Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Wicked Words

On Friday we read aloud the book called The Night of The Pumpkin Heads by Michael J. Rosen.  The story depicts a group of restless pumpkin heads that are tired of spending every Halloween sitting on the porch while all the kids get to dress-up and go trick-or-treating.  This, year they decide to have a contest to see who can disguise themselves into the most fearsome creatures.  One of the many great features of this book, are the great descriptive words Rosen uses to describe the pumpkin heads.

After reading the book, students were asked to work with a partner and try to recall two or three of the "triple-scoop words" (a term used by Adrienne Gear in her book Writing Power) shared in the book.   We then came back together as a class and created the chart below.

Then I held a contest for the students in the class.   In small cooperative groups they were to brainstorm as many "triple-scoop"words they could thinking of to describe various Halloween costumes.   Division 5 came up with many wickedly, wonderful words!







Haunted Houses For Sale





Saturday, 20 October 2012

Expressing Emotion



Last week we read aloud the book Happy by Mies Van Hout to the class.   In Happy, Mies Van Hout shows many emotions a child encounters in life. Each double page is devoted to one fish, showing a particular emotion with its name in lettering that expresses the same feeling.

After reading the book, we talked about how sometimes authors write about a personal experiences they have had.   The students then brainstormed various times they experienced similar emotions described in the book.   Next they drew illustrations in the style of Van Hout using radiant coloured chalk pencils and strong lines to illustrate their own emotions.   
















Summarizing Scientists

As many of you already know these past few weeks Division five has been engaging in many science activities to inquire into what scientist's do.   We then took this data and entered it into a program called Wordle which made the designs you see below.





Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Preparing for Halloween

On Friday October 27th Mrs. Barker will be taking her children to a Halloween Party.   She has offered to purchase the candy for the pinata.    There will be 30 children at the party.   Mrs. Barker went to London Drugs to buy the candy and noticed each bag of candy has 35 pieces.   How many bags will Mrs. Barker need to purchase so that every child at the party gets between 10 and 12 pieces of candy?  

Don't forget to share how you got your answer...

Friday, 5 October 2012

How many pies?

Mrs. Barker has offer to bring pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving dinner at her mother's.   There will be 19 people at dinner.   One pie can be cut into 8 pieces.   How many pies do I need to make?

Also, some people in my family love my pie and like to have 2 pieces and one of the people coming is a baby who won't be able to eat my pie.

Can you help me?  Please respond by commenting below and be sure to share your thinking.


Monday, 1 October 2012

What is a Scientist?

Every September I begin the year with learning and understanding the processes of Science.   Usually we do several scientific experiments each tailored to the specific steps in the scientific method.   The students fill out scientific experiment forms where they list the materials and procedures.   Some of the activities I usually do are:  

Predicting (Hypothesis): There are many activities which can be done, but the students love the mentos and 2L pop one.
Observation: We spend time watching and observing a burning candle and record our observations.   We go over the various ways we can record our observations such as lists, webs, labelled diagrams, etc.
Conclusion: We mix together several different liquids to discover density.   The students then write why the liquids form layers and explain their understanding.

This year, inspired by a colleague, I decided instead to focus on what it means to be a scientist and do this through an inquiry process ~ I am so glad I did.  Here is a link to a similar post by my colleague.


What Scientist's Do
During the second week of school the students engaged in their first scientific activity.   They were to see how many drops of water they could place on a penny.


This student is recording his data.


At the end of the activity I asked how they felt as scientists and what they learned from being scientists.   We began a class chart titled "What Scientist's Do".   We added the following words:
  • test
  • predict
  • use tools 
  • collect information (data)
  • record information
I could tell from the student's responses to how they felt as scientists that their attitudes towards science are very positive and full of enthusiasm for scientific investigations.

This past Friday we did another activity.   I brought in cookies that I had baked earlier in the morning and asked the students to use the tools (toothpick, chopstick, and Q-tips) provided to discover what it was that I had given them and determine what they were made of.









Although I had let the students know that there was no
scientific experiment form to be filled out, I was very impressed
when on their own, without prompting many students took out
their drawing books and began sketching labelled diagrams... just
like true scientists would!






Some students wrote lists to help them remember.

The students were great about using their five senses to
gather information about the cookies.





The students were able to use their background knowledge and experience to tell me that they knew I had given
them cookies.   When it came to listing what we discovered was in the cookies, they used all fives senses: sight
(Observation), smell, touch, taste, and sound.             

I read aloud My Five Senses and plan to share the other two books upon completion of our Inquiry Tasks.
When the activity was over, we gathered together as a group to share and document our learning.   The students added the following to our list of "What Scientist's Do":
  • use their background knowledge and experience
  • use their fives senses when possible
  • share ideas with other scientists
  • make labelled diagrams
  • discover