Bonjour !
On the weekend I attended a documentary in Toronto regarding the endangered Vaquita. Due to the illegal fishing of the totoaba, this gentle porpoise is now on the verge of extinction with only 14 vaquita remaining. Since we have been researching various sea creatures and learning about the effects we have on them, I thought that they would also be interested in watching a video about the vaquita. The children were so interested in learning about this travesty that they began to talk about various other animals that are also endangered or extinct (e.g., bald eagle, honeybees, little brown bats, lemurs, black rhinoceros, dodo bird, etc...). We will continue with their lead and begin to research endangered animals with our grade 6 learning buddies. To continue our plight to reduce the amount of plastic we use, we ventured around the school to find optimal spaces to hang our posters that depict sea turtles mistaking plastic bags as jellyfish and eating them. What socially conscious children we have! Bravo, les amis ! Today we looked at a special creature that has been on Earth for over 200 million years, the crab. We learned that there are 4500 species of crabs, they are omnivores (eat both meat and plants), and fall under the category of crustaceans. Our classed was asked to teach another class our alphabet yoga routine. This is so empowering for our students to be teachers too. They did an exceptional job and Mme Brown's class was very receptive. "Soils Your Undies" - Along with Mme McLeish class, we are involved in a soil research study with the University of Guelph. We buried six pairs of underwear (three in the learning garden and three in the nearby forest). At the end of June, we will go back and unbury these underwear and look at the amount of decomposition that occurred! What a fun way to learn science! Have a wonderful day! Double the Ducks tells the story of a little boy who works hard caring for his five little ducks. One day when his cinq petits canards go out for a walk, each returns with a friend. With double the ducks, he now has double the work. The tale of how he manages is humourous and engaging. We have been using this book in our learning groups to explore the concept of doubling numbers. Adding a number to itself (for example, 3+3) prepares children for learning both addition and multiplication in future years.
When rereading the book, the children used coloured cubes to act out the story. We also used a set of dominoes to pick out all the doubles, and a pair of dice to attempt to roll doubles. In Math, we often use manipulatives (concrete materials) to make sense of abstract ideas. Handling the cubes, dominoes, and dice facilitated counting and fostered greater understanding of the concept of doubling numbers. In a follow-up activity this week, the children were invited to build a tower between 1-10 cubes high. A classmate would count the cubes in the tower and build a second tower containing the same number of blocks, thereby doubling the quantity of blocks. “What is the total number of cubes it took to build both towers?” Together, we also drew a series of silly illustrations containing doubles. For example, “Double 1" might be a face with two eyes or a bicycle with two wheels. “Double 2" might be a an animal with four legs or a car with four tires. “Double 3" was a funny insect with three legs on each side. In all of these activities, the children were very supportive of each other as we built understanding together. Bravo! |
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