Another week of fun and learning. with plans for more busy weeks to come!

We are beginning to work towards visualizing in mathematics.  That means that the students, after working with numbers up to 100 for almost five months are asked to 'see' the 100 chart or number line in their head, moving from concrete to abstract.  Using our iPad minis, the students worked in pairs to find one more, one less, ten more and ten less than the target number.  Here the number was 46.  The students practised finding one more and one less than 46.  Those numbers are found in the same row as 46.  They then practised finding ten more and ten less than 46.  Those numbers are found in the same column as 46.  Once they were able to do many, many examples, both with a partner and on their own, the hope is that they will be able to find these numbers in their head without a 100 chart in front of them.  That is visualizing.

To extend this activity, making it more challenging, the students were given a target number, in this case 73, and asked to find two more, two less, twenty more and twenty less.  What thinking would they have to do to be correct?  What truth about how numbers work would they have to hinge this new learning onto?

They have had multiple opportunities to see how odd and even numbers form a pattern in our number system.  What number always follows an even number?  What number always follows an odd number?

In most elementary  classrooms, worksheets are not what drive the learning in a math class.  Instead, discussions, working with others and manipulatives are the tools for understanding.  What you are seeing is the forming of new understanding as this group works together to discuss their plans to solve the problem that is written on the SMARTBoard.

This problem is specifically written to tease out the students who are reading with understanding.

In small groups, the students work together to demonstrate their thinking.  They are often asked to prove how they know that their thinking makes sense.  The correct answer is not always the goal of the lesson.  Being able to explain your thinking so others understand is!

I love when they are confused!  It means that their brains are really engaged!  They are challenging themselves.  It is the #1 goal of education....to think, to figure out, to believe you can!

Thank you again to those parents (and nanas) who came to watch our final assembly.  Ask your child why we celebrate Valentine's Day.  Who was St. Valentine?  What did he do that was special to become a Saint?  How can we become saints?

It's our last day of working with the stories of Frog and Toad.  One of the stories we read was entitled 'A Swim'  The students used plasticine to create an illustration of the setting of the story.  They watched a short video of how Barbara Reid how done this technique for her many books.  They learned how to mix two colours together to create a new colour and they also had to manipulate the plasticine to cover a large surface area.

They then layered other colours onto the original background of the sky and water.

They added rocks again mixing colours,

showing another part of the scene from the story.

Finally, they used a different technique to roll the clay to create bullrushes or cattails to add detail.  Tomorrow, the final aspect, adding the two main characters will complete the scene.  

Remember that:

a) Report cards come home tomorrow.  So do Literacy Bags.  Writing scribblers are due tomorrow.

b) There is no school for students on Friday, but never fear, I'll be at school!

c) Monday - book orders and hot lunch orders are due. Writing scribblers will go home.

d) Teacher's Convention is next Thursday and Friday.

e) The next week we have Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday mass at church, and another PD Day on that Friday.

f) There is no school on Monday, Feb. 15 as it is Family Day.

St. Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday.  On Thursday, Feb. 11, the students may bring Valentine cards (for everyone in the class please) and we will do an exchange.  As evidenced by our so, so busy month, there just won't be time to have a party.  Please understand.

Student Faith and Wellness Day

It's a difficult task to try and capture what our Student Faith and Wellness Day is really about.  This day centres around the students at the school exploring what they are interested in, in a variety of small sessions throughout the day.  There is a HUGE faith component to this day as we are given the gift of Face to Face Ministries  to be the anchor for all the students.  This is provided through the REAL Foundation, a dedicated group that brings our Catholic identity to the forefront through experiences at the schools and the parish.

My students were given four choices for their two sessions during the day.  Students in Grades 3 and 4 had more choices, but it can be overwhelming to have that much choice!

The day began with the whole school meeting together in the multipurpose room, hearing the message that God loves  you, period  from Face to Face Ministries.  There was a choice session to go to in the morning, another visit with Face to Face, a choice session in the afternoon and a final whole school concert at the end of the day.

Some of my students chose the session on responsibility and were given the opportunity to create a t-shirt demonstrating their own knowledge and involvement in an act of responsibility.  Some chose to show traffic rules, some chose to show their own chores at home and some chose their involvement with friends and families.  They enjoyed the process.

Another choice that my students were given was to try karate.  They learned the importance of being safe, being active and being aware during this time.

Here is a session that my students didn't get to try.  It was about making 'healthy' pizza.

'Art from the Heart', another session choice for Grade Two involved putting their own talents to work.

The 4th session that my students could attend was about the care and rehabilitation of wildlife that might be injured.  The students learned that not all animals are meant to be touched and that there are reasons that a fawn, bunny or duckling might not have its mother around.  They learned not to assume that they needed to intervene and to never touch wildlife without first asking an adult.

The rest of the photos are during one of the three times we joined Face to Face and sang, danced and praised God.

(Game played with Gr. 2 and 3 during the morning session with Face to Face)

They loved the fact they were encourage to scream!

