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!