportation." ~ Alice

"I wonder why the Bowfort Towers are still up." ~ Alice

Patterns in Nature

In Math, we are exploring patterns. We have studied increasing, decreasing, and repeating patterns. We are working on solving problems using tables/T-charts. Yesterday, we took a glimpse into patterns in nature by exploring the Fibonacci sequence. 

The Fibonacci sequence is: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13... You can extend the pattern by adding the last two numbers. For example, 8 + 13 = 21 so the next number in the sequence is 21. . Some examples of where you see the Fibonacci sequence in nature are pinecones, flower petals, seeds, leaf arrangement on a plant, shells, pineapples, artichokes, etc. 

We watched a video of ways to doodle using the Fibonacci sequence (click here to watch). Here are some examples of our doodles: 

Today, we watched a video on Patterns in Music (click here to watch). It shows us how the Fibonacci sequence relates to the Golden Rectangle, Golden Ratio, and Phi. They found Fibonacci numbers (the ratio) in so many songs...the climax of the song was the number Phi,

There was even a specific musician who used the actual Fibonacci numbers to go up by and down by (whole notes/half notes/quarter notes/eighth notes/sixteenth notes..)

HOMEWORK: Public Art Presentation due November 4

 

For a map of the Public Art pieces in Calgary, click here. 

For a list of Public Art pieces in Calgary, click here.

Community Walk: Listening Observations & Taking Action on Human Impact

On our Community Walk, Ms Elder had us complete a Layered Listening activity. First, we were silent for 30 seconds. We wrote down (or drew pictures of) all of the things we heard. Then, we did that for 1 minute, and finally, for 5 minutes. 

One reason we did this was to see/hear more animals. The longer we're quiet, the more comfortable the animals are and then they start moving around.  We also did this to develop our listening observation skills. The longer we listened, the more sounds we were able to hear. When we sat for 5 minutes, we could hear quiet noises from far away because we were so still. 

This also relates to human impact. We heard a lot of traffic. This is called noise pollution. Other types of pollution are: light, air, water, and waste.

Yesterday, we took action on waste pollution. We had gloves, garbage bags, and grabbers to pick up trash as we walked. 

We also observed the changes in the environment over time (it's been a month since we did our last Community Walk). 

Here are some reflections from the day:

"We should take way better care of our Earth. We found SO much garbage that one bag was heavy and we had four of those and that was just from a one hour walk." ~ Sy

"I enjoyed doing the Layered Listening because I could hear sounds from super far away." ~ Alice

"I noticed how the Layered Listening, when we started to be really quiet, there were so many more sounds, especially on the 5 minute one." ~ Artur

"I really liked the Layered Listening because I could hear lots of new sounds that I had never heard before." ~ Abbey

"I liked doing the Layered Listening because when you actually sat still and listened, you could hear sounds from far away." ~ Clover

"I liked the walk because when we did the Layered Listening, the quieter we were, the more sounds we heard, so we could fill up more of our paper." ~ Olivia

"I liked the walk because we could see the changes from last month to this month." ~ Charlie

"I didn't realize how much garbage there could be in just a small area." ~ Hudson

Best Part of Me

Over the last few weeks, we have been creating a Best Part of Me project. 

It all started with a book Ms Elder read to us that was written by kids, called, The Best Part of Me. Each entry was about someone's body part and how that body part helps them do the things they love and makes them unique. 

We did some brainstorming of our own, then eventually chose one body part to write about. Some of us chose our hands, legs, eyes, and even our eyebrows and DNA! 

We took our writing through the whole Writing Process including: brainstorming, a rough copy, a teacher conference, editing, and a good copy. 

Then, we did a rough copy of our Best Part of Me sketch. Next, we did a good copy of our sketch.

After that, we took a picture of our body part. We learned about the rule of thirds and other tips for taking great photos. We thought about the background that would make the most sense for our pictures.

Last, we got our picture, our sketch, and our writing and we put it on to a big piece of paper for the final poster. 

We completed a self-evaluation today. Watch for it, plus Ms Elder's evaluation to be coming home tomorrow.

Here are some examples of our work: 

Geometry Quizzes going home today

Hi Parents,

Just a quick note to let you know that students are receiving their marked Geometry Quizzes today. We have reviewed them together in class by taking up the quiz on the board and going over all of the correct answers. Students had the opportunity to correct their mistakes using a different-coloured marker, and ask any questions about their mistakes. 

If you have any questions after seeing the quiz, please let me know. There is a levelled mark at the top that relates to the report card stem for Geometry.

Quizzes can be kept at home.

Erin