Students are sharing their in depth look at Canada and its regions on a collaborative website:
dgsourcanada.weebly.com Currently, students have shared: Ad Campaign posters (connected to our concept of Risk and Security and building skills of persuasion and media literacy) Scratch games (teaching others the location of our provinces and territories while building in CTF and coding) Students have completed the second baking iteration in the CTF integrated project: Become a Pastry Chef. Every group has successfully improved their cake recipe from the first to the second iteration, after reflecting on their observations and revisiting chemistry concepts . Some of the targeted improvements were: increasing the sweetness, decreasing the saltiness, lighter texture, and increasing/decreasing the moisture. Students were able to create fully formed cakes with a better balance in flavor. To complete the process, students decorated and displayed their cakes for a round of judging and cake tasting. In Guided Reading, students are continuing to develop their conversation skills through the use of conversational moves. They are incorporating this into their discussions about character development (ex. What do these actions reveal about the character? How will this event impact my character?) during Grand Conversations.
In Social Studies/Language Arts, students are taking their knowledge and understanding of advertising techniques to create an ad campaign for their national park. This week, they are creating a rationale for how their slogan and images connect to the emotion, purpose, and concept of their ad. They are using Google Slides to create their visuals. In Math, students are applying their understanding of 3D shapes, area, perimeter, and volume to the creation of a city. Once complete, the city will be put on display. In Guided Reading, students are working towards improving their communication skills through the use of "conversational moves". These are conversation starters used to help move along conversations during their literature circle discussions.
In Social Studies/Language Arts, students are learning about national parks. They are developing their research skills as they collect information about the region, land, climate, flora and fauna, and activities unique to that park. They will then use this information to develop an advertisement campaign for the park. In Science, students are continuing to refine their second iteration for their CTF-integrated "Become a Pastry Chef" cake recipe. We will bake on Wednesday and Thursday. Cake decorating and tasting will occur on Friday. In Language Arts, students are developing their media literacy and listening skills through the analysis of current events. This week, we analyzed the following events:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/flames-player-treats-northern-indigenous-family-to-nhl-experience-1.3730624 https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.3763141 Both current events focused on listening for different perspectives (and their impact) as well as how they are connected to our concept of risks and securities. In Social Studies, students are learning about three elements of advertisement campaigns: emotion, purpose and concept. This week, students studied 4 different campaigns: Sony Bravia, Coco Cola Happiness Factory, Billabong Shorts, and Alberta Travel. They are currently applying their understanding to the creation of a new campaign. To what extent does the role of chemistry play in baking? Lasting Understanding: Chemistry is everywhere; an understanding of its role in baking will lead to successful culinary creations. Critical Understanding: What physical and chemical changes occur as you manipulate ingredients; appreciate how accuracy affects reactions.
See the link for a recap of our first iteration. Math gamification is an engaging way for students to practice and develop math skills. Students created an online account today, Friday, December 1st. Their job is to complete math challenges while building their game character. There is an assignment a week, in which questions are carefully selected to align with class instructions. These questions are embedded in a storyline designed by Prodigy Math.
Students are encouraged to complete their weekly assignment. To access the program, go to: www.prodigygame.com/ The usernames are below: This week, students explored the chemistry of water, by looking at properties like: Adhesion, Cohesion, Surface tension, and Capillary action. During the Walking Water experiment, students developed their understanding of the scientific method by designing their own fair test to study the factors that affect water's ability for capillary action. Students manipulated variables such as: the temperature of water, the type of paper towel, the position of the beakers relative to each other, and the distance between the beakers. Students also studied surface tension and the cohesive property of water molecules through the Drops on a Penny demonstration. Students were amazed to find out that approximately 30 drops of water could fit on a penny before the water spills over!
Students are exploring the chemistry of mixtures through identifying the types of mixtures and ways to separate mixtures. Students can differentiate between homogeneous mixtures and heterogeneous mixtures. Using materials such as sieves, magnets, filter paper, and funnels, students explored different techniques that can be used to separate heterogeneous mixtures.
Beakerhead has come to Room 2120 and 2122! Our students are joining many others across Calgary in finding answers to the following inquiry:
"There must be a better way" Over the next two weeks, students will be using the Design Thinking Process to explore the process of invention. The work of Dominic Wilcox and "Little Inventors" has served as a hook to inspire our students to find problems and ideate solutions. We will be collaboratively designing a prototype that will be submitted to Beakerhead on December 1st. A throughline will be building listening skills using the RASA (Receive - Appreciate - Summarize- Ask questions), as collaboration can't be successful without strong listening. Stay tuned for updates on our design process. |
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May 2018
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