March 2

Thank you families who came to our Celebration of Learning on Wednesday February 28th. It was a fantastic turnout! 

Literacy

Physical Education/Math
Students have been exploring various Indigenous games in coordination to balance and strength. They learned the culture and the importance of these games as well as they experienced gymnastics through Mission Impossible. Here's a quick snapshot on what we did this week. 



Indigenous Perspective and Mathematics
Mathematical fluency is about being able to take their understanding and problem solving skills into different context. Learning through Indigenous ways of knowing is another way to introduce, review and practice concepts that we have been learning in class. Below is a picture of some of the wampum belts students have been sewing. Ask your child, how is this math and how do they know? Which first nations group is this from, why were these belts important to them? What is wonderful about their learning is that we are blending subjects and showing students different contexts of why they are learning the concepts they are learning. 

Science 
In Science, students have been learning about rocks and minerals. We have tested rocks (hardness, streak, colour, lustre and texture), sorted rocks into three types (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic), and students have been working hard on their google slides to show what they know. They can access it at home if they want to add more information! 



Resource: Mark Twain Media Inc Pub

Resource: Rock Cycle link

During the Rocks and Minerals unit, students have been working collaboratively with their group on their Google "Slides" project to document their learning. They learned to use technology such as laptops and Ipads to create slides to show their understanding of the rock cycle as well as how to test rocks. Your child can access the work at home for them to explore further with the research and adding to the slides. If your child would like to work on the Google "Slides", they are encouraged to add information but please remember that this is a collaborative project, therefore, please do not delete the information inside. The group will have time next week to review the slides and then they decide together  what they want to keep or take out. 



In this week's lessons, students examined a news article and learned the importance of a meteorite and looked at it through the lens of Science as well as the lens of the First Nations. Students entered their first debate and gave valid reasons from either a scientific or Indigenous perspective. Please access the link for the news article and please have a discussion with your child about it and have them share both the Scientific and Indigenous perspectives. 

Rocks and Minerals Articles
http://www.pkearthandspace.com/article/563/all-about-the-rock-cycle
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-are-rocks-made

Social Studies (Metis)
We had the opportunity to borrow the Musokit from the Glenbow Museum to learn about the Metis culture through exploration of various artifacts. They studied the purpose of the artifact as well as pose their wonderings. 





STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
This week, some students had the opportunity to explore the robotics that are in our classroom. We had Dot and Dash and ozobots where students get to create and explore coding. 


Take Home Math Game: Multiplication Squares

Materials: 2 dice, a different colour pencil crayon for each player

Object of the game: To be the player who captures the most squares

Playing the Game:

1.    Each player rolls one dice. The player with the highest roll goes first.

2.    The player rolls both of the dice on the table and multiplies the two numbers together. For example, if the player rolls 6 and 4, he/she multiplies 6 and 4 to get  24.

3.    The player looks for the product of the two dice on the squares board, and draws ONE line by connecting any two dots that are surrounding that number.

4.    After the player draws their line, that player’s turn is over and the next player’s turn begins.

5.    Players are always striving to draw a line that will complete a square around a number to “capture” it. If a player rolls a product that has no more available lines left on the board, the player’s turn is over and play continues with the next player.

6.    The game ends when all dots on the board have been connected. The player with the most captured squares is the winner.