Working with BIG numbers

Sometimes we assume that students know what we know.  They might not!  We took the tin with all the little counting bears and put them on the floor.  I asked "How could we find out how many bears there are?"  The students had a few strategies:

One said we could make groups of two.  We did.  There were 95 bears.

Was there another way?

Another student said that we could make groups of five.  We did.  There were 95 bears.

Here was the ah-ha! moment.  One boy said "That's weird, it was the same number."

The third student suggested we could make groups of 10.  We did.  There were 95 bears.

The same boy said "That's freaky!  It is 95 again!"

The lesson had to stop there.  The conversation had to address this new idea for this one student.  He did not have a clear understanding of the conservation of numbers.

The concept that needs to be clear, is that an amount is the same UNLESS some more are added, or some are taken away.  No matter if the original group of items is organized in twos, fives, tens, twenties, or in one large pile.....the amount will be the same.  The amount is CONSERVED.

This wasn't a planned lesson, but it was SO important to remind the students of this concept.

We moved onto how a big number is written.  How would the students write these amounts?
63

75

16

What does the 6 in 63 represent?  Does the 6 mean the same in 16?  How do you know?

This is the concept of place value:  where the number is (the place) helps us know the value of that digit

The value of the digit changes depending on the place it sits at.

I asked one of the students how they would write the amount 112 on the red 2 digit card.  He made the perfect Grade Two mistake!

It allowed the students to have a conversation about what happens when a place is full.  The tens place cannot hold more than 9 groups of 10.  Using these manipulatives, I was able to demonstrate how 10 groups of 10 go together to make 100.  In our class, it is important that there are opportunities to use the concrete BEFORE the students are asked to think in the abstract.  Knowing what 112 is difficult without the experience of seeing what 112 is.  

I bring this up because sometimes parents forget that it is a big leap for some students to move from concrete  to abstract.  That is our goal though, to understand the system of numbers so well that we can think about this system abstractly.

We looked at the 100 chart.  We looked at the way it is organized.  The students noticed the patterns that can be seen in this chart.  With a yellow highlighter, the students found the even numbers in the chart.  They counted by twos.

Many of the students noticed that when one counts by fives, there is a column of fives.  They also noticed that the tens column already was outlined in yellow!  What does that mean?

Using the blue highlighter, the students also outlined the numbers that would be said if you counted by tens!  Goodness! Those numbers were also outlined in yellow and blue!  Why was that?  There is a great deal of learning in the exploration of big numbers to 100!

Look who came to our assembly today!  Jesus!

Today, our class told the story of how St. John the Baptist baptized many people in the River Jordan.  He was s surprised when Jesus also wanted to be baptised!  The water was some cloth held up by some reliable students!

After Jesus was baptized, a dove appeared.  The voice of God was heard from above!  It is the first time that Father, Son and Holy Spirit appear together in the Bible.  Did you know that this story appears in all four gospels?  That is a sure sign that it was an important event!

We related the baptism at the River Jordan to our own baptism.  We had the mom and dad and godparents bring the baby to be baptised by the priest,.  The students are very happy to be sharing their understanding and learning about Jesus with their friends in other classes at assembly!

Floating along.....Buoyancy and Boats, Large Numbers and In Line Skating

One of my very favourite math educators is Cathy Fosnot.  We used this book that she wrote to begin our exploration of big numbers.  In this story, Nicolas decides that he needs to organize the items in his home and he makes signs to show how many of each thing, his family has.

We decided to find out how many of each item were in our math manipulative tins.  Once each group knew, they would also make signs to add to the bottom of the tin.

The trick was that the pairs of students had to PROVE that they were correct with their number.  This was the first group and they set the tone for the others.  They organized their items into groups of 10, making it easy to count the 101 dominoes to all of us.

Different groups chose different ways to organize.  This group decided to organize by colour,

and this one organized the magnetic flowers into groups of 2.  Which way would be the most efficient?

On Thursday, a pirate  (seen in the photo below) brought along four different interactive stations for the students to explore the concepts found in our science unit on Buoyancy and Boats.  This particular station explored how cargo is housed in ships and why it is done this way.

These students worked o making a paddle boat.  Ask your child what happened when they wound the paddle at the back of the boat in two different ways.  Did it make a difference?

This station focused on sinking and floating, and the students tried to explain what makes different items sink while others float.  Do you know? Hint - It's not always about weight!!

I manned the last station.  The students found out that in order for a boat to stay upright in the water there is a keel added on the bottom of the boat below the water.  It is needed to balance the boat.

The group (shown in the picture pressing on the plasticine) tried to help the parrot, Polly, get off the desert island by creating a boat out of the only thing found on the island, plasticine!  Once the design was made (thin and large with sides to keep the water out) the children tested their boats.

Polly weighed about the same as four marbles.  Will it hold her?

Hooray!  Success!

Our instructor, Nicole, gave clear step by step instructions on how to get the safety equipment on.  Next summer, allow your child to put on their own gear.  They can do it.  All you need to go is check!

Knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and helmet!  Ready to go!

Don't think they were always able to stay on their feet, but they did learn how to fall properly!

Thanks to the parent council who paid for the majority of the fees for our school.  That really kept the  costs to individual families down to a minimum!