Energy Fun!

Today in Science, Miss Cosgrove (our student teacher from Brock University) taught us about Energy.  

First, the students wrote down and drew pictures to show what they already know about Energy.  

Then, small groups completed some simple activities that use Energy.  

After, the students discussed what they learned and put that information together with what they already knew.  

Who knew learning could be so much fun!?

We are good mathematicians!

 Solving simple math problems in our head (mental math) and explaining our thinking is something we always work on in our classroom.  

This week we have been lucky to have Mrs. Gadsby come into our classroom and guide us through solving a sequence of math problems that are related - also called a "string".  The solving of these problems in a specific sequence helps students to understand how a particular strategy works. 

First, Mrs. Gadsby gives the students a quick peak at an arrangement of beads on the math rack before covering the beads up.  

Next, the students share what they saw.  In the above picture, there are 5 red beads and 2 white beads shown (we are working with what is shown on the left side.). 

Some students said they saw 7.  When probed further they said I saw 5 and 2, 5 +2 = 7.  Others saw it differently- I saw 3 and 2 more red beads which I know makes 5 plus 2 more equals 7.  

Each time a new arrangement of beads is shown the students share what they see and how they were able to see that number.  They are only given a quick peak in order to challenge them to use the most efficient counting strategies (e.g., seeing a group of 5 and counting on from there instead of counting from 1 up to the final number).  

All students answers and thinking are written down and honoured.  

After only a few mini-lessons, Mrs. Gadsby agrees...WE ARE GOOD MATHEMATICIANS!

Way to go, Grade 1 and thank you Mrs. Gadsby!

I believe...

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week

The week of Nov. 17 - 21 marks Bullying Awareness and Prevention in Ontario.  Throughout this week (and throughout the year) we will learn what it means to be accepting and kind.  Our lessons will also highlight the harmful effects of bullying. 

Today we read...

The theme of this story is one of power and confidence.  Pinkalicious is teased about loving the colour pink when all the other girls are wearing black.  The bullying was constant and eventually made Pinkalicious doubt herself.  Pinkalicious became so unhappy that she began lashing out at others.  But in the end Pinkalicious learned it was important to stay true to her feelings and to not give the bullies any power over her.  

We decorated small pink t-shirts and wrote some of the positive words Pinkalicious used to describe her favourite colour.  

We included this on our Measurement wall.  The t-shirts represent flowers.  

A little information about Pink Shirt Day:

Our first Pink Shirt Day is Thursday, Nov. 20th.  If you have a pink shirt from last year or any other pink shirt please wear it that day and take a stand against bullying. 

Measuring Fun

Estimating...

Measuring and recording...

The "t" on the first stem stands for the tallest student in our class - Max. 

The "s" on the last stem stands for the shortest person in our class - Tessa. 

It was a lot of fun watching the students try to organize themselves in a line from shortest to tallest.  Lots of learning in that short little exercise! 

3D Shape Towers

Can you build a tower using these guidelines?

* must contain 5 different 3D shapes (including a sphere)

* must be 35-40cm tall

* must stand for at least 5 minutes

Yes, we can!

Can you also write your mathematical thinking down? 

Yes, we can!

Roots of Empathy

We are learning how to soothe a crying baby with our Roots of Empathy doll. Today we talked about all the reasons why a baby might cry and what we could do for the baby. Next week, we are going to ask Elsie's mom (our Root's baby) what she does to help Elsie when she is upset